We have added a new audit feature which allows you, as a partner, to create an “audit” user which his/her content can be supervised by up to 3 auditors. The audit user cannot publish content without approval. The auditors do not need to be users in the NoviSign system. We also added more font support. This should not affect any existing creatives’ alignment (but we always advise to double check).

Console Management v3.3.0-6

When you create a new user, you can define it as an audit user. This can be done only when creating a user, not after that. An audit user will always stay like that and cannot be converted to a non-audit user, so please take that into consideration.

All you need to do is to check the “Audit user” checkbox. Once you do it, 3 more text boxes will appear. Before that, fill the “Email” text box which represents the email address of that audit user. The 3 new text boxes are all called “Audit Email”. You need to fill at least one of them with an email address of the person who is going to be the supervisor of the audit user. You can fill up to 3 email addresses. Later on, you can change those email addresses or delete them (but still need to stay with at least 1 auditor email).

 
Studio v3.3.0-6

Audit user

When an audit user logs in, everything looks the same. However once s/he adds a simple creative or a blended creative, then s/he needs to submit it for approval. When s/he presses the “Submit” button (either inside the creative composer for a blended creative or in edit mode of a simple creative), all the auditors will get an email for approval. In that email they have a link that when clicked they get a page in which they can watch the creative (they must watch it, otherwise the approve/disapprove buttons will remain disabled), add a comment and approve or disapprove it. Once they do it, the audit user will be notified by an email and will see the comment (if there is any).

After the user presses the “Submit” button s/he won’t be able to edit the blended creative. However, s/he can press the “Revoke” button which cancels the submission and allows the user to keep working on the creative. After submission, the audit user will see the email addresses of the auditors in the edit mode together with an icon next to each one of them (orange clock means that the creative is still waiting for approval by that auditor; green V means that the creative was approved by that auditor; red exclamation mark means that the creative was disapproved by that auditor). If the audit user hovers the mouse cursor above the red or green little icon (in the creative composer or in the edit mode of the simple creative), a tool tip text will appear with the text which the auditor typed as a comment for his/her decision.

Only after all the auditors approved the creative, the audit user will be able to use it within playlists. If the creative was never sent for approval, you won’t see any icon on the creative. If a creative is already in use in a playlist and the audit user revised it but still did not get an approval for that, it will keep showing the old approved version of the creative in all the players.

Fonts

Now there is more font support. All the basic 9 fonts in the creative composer when using the label/text widget are fully operational. If you like to use more fonts in Air (Windows) player then first thing, make sure you have the font you want installed on the machine with the Studio and on the machine you’re going to broadcast to; Second, in the creative composer after you highlighted the relevant text, instead of selecting predefined font from list, just type the font name in font family box and press the Enter key. If you like to use more fonts in Android player, then follow these instructions of adding more fonts in Android.

Native Android player v3.3.1-1

Supports more font support + bug fixes.

The post Audit Feature & Font Support (v3.3.0-6) appeared first on NoviSign Digital Signage.

This article will explain you how to show a Google spreadsheet document (like a Microsoft Excel sheet) in your digital signage using our online Studio. If you need to show an Excel file, you better convert it into a Google spreadsheet and then follow the next procedure.

Here are the steps:

1. Go to the Google Drive and create a new “Spreadsheet” document.
2. Add your data to the spreadsheet.
3. Share the spreadsheet with another Google account user.
4. In the sharing dialogue, you should see the “Get shareable link” option. Click it.
5. The link will appear below. Copy the link to the clipboard.
6. In the NoviSign Studio, compose a new blended creative and drag a web page widget to the canvas.
7. Set the URL property of the web page widget to the one which is in your clipboard (the shareable link from step 5).
8. Set the “reload interval” property of the web page Widget to 1 or 2 minutes.
9. In the player, when this creative is played for the first time, instead of showing you the spreadsheet, you should see Google account login page.
10. Type the credentials of the user that you shared this spreadsheet with in step 3. If you want to save the frustrating typing with the popping-in-and-out-Android-keyboard, you better share the spreadsheet (in step 3) with the user which is defined on the Android device
11. The player should ask if it can store the credentials. Choose yes. The credentials are stored in the browser of the device and NoviSign won’t have to obtain them again.

The post How to display an Excel in digital signage? appeared first on NoviSign Digital Signage.

Yes, retail industry is using digital signage for over 2 decades now. Since someone realized he can use the TV screen and a VCR and broadcast messages to the store visitors, nothing changed much…

Of course, the promotion screens became flatter (some are just no more than big tablets), the digital signage players became lighter and cheaper (Android digital signage players can be purchased online at 20 – 40 dollars), the CMS became simpler, cloud based and available everywhere, the digital signage as a whole is richer in content, much more dynamic, updated and appealing, BUT – basically it is the same – just better.

