Digital Signage @IAdea

Digital Signboard vs. Consumer Photo Frame: An In-Depth Comparison

2011-02-14T00:08:00.000-08:00

The concept of placing small dynamic screens right on the shelf has proliferated since IAdea introduced its first-generation Digital Signboard and coined the term a little over a year ago. The devices are sometimes also called “shelf-edge displays” or “smart displays.” Unfortunately they are also often confused with the consumer wireless digital photo frame which may share many roots in technology but clearly comes short when considered for professional digital signage projects.

Read full article.

Smartsign and IAdea Collaborate on SMIL Platform for Digital Signage

2011-01-10T23:29:00.000-08:00

IAdea announces collaboration with digital signage software company Smartsign of Sweden to deliver a new solution for the digital signage market using the SMIL open technology.

Users can take advantage of a special discount at the moment to obtain the Smartsign Mini Screen including software license for just EUR 520.

Read complete article at: http://iadea.tw/h61qY

Stinova Goes the Extra Mile and Adds Multi-zone Support for IAdea

2011-01-04T02:43:00.000-08:00

Quickly following their initial announcement last month to support SMIL devices, Stinova is adding the much-anticipated multi-zone feature for IAdea's SMIL media players including the Full-HD XMP-320 and wireless XMP-330 devices.

Digital Signage @ IAdea Daily on Invidis Interview

2010-12-23T01:58:00.000-08:00

Read the December 23rd DigitalSignage@IAdea Daily on

"We have Unbeatable Arguments": IAdea Interviewed by Invidis on SMIL
"Smartphones Used to Scout Deals" on Mashable, recommended by David Weinfeld
Many, many more...

Check back daily on the DigitalSignage@IAdea!

"We Have Unbeatable Arguments": IAdea Interviewed by Invidis on SMIL

2010-12-21T19:28:00.000-08:00

In a by leading European digital signage commentator Invidis, IAdea's European Sales Manager Deric Wang shares insights in IAdea's position in the digital signage market with its SMIL offerings.

Insightful and challenging questions were answered. At the conclusion, Björn Christiansen, Marcom Manager of IAdea's German partner itworx-pro, makes a clear and unbeatable point:

We as IAdea's distributor in Europe have a very successful start with the introduction of IAdea products in Europe. With more than 1,000 players sold in less than three months and winning two major projects for 2011, everything looks very good. Through our partnerships with market leaders such as Scala, 42media, Cittadino, dimedis, SmartSign and Stinova we cover Europe very well. I expect that we will completely replace up to 50 percent of the conventional player in large projects with our players.

Stinova Adds Support for W3C Open Standard SMIL-compatible Digital Signage Media Player

2010-12-05T22:02:00.000-08:00

Landsberg, Germany. December 6, 2010 – Stinova expands its Digital Media Server support for IAdea’s open architecture SMIL based digital media players. This cost efficient hardware platform closes the gap between non-networked DVD players or CF media players and full featured embedded non-PC or PC-based platforms, providing users an unrivalled price performance for a network managed digital signage installation. IAdea’s SMIL players are available from an all integrated 10” screen based SMIL device up to a Full-HD appliance that can be connected via HDMI to any sized public display.

Read more at: http://www.iadea.com/article/stinova-adds-support-w3c-open-standard-smil-compatible-digital-signage-media-player

Stinova’s Digital Media Server (DMS) is available as either a One-Time License (OTL) for those users who want to run the software on their own server network, or as a SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) package on a dedicated SMIL web portal at http://www.smil.digital-signage.cc/. The portal offers a free of charge starter package which includes server account, content storage and a player access license. DMS Content Management Server will provide customers of SMIL media players with a straight forward and flexible way of supplying content to large and/or remotely located digital signage networks. The DMS is accessed using a web browser and provides IAdea’s customers access to simplified central management of content, playlists, users, player-grouping and scheduling.

