May 17, 2013
It seems the latest luxury item to adorn corporate lobbies is the somewhat inglorious hand-sanitizing station covered with interior-design friendly finishes such as faux brass or imitation marble. The sentiment seems to be that if they have to be there, and they probably do, then at least they can look like they were carefully and intentionally selected, rather than dropped off by some impersonal sanitization team.
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Apr 30, 2013
Google has been getting a lot of media attention around its augmented
reality (AR) internet-enabled glasses—Google Glass.
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Apr 02, 2013
I’m a systems contractor, why should I have to spend resources on marketing?
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Mar 14, 2013
What areas of the healthcare
market do service?
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Mar 14, 2013
There are many skeptics when it comes
to using social media for business-tobusiness
(B2B) selling.
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Mar 14, 2013
What do Massachusetts General Hospital,
Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St.
Louis, and University of Michigan
Hospital all have in common?
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Mar 07, 2013
The latest innovation in healthcare
involves the use of walls and surfaces
as computing devices.
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Feb 26, 2013
For some time now I’ve been trying to come to terms with Facebook,
Twitter, blogs, email newsletters, and all other variety new-age media.
Are these legitimate vehicles for our marketing efforts?
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Feb 07, 2013
Historically, most user grievances with conference phones have revolved around the poor quality of the audio experience.
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Jan 23, 2013
This month, SCN is debuting a quarterly feature delving into the
ongoing convergence of AV and IT. We’ve selected two experts in
their respective fields, John E. Stiernberg for AV, and Bill Murphy
for IT, to answer questions that many integrators have on this subject.
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Jan 15, 2013
Is it true that data, audio, and video can travel only about 300 feet on twisted pair because of external interference?
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Jan 01, 2013
Early this year we adopted the phrase “flat is the new normal.” Hoping
for a decent recovery in 2012 we all seemed grateful that 2011 was in the
history books and we looked forward to improving business conditions.
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Nov 30, 2012
Just when you thought it was safe to buy a television, the 4K LCDs are coming—and there's no stopping them. In fact, 4K is being called the next generation television standard. The term 4K refers to an LCD flat panel or projector that has four times the resolution of HD (high definition) video. Some manufacturers are using the 4K name, while others, including the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) are calling them Ultra HD (UHD) devices.
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Nov 08, 2012
The future poses much opportunity specific to the AV industry.
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Oct 23, 2012
Ask a movie director and they’ll tell you that the audio track
is worth just as much if not more than the visuals on the
film itself.
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Oct 11, 2012
Q. The audio category is brimming with products for just about
every application, including assistive listening. How and when did
you notice a need for a new product—loop technology?
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Oct 08, 2012
I became an audiovisual professional largely because I love technology. I especially enjoy new technology because it provides an opportunity to learn something, and hopefully improve how I do things. Sometimes I’m nostalgic for the old, but usually the appeal of the new is too great. For every new product, though, there is another that has become obsolete.
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Sep 24, 2012
Behind all those shiny new
iPads and Android tablets
that employees are bringing
into the workplace,
some troubles are arising
for the video pros who are trying to make
streaming video work in the enterprise.
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Sep 06, 2012
Last week I attended a total
of 23 hours of online
classes.
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Aug 27, 2012
Dear Professor Phil,
We’re using IPTV at our school and
have discovered a situation that we
don’t understand.
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Aug 16, 2012
Admit it. We’re all in the same
boat.
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Aug 02, 2012
Earlier this year I wrote in this column about headwinds and tailwinds that
impact our businesses, making it difficult to predict the future while making
it imperative that we continually plan and prepare.
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Jul 31, 2012
Q. What do you steps or suggestions do you have for tech
managers who want to transition to video over wireless in
their facility?
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Jul 13, 2012
Surveillance operations continue to grow and change as technology evolves. The transition from CCTV to IP cameras has been largely successful, and many businesses, educational facilities, law enforcement agencies, and other entities are now strategizing how to keep an eye on things while on the move.
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Jul 12, 2012
Our social interactions are arranged on a graphic timeline, our weather
is beautifully mapped so we know when it will rain, and our brain is
explained with full-color fMRI images.
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Jun 07, 2012
If you’ve been watching the
trade press recently, you
know that Panasonic and
NHK just unveiled a 145-inch ultra-high definition
plasma display.
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Jun 05, 2012
Where there is scarcity, there is money.
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May 04, 2012
Joining some 400,000-plus other people, I recently finished reading Steve
Jobs by Walter Isaacson.
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May 03, 2012
The Viewpoint section of SCN is reserved for opinions and trends that reside
out there but just beg to be heard in a more formal sense.
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Apr 12, 2012
There is often a chill that runs up your spine when something is really well
done.