What if it is high time for second honeymoon between the digital signage providers and the retail giants? What if digital signage can literally change and enhance the shopping experience? Turning it into something interactive, dynamic, location based and relevant at real time?

Just imagine and on demand poll asking the shoppers to select the ‘product of the hour’ that will be sold at 90% discount? The online feedback will make the coupon be sent directly to the smartphone – just for participating…
What if you can upload a picture of yourself with your favorite serial, to the Instagram feed on the local digital signage and you’ll win a serial supply for the year?

Imagine your kids playing a digital signage game with other kids in the store, the winner gets a coupon for a small award, and maybe a chance to continue to the next level to bigger prizes, all branded by the store – do you think the kids (and their parents) will stay longer, buy more? I believe they will.

Would you agree that a ‘like’ (yes, a simple Facebook ‘like’) to a product has a tangible value? Just think of ways the digital sign can ‘tease’ the visitors for a ‘like’ – this creates a long term engagement. This is what I call ‘marketing’!

The next generation of digital signage for retail is no longer a simple, dynamic on line messaging system. It is a high end technology tool to enhance the ability of the retail to allow their clients to communicate, interact, socialize and enjoy (yes, even in business, it is OK to enjoy) the shopping experience.

Honeymoon flight is about to take off – are you boarding?

Yakir.

The post Digital signage and retail – second honeymoon? appeared first on NoviSign Digital Signage.

When I had my first Minix Neo X7 I was happy with it. Then I discovered that there is another type of Minix Neo X7 and that mine was merely the mini version. Which one is better and why? I will try to make things clear in this article.

Let’s start with the similarity: They are both quad core, 1.6GHz processor, 2GB RAM, Android 4.2.2, WiFi 802.11, Bluetooth 4.0, RJ45, HDMI, micro USB/OTG, SD card slot, antenna (on all the big boxes and on some of the mini boxes) and IR remote control.

What’s the difference? The big box (in size) has 16GB ROM, while the mini box has only 8GB; the big box has 3 USB ports while the mini has only 2; the big box has an on/off button, while the mini doesn’t have one (which is an advantage – since the device turns itself on after power failure) – but that’s not an issue, since you can jumper the big box to auto power on; the price of the big box is around 130 USD while the price of the mini is around 95 USD.

So, basically, except the double ROM size and the 30 – 35 % difference in the price, is there any other difference?
Actually, there is. There are differences in the firmware versions which you can obtain!

The big box has more firmware versions.

In both boxes, some of the firmware versions, which you can flash, have the following problem: when you put 2 MP4 videos in the same screen, in one video you see the 2 videos blended together, while in the other video you get a black rectangle instead. This is not a big issue as some of the firmware images do not possess this problem.

The main problem I have found is that with the mini box, if you use the only available firmware image that has support for screen rotation (portrait mode), then while in portrait mode, it doesn’t rotate the video. That’s a problem only if you intend to flash and use the mini box for portrait orientation mode. Otherwise, it’s not a big deal.

So, my final conclusion is this: if you need to display in portrait mode, definitely buy the big box (and flash it).

If you don’t need that (and don’t need a huge amount of ROM), then the mini box will be just fine (and cheaper).

Nir

The post Minix Neo X7 vs. Minix Neo X7 mini appeared first on NoviSign Digital Signage.

In the last year we’ve been asked many times about remote control utilities for Android. When I say “remote control”, I mean a software utility that can allow your PC (or Macbook) to take control over your Android device.

In the Windows world, the domain of controlling one PC by another PC is highly developed as it’s been over 2 decades for this to evolve. It started from PC Anywhere, to remote admin, remote desktop, VNC, TeamViewer and more. But what about controlling the Android?

Only in the last couple of years, when the Android was born and the Android revolution took off, the need for controlling Android remotely arrived.

I’ve been trying a couple of apps that supposed to give me control of my Android TV box. I tried apps like Air Droid – Air Droid (somehow reminds me of Apple’s AirDrop service) is a remote control app that allows access to your Android device from Windows, Mac or web. With Air Droid, I was able to transfer files, get screen shots and do other things on my Android box. However, the only thing I really wanted to do there was to take control in a way that I see the Android screen live like if it was next to me. That characteristic doesn’t appear in Air Droid. So I tried other apps that didn’t work or didn’t work good enough or needed rooting and afterwards also didn’t work, till I discovered VMLite VNC Server app. This app seems to do the job. It allowed me to take control of my Android TV box from my PC. Cool! However (yes, there is another “however”), it worked only in the office. Why? Same IP subnet (both IP addresses of my PC and my TV box were in the same network. The problem emerged when I tried to take control of my TV box which was in the office, behind a router, from my PC which was at home. The way to take control is using the IP address of the TV box: in the office there is no problem, but from outside my PC cannot see the internal IP address of the TV box which is in the office. It can see only the external IP address of the router which is the same IP address of every other Android device in my office, hence it cannot reach my TV box at the office. Buying an external IP address only for that TV box is a big expense, so it’s out of the question. I know that there is a way to configure the firewall with a script that can allow the controller of VMLite VNC to reach the TV box by some kind of mapping. This is a magic for me. If someone knows how to configure that, I’ll be more than grateful to learn it(!).