An intuitive, content centric interface is central to Stinova's 4th generation digital management software and includes an easy to use WYSIWYG WEB Composer allowing users to build integrated multi-media content. In addition to English, international language support is provided for German, Spanish, Italian, French, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Russian, Arabic and Simplified or Traditional Chinese, demonstrating the global appeal of Stinova's DMS 4.

Franz Hintermayr, Managing Director of Stinova, explains: “Our partnership with IAdea provides users an open standard based and simplified Digital Signage hardware and software platform without any compromise in terms of easy to use interface as our WYSIWIG composer makes playlist creation a breeze.”

John C. Wang, CEO of IAdea adds: “We are excited to see Stinova’s commitment, as a German based Digital Signage software provider, to bolster our SMIL architecture on a world-wide scale. The intuitive software interface is a perfect match with our easy to install hardware platform and makes it highly scalable at minimum cost of ownership”.

About Stinova

Stinova Ltd. is a leading German software manufacturer of Digital Signage software solutions. Stinova offers the most intuitive CMS software technologies that power the worlds Digital Signage networks. These core technologies address all aspects of Digital Signage delivery from stand alone systems to dynamic Digital Signage Networks. Find more information about Stinova products at http://www.stinova.com/.

About IAdea

Founded in 2000, IAdea is dedicated to the development of cutting-edge commercial-grade digital signage players and integrated displays. IAdea’s products feature the XML-based W3C SMIL standard, allowing system integrators to quickly customize and tailor to individual project requirements. IAdea’s device technologies power many large-scale digital signage projects, offering proven robustness and lowered total cost of ownership (TCO). Market leaders partner closely with IAdea to deliver end-to-end total solutions. With offices in Irvine, Montreal, and Taipei, IAdea offers uninterrupted product service throughout the globe. For more information visit www.IAdea.com.

Digital signage doesn't get easier!

2010-11-25T18:43:00.000-08:00

Digital signage: News. Weather. Sports (scores for your local team/player in real-time). Facebook. Twitter. RSS feeds (in theory would work with Foursquare feeds too)! Drag-and-drop via a browser. Plug-and-play on IAdea's low cost hardware.

Too good to be true? Read more at http://www.iadea.com/article/digital-signage-doesnt-get-easier.

IAdea Media Appliance Choreographs 2010 Int’l Flora Expo

2010-10-25T22:09:00.000-07:00

IAdea’s newly introduced XMP-320 Full-HD Open API Digital Signage Media Appliance wins the selection process to power nearly one hundred screens and projectors throughout the 2010-11 International Flora Expo. Tens of millions of international and local visitors are expected to attend this event focusing on advances in horticulture and green lifestyle.

For full article, visit http://www.iadea.com/article/iadea-digital-signage-media-appliance-choreographs-2010-int%E2%80%99l-flora-expo.

What's in Intel's Open Pluggable Specification

2010-10-13T22:47:00.000-07:00

We have our great admiration for Intel's marketing machine. Within a week of its announcement, nearly 1,000 web sites (and growing) are reporting on the latest Intel innovation for digital signage: a hardware inter-pluggability specification. However when you dig into the sites, 99% are rewording Intel's PR script and none tells you what's really in the package.

IAdea has received a copy of the 27-page Open Pluggable Specification (OPS) without NDA obligations. Being in the industry for over 10 years, we would like to share with you our view on the spec from the point of a dedicated digital signage technology vendor.

Read full article at http://www.iadea.com/article/whats-intels-open-pluggable-specification.

Digital Signage at Intel Embedded Developer Summit

2010-10-04T18:57:00.000-07:00

Digital signage media appliance maker IAdea is invited to speak at the upcoming Intel Embedded Developer Forum. IAdea is expected to unveil its open platform digital signage strategy with the latest advances in "smart TV" devices and Intel's next generation embedded platforms.

Read more at http://www.iadea.com/article/iadea-speak-intel-embedded-developer-summit and register via in-page link for the event! Registration closes by end of this week.

IAdea Shortlisted for Prestigious Venture Capital Award

2010-09-23T03:08:00.000-07:00

IAdea, leading maker of open standard media players for digital signage, is a finalist to the 2010 Red Herring Asia 100 Award. The award sets to “discover and advocate the promising startups that will lead the next wave of disruption and innovation.”

