This gorgeous digital photo frame is better than any we’ve ever seen

There’s your standard, run-of-the-mill digital photo frames
Built by ex-Dreamworks employees, is a large digital photo frame for displaying photos, artwork, and even animated videos on your wall, all in much higher resolution and in a gorgeous form factor.
The prototype frames were on display earlier this week at an event for hardware startup accelerator Make in LA, where Matt was pitching investors on his company. He previously raised more than $100,000 on Kickstarter.

“What we need is a unified solution that is easy, inexpensive, simple to use, and is social,” Matt said. “That’s what we’ve done with Shiningltd.”
There are some big differences between Shiningltd and your average digital frame, starting with its size. The usual frames are small, but Shiningltd is 22×14, which puts it in good company with other paintings that may be on the wall. It’s also wrapped in either a black or natural wood frame, and the display is subdued in a way that makes artwork look rich and normal, instead of digitized.

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The best way I’d describe its display is that it’s similar to the difference between reading a book on an iPad versus reading one on a Kindle — which puts extra emphasis on making the pages of an ebook look exactly like a physical book.
But perhaps the coolest feature of the product are its wireless capabilities. It’s always connected to the Internet, where it can be programmed to automatically download your favorite works from artists on Deviant Art or Flickr, for example. Or you can set it up among family members to share photos across frames, perhaps even hundreds of miles apart.
It’s all easily controlled through a smartphone app, which allows users to quickly send photos, videos, and artwork to the frame with just a couple of clicks. It also has a low power mode, so you can schedule it to turn the display off at night.
Here’s one of how it looks to change photos (but keep in mind, this low resolution animated image doesn’t really do the display justice):
Waters, who was previously an animator at Dreamworks, emphasizes that his true goal with the frames is to allow artists like himself to make money selling art online in a new way.
These days, most artists need to sell and ship physical artwork to their fans, but we thinks his frames can serve as a much simpler method where fans can grab artwork they want quickly — with an iTunes-style revenue model that allows artists to keep 70% of the profits.
“The reason that we’re doing this isn’t to make money,” they told Tech Insider. “It’s just something we’re really passionate about.”
He said he was approached by a few investors after the event, along with a number of people who were interested in buying one.
Right now, the frames are undergoing a small beta testing phase — so most people can’t buy one yet.

Personal Volumetric Display

Just when we were running out of things to throw our money at, along comes another product nobody asked for. Startup Looking Glass made a “personal volumetric display” called Volume that it says will let you see VR (really, 3D content) without a headset, so you can share such content with people around you. The display is also interactive so you can move things around either by swiping on the touch-sensitive screen, waving your hands in front of it or pairing up a gaming controller. The company claims it’s the world’s first affordable personal volumetric display. What’s more, such an outlandish device has an equally far-out price, should you want to buy it: Volume is now available for preorder for $999.

To be fair, this is a first-generation device that’s intended for early adopters or developers who wish to create content for such a canvas. And based on my brief experience with a preview unit earlier this year, Volume doesn’t seem ready for the general public. Although it delivered on its promise of providing holograph-esque 3D images that everyone in front of it could see, the graphics seemed faint, especially in brighter light.

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Despite its resolution of more than two million 3D pixels, the projected pictures also seemed somewhat blurry. Don’t get me wrong — I thoroughly enjoyed myself playing a game where I had to move my hand in front of the Volume in tandem to the rhythm it played. But I still had a hard time seeing at least this iteration of the display taking off.

The company used a technology that it developed, called “lightfolding,” that projects millions of points of colored lights into a glass cube that measures 21.2 x 10.6 x 7.6 inches. The screen’s dimensions are 10.1 x 7.6 x 5.9 inches and it acts as a canvas for the light show. The projector is housed at the bottom of the unit. With an optional Leap Motion add-on, you can wave your hands in front of the screen to move objects around, or use the included touch sensitive panel.

