Latest headlines: Scott Tiner on NFTs, Jeff Hastings on AV education, plus news from C2G, Epson, Sharp/NEC and more
April 12, 2022 | Volume: 14 | Issue: 7
NFTs are something I’ve tried to consider “none of my business.” Everything I’ve read about them on Twitter confused me more and the celebrity craze around them also turned me off. HOWEVER. When you really think about it, owning an NFT isn’t so different from purchasing art from Samsung’s art store to display on your Frame TV. You don’t own the original artwork. You simply own a digital copy to display at your leisure. Can this NFT trend make its way to digital signage? Some might say it has already. I prefer to wait and see. Check out Scott Tiner’s column for more.
Enjoy the rest of this newsletter, folks. It also includes a short column by Jeff Hastings from BrightSign. He writes about the importance of industry education — and how we shouldn’t place all the pressure on integrators to know everything. Check it out!
As AV professionals, we will have to learn how to verify the authenticity of an NFT and how to setup displays to show only NFTs that are verified as having the appropriate permissions. Envision a direct view display that is displaying an NFT but has some type of watermark or indication that shows the viewer that it is original and legitimate. So, just like my print of “Chair,” others could still have an image of the NFT, but anyone looking at it would know that it is not the original.
The burden to self-educate falls disproportionately on systems integrators and other technical consultants — these are the wizards whose job it is to know precisely the right mix of hardware and software to weave together to deliver on what customers are asking for. In fact, much of their value is derived from their wealth of industry knowledge earned over the course of many years of successful research and execution. This model worked well for many years, but I believe hardware manufacturers and CMS providers should take a more active role in providing educational opportunities to integrators and technical consultants.