Read complete article IAdea Shortlisted for Prestigious Venture Capital Award.

Choosing a Digital Signage Media Player

2010-09-08T04:00:00.000-07:00

Digital signage is a fast evolving industry enriched by many emerging digital media technologies. From the traditional proof-of-concept pilots using personal computers (PCs and Macs), new advances are making it far cheaper and reliable to deploy highly capable media appliances built using the latest multimedia chips.

An example of a media appliance is the latest Apple TV device which sells for $99 (greatly subsidized by revenue from iTunes) and plays vivid 720p HD content. The device is not designed to be easily customized for digital signage applications. So while it offers great technology for a very low cost, the Apple TV is probably not a viable option if you are looking to deploy the device in a digital signage network.

There are a number of media appliances coming on the scene that ship with proprietary digital signage software. Such devices feature similar hardware found in consumer media players such as the Apple TV, but in a ruggedized metal or aluminum enclosure for better heat dissipation. The key concern with these devices is that you are locked into the software provided by the box maker. If you find the software insufficient, you will have to throw out the hardware when you try to switch the software.

One new category of media appliances appears to address the above concerns. Using the same or higher-end core engine as the Apple TV, wrapped up in industrial enclosure, these devices further feature an “Open API” based on open standards such as the XML-based W3C SMIL format to provide a free, non-proprietary programming interface to access the underlying hardware. Companies including IAdea and Mitsubishi deliver a number of open API media appliances available at a very attractive price point.

Many digital signage software companies have announced support for open API media appliances, including Scala, signagelive, digitalsignage.NET (from Dynamax), etc., providing you a great selection of software options to run your media appliance-based network.

Open API further gives you the opportunity to implement custom software on-top of media appliances. For the market of digital signage, this possibility provides the maximum room for you to add value to your project.

Digital signage media appliance with open API combines power and economy in a very flexible package. It is arguably the best hardware option if you are a system integrator, IT manager, or venue owner looking to leverage the latest and best technology available for your project.

Ruggedized Alternatives to Low-cost Media Players for Digital Signage

2010-09-06T03:14:00.000-07:00

The $99 Apple TV brings the latest low-cost multimedia technology for home entertainment. However its fragile plastic enclosure leaves a lot to be desired if one tries to deploy these devices in commercial/industrial applications such as digital signage. Companies are bringing the low cost technology and makes it available for prime-time, commercial-oriented use.

Read full article New digital signage appliances address cost concerns for SaaS.

Brazil Added to SMIL Top List

2010-08-31T23:14:00.000-07:00

Digital signage media player maker IAdea released its September report on top-ranking countries as visitors to A-SMIL.org, the site that promotes W3C SMIL as an open standard for digital signage.

According to the report, the top three countries this month are U.S.A., Germany, and new entrant Brazil. About the appearance of the new player, the site says:

Indeed we have heard activities in that region but its shear speed nevertheless surprises us

The report also includes a map that highlights countries by their degree of involvement with the SMIL web site.

The graph clearly shows the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) countries all active with the SMIL technology.

Read the full article Brazil Enters Top 3 on SMIL Website.

signagelive Adds New Features for IAdea's New SMIL Media Appliances

2010-08-26T20:15:00.000-07:00

The upcoming product release from signagelive adds exciting new features to enrich support for SMIL digital signage media players from IAdea.

signagelive, the SaaS platform from Remote Media Group, has announced multiple new features, including the ability to automatically update thousands of digital signage screens, to enhance support for new IAdea media appliances.

Full article...

New digital signage appliances address cost concerns for SaaS

2010-08-24T03:28:00.000-07:00

SaaS (for “software as a service”) is a popular service model in digital signage. For around $10 to $20 a month, subscribers gain access to a number of easy-to-use yet powerful digital signage management software to get started in building a digital signage network. Nice and easy for a small business owner or marketing manager, as it comes out of the expense book without becoming a tough purchase decision. Then comes the cost of hardware, which typically runs up to $1,000 for a medium-sized screen and a PC-based player. For many users wanting to give it a try, the hardware investment often becomes show stopper. Fortunately, a number of hardware options are becoming available to make the SaaS ride much smoother.