Volume is integrated with Unity3D, so developers can more easily display their projects on the device. The company says it’s looking to release a range of plugins to support 2D creation tools as well. An app library will also be available with several free titles including 3D Etch-a-Sketch, Adobe Animate, Volume Paint, Volume Sculpt as well as Volumetric arcade games. It will also offer Holoflix, an iPad app that lets you record and playback volumetric videos.
Looking Glass emphasizes Volume’s ability to let groups of people “experience 3D content simultaneously without any additional accessories,” such as headsets. But glasses-free 3D TVs and projectors have already done that, and deliver superior image quality as well. The HoloFlex, a smartphone cover that’s a bit more similar to Volume, also suffers the same issue with resolution, although it uses different technology. These examples lack Volume’s capacity for touch interactivity at the moment, though, and also aren’t available for consumer purchase just yet.

I won’t deny that the idea of a personal holographic display is pretty cool and could be a great tool for collaborative work. But the idea that a $999 device is “affordable” is harder to repeat with a straight face. Looking Glass said its lightfolding technology reduces the cost of traditional volumetric displays nearly one-hundred-fold, which is impressive. But until the experience gets better in later-generation models, it’s difficult to see the typical consumer shelling out for Volume.

How to choose bill payment kiosks?

How to choose bill payment kiosks?

In order to improve customer experience through self-service payments, companies are moving to bill payment kiosk.
Bill payment kiosks provide customers with a secure transactional solution and provide new ways to improve customer service.
While many businesses are eager to join self-service, there are a number of factors that need to be considered before deciding to invest in a self-service payment plan.
Below, we list the five most common questions when considering a bill payment kiosk.
Usage: What do you want to solve?
A bill payment kiosk should first consider the use of the situation. What will the kiosk be used for specifically? While this may sound like a simple question,
given that “bill payment” are already in the name, kiosks can also support many different types of payments.
For example, more traditional use cases include tuition collection, rent payments, and bill collection. However, advanced self-service technology allows kiosks to issue tickets, print documents and encode cards to meet the needs of different industries.
Business model: How do you plan on conducting sales?
How the company plans to sell in a self-service environment is a key factor in determining the best bill pay solution. It is important to know what the expectations of the customer will be.
For example, what customers expect is to scan and purchase tangible items?
Is the kiosk being used to sell a service, pay for a bill, or will the kiosks be used to expand the shelves by selling more products than a business can carry in store?
Security: How will you protect user information?
For the protection of user information, strong security is essential. The security features control how the kiosks is authorizing, collecting and storing personal identifiable data. Depending on the usage, EMV and / or PCI compliance,
You may need to protect users from fraud. EMV is a global standard for verifying credit cards using chips to authenticate transactions. PCI is the industry data security standard, the purpose is to ensure that all companies can accept.
Processing, storage or transmission of credit card information to maintain a secure environment. Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) may be used to ensure additional security rules.
Software: Who’s create the user interface and maintain the platform?
The software platform and application will determine how the user interface and customers participate in the bill payment kiosk. A comprehensive bill pay software should provide enterprises with customized reports,
system performance management, system security,extensive component support and allows to configurate all major credit / debit cards. 

Hardware: What are the hardware requirements?

Use cases, business models, security, and software determine which devices and components are needed to ensure the success of the bill payment kiosk. Comprehensive software will allow the integration of a large number of inventory components.

Device and component integration can include printers,card encoder, dispenser, scanner, VoIP and more.

Busiest Highways Get Interactive At Travel Centre Stops

If you’ve even driven the 401 highway that runs up from Detroit through Toronto and almost to Montreal, you’ll have been thankful there’s a set of travel centres that provide the essentials to motoring: gas, coffee and clean restrooms. About 500,000 people a day pull in to these centres across the province.

There are 23 ONroute Service Centres on the 401 and the 400, which heads north to cottage country, and most of them now have shiny new three-sided interactive stations aimed to boost tourism and promote highway safety.

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The remaining three (existing self service kiosks) will be replaced as construction is completed in each centre.

The kiosks contain new 65-inch digital screens which connect users directly with information and services such as: a direct link to travel website, it’s accommodation providers and attractions, and links that enable people to join the conversation on it’s social media channels as well as download the tourism-focused mobile app.

Two interactive games, ‘Top Traveler’ and ‘Memory Match’, based on it’s summer marketing campaign, make learning about many experiences, products and destinations fun and exciting. Since the new kiosks launched in mid-August, they have captured the attention of over 190,000 visitors to the ONroute Service Centres.

MTO offers various information options at the kiosks, including maps displaying real-time weather and traffic, and a valuable trip-planning tool that helps ensure timely, safe travel experiences.

