When thinking of selling digital signage to the K-12 market, many integrators would simply walk away. We all know the budget struggles of public schools, therefore we know that there is not excess money to spend on what may be seen as frivolous. Yet, there are some things you may not know, particularly if your […]

This month’s column is a little bit different from others in the past. I some ways, I am not ever writing about AV or education. Instead, I am writing about something that is near and dear to all tech manager’s hearts, and I am assuming everyone who does work of any type: management. How do […]

MOOCS, class capture, blended learning and flipped classrooms are all the buzz in today’s higher education tech world. Several factors drive these changes in technology and pedagogy. Some institutions are trying to find ways to cut costs, others are trying to figure out ways to make some extra money and many are simply trying to […]

The past few columns of mine on digital signage have had a similar theme — particularly, finding and understanding the small niche uses of digital signage. I also had a more subtle theme of making a digital sign worth the investment. The days of having a digital sign simply for “making announcements” has passed. Finally, […]

Last month in my column, The Dog Days of Summer, I wrote about a project we did in one of our classrooms. The title of the column spoke a bit about what June and early July is for us in the education world — a bit snoozy. Our budgets don’t start until July 1st, so […]

As a technology person, I love to peak at installed technology whenever I get a chance. However, most of the time it is not the technology that intrigues me, but rather the USE of the technology. Personally, I believe that is what a lot of salespeople miss. Why is the technology being used in the […]

As I sit down to write this column for July, I expected to be overflowing with excitement and interest from InfoComm. I am on a bit of an InfoComm hiatus, having not attended for three years. Yet, I am struck that there does not seem to be any HUGE news out of the show this […]

All of us have lost someone important to us. It is a very difficult time, soothed only by close friends, family and memories of the person we have lost. The funeral industry sometimes feels like a taboo subject, but in fact, is huge business in this country. Funeral homes, whether privately owned, or corporately owned […]

Happy Friday! Here are some of the top stories we think you can’t miss from this week. They include, some InfoComm 2014 announcements, a digital signage column from Scott Tiner, a preview from Revolabs and Listen Technologies from Leonard Suskin and more! We hope you enjoy this edition of the Weekly Wrap-Up and if you […]

Digital signage has changed dramatically over the past couple of years. In order to be successful in a digital signage business, and perhaps, to keep their current business running integrators need to see these changes and act on them. There should be no surprises here, this publication, along with industry experts have been talking for […]

Hello to the rAVe World! I am told that many of the readers of this publication are manufacturers reps and integrators. That is good, because I am calling all of you out right here, right now. You may want to do some homework before reading any further. I wrote a blog about this in April, […]

I awoke Friday morning to promptly receive an email from Chief’s own Joel Hagen.  Joel emailed me a link to Scott Tiner‘s post of that day entitled “Over Here! Over Here!” in which he in essence called out his local manufacturer’s reps for ignoring him even though he specifies and even installs much of the […]

In case you missed some of the top stories from this week, here is a second look. The next stop on the Almo ProA/V E4 AV Tour is in Orlando next week, Christie has joined the HDBaseT Alliance by releasing HDBaseT-enabled projectors, Scott Tiner’s latest blog addresses digital signage and its practical placement and more! […]

If you have been dealing with digital signage over the past decade, you are well versed in the idea that content is king. If that is the case, then why is it so darn hard to figure out good content? These questions were circling around my mind over the past few months as I got […]

Every Friday we give you some top stories from the week that you can’t afford to miss. This week includes an update from Extron, a blog from Keith Kelsen and a column from Scott Tiner, and InfoComm replaces its CAVSP with its APEx designation. Hope you enjoy this week’s week wrap-up, and as always, let […]

In September, I wrote about the struggle I sometimes feel when thinking about whether to develop a strong relationship with a vendor/manufacturer or to play the field. I decided to revisit that topic after some recent experiences, and some recent news. One of the major reasons I questioned whether we would stay with a certain […]

Here’s a look back in case you missed these news stories this week including: Almo Pro A/V’s new digital signage content creation services, the latest gaming column from Matt Cooper, Extron does BYOD via LinkLicense, Digital Signage Poised to Change the Restaurant Industry and more. Enjoy! And, if you think we missed something, let us […]

The landscape of cable television continues to change at a dizzying pace. In previous blogs, I have written about both the WWE Network and the striking down of the net neutrality rules. Since then, Comcast has purchased Time Warner Cable and, according to the New York Times, reached a deal with Netflix to deliver its […]

Several years ago, I was approached by the Dean of Faculty’s office to install a digital “poster board.” They had a little extra money in the year’s budget and wanted to use it to show off the great work of our students and faculty. They also wanted to make a bit of a splash, so […]

It has been about 18 months since the AV world was officially introduced to 4K. Many of us in the AV industry take major changes like 4K with a grain of salt. I think it tends to be because we have seen technologies (think 3D) have a groundswell, and then fall flat. So, we are […]

As we begin 2014, there is always the temptation to write about predictions for the industry. I think that has been done very well by others, so I won’t take that route. Rather, I want to take a moment and think about how we prepare for the future. While is fun to think about the […]

One great thing about having young children is that they keep you on top of all the latest technology trends. My son, CJ (10) became a wrestling fan last year. Every Monday and Friday night he is glued to the television watching the latest episode. And the company is truly a marketing and entertainment genius. […]

In July of this year, I wrote about the uses we have found at Bates College for the iPad mini as a troubleshooting tool.  In that article, I wrote mainly about using the iPad as a portable touch panel for a technician. We continue to build on that success and have found more new and […]

In January of 2014, we will be hosting a grand opening of our new Digital Media Center. This is a fabulous space that includes top line editing suites, a professional studio and a Mac computer lab. It is an amazing place for our students to be creative and experience new ways to communicate. We decided […]

One year ago I wrote my first column for rAVe Publications. What a fun year it has been. I have been fortunate enough to have heard from dozens of people with feedback, comments and questions about my articles. Even my daughter got in on the fun a few months back. We had a conversation that […]

Recently, a couple of events got me thinking about some interesting and creative ways to use digital signage in our educational facilities. The first conversation was with a colleague from George Mason University. We were talking about digital signage and he was telling me that at his location the AV department has nothing to do […]

On October 1st of this year, Crestron Electronics sent out a press release that its DMCO 7-series streaming card for DigitalMedia was now shipping. This card was not a huge surprise to the industry, as it had been rumored/discussed since InfoComm of 2012. In addition, the technology had been seen by many people in Crestron’s […]

In my last two columns for rAVe DS, I referenced a terrific column from Keith Kelsen. Both months, I have suggested you go and read his column before you read mine. I am doing the same this month, go give it a read now if you have not yet read it. This month I want […]

Several years ago I wrote a blog about class capture, and the expense of the systems that existed. I was frustrated that these systems cost so much money. I had been trying to bring class capture into my institution for a couple of years, and could not justify the cost. The systems that we looked […]

After my first article on relationships, I had all kinds of people offer me thoughts and feedback. It was fantastic, because I really like to see what others in the industry are thinking. It is clear to me that lots of people, including both Technology Mangers and integrators are thinking about these issues. A couple […]

In my August column for rAVe DS I referenced a terrific column from Keith Kelsen. Last month I suggested you go and read his column before you read mine. I am doing the same this month: Go give it a read now if you have not yet read it. This month I want to discuss […]

If anyone is a regular reader of my columns or blogs, they know that Bates College, where I work, is a Crestron house. This summer I was able to work with some products from AMX. Specifically, we had the DVX-3155HD presentation switcher, along with the Modero MXT-1000 touch panel. I was able to configure these […]