Full article...

Digital Signage Opportunity for Software Developers

2010-08-18T21:54:00.000-07:00

Digital signage is an emerging market that has grown rapidly in the past three years. More and more companies are deploying digital signage as the public begin to understand the impact of digital signage systems. If you are a software developer, this presents a great opportunity to enter this fast growing market space.

Traditional digital signage used a variety of DVD players and consumer-grade PC systems as their media playback engine. In recent years, a number of dedicated appliances-type digital signage media players have emerged and is forming the fastest growing technology sector in the industry. Compared to the traditional consumer-grade equipment, the specialized digital signage media appliances offer better hardware reliability and greatly simplified software programming interface. This combination creates a new opportunity for software developers that was not available before.

Digital signage media appliances utilize the W3C SMIL open standard as their application programming interface (API). SMIL is an XML-based mark-up language sharing roots with the HTML language popular for web development. SMIL adds the benefit of simplicity compared to the typical Windows or Linux environment. A typical multi-zone animated digital signage application can be written in SMIL in as little as a dozen lines of code, compared to a typical implementation in Windows that would require at least ten times more work. The SMIL language also provide advanced digital signage features including synchronization, parallel scheduling, playback logging, event reporting which greatly improve the robustness of a digital signage system made up of SMIL players.

The SMIL standard is being embraced by a growing number of digital signage vendors in the industry. Several large scale digital signage systems using thousands of SMIL players have been deployed worldwide, showing the maturity and scalability of the technology.

Several low cost digital signage players are available in the market. Software developers interested in starting up in the digital signage market should seriously consider leveraging the maturity and cost effectiveness of the technology today. For more information on SMIL-enabled digital signage players, visit http://www.IAdea.com.

400+ Digital Signage Systems by IAdea Streamline Operation at Taiwan International Airport

2010-08-11T03:32:00.000-07:00

IAdea's digital signage media appliances are selected for deployment at Taiwan's largest international airport. Over 400 systems from IAdea provide vital information to travelers to help streamline their way in and out of the country.

Background

Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport (previously known as the CKS or Chang Kai Shek International) is the largest of three international airports in Taiwan, serving over 20 million passengers each year. The recent opening of direct routes between Taoyuan International and major airports in China is rapidly driving up passenger flow, and major renovation of Terminal 1 and construction of the new Terminal 3 are underway to cope with the predicted growth.

As part of the renovation and expansion plan, digital signage is called upon to help streamline the transit process and improve passenger experience. Over 400 digital signage systems powered by IAdea media appliances have been deployed in the terminals, providing vital information to visitors in and out of Taiwan.

Read full case study at: http://www.iadea.com/story/400-digital-signage-systems-iadea-streamline-operation-taiwan-international-airport

Up-to-date digital signage industry news

2010-08-03T23:44:00.001-07:00

IAdea is starting to provide live-updated news feed related to the digital signage industry. Please visit the news page regularly for updates.

Enforce media validity period in SMIL for Digital Signage

2010-08-03T18:58:00.000-07:00

IAdea players support the SMIL conditional play construction which allows digital signage systems to:

Enforce media license terms by limiting playback of specific items within a date/time interval
Play back certain media files subject to special conditions

The technique utilizes W3C XPath expressions and functions which are standards-based and highly flexible in forming conditional expressions. Playback of media items can be bound to the result of the expressions evaluated at run time.

Tecchnical specs are available from A-SMIL.org under the conditional play topic.

For information on IAdea players that support the SMIL conditional play expression, visit IAdea's product page.

digitalsignage.net Selects SMIL Players for SaaS Service

2010-08-03T07:18:00.000-07:00

Digital signage SaaS service digitalsignage.NET has just announced to open shop in September.

According to the company's blog, two of its three hardware options are SMIL-based media appliances. These devices feature core functionality required by digital signage for a small fraction of the cost of PC-based hardware.