 

To Offer Your Patients digital Information ( Before they go into the Examination Room)

To Offer Your Patients digital Information ( Before they go into the Examination Room)

As a doctor, we know that you want to offer the best for your patients, with the excellent medical treatment service, to prove your practical experience, and assist your patients to know the main points for a happy and healthy lifestyle well. As there are many people come to checkup and cure, there is limited time for regular appointment, the explanations one by one is also limited in the examination room, you can not assure your patients to get all the important information you want to convey.
Go into our digital signage marketing solution is often regarded as a marketing mode, before your patients come or go into the examination room, our digital signage display offers a superexcellent opportunity, taking advantage of brilliant LCS display technology and your own content, you can customize experience for your patients in the waiting room.

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Convey Information for Their Waiting
Taking advantage of customizable templates, you can choose the educational charts, important points and the descriptions of professional service you want to display, take advantage of digital signage to focused the medical achievements which related to your specialty, even make some suggestions for your patients what they should consider to ask during their appointment. Make the full use of the time when used to wait, to keep your patients valuable information which is interesting and updating constantly.
Keep a record of Greeting
Digital signage holds a huge advantage in the static waiting room, because it enables to display various kind of contents, including video clips. Taking advantage of this feature, you can record greetings when you catch the attention of your patients, you can introduce yourself, will attract attention to the benefits of your digital signage at a moment, Furthermore, you can use the video function to display your educational material which related to your practice.
Updating regularly
Updating your digital content is simple and easy to use. If you get an important discovery in your field, or you want to convey your patients a new disease eruption, you can change the display within several minutes in your waiting room, keep updating and always let your patients know.

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Are you getting ready to do some creations for your waiting room? The solution which can work on and inspire your patients? Just contact us to know more about our digital signage marketing solutions and what we can do to change your examination Room!

Six characteristics determine the application of digital signage within the hotel

Six characteristics determine the application of digital signage within the hotel

Digital signage project configuration is already be required when building new hotel or updating hotel,hotel operators need to be considered how to make a choice from number of digital signage products on the market.In the selection process, the hotel operators need to know digital signage will be able to play what role: as meeting of Information Display System (MIDS)? to promote the facilities of the hotel? information board? or wayfinding systems?
Once the hotel operators have confirmed how to use the digital signage, consider 6 characteristics to help them identify which category of digital signage should be selected:

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1 can be displayed?
The basic requirements for digital signage is content been clearly displayed, therefore, hotel operators should understand the difference between gloss display and anti glare display,gloss display will influence the display effect of glare and reflected light, gloss display in the use of early display because of fashion and is only open for and obtained the development, but in the hotel will use because the reflected glare and light and forcing customers to adapt its mobile location. These problems also produce a large market for anti glare display and third party anti glare glass.

2. Interaction is not always the best
Many believe that the hotel will provide an interactive meeting information and wayfinding display system is the best choice for digital signage,However, the interactive digital signage can simultaneously serve as a customer, but an interactive meeting information and wayfinding display system must meet a certain number of customers, sometimes the same group of customers, and sometimes need to quickly demonstrate to serve different groups client,Therefore, interactive meetings and wayfinding information display system needs to do better in this regard in order to upgrade to meet all of our customers;
Of course, pathfinding and interactive meeting information display system can well improve the level of concierge services;

3 be qualified for special events
Sometimes, customers need to set the hotel lobby to facilitate the activities of the team.This is the opportunity for the potential revenue of the hotel, this time interactive conference information and search for the way to show the system needs to be able to display specific content and specific route instructions;
In addition, the system also need to be able to meet the requirements by the team planner,For example, a specific sound system can match the content of the digital signage, which requires the speaker to be used without interference to other customers;

4 Select the appropriate level
Hotel operators sometimes because of the budget considerations and the choice of the level of consumption of the display device, the level of consumption of the display device because the price factor, even the same manufacturers will have different levels of products;
But in the hotel environment, a lot of the time display device is required to use this we must consider all day long, a display device using the commercial level, because the business level display device uses a power input more powerful, more reliable drive and control circuit, which requires the use of full foot hard.

