Archive for Thinking Screen Media
Posted on Oct 2, 2009 by Jane Goodwin at 12:05 am
The Daily DOOH brings us some news about C-nario:
C-nario has been a bit quiet recently but has obviously been working furiously behind the scenes…
First off is their own announcement with regard a new partnership with SDI in Germany but much more interesting than that is, following on from our find-everything-out-we-posssibly-can-in-NYC-trip we can exclusively reveal they have a big deal new deal in NYC itself – big well known, respected brand too!!
The other deals that they are rumoured to have won are concept stores for a mobile phone business, a couple of museums and a TV channel.
Rami Bahar, C-nario’s Vice President Sales and Strategic Planning told us “The distribution agreement with SDI is part of our strategy to become a pan-European provider of software-based digital signage solutions. The German speaking countries are one of the most exciting AV markets and we see great demand for digital signage in this region”
Under terms of the agreement with SDI they will offer C-nario’s digital signage software products combined with SDI’s professional services such as digital signage project management and system integration.
Thomas Klukas, Sales Director, SDI told us “We are confident that the combined expertise and experience of both companies promise great opportunity for us to provide state of the art digital signage solutions and services in the German speaking countries. We share the same vision of customized digital environment for every client, and the partnership positions both companies to meet a new range of challenging application demands, enabling the most creative use of digital signage.”
About SDI
SDI Gesellschaft für Medientechnologie mbH, located in Munich, Germany, provides professional services for production and broadcast studios, media technology, and audiovisual communication platforms. In addition, the company provides products for Pro AV, broadcasters, signal management products and solutions for digital cinema and digital signage. SDI services in the digital signage sphere include consulting, creating content with media agencies, answering tenders, installation and maintenance.
Adrian J Cotterill
C-nario, Digital Signage, FrameMedia, Interactive marketing, SDI, Thinking Screen Media
C-nario, Digital Signage, digital solutions, FrameMedia, SDI, signage solutions, Thinking Screen Media, visual solutions, Wireless Digital Signage
Posted on Sep 25, 2009 by Jane Goodwin at 12:05 am
Over at the Daily DOOH, writer Gail Chiasson has posted a list of the Visix Expression Award winners:
Visix Inc. [1] has announced the six grand prize winners of the company’s second annual Expression Awards.
An Atlanta, Georgia (U.S.) company, Visix offers digital signage software, room and event scheduling solutions, and applications for targeted messaging to desktops and portable devices. It holds the contest to recognize the creative efforts of its AxisTV digital signage software customers. The company received nearly 200 entries for this year’s awards.
The judging committee, comprised of marketing, communications and design specialists, decided that the following organizations excelled in each category, based on technical design, creativity and communications effectiveness:
Best Visual Communications Campaign:
Anadarko Petroleum [2] – Anadarko 2008 Kids Day
Best Composite Layout:
Virginia Commonwealth University [3] – Campus Communications
Best Original – Motion Content:
Reeve Union-UW Oshkosh [4] – Homecoming 2009 Teaser
Best Original – Still Bulletin:
University of Texas Medical School at Houston [5] – Have you been punched yet?
Best Remix -Motion Content:
RBC Bank [6] – Backpack Buddies Food Shelf Program
Best Remix – Still Bulletin:
Stamp Marketing, University of Maryland [7] – Battle of the Bands
“This year’s entries show a true sophistication in both communications planning and graphic design for digital signage,” says Deborah Wilson-Dewitt, marketing communications manager for Visix. “By staying involved in clients’ designs, ideas and communications processes, we’re able to recognize and reward our customers, as well as share their efforts to educate and inspire other clients.”
The Expression Awards are part of Visix’s ongoing strategy to bring AxisTV users together, to spotlight creative abilities and system management skills, and to recognize Visix customers for their contributions in the field of visual communications.