Read more about SMIL-based hardware options at leading media appliance vendor IAdea.

IAdea Launches New News Site

2010-07-27T23:20:00.000-07:00

Please come visit IAdea's new News site. Comments are welcomed.

SMIL Trends Update, July 2010

2010-07-08T20:05:00.000-07:00

In January we published an article on the status of the A-SMIL.org "Advocacy for SMIL as an Open Standard for Digital Signage" website. We received great interest in publishing follow-up information. So this is what we will do: we will publish a monthly update on interesting stats about SMIL for digital signage.

Top 10 countries visiting the A-SMIL.org website (2010/7):

(Click to enlarge)

1. United States
2. Pakistan
3. Romania
4. Germany
5. United Kingdom
6. Austria
7. Canada
8. Italy
9. South Africa
10. Sweden

Source: A-SMIL.org, IAdea

We will continue to publish SMIL-related trends going forward.

Dynamax Delivers SaaS on SMIL Devices

2010-06-28T22:09:00.000-07:00

Industry veteran Dynamax, whose clients include Clear Channel, JBrand, Titan, Northgate, SKY TV,
FS Walker Hughes, British Airways, and many others, launches its SaaS service digitalsignage.NET which embraces the SMIL platform for two out of three of its offerings.

From the blog entry:

digitalsignage.NET supports the 10″ Smart Photo Frame for full screen digital signage and the High Definition XMP-300 for basic layouts with High Defintion Video, Sound, and Bitmap capability. These devices with their low cost of ownership together with the premium player from digitalsignage.NET create a very compelling solution for those looking for maximum device flexibility.

You can also read about Dynamax's view on SMIL in their SMIL the Future blog entry.

In Video and German: How to connect IAdea to Oxygen.next service

2010-06-15T03:11:00.000-07:00

If you are from the German-speaking world, this How-To video shows how simple it is to drive an IAdea digital signboard with 42media Group's free Oxygen.next service:

IAdea Digital Signboard running signagelive Virtual Player

2010-06-02T00:22:00.000-07:00

Watch how simple it can be to deploy digital signage: IAdea Digital Signboard running signagelive Virtual Player.

IAdea unveils flexible "digital signwall"

2010-05-16T21:15:00.000-07:00

How can you create an unforgettable viewing experience? The digital signwall may be the answer you are looking for.

The IAdea digital signwall comprises of individual "digital signboard" devices, each with a 10-inch LCD screen and a built-in wireless media player. The screens can be placed in any arrangement to aggregately form any desired size and shape. The individual signboards are programmed to synchronize with each other to within 1 second of time difference. The result is a larger-than-life viewing experience that deeply embeds in the viewer's memory.

You can start building your digital signwall today by downloading the application note whitepaper. Step-by-step instructions are provided for the interested reader to create his unique signwall design.

IAdea will be showing a 9x2 digital signwall system at the upcoming Scala Connected Signage Conference in Amsterdam, May 26-27. Contact sales@IAdea.com for an invitation code if you are interested to attend. Another similar IAdea digital signwall system will be shown at the Digital Signage Japan show in June.

42media group supports SMIL with Oxygen

2010-04-07T07:52:00.000-07:00

IAdea is proud to announce that digital signage software company 42media group of Germany is leading the trend by supporting IAdea's SMIL players in its Oxygen media platform for digital signage.

Press release from 42media: http://bit.ly/d7ZbuQ

Open standards are the key to the development of barrier-free technologies since they’re easily accessible to everybody, extendible and can be applied in diverse environments. In the internet sector the SMIL standard („Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language“), that allows to prepare multimedia files for the playout on digital signage players, is well-established.

In co-operation with the renowned digital signage hardware manufacturer IAdea 42media group is up to promote Oxygen.next internationally – together with the output devices of the Taiwanese company. “IAdea firmly supports SMIL as the de facto standard for digital signage. Interoperability via open standards will help drive down hardware cost for digital signage networks and accelerate return on investment”, says IAdea-CEO John Wang. “Oxygen.next offers an exciting service that we would like to align our efforts with. We definitely see great potential working with 42media group.”