Eventually, I discovered that the good old TeamViewer also have an app to control Android. It is called TeamViewer QuickSupport. This app does the job! You can run or install the good old TeamViewer on your PC (the same utility you use to control one PC by another PC), while on the Android device, you need to install the TeamViewer QuickSupport Android app from the Google Play market. You can have full control like if the Android device was at your feet, transfer files, etc.

However (sorry, this is my last “however” in this article), in case you want to take control of the Android device, even if you know the device TeamViewer ID, you still need someone there to press the “Allow” button, in order to start the session. More than that, you need someone to start the app as it doesn’t have auto start in case the Android device restarted. So, in case of Android digital signage, if you want to control a remote Android player at a customer’s venue, you’ll still need the customer to start the app there and press the “Allow” button for you.

In time, I guess we’ll see some more improvements for the Android remote control apps. Till then, I’ll keep watching science fiction movies…

Nir.

The post Remote Control in Android – Myth or Reality? appeared first on NoviSign Digital Signage.

The Minix Neo X7 (in my opinion, at least) is the state of the art device of Minix company from Hong Kong. Recently, they launched the Minix Neo X6. Yes, I know, it is weird that X6 comes after X7 and not the other way around. However, everything has a reason.

In this article I will review the Minix Neo X6 and will compare it to the Minix Neo X7.
So what do we have in the Minix Neo X6? It has a quad core 1.6GHz processor, quad core Mali-450 GPU, 1GB RAM, 8GB ROM, Android 4.4.2 (KitKat), H.265/HEVC hardware decoding support, full HD, WiFi 802.11, Bluetooth 4.0, RJ45, HDMI, 2 x USB, TF (Micro SD) card slot, antenna, IR remote control and on/off button.

In comparison to the Minix Neo X7 series: the size is a little bit smaller than the Minix Neo X7 and a little bit bigger than the Minix Neo X7 mini. When it comes to the price, here are the news: It is cheaper than the X7 (which costs around 130 USD in DealeXtreme), but unfortunately, more expensive than the X7 mini (which costs around 95 USD in DealeXtreme). The X6 costs around 100 USD.

Let’s start with the similarity: They are all quad core, 1.6GHz processor, WiFi 802.11, Bluetooth 4.0, RJ45, HDMI, antenna (some of the mini boxes do not have) and IR remote control.

The 2 versions of the X7 have ARM Cortex A9 processor which is stronger than the ARM Cortex A5 processor of the X6. The 2 versions of the X7 have 2GB RAM while the X6 has only 1GB. The 2 versions of the X7 have micro USB/OTG while the X6 doesn’t have. The 2 versions of the X7 have SD card slot, while the X6 has only TF (Micro SD) card slot. The X6 comes with 2 USB ports like the X7 mini, while the X7 has 3 USB ports.

So why the X6 is more expensive than it should be? It comes with quad core Mali-450 GPU which is more advanced than the Mali-400 MP of the X7. It has H.265/HEVC hardware decoding support and KitKat (Android 4.4.2) which is more advanced (also includes support screen rotation!) than the Jellybean (Android 4.2.2) in the X7. But, does it justify a higher price than the X7 mini? I’ll let you be the judge of that…

Any other downside? Actually, when it comes to our Android digital signage software, there is: In the only official firmware which they have for the Minix Neo X6, we have experienced the following problem: when you put 2 videos in the same screen, one video will play fine, while in the other video you get a black rectangle instead. If have no intention to play 2 videos (YouTube and Ustream count as a video for this) together, you can use the X6. But if not, you better use the good old X7.

So, what’s your call?

Nir.

The post Minix Neo X7 vs. The New Minix Neo X6 appeared first on NoviSign Digital Signage.

Press release published yesterday (Feb 18, 2015) at Market Wired

Shuttle Computer Group, Inc. (one of the world’s leading designers of small form factor computers), and we, NoviSign, a SaaS digital signage software provider, yesterday announced of our digital signage bundle. The new bundle makes creative, interactive and social digital signage simple and easy to use, at a remarkable price. The bundle is about to be demonstrated in Booth #646 at Digital Signage Expo, Las Vegas Convention Center, March 11-12, 2015.