Digital Signage, Digital Signage Awards, FrameChannel, Interactive marketing, Thinking Screen Media, Wireless Digital Signage, digital signage news
Anadarko Petroleum, communications, Daily DOOH, Deborah Wilson-Dewitt, design specialist, digital signage software, event scheduling, Gail Chiasson, marketing, marketing clients, RBC Bank, Reeve Union-UW Oshkosh, Stamp Marketing, technical design, University of Maryland, University of Texas Medical chool at Houston, Virginia Commonwealth University, Visix, Visix Espression Award winners
Posted on Sep 23, 2009 by Jane Goodwin at 12:05 am
Over at AVInteractive.co.uk, Paul Milligan tells us that Steljes has added digital signage to its product portfolio:
Steljes has added digital signage to its product portfolio with the announcement of a deal to distribute products from MediaTile. In line with ongoing Steljes strategy the products will be aimed at digital signage within the education sector.
MediaTile provides 3G digital signage products such as Digital-Sign-in-a-Box and Mediacast. 
The Digital-Sign-in-a-Box system integrates the three main components of a digital signage network including: a commercial-grade display with embedded media player, network connectivity using mobile 3G broadband services, and a web-based broadcast portal for content management.
Graham Wylie, group product marketing director, commented ‘We have been monitoring the digital signage market for some time. Many of the systems we looked at were designed and developed for the retail sector and had limited potential for updating on a screen to screen basis. In addition we wanted a solution that could be deployed in large scale installations such as those associated with Building Schools for the Future programme and Further Education and Higher Education establishments. MediaTile offers something different – scalable out of the box solutions that are easy to implement and maintain and can be deployed virtually anywhere using 3G connectivity.
Products
Digital signage in a box
• A commercial grade, HD LCD display available in 19, 32, 42 and 47in configurations; also available in touch screen versions
• A built-in embedded computer with a media player that supports media formats including: mpeg, vob, wmv, swf, jpeg, and ppt
• Built-in and activated internet connection
• A web-based Broadcast Portal that eliminates the need to download and install software ; network control from any internet browser
Pricing and availability
Non-touch solutions
19in Digital Signage Box – SRP £1,699
32in Digital Signage Box – SRP £1,999
42in Digital Signage Box – SRP £2,649
47in Digital Signage Box – SRP £3,199
Touch solutions
19in Digital Signage Box – SRP £1,799
32in Digital Signage Box – SRP £2,649
42in Digital Signage Box – SRP £4,999
47in Digital Signage Box – SRP £6,999
Digital Signage – Portal
Broadcast Portal Service – 24 months SRP £999
Black Box, Digital Signage, FrameMedia, Interactive marketing, Steljes, Thinking Screen Media, Wireless Digital Signage, digital signage news
AVinteractive, digital sign in a box, Digital Signage, FrameMedia, Graham Wylie, Mediacast, MediaTile, Paul Milligan, Steljes, Thinking Screen Media, Wireless Digital Signage
Posted on Sep 21, 2009 by Jane Goodwin at 12:05 am
Pittsburgh Post Gazette’s Erich Schwartzel posts about Black Box Network Service’s new product:
Lawrence-based digital communications company Black Box Network Services has rolled out a new product meant to improve on how people view information in the airport. Or the doctor’s office. Or the bar. Basically, everywhere.
The iCompel arrives at a time when the digital sign industry is evolving rapidly. Digital signs are already used to tell people when the movie is seating, or when the plane is landing — any evolving screen of information.
But the iCompel creates signs that look like those boring boards on steroids.
Like Apple’s iPhone, this technology can handle multiple media forms. On one screen, the iCompel — a small box that transmits displays designed through a Web site — can simultaneously display text, live television or video, photos, HTML and constantly updated RSS feeds such as scrolling headlines or weather reports.
When the box is attached to a screen, it transmits what looks like a tricked-out Power Point presentation.
Online controls allow users to manipulate what the iCompel screens look like from anywhere in the world with an Internet connection.
The iCompel starts at around $1,700 and costs up to nearly $3,500 as features are added.
With a presence in 142 countries, Black Box specializes in data and voice infrastructure systems. The public company employs about 5,000, with 500 employees at the Lawrence site in Washington County.