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Mar 06, 2012
In the September 2011 issue of SCN (“Paperless Classroom”), I talked
about the revolution in education that’s impacting the way Higher Ed and
K-12 classroom systems are being configured and how the resulting designs
will radically reduce our environmental footprint in terms of manufacturing,
installing, and ultimately disposing of obsolete hardware, racks, wire, and
connectors.
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Feb 07, 2012
Pilots use a lot of terms to describe the laws and forces of nature that either
work for or against them during flight.
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Jan 06, 2012
I’m fortunate to live in a city with a world-class music venue: the Walt
Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, CA.
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Dec 14, 2011
Wow, it’s already the December issue of Systems Contractor News.
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Dec 02, 2011
In the ’90s, the idea of integrating sound, video, and lighting systems in the
church market was basically non-existent.
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Nov 16, 2011
Do you ever take the time to reflect on the history of your business,
why and how it started, and the milestones you and the business have
achieved?
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Oct 27, 2011
Is it just my imagination, or has most of the cool new technology that has
been invented over the past 20 years been in the world of audio and video?
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Oct 17, 2011
Increasingly, in both our home and work environments, we live in a world of automation. And, accordingly, our demands have risen just beyond the limits of reasonable expectation. Is it any wonder, then, that we frequently hear "What do you mean I have to adjust it? Isn't it digital?" With Digital Signal Processing u
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Aug 16, 2011
It is amazing that large buildings ever even get built.
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Aug 09, 2011
For many years I was an advocate of simplicity when it came to user interface
design, maybe to an extreme.
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Jun 08, 2011
Depending on your region, the education market today may be excellent
or non-existent.
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Jun 03, 2011
Today’s business environment has dramatically changed in the past few
years.
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Mar 18, 2011
How often have you heard the phrase “value engineering,” or even used the words yourself, in the context of an AV integration project? If you are like me, you are probably tired of hearing what probably started out as a term to describe good construction management practices, but over time has become overused to the p
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Feb 08, 2011
I’m writing this column following the loss of a dear friend and industry
leader.
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Jan 12, 2011
As I walked into the International Association of Amusement Parks and
Attractions (IAAPA) 2010 trade floor, it was clear that there was an
energy level on the floor that I had not felt in 10 years.
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Dec 16, 2010
As we look forward to 2011, you may want to give some thought to Albert Einstein’s quote, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
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Nov 17, 2010
It has been one of
those months—the
kind where there
seems to be a permanent
target on
your back.
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Oct 07, 2010
Talk of the death
of the World Wide
Web seems to be a
popular subject at
this moment.
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Sep 09, 2010
Every month our
company pours
significant amounts
into high-speed
internet access for
the offices.
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Aug 13, 2010
The last 12 months
have been an electrifying
time for the
videoconferencing
industry.
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Jul 19, 2010
As the axiom goes,
in 1810 the savvy
entrepreneur should
have gone to London,
in 1910 they
should have been
in New York, and
in 2010 they should
be in Asia. Having
recently returned
from Shanghai, China and the
World’s Fair (Expo 2010), the saying
holds true.
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Jun 07, 2010
A few days ago one
of our sales people
covering a large
corporate account
received the following
email: “Please be
advised that, effective
immediately,
John Q. Champion,
supervisor security technologies, is on
special assignment and no longer in
this position.
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May 06, 2010
As the executive director
and CEO of Info-
Comm International,
I am often asked
about the effect of the
recession on the commercial
audiovisual
industry, and most
importantly, when
will the tough times end for business.
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Feb 26, 2010
Probably the most famous two words uttered by former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan are “irrational exuberance.” He used these words in 1996 to describe the run up in the stock market prior to the bust of the dotcom era. It’s too bad he didn’t take the necessary steps to avert the bust or the pending mortgage and banking
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Jan 06, 2010
When the term ‘quality’ is applied to AV system installations, some tend to first think only about the relative value or usefulness of the individual components that make up the system. Are they of “good quality?” However, the true overall quality of an AV system is determined by many factors. These include the design
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Dec 18, 2009
Most professionals recognize that they have to network to build business, find opportunities, and move forward in their career. They also recognized that effective networking is not walking int
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Sep 28, 2008
Is Bigger Really Better? Full Article 9 by Mike Bradley Mike Bradley (mcbradley@safeguard.us) is president of Safeguard Security and Communications, a security and communication systems integrator in Phoenix, AZ. Bradley is a past president and director on the board of the NSCA with 25 years’ experience in sa
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Apr 11, 2005
What's behind your brand? Another way to ask this question is, what could go wrong to hurt your brand? Every company, whether new or established, has a brand. A brand is a reputation, a promise, an expectation.
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