You may read more about the Oxygen.next platform at http://www.42mediagroup.com/Oxygen-next.30.0.html?&lang=1. Several online video tutorials are available to walkthrough feature highlights of the product. This is one more strong digital signage software for the benefit of IAdea's users.

IAdea Supports Scala Release 5.1

2010-03-23T02:20:00.000-07:00

IAdea is happy to have participated in a number of digital signage events with Scala this year, including the Integrated Systems Europe show in Amsterdam, and the Digital Signage Expo in Las Vegas.

Scala is making its new software available worldwide as of this week. With this new Release 5.1, IAdea is launching IAdea Bridge Server 1.6 to add a great number of features for using IAdea media appliances with Scala software. Features new since Bridge 1.0 include:

Support for Scala Templated Message Snapshots: now users of IAdea media appliances can quickly take advantage of dozens of Scala templates shipped with the Scala Designer software. While IAdea players are unable to natively playback ScalaScript, a new mechanism in Bridge Server now supports playing back static images extracted from the dynamic scripts. Users can quickly create welcome signs and on-sale signs using Scala messages and have them played back on IAdea players.
Pairing code for media player provisioning: deploying IAdea media appliances with Scala is now made even easier than deploying native Scala players: when you connect up an IAdea player to a Scala network, a 4-digit code appears on-screen and as soon as it is entered into Bridge Server, system configuration for the player is complete. This allows field maintenance be greatly simplified.
IAdea problem codes: IAdea players are now assigned new "problem codes" to help pin-point problems during troubleshooting. Scope for the diagnostics covers file transfer problems, media playback problems, license problems, and storage-related problems.
Unified firmware package: now all IAdea player firmware updates come in one unified file regardless of the hardware model you have. This greatly simplifies updating your device to the latest firmware required (and you should always do that) to take advantage of new features now made available.

The list goes on. Scala Certified Partners can now read all about them and download the latest software plus firmware packages at http://scp.iadea.com/ (registration required). According to our beta testers, you will love the new software when you get to try it.

And remember, all features made possible here are done in SMIL script. Learn about the power of the SMIL open standard for digital signage at http://www.a-smil.org/.

IAdea in "The Digital Signage Evolution"

2010-03-01T21:06:00.000-08:00

Jason Cremins, CEO of Signagelive, summarizes 17 years of experience with the digital signage industry and forecasts the impact of SMIL devices as the next step for the industry.

The segmentation of the digital signage sector is great if you are in a position to embrace and not fear it. An example of this has been our move to support non-pc devices, such as the SMIL open standard player technology developed by IAdea and OEM’d by several major manufacturers. Initially, we developed support for SMIL devices to provide a network managed option for lock and load compact flash devices that make up 80% of all digital signage displays in Retail. However, after seeing the road map for SMIL and other non-PC technology, 2010 will see devices the size of a pack of playing cards offering the same functionality as full blown HD PC’s at a fraction of the price.

[...] Our decision to concentrate on what we are good at and work in collaboration with others offering their own part of the digital signage eco-system was a great move. We can look forward to the emergence of new industry standards and technology and embrace them to ensure our partners and customers can choose the best technology for their needs without restrictions.

CoolSign's press release on IAdea

2010-03-01T20:49:00.000-08:00

CoolSign publishes their press release for DSE 2010 on partnership with IAdea:

The latest version of CoolSign's enterprise-class digital signage software solution, being announced at the digital signage industry's largest trade show, incorporates several powerful new features fine-tuned to the diverse needs of partners and their end-user customers.

“CoolSign does software, and only software. We deliver solutions through our global reseller channel, as well as relationships with our hardware, software, and services partners.” says CoolSign President and founder Lou Giacalone, Jr. “Our job is to provide them with capable and reliable software, and CoolSign 4.5 gives our resellers and business partners something that addresses their needs, and allows for customization and integration to make our product part of their own.”