The bundle will be sold for under $299 retail. The new DS2ALSNOVI package includes a lifetime software license and combines Shuttle’s DSA2LS Android-based media player with our NoviSign’s app pre-imaged for plug-and-play simplicity.

Gil.

The post Prior to DSE 2015: Shuttle Computer Group and NoviSign announce new low-cost Digital Signage Bundle appeared first on NoviSign Digital Signage.

Following the line of the social digital signage, we have added a new Twitter widget. We added a free layout to the Instagram widget and also added 2 new languages for the online Studio: Japanese and Dutch. Studio v3.5.0-5 Twitter widget The new Twitter widget has 2 layouts: “Scrolling” and “Free Layout”. Scrolling means it will show textual tweets like a ticker, while free layout allows you to arrange the elements (message, date, user name, user picture and photo) on the widget space in any matter you like. You can even add each element more than once (or not use it). When you added a Twitter in a free layout, you can double click the widget rectangle or click the right-most icon in the little floating panel which you can see on the widget itself. Doing so will open the free layout edit mode: a panel of 5 big icons on the top with a couple of some other elements. From that panel you can drag elements into the widget rectangle. Like in every widget, the right pane holds the properties of the Twitter. You can see live preview, set the refresh rate (how many minutes will it wait till it goes to the server to look for new tweets), the user which you logged into Twitter with and finally: the query. The query is the most important thing in Twitter as this is how you filter the tweets which you want to display. Example: typing #lego in the query will bring all recent tweets with the hashtag “lego”; typing from:thedude will bring all recent tweets twitted by a user called “thedude”. For the full list of search options, click this link and then click the “operators” link. Instagram widget – free layout We already had the Instagram widget, but only in a simple layout. Now, when you add this widget, you can choose whether to have it in a simple layout (as before) or in a free layout. Free layout is the same like in the Twitter widget: it allows you to arrange the elements (message, date, user name, user picture and photo) on the widget space in any matter you like. You can even add each element more than once (or not use it). When you added an Instagram widget in a free layout, you can double click the widget rectangle or click the right-most icon in the little floating panel which you can see on the widget itself. Doing so will open the free layout edit mode: a panel of 5 big icons on the top with a couple of some other elements. From that panel you can drag elements into the widget rectangle. New languages We have added Japanese and Dutch for the benefit of our partners and customers in Japan and in the Netherlands. Native Android player v3.5.0-9 Supports the free layout of the Instagram widget and the new Twitter widget.

The post Twitter, Instagram Free Layout, Japanese and Dutch (v3.5.0-5) appeared first on NoviSign Digital Signage.

NoviSign and NAN Signs announce exclusive partnership to provide Digital Signage services in Nigeria. NAN Signs will be the exclusive licensed provider of the NoviSign cloud based digital signage software platform in Nigeria.

NAN Signs is a digital signage solution provider based in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A. In 2014 NAN Signs rolled out a digital signage project in Jos University Teaching Hospital in Plateau State, Nigeria. This digital signage rollout provided education in the hospital on the Ebola outbreak and information services during the Annual Trauma management crisis conference held in December 2014.

NAN Signs has established an office in Lagos, Nigeria registered as ViewNaija Limited located at No. 5 Pepple Street, Computer Village, Ikeja, Lagos. It provides digital signage hardware, software and consulting services for businesses in Nigeria.

For more information on NAN Signs please visit http://nansigns.com.

The post Novisign and NAN Signs announce exclusive partnership in Nigeria appeared first on NoviSign Digital Signage.

Recently we have just added 2 new apps to Google Chrome Web Store. One app for the player (“NoviSign Player for Digital Signage”) and another app for the online Studio (“NoviSign Studio for Digital Signage”).

Just start your Google Chrome browser and surf to https://chrome.google.com/webstore/search/novisign
You’ll find the 2 apps just right there. Clicking the “+ Free” button of each app will install it. In the popup window, you’ll just need to click the “Add” button and that’s it.

You can also watch the following tutorial video for how to install the new Chrome Store digital signage apps.

Hadar.

The post We now support the Google Chrome Web Store with new apps! appeared first on NoviSign Digital Signage.

Many companies embrace the model of product led services for their IT solutions – meaning – buying a well-known, reliable product license and adding on top a set of capabilities that fits their exact needs, on top of the generic product. Now the dilemma is … should the customer use the same (product) vendor to build his solution, or should he use an internal or even a third party software provider/SI to run it for him?

The dilemma is real and like in any other IT oriented market, the digital signage software blooming market is no different. Using well known and spread technologies such as HTML/HTML5, Android, Chrome, Java and JavaScript – there are many candidates to ‘jump’ on each digital signage software project.

