iPad Wall Mount For Digital Signage

Grant's Perspective on ... Premier Mounts introduces iPad mounts including a wall mounted version.

Premier Mounts sent us some information on a new line of  iPad mounts (9 in total) that will be available next month (May 2011).

The mount that caught my eye was the one designed for wall mounting an iPad in a digital signage application. It is secure, allows for ventilation and comes in several different finishes. People have access to the screen but none of the other controls. All you see and can touch is the screen.

 

Grant

Telecommute Would Save Calgary $53B

Grant's Perspective on ... telecommuting to save travel costs and improve worker productivity.

 I read with interest about the Calgary Economic Development WORKshift initiative that encourages organizations to consider telecommuting. They have a white paper that claims that $53 billion a year would be saved if workers telecommuted twice a week.

A Calgary Herald article stated that a major impediment to telecommuting was that "... managers believe that they have to see people working in the office," said (Bob) Schulz, a professor at the U of C's Haskayne School of Business."

If the organization deployed personal videoconferencing systems (we can help with that) then employees can talk and see each other as well as share computer screens. The reluctant managers could be reassured that the employees are working! Many people are already comfortable collaborating with other people who are not located at the same office. 

As the report suggests: save money, create a smaller carbon footprint and foster productive and loyal employees.

Give it a try.

Grant

Extron TLP700MV Touch Screen System

Grant's Perspective on ... Extron TLP700MV Touch Screen Installation.

We have just finished an installation of several training rooms in downtown Winnipeg. We took some archival photos of the racks and I wanted to post one that features an Extron TLP700MV. This is a great touch screen that has a couple of nice features.

There is a rotary volume control for quick and easy audio volume changes instead of the up and down buttons that need to be clicked repeatedly. The unit also has 10  hard quick access  keys around the touch screen so that drilling into different pages of the touch screen is kept to a minimum.

I also like the fact that the system is hidden inside a row of  great looking cabinets.

The photo of the rack is below. I also included a screen shot from the Extron website so that you can see the TLP700MV detail.

BTW - I live just north of Winnipeg and like many people in Manitoba are dealing with the Red River flooding. Here are a couple of photos that my family took while taking a walk on a highway by Selkirk after the river waters receded leaving debris and icebergs behind.

Grant

iPad as a Crestron Controller

Grant's Perspective on ... the iPad as a Crestron controller.

A while back Crestron produced an App for Apple iPads and Apple iPhone / iPod touch that will control your Crestron System.   We've programmed systems that include control specifically from iPads and receive more & more requests to include this functionality.  I've been wondering if this is the best way for organizations to go.

In the world of AV we (Inland AV) specialize in commercial grade control systems for boardrooms, meeting rooms, classrooms, lecture theatres and the like.  My comments are focused on professional AV and not home theatres or home automation.  

Traditionally the control system user interface is a graphical one - a touch panel.  There are many different sizes and types depending on the application.

Crestron control via Apple products is a great idea.   Actually prior to this we've done many systems where an IP based control panel (Crestron X-Panel) is a duplicate of the primary touch panel hardware, could be accessed anywhere via a web browser from a PC, and of course the almighty Mac.   

An example of where this feature is beneficial is in a Help Desk application.  In a facility using touch panels in many training rooms (Schools, Universities, Colleges, manufacturing facilities, etc.), or even a smaller facility but with many different first time users (education, hotels, public/rental facilities, etc) the Help Desk personnel can see any rooms' touch panel pages on their own computer and assist the user to know what button to press, and even press it for them.

While the X-Panel works great in the AV world, and while I believe control via Apple products is fantastic, the iPad control system doesn't necessarily have its place in the professional AV World.  It's more of a residential thing, as marketed in this ad.

I doubt the education market will ever want to use control via iPads but the corporate market - boardrooms - seem to want this.  While that's cool, and the iPad looks really good, the corporate boardroom and training rooms should still have the customary Crestron touch panel.  The iPad may be a great secondary device but the touch panel should not be replaced.

Reasons: a touch panel is attached, ideally, to the room and is always there - like a light switch, and not like remotes getting misplaced or inadvertently stuffed in a laptop bag.  Also, the user needs to be able to access the touch panel when required - it should be there close by and readily available - the user shouldn't need to flip through Apps or wait for the App to load and connect.  That's not corporate boardroom functionality.  

The touch panel is a solid commercial grade device and should not be replaced by an iPad. An iPad makes a great secondary control but it is not quite ready to be the sole source of an organization's AV system control.

Grant