The partner eco-system is a fundamental part of CoolSign’s growth and company culture, says Giacalone. This is clearly reflected by the fact that 20 of CoolSign’s top partners are part of the booth at DSE 2010.

CoolSign is also pleased to announce integration with [...] IAdea, one of the first hardware manufacturers to bring new open standard, SMIL-based media players into the sector.

Other partners at the show included: Christie CRI, DMG, LocaModa, Planar, ScreenFeed, TruMedia, and Vertigo Displays.

CoolSign connects with IAdea digital signboards via SMIL at DSE

2010-02-18T19:39:00.000-08:00

CoolSign is displaying IAdea's SMIL-based 10" digital signboards at the upcoming Digital Signage Expo, booth #2200.

IAdea's digital signage devices will also be on display in booth #1500 (in conjunction with Scala) and in booth #1213 (Mitsubishi Digital).

IAdea partners with Vertigo to bring SMIL-enabled large displays

2010-02-18T07:11:00.000-08:00

Quote from Vertigo's DSE press release:

Among several software and hardware vendors already looking to take advantage of Vertigo’s easy adaptability is IAdea, based in Taipei, Taiwan, with a North American support office in Montreal.

“The Vertigo modular integrated display is an ideal platform to combine with IAdea’s open-standard digital signage media players to deliver an affordable, highly reliable and easy-to-deploy turnkey digital signage network appliance,” says Rex Chen , executive vice-president of IAdea.

IAdea invites you to DSE 2010

2010-02-12T00:29:00.000-08:00

IAdea cordially invites you to Digital Signage Expo 2010 in Las Vegas, Feb 24-25, 2010. We will be exhibiting with Scala at booth #1500.

Read more...

New firmware for the Digital Signboard

2010-02-09T18:56:00.000-08:00

A major update is released on the firmware for IAdea XDS-101 Digital Signboard (a.k.a. IAdea Photo Frame Media Appliance). The new update greatly enhances WiFi connectivity for European and Asian regions, and improves on a number of robustness features.

Scala Certified Partners can download the firmware for Scala Maintenance Jobs immediately at http://scp.iadea.com/. Firmware packs for IAdea distributors and resellers are also available at http://www.IAdea.com/support/. Registration is required for both websites.

IAdea Joined by New SMIL Partner Signagelive

2010-01-29T02:09:00.000-08:00

IAdea is proud to announce that digital signage SaaS provider signagelive is now offering its SMIL-based service on IAdea's SMIL media players, including the new Digital Signboard based on photo frame architecture.

Read about signagelive's initiative in the official press release:

UNITED KINGDOM — signagelive has announced the launch of the ‘signagelive virtual player’ enabling full support for the latest low cost SMIL open standards digital signage hardware developed by IAdea.

Click to read more...

Visit IAdea at ISE 2010, Amsterdam, Feb 2-4, at Booth# 12D89

Traffic on SMIL Website up by 40% MoM

2010-01-28T07:18:00.000-08:00

A-SMIL.ORG, the website dedicated to promoting the SMIL (Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language) as an open standard for the digital signage, is reported by Google Analytics to receive 40% more visitors then the same period a month ago.

Data collected by Google shows that the top search terms to reach the site includes "digital signage SMIL", "SMIL refresh", "SMIL tutorial", indicating that SMIL is indeed gaining traction in the industry. On average visitors looking for the keyword "digital signage" stays over 11 minutes on each visit to the web site. Visitors looking for "SMIL weekly playlist" spend as much as 13 minutes on the site.

For more information on SMIL as an open standard for digital signage, visit http://a-smil.org/.

Deployment pictures using the Digital Signboard (digital signage photo frame)

2010-01-14T20:32:00.000-08:00

Digital Signboards from IAdea are small, cost-effective, commercial-grade displays with integrated media players. They feature WiFi network connectivity, and can be easily mounted on the retail floor without taking up siginificant space. The following are deployment scenarios featuring the digital signboard.

Digital signboard with proper enclosure has been proven to be highly attractive to children wondering in the aisles of a toy store. ROI for such promotions is almost instantaneous.