5, Outlook and size can be customized
In the planning of digital signage system, the hotel operator will because the interior design requirements of the system shows the equipment into space, but the interactive conference information and wayfinding display system is often placed in the room is indicated beside if no customized equipment will not embedded into the interior design, and display devices are has life, there will need to be replaced, so the hotel operator should take into account the convenience of the day after the replacement, these are customized requirements.

6 location is appropriate
When thinking about installing a digital signage system , keep in mind that it should be seen. If installed in the eyes of the height, standing in front of the display customers will stop other people’s attention, so the installation position should be higher so that more people can see at the same time; wayfinding display system should be easy to walk the customers see, without affecting the customer’s travel,So generally in the bottom of the escalator are generally not found wayfinding display system ;

Interactive Digital Signage in Seat setzt Flagship Stores

Interactive Digital Signage in Seat setzt Flagship Stores

Only in Germany, Seat setzt has 400 stores. Many of them will be equipped with a new interactive digital signage system, and the new pilot is the three flagship store.

Digital signs are widely used in POS or POI. However, many of the characters just show the information to the customer, and do not provide customer feedback channels. Now that we’re doing is changing the situation, the reason: the typical customers have been accustomed to the internet. And the purchase of a new car, customers need to interact with the reality of the network to determine and determine the collection of information.

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Three flagship stores in Germany have been used in the digital signage system. They are placed in the waiting area, the service area, also the welcome and reception area. Customers can load and touch image, information, data and other Web based content. In addition, buyers can be all kinds of models for accessories configuration, color configuration and other features of the configuration, can simulate the final model of the car and there will be no delay in information.

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The system uses 65inch and 15.6inch screen to match each, running webOS 2.0 system which based on Andorid OS by powerful quad core processor, each screen also has a built-in 10 Watt Stereo speakers.

Humanized operation and easy to update information to promote the efficiency of the work of the dealer staff. The system has become a sales assistant tool for increasing sales. It will now be introduced into nearly 400 other German seat sales store.

Interactive digital signage system is an opportunity for the automotive industry, because it since that customers want to get more detailed information, also hope that the dealer can fully understand their needs, and through interactive digital signage in the development of the industry is well proved that the car dealer is how to pay attention to his client.

Digital Signage Goes To The Kitchen

Mat Meiers is so steeped in the digital signage business he has a slick interactive display up and running in his kitchen.

Mat Meiers, a company’s lead creative designer, designed a screen layout to display calendar events, grocery lists, to do lists and family photos in his Kansas City-area kitchen.

The display has four pages; a homepage, grocery list, to-do list and calendar- the staples for every household- all of which can be easily managed and viewed. When it is not being used, in what Rise calls rest mode, it runs a photo slide show.

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“I wanted this page to be visually appealing to guests but still contain necessary information accessible at a glance without interacting,” says Meiers on the company blog. “The background of the home page is a family images. Overlaid on top is the current day’s forecast and any calendar event that might be going on that day. I wanted the navigation and transitions to be unobtrusive and take up little real estate giving the focus to the actual content.”

The navigation in the right hand corner directs to the calendar, to-do list and shopping list respectively. Meiers says he built the buttons in a similar style to Google’s Material Design, using a clip-path property to reveal content as the user transitions between pages.

I don’t see this sort if thing becoming a standard in home kitchens, but it’s nicely done in terms of design, and handy.

Can a 4K screen and moving art revive digital picture frames?

The year was 2012, and digital picture frames were expected to take the living room by storm. The frames were usually LCDs surrounded by decorative wood and metal, and were advertised as innovative replacements for boring, static printed photos. But consumers didn’t bite. U.S. sales of digital photo frames dropped from $159.4 million in 2011 to $88.6 million in 2012, and by 2014, the number of digital photo frame models on the market decreased by a whopping 77 percent.

Those numbers might scare any company thinking about entering the electronic frame market, but not Art.com. Earlier this month, the art retail giant threw its hat into the ring with it, a wall-mounted digital art frame.

Early digital frames suffered from a myriad of shortcomings. Some frames were unintuitive, lacking any sort of wireless connectivity and requiring an SD Card or USB drive to load images. Others sported disappointingly low-resolution displays and bulky plastic shells. Many had complicated software that made even the simplest of tasks, such as scheduling a slideshow, complicated chores.