Looking purely at the price – it might indeed be cheaper to do it externally. But… let us differ between price and cost! These are NOT the same. Price is what you pay now, the cost is what you will pay for the entire project and here it becomes kind of tricky…

You can take a programmer or a bunch of them and develop a new signage feature. And now what? How will it connect to your product? Will the performance be sufficient? How long it’ll take (and how many errors along the way) for the programmer to understand the platform and the business need? Is this a real R&D/Professional services group or simply people with development skills? (There is a huge difference – platforms, NFT, testing tools and programming methods, blend of expertise).

We at NoviSign believe that solutions, as crazy as they can be, on top of NoviSign’s platform should be done by digital signage software professionals, that understand the business and logic behind it, the market needs and the way to connect and deliver! (Yes, even if it requires working some crazy hours to meet deadlines). Additional critical value is support – once a feature is inside the product – it is fully supported!

NoviSign digital signage software professional service is a flexible, fast responding and business oriented group. Looking for professional services for digital signage – go to the professionals!

Avi.

The post Digital Signage Software – Do it yourself? Are you crazy??? appeared first on NoviSign Digital Signage.

If you want the short answer then… YES!

I guess you expect more than that, so there we go…

The first and easiest answer is that we are no longer in the 20th century. We are actually in the middle of the second decade of the 21st century. Everything is moving faster, everything is changing and the very frequently using the word ‘Dynamic’ is a key in all business aspects. The printed menu boards are long gone, this is clear. The fact that digital signage technology is replacing the menu boards is a 10 years ago vision coming true (actually the main trigger was the flat screens). So, showing a digital menu board that changes every now and then, by using a person with a disk on key updating the prices or the items on the menu, is not what restaurant/bar/school/university dining room mangers think about when they imagine a digital menu board.

As the business needs are changing rapidly, the supporting systems must keep up. The fact that a filet steak can cost 20$ for lunch and 30$ for dinner is clear to all. But maybe it can cost 45$ when the Super Bowl game is on and the bar is crowded? Maybe it should cost 12$ after 2AM, when it is getting slower and younger people coming in after a party? This kind of flexibility is not in the menu board of the traditional digital signage… The super easy to use, cloud based content management systems with highly dynamic, close to real time capabilities are here to support the business, any business.

Lastly, the price… The modern SaaS technologies allow digital signage software providers to provide Dynamic Digital Menu boards at the same cost (sometimes even in lower cost!) of the traditional ‘half static’ digital signage. In reasonable prices any business owner can easily upgrade the signage systems, becoming more flexible in his ability to communicate and serve his clients.

And what is next? Well, another popular word – interactive! Yes, soon enough dynamic will not be sufficient, the menu boards will become interactive menu boards. Someone wants to vote about the beer that will be served for 5$ during the ‘Happy Hour’? Maybe bid on the price of the steak? This technology is mature enough as we speak. But this is for the next blog…

Next time, stick to the short answer – Yes, digital menu boards must be dynamic!

Gil.

The post Should digital menu board be dynamic? appeared first on NoviSign Digital Signage.

This post will explain you how to upgrade your NoviSign Android digital signage app (actually, as well as any other app) from remote.

Sometimes the auto-update feature of the Google Play store app doesn’t work on your Android device and will not auto update the NoviSign app when there is a new version in the market, even if you set it to “Auto-update apps over Wi-Fi only”. That’s why we bring you the following procedure.

The first thing you need to know is that in order to upgrade the app using the following procedure, it doesn’t matter if you set the Google Play app to auto update or not, it doesn’t matter if you turned on the location access of the device or not, it also doesn’t matter if the app is down, up or running a playlist. The only thing that matters is that you have set a gmail account on that Android device – same gmail account which you can access from your PC (or Macbook). For making things easy, we advise not to set more than 30 – 40 players with the same gmail account.
 

In order to upgrade the app on a remote Android device, do the following:

1. Open a Chrome browser window on your PC (or Macbook).
2. Sign in to the same gmail account (www.gmail.com) that is defined on the remote device.
3. After you’re inside the gmail account, change the page URL to play.google.com, in order to surf to the Google Play market.
4. Now, search for novisign. When you get the search results, click the NoviSign app with the black background icon (this is the native Android app).
5. You’ll see a green button under the app name with the label “Installed”. That means that the NoviSign app is installed on at least one device with this gmail account.
6. Click the “Installed” green button and a new popup window will be opened. In the bottom of the window, you’ll see “Choose a device” and a dropdown list. The dropdown list holds all the devices which were installed with the NoviSign app (installed directly from the market and not from an APK!) under that gmail account.
7. Click the dropdown list and choose the Android device which you like to upgrade its NoviSign app. Then click the “Install” button. You’ll get a notification message immediately after. That means the upgrade command was sent to the device. Even if the device is offline, once the device gets online again, it will be immediately upgraded.
8. For upgrading another Android device, repeat steps 6 + 7.