For products that may appear complex to the shopper, the digital signboard is a cost-effective tool to explain to the interested shopper step-by-step on the finer details.

Digital signboard offers retailers and brand manufacturers a great tool to convert interested shoppers into actual buyers for a very small investment.

With a simple overlay of printed cardboard, the digital signboard can be instantaneously modified as a table-top display for almost any product promotion.

Technology is now available for integrating digital signboards with leading-edge digital signage platforms such as Scala and SaaS services. Network operators can remotely manage digital signboards with the same powerful playlist management features available on large-screen displays.

System integrators interested in developing in-house applications can program the digital signboard using the open standard XML-based W3C SMIL playlist control script. Interested readers can find out more by visiting http://www.a-smil.org/.

For product information and where to buy, please visit IAdea's Digital Signboard Product Page.

Scala Podcast on 2010 Digital Signage Technologies to Watch and Application Trends

2010-01-14T02:07:00.000-08:00

Scala's President Robert Koolen and Executive Vice President Jeff Porter speak in an audio podcast about new digital signage technologies to watch in 2010 and application verticals to watch.

Listen in here: Audio Podcast (.MP3)

Bridge Server 1.5.3 Released

2010-01-08T08:00:00.000-08:00

IAdea releases Bridge Server 1.5.3 for Scala Content Manager. This update simplifies user operation, improves security, and fixes a number of bugs found in 1.5.2.

Scala Certified Partners may download the update at http://scp.iadea.com/.

IAdea Bridge Server is a transparent component in a Scala system responsible for translating Scala control files into the W3C SMIL playlist.

38 Digital Signage Experts Comment on the Needs for Standardization

2010-01-07T18:43:00.000-08:00

From @DSExpo: [...] we asked the Digital Signage Expo Advisory Board: "What standardization makes sense for the digital signage industry, and what does not?" 38 board members shared their thoughts.

Read article...

IAdea and Scala to Showcase Digital Signboard at ISE

2010-01-06T21:04:00.000-08:00

IAdea and Scala will jointly showcase the new 10" Digital Signboard Media Appliance XDS-101 at the upcoming Integrated Systems Europe Show, Booth #12D89, February 2-4, 2010, Amsterdam.

Digital Signboard blends the nimble digital photo frame architecture into the world of digital signage. Features are designed to provide industrial-grade performance on the simple hardware.

The device incorporating a wide-screen display draws less than 10 watts of power. Its 320-nit LCD screen and built-in 1.5W x 2 speakers become a focal point on the retail shelf space. Hardware video decoder renders perfect video in MPEG-4 Advanced Simple Profile as well as JPEG images. Built-in 2GB internal storage holds hours of contents to play even when network connection is down.

Superior to conventional digital photo frames, the Digital Signboard features a hardware watchdog which allows the frame to automatically recover from unforeseen problems, drastically reducing possible service costs for the device. Auto-play feature makes operating the device as simple as plug-and-play. As soon as power is applied, the device starts playing without requiring intervention by the store staff.

On top of the excellent hardware, the device is supported by the powerful Scala Content Manager and Ad Manager platforms. Users can visually schedule playlists of video and image contents, apply validity period to automatically phase-in and phase-out content items without manually editing the playlist. Smart playlist enables the player to dynamically adjust playback sequence based on in-store conditions such as inventory level and sales volume. The device can even be scheduled to randomly pick media files to provide fresh information each time the shopper comes around.

The Digital Signboard features the W3C open standad SMIL digital signage API. It makes the device flexible to be customized for individual deployment scenarios. Advanced integrators may consult A-SMIL.org to understand features made available through the XML-based interface.

IAdea cordially invites you to stop by Booth #12D89 and look forward to meeting you at the ISE in February.

IAdea Announces 10" Digital Signboard

2010-01-05T19:20:00.000-08:00

IAdea releases a new digital signage appliance: a player device integrating a 10"-wide LCD panel, suitable for making shelf-edge dynamic signs.

For detailed information, please see XDS-101 Product Page.