Pigeon lets you push photos to grandma’s frame without her doing a thing

A product of Art.com’s experimental Labs division, was designed specifically to address those shortcomings. Boiled down to basics, it’s a wide but thin (the largest model measures 47 x 31 x 3 inches), wall-mounted 4K screen that downloads photos and artwork via a Wi-Fi connection. It stores artwork data in the cloud and caches it locally as needed, runs a modified version of Google’s Android operating system, and can be managed through a companion app for iOS devices.

But it is much more than a sum of its parts, Art.com CTO Nosas Topakas told Digital Trends. Unlike the digital art frames of yore, it isn’t meant to replace existing art; rather, it’s intended to augment it with new forms. “IT is an ongoing, ambient experience that can be a permanent fixture in any room in the house,” said Topakas.

Much of that experience involves motion. One form is Chrono Art, or “digital narratives” comprising video and stills that unfold over the course of days, weeks, months, or even years. Morph Art features subtle, unexpected changes in still life canvases, such as a figure emerging from a small cottage or light appearing from beyond a mountainside. And Chrono Art reflects the passage of time in any number of playful ways. Tokapas described an illustration of a London skyline with a prominent, shifting Big Ben clock face. In another, dripping lines of wet paint indicate seconds, minutes, and hours.

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What’s that slot in the picture frame for? You put your iPad in there, of course

Choosing between artwork is handled mostly by wireless remote. From the settings menu, playlists of artwork — still art, motion art, and videos up to 4K in resolution — can be managed and edited, and individual pieces selected, marked as favorites, or deleted.

You can upload personal artwork and photos via the app, or choose from Art.com’s digital catalog. The storefront prominently highlights a rotating number of collections. While independent artists use mediums such as social media for promotion, allows their work to be featured as home decor, which may generate a following.

As may be a Trojan Horse for independent artists, but it might soon become more: a source of livelihood. A business model hadn’t yet been finalized, but that Art.com will begin experimenting with “limited edition” digital artwork in the near future. And while all digital pieces are currently available to  owners as part of a $10 per month subscription, the company envisions dynamic — but palatable — per-piece pricing down the road.

 Memento 4K smart frame makes digital photos look like high-quality prints

That’s good news, because it isn’t cheap. The digital frame starts at $1,000 and tops out at $2,500 for limited edition models with frames of reclaimed wood and metal. It’s a high point of entry, but one that Topakas adamantly defends. The 4K display — the by far the biggest price driver — is “[essential] to this type of art and format,” he said. “It draws you in. You want to come closer and look, and the high resolution makes for a pleasant experience.”

A digital frame’s hardware is important, but the way in which the artwork it displays is acquired and cultivated is even more interesting. It puts platform front and center, and with the foundations of a flexible storefront and innovations like Morph Art, seems off to a good start.

Turning Stone Casino Makes Digital Part Of Guest Experience

NY for part of this week, hanging out at Seneca Data’s annual Partner Connect conference, held at a casino resort.

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First time at the conference, which is really well packaged and executed – something that probably makes sense, The company brings in clients, partners and prospects for a couple of days of product awareness, relationship building, cocktails and golf.

It’s my first time, as well, at the Turning Point Resort Casino, which is several notches up the Nice-O-Meter from most of the casino resorts I’ve seen on native American land. And I’ve been to more than a few small casinos in my consulting travels. Even played bingo at one last year.

Turning Stone has that slick feel of some of the newer properties, like Red Rocks, I’ve seen on the suburban edge of Las Vegas, and the operators have invested quite a bit in digital signage around the sprawling property, which attracts something like 4.5 million people annually.

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There’s a nice 2 by 6 video wall on the main entry header, and a cluster of six super-large displays in a corridor that leads to one or two of the nightclub bars in what I assume is a newer part of the development.

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There are also wayfinding stations at main entry and decision points. They look good, but I thought they were a bit of a pain in the butt to use. Judging by ALL the grey hair on the property, I wonder how many seniors would poke at them, but even fewer would use alternatives like indoor smartphone-based navigation.

There are some screens hanging on sticks from ceilings, too high to be useful or noticed, and displays in locations that made marginal sense, but there’s some nice stuff going on here, notably clean, eye-grabbing and well-synced creative. I like the way they do winner recognition, reminding guests that people do indeed win at the slots and other games.