 
Please notice that the device name is the brand and model. You might want to change the name (from something like “NEO-X7-216A”) to a more friendly and meaningful name (like “Minix X7 – Washington – Mayflower bookshop”).
How do you change the device’s name? Do the following steps (do them after step no. #3 in the above procedure):

1. In the Google Play market (play.google.com), click the settings gear icon in the top right corner of the page.
2. In the menu, choose “Android Device Manager”.
3. This will collect data from all the devices. Press the “Accept” button in case you’re asked to confirm it. Please notice that you should turn on the “Location Access” option in each Android device which you’d like to appear here (to do that, on the device itself, you need to access the Android “Settings” -> “Location Access” and turn it on).
4. In the list on the left you can see and choose any of your Android devices which are under this gmail account.
5. Once you choose any of them, you can click the “Rename” pen icon next to it and rename it.

 
Good luck!

The post How to upgrade your NoviSign app from remote? appeared first on NoviSign Digital Signage.

Digital signage software is basically a software that can be installed as an app (by installing APK file or downloading it from the Google Play market) on your computer (which can be a PC with Windows, Android or Linux, or a Macbook or an Android dongle/MiniPC/set-top box/TV box/streamer/player).

The digital signage software knows how to turn that computer into a digital signage player. However, in most cases, it doesn’t work alone – this is just the end station for displaying the signage on the venue. There is another end which is the server that can be on-premise, that means a dedicated (or not dedicated) physical server machine which is located at the customer’s office or headquarters. It can also be SaaS which means that the customer doesn’t have a physical server – the server is in the cloud. This is the trend in the last 3 years. There are advantages and disadvantages to each of the two methodologies: on-premise can have better security, can be faster but needs a lot of maintenance and might be expensive due to that; SaaS almost doesn’t need any maintenance and can be very cheap while the security is low and the speed depends in the general traffic in the internet, especially when you have a narrow bandwidth internet line.

The features of the digital signage software also matter. They have also evolved from simple images, text & video to more cool features like tickers, RSS feeds, web page embedding, clock, shapes. Now, the focus is on interactive and social digital signage. That means interactive features such as polls, games, trivia and quiz, touchable eMenus; or social widgets such as Twitter feeds, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.

The next generation of digital signage will probably be face recognition for collecting data (integrates with the tablet’s camera or with a 3rd party special camera) or face recognition that triggers relevant commercials. Also another direction is identifying where the person was looking at the screen to know what on the screen was more interesting for him (this was already developed, but not for digital signage).

The future is here and it’s here to stay.

Zvi.

The post Digital signage software – everything you wanted to ask.. appeared first on NoviSign Digital Signage.

Do you know what Instagram photo wall is? It is exactly as it sounds (not related to the Facebook wall) – an Instagram that can be made visible on the physical wall for any type of event (from sports to wedding, from school party to a business promotion day). Looks interesting but sounds complicated? Well, not so complicated…

The digital signage industry had embraced the social networks, especially the most effective social network for digital signage – the Instagram. Instagram, is the easiest, simplest way to share images and simple text. It is very widely spread and popular among kids (usually from 9 years old and above), but also teenagers up to adults and even seniors.

The modern digital signage software providers realized, that a video wall, as interesting as it can be cannot stay a single sided communication, it must interact with the audience and what would be easier than simply adopting and fitting Instagram Widgets into digital signage wall.

From wedding to live concerts, from school playground to a sport event – the Instagram wall is the most immediate, dynamic and cool way to connect and interact between the visitors at any type of entertainment. Imagine friends of the groom uploading old and funny pictures of him at sixth grade, imagine a wedding proposal at a huge live concert, imagine a birthday greeting from the crowd to the NBA star on the court, imagine… Well – we can imagine any type of interaction on the Instagram wall.

One thing we must not forget – the human nature… We must be careful and make sure the digital signage software providers do provide some kind of simple and immediate filtering capability – to avoid the online Instagram wall from becoming abusive.

Instagram wall – put your social network activity – on the wall!

Roey.

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Few years back, the digital signage industry did bet on Android as the next OS for signage, mainly for the small and medium businesses that were looking for a well-known OS, simple to use, free and open, to bring the digital signage message to businesses at any size.

It is true, the challenges for implementing powerful signage software on Android based devices were enormous, especially around NFT (Non Functional Testing) the devices were not robust, the OS itself was less than forgiving… it took some time and few releases but can safely say now, that Android based devices for digital signage are a success, implemented around the world in growing numbers, satisfaction is growing and users, especially in SMBs see the value.