The company reported revenues of approximately $1 billion in fiscal 2009, with a net income of $45 million. The government comprises the largest portion of the client base, at 23 percent. Black Box has more than 175,000 customers.
The new product launch comes at a good moment in the digital signage world. A 2009 study by Arbitron found digital video displays reached 67 percent of U.S. resident age 18 or older.
Most reported remembering signage in airports, bars, convenience stores and even elevators.
Black Box wanted to create a product that would work for businesses that don’t have a creative staff but want expensive-looking signs, said regional sales manager George Borden.
“Anyone half-dangerous with Photoshop can run this product,” he said.
The iCompel is designed to make digital signs more financially and logistically accessible for smaller companies. Mr. Borden said he could envision the signs in venues such as a bowling alley — clearly a departure from such places as PNC Park that typically use such technology.
Black Box already has seen some more unorthodox settings for iCompel-created signs.
It’s been used to replace archaic displays that highlight which bingo numbers have been picked (replete with a live video feed of the announcer’s hand choosing a ball).
The iCompel even has been set up in funeral homes, where directors can run a slide show of memorial photos alongside a movie, or a quote, or some music.
Of course, there are advertising implications. Director of Marketing Brian Kutchma said companies with iCompel screens could sell space to advertisers looking for a targeted audience.
Erich Schwartzel can be reached at eschwartzel@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1455.
Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09259/998243-96.stm#ixzz0RPv5i4Vl
Black Box, Digital Signage, FrameMedia, Interactive marketing, Thinking Screen Media, Wireless Digital Signage, digital signage news
Black Box Network Services, Digital Signage, digital signs, digital video display, Erich Schwartzel, George Borden, iCOMPEL, Pittsburgh Post Gazette, RSS feeds, Wireless Digital Signage
Posted on Sep 14, 2009 by Jane Goodwin at 12:05 am
The Digital Signage Expo blog has some news about digital signage for health clubs:
Health Club Media Network (HCMN), a provider of advertising and marketing opportunities for national brands in health clubs, recently announced that Crunch has joined its network.
The long-term and exclusive media and marketing agreement begins immediately and will include installation of HCMN’s static and full suite of digital media offerings in all Crunch clubs, including mobile messaging and dedicated video channels that can be viewed by Crunch members during their workouts, according to the company.
“Crunch has long held a unique place within the industry and the marketplace with its forward thinking and innovative group exercise programs,” said Ken Williams, CEO for HCMN, Los Angeles. “We are equally excited that Crunch sees the added value our suite of digital signage and information products brings to their members.”
“[HCMN's digital signage and information system] is much more capable than anything we have experienced or seen previously, and it is uniquely capable of bringing the essence of our brand to life,” said Keith Worts, COO for Crunch. “We also are pleased to see that HCMN is able to deliver high-quality music videos and a Crunch branded video channel highlighting our corporate partners, something we had been unable to do easily with our prior technology solution.”
All Crunch health clubs will utilize Health Club Media Network’s digital media platforms to deliver high-quality music videos and Crunch’s branded video channel highlighting its corporate sponsors to club members.
This announcement follows the news of New York Health & Racquet Club joining HCMN’s network, and also of HCMN’s acquisition of the Alloy Fitness Network, which expanded the company’s network to nearly 4,000 health clubs in 120+ DMA’s across the country, said the company.
Digital Signage, Digital Signage Expo, FrameMedia, Interactive marketing, Thinking Screen Media, Wireless Digital Signage, digital signage news
Crunch, Digital Signage, FrameMedia, health clubs, Thinking Screen Media
Posted on Sep 7, 2009 by Jane Goodwin at 12:05 am
Xconomy.com’s Wade Roush has posted a wonderful article about FrameMedia’s new name and additional new goals! As Thinking Screen Media, the former FrameMedia is still the leader in content delivery to connected screens worldwide.