Just recently, during a Google I/O event at San Francisco, it was announced the new Android release – Android M – is born! The proud parents will expose it to the world during Q3 2015. The main impacts on the digital signage market will be the new app permission management (will slightly resemble the iOS), easier integration with external apps (very important for the signage business) and improved RAM management for better performance on Android based devices.

Android M, is the natural evolution in the Android OS development life cycle and the digital signage software providers, are keen to start testing and adopting it to signage needs. Android M will most probably increase the popularity of Android based devices in digital signage.

Google, with the Android OS is in fact recently pushing the Chrome OS into signage as well. This is becoming an important player in the digital signage market. If we combine that with Google’s vision on the IoT (Internet of Things) and the last concept in signage – SoT (Signage of Things) – it seems like exciting prospects are expected in this area.

Android M – digital signage is waiting impatiently for you!

Fedor.

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Let’s start with the question itself… The question itself is problematic, when you are operating for long time in the IT business (maybe not only in IT, but in life itself, meaning you are not young anymore. Like me…) you clearly understand there is no really such thing as BEST, usually it is ‘best fit’ or ‘optimum’, same goes for picking the optimal OS for digital signage players. The main operating systems that we can find in the digital signage players market are Android, Windows, Linux and Chrome. iOS is rarely used.
The main parameters that most digital signage users will be interested in when they come to choose the right digital signage player and the OS, will be based on price, stability and simplicity of use.

Well, let’s start:
 
Windows:
* Windows is (still) the most common digital Signage player OS. Windows Players require license.
* Windows is very stable and well known system, almost anyone knows how to operate a windows based device.
* There are many remote management tools for windows based devices, a clear advantage for digital signage.
* Summary: Very Good OS for digital signage, can fit for any size of project, but not for low cost projects.
 
Linux:
* Linux is a very stable system, quite popular in the last decade. Usually, does not require license, many flavors of Linux can be found in the market, makes it a bit confusing to fit the right Linux.
* Command Line Interface, problematic usage for non IT personnel.
* The cost of devices that run Linux are usually not on the low end of prices.
* Summary: Medium to Good. Fits mainly for huge projects, that involve high number of IT professionals.
 
Android:
* Fairly new OS for digital signage, becoming more popular in the past 2 – 3 years, mainly among SMBs and new digital signage implementers.
* OS used to be quite unstable, but dramatically improved in the last 2 years, nowadays we can consider it as a stable OS.
* Popular, easy to use, well familiar OS.
* Free, open and friendly.
* Almost no remote management tools.
* Summary: Very Good for digital signage, mainly for SMBs and early adopters.
 
Chrome:
* This OS is a very ‘young’ player in the digital signage domain. Still hard to determine its stability and popularity.
* Easy to use, free of charge.
* This OS is quite popular in U.S.A., less in other regions, but the number of ‘fans’ keeps growing.
* Summary: too early to know. Pushed by Google, so it is a good sign.
 
iOS:
* Easy to use, popular and stable.
* Expensive, closed and less popular among the digital signage community.
* Summary: Fit for high end projects that must ‘show off’, rarely used for digital signage.
 
We at NoviSign decided to support Windows, Android and invest also in Chrome, as it seems like its future might be bright for this industry (and since we are computer geeks that like to try out new technologies…)

Good luck in your projects, hope this will help you picking up the best fit OS for your players.

Avi.

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This year NoviSign had an exciting opportunity to take part at Amdocs OSS hackathon and demonstrate how our innovative digital signage widgets can upgrade any competition, company event or business conference. NoviSign’s live social walls created a unique interactive environment based on social networks and tremendously upgraded the hackathon experience, otherwise less transparent by nature. NoviSign’s interactive widgets added color and interactivity to the event as participants could record themselves working and share their live Twitter and Instagram feeds with the other hackathon teams throughout the world. It was exciting to see this dynamic slideshow made of pictures uploaded by Amdocs participants decorating Amdocs hallways throughout the day.

A Hackathon is a short and intensive software development competition, aimed at producing a ‘working software’ by presenting full development cycle skills, including design, development, testing, product management and product marketing. Amdocs, one of Israel’s biggest global software companies, held a hackathon last week that took place in Israel, the UK and India simultaneously. NoviSign was selected to accompany the competition and provide an interactive, social digital signage ‘wrapper’. NoviSign provided real-time content sharing on big screens using social networks (Instagram and Twitter) as well as an interactive voting system for the final stage of the competition.
 

Step 1: Competition Recording
During the competition each team worked in a closed office but if you walked past Amdocs hallways, you could track the progress by looking at a slideshow of pictures generated by NoviSign social walls application. The competitors took pictures of themselves while working and uploaded the pictures to their Instagram account by using the hashtag #OssHton2015. The result was a dynamic slideshow that mirrored this intense day. Because the competition took place at three different continents simultaneously, it was important to allow interaction and connection among the teams.
 

 

Step 2: The Vote
After a long day of project development, the teams woke up to another exciting day of voting and announcing the winner! This is where NoviSign was instrumental with its poll widget. NoviSign presented its poll widget on a big screen at the auditorium on those three locations. All participants and organizers around the world got an invitation to vote with a QR code. After scanning this code with their smartphones, they were directed to a dedicated website where they were given the option to vote for one of the teams, while the results kept updating online on the screens across all three locations. NoviSign software does not allow two votes by the same person, which made the results entirely accurate, and the announcement about the winner was ten minutes after the polls had been closed.
 

 

Adding an interactive digital signage to the competition greatly enhanced participant interaction and collaboration. The screens hanged in Amdocs’s offices created a fun and an interactive environment and upgraded the experience for all the participants in the competition. NoviSign’s digital signage software can benefit each and every screen-based event, with minimum preparation and without a need for ongoing maintenance throughout the event itself.
 

 
Want to hear more? Go to http://www.novisign.com/live-social-wall/

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NoviSign is proud to present: Interactive screens for conferences & business events

Last week we had the honor to take part at Globes’ (one of the major economic newspapers in Israel) annual business conference with our interactive screens. Our goal was to raise the discourse and the experiences from the conference on the screen. In practice, the noise and traffic were larger than we imagined, when hundreds of tweets and photos from the conference were displayed on the screens through the day and the exposure of the content from the conference on social networks was enormous.

‘Mad’ (digital marketing and advertising) is an annual business conference attended by influence people in the advertising industry, business people and reporters in order to take part in discussions related to the Israeli economy and to promote themselves and their business. This year, by using NoviSign live social walls we offered the attendees to publish content from the sessions and personal insights on the big screen in front of thousands of people who took part at this event. In fact, the screens allowed to have a practical dialogue about topical issues evoked various panels and it presented a current and dynamic slideshow of the people who took part in different places and on different activities of this day.

Preparations for the social activity were very simple and required no maintenance during the event. The screen itself was designed by NoviSign online Studio and included a ticker for the Twitter tweets, Instagram photos slideshow and RSS feed from Globes website. In terms of hardware, all we had to do was to connect a Minix Neo X7 (Android TV box) to one of the screens at the event using NoviSign’s live social walls software. In order to invite people to participate in the activity. The conference organizers published few days before the event and through it that the hash tag word for this event was to be #GlobesMad2015.

The results were amazing! The event took place for more than seven hours and the screen was updating all the time with the most recent content from every panel and location of the conference. In addition for the dynamic screen, the conference social traffic was increased and there were over 50,000 people who viewed the content from the conference by social networks. Beyond the exposure, the guests of the conference got a unique and special experience when they were given the opportunity to take an active factor of the conference by taking part in a debate around the conference on the screen and share their personal experiences from the event.

Want to hear more? Click here to see live social wall.

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Few years after the Android based digital signage was introduced and gained a significant portion of the market with lots of followers mainly those who implemented digital signage for small and medium businesses. Google is now pushing the Chromebox as one of the options for digital signage player platform.

Same as Android, Chrome is a very popular browser and operating system (actually the operating system is called “Chrome OS”). The Chromebox digital signage players are there and very easy to use. They do not require, in most cases, any special knowledge. Chromeboxes allow running rich content and at least from first weeks of using it as a digital signage player, it seems like some of the childhood diseases that digital signage software providers experienced on Android, especially around stability and CPU usage, do not appear in the current generation of Chrome OS based boxes.

The prices of Chrome boxes are also quite attractive for digital signage usage. It is on the high side of prices if you compare it to the top level of Android based signage players, but the difference is not dramatic. The fact that Google is promoting the Chromebox to become the ‘Google Mini PC’ solution for all sorts of ‘single application’ platforms, is adding to the appeal this relatively new box has to the digital signage industry. Another wise thing that Google did was collaborating with 4 different big hardware manufacturers (HP, Asus, Acer and Dell) in order to get a bigger market share. I suppose that in the future, we might see other big hardware manufacturers, maybe Lenovo and Toshiba, selling their own Google Chromeboxes.

The digital signage market is going through changes in the past half a decade and it’s still haven’t reached stability. The Android based signage devices had helped the growth of the business and its implementation in millions of SMBs. I would say that the Android opened the way for the Chrome OS. Chromebox is relatively new player (double meaning in this case :-), but with Google pushing, signage software companies embracing and customers that are ready to try something new – the future looks bright for Chomebox in the signage market.

Is the digital signage market ready to try the new toy? Time will tell, all signs (again double meaning!) show it is.

Nir.

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