Wireless digital photo frames, considered one of the hot new categories in consumer electronics back in 2006 and 2007, haven’t taken off as quickly as expected. People love digital frames, but they’ve tended to buy them as gifts pre-loaded with photos they uploaded to the Web, meaning many frames still don’t come with their own connection to the Internet. That’s a problem for Wellesley, MA-based Frame Media, whose whole business, when I last profiled the startup in 2007, revolved around providing fresh digital content for the frames, such as news and sports headlines, weather, and photos shared by friends.
But while Wi-Fi-equipped frames are still playing catchup, another channel for the company’s programming is emerging: so-called “connected screens,” meaning a whole variety of Internet-ready displays that are turning up in homes and offices. As a result, Frame Media is rechristening itself Thinking Screen Media, and going after what CEO Alan Phillips calls “a whole category [of displays] defined primarily by the fact that, unlike PCs, they are limited in their ability to easily search and configure content.” That includes not just digital frames but high-definition TVs, cable set-top boxes, game consoles, Internet radios, and even printers.
Through its FrameChannel platform, Thinking Screen works with publishers such as Time magazine, the New York Times, People magazine, and Weatherbug to offer more than 1,000 channels of content customized for such screens. (Users choose and configure the information feeds at Thinking Screen’s website.) The company is also partnering with virtually every consumer-electronics company on the block—names like Kodak, Motorola, Nintendo, Philips, Samsung, Sony, and Toshiba—to make it easy
“Most of the connected screens haven’t hit the market yet, but they will over the next six months,” says Phillips. In particular, Phillips says, “We’ll see an aggressive push by TV manufacturers to enable TVs to go beyond video.” A taste of what he’s talking about already familiar to millions of video game fans is the home screen of the Nintendo Wii, which, in addition to games, offers links to news, weather, shopping, and photos.
The 15-employee startup collected $5 million in Series A funding from Longworth Venture Partners and CommonAngels in May 2008, and there are plans to raise a Series B round this fall, Phillips says. When it comes to supplying content for tomorrow’s connected screens, Thinking Screen has both technical and strategic advantages over existing and potential competitors, he says.
San Diego-based Chumby, whose interactive media player displays information through “widgets” analogous to Thinking Screen’s channels, is the company’s closest competitor, in Phillips’ judgment. But he thinks Chumby will have a hard time delivering content to devices other than its trademark soft-sided appliance, since the widgets depend on Adobe’s Flash video format, which most other connected screens can’t handle. Thinking Screen’s data, by contrast, is delivered using the Media RSS format, created by Yahoo in 2004 and used by thousands of content publishers.
Thinking Screen also has a network of content and manufacturing partners that would be hard for any other company to match, Phillips says. “The barrier to entry is about partnerships on the content side and more importantly on the screen manufacturer side,” he says. “As we create a critical mass of users, the revenue from advertising is shared with both content providers and screen manufacturers, so there is a stream now that encourages the screen partners to make sure that FrameChannel is enabled on their devices.”
Two new products set to emerge from Thinking Screens in the coming months are designed to widen the service’s appeal to consumers. One is a line of inexpensive digital frames dedicated to a single type of content—examples might include a frame that just shows celebrity news from People magazine or news and scores for the Boston Red Sox.
The other is a selection of 35,000 channels aggregating local information. For example, Phillips says, “You could have a Hopkinton, Massachusetts channel, where we’ve licensed content from local news sources, traffic, weather, relevant sports scores, stock quotes for companies, lottery numbers, a Twitter feed from your state representative—everything to do with Hopkinton. So you can imagine watching the Today show at seven in the morning and as a picture-in-picture experience you’re also getting your local town’s feed.”
Wade Roush is Xconomy’s chief correspondent. You can e-mail him at wroush@xconomy.com, call him at (617) 252-7323, or follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/wroush.
Digital Signage, FrameChannel, FrameMedia, Interactive marketing, Thinking Screen Media, digital signage news
Alan Phillips, connected screens, Digital Signage, FrameChannel, FrameMedia, RSS, Thinking Screen, Thinking Screen Media, wireless digital photo frames, wireless digital picture frames, Wireless Digital Signage, wireless screens, wireless signage
