“Disk Failure”, watch your S.M.A.R.T!

Yes, for those in any sort of "ops" or Sysadmin position, the very phrase makes your blood run cold causing cranial dermis spasms, usually around the eyes, along with that sinking feeling that makes you feel like you are exiting this reality at warp speed.

Well, its that taboo topic that needs talking about.  But you may say/think that “I have backups, I am fine” or “I use Various RAID levels with redundancy, I’ll be fine.”  but are you really?  If this is you, READ ON!  :)

Recently I had a NAS Failure.  Well, not so much as a complete failure, but rather, a NAS that was seemingly not happy.  Causing significant service disruptions and delays.  Big deal right?  Deal with it and move on.  Well recently, after fully integrating a storage area network in my workplace, I was thinking this is great.  I can spin up a VM, move it from node to node, add disks when I need more space, and all seemed hunky dory.  

Many months into its service, services seemed to sporadically crash, or have significant delays.   As I was diagnosing issues, I was thinking there was an issue with my compute node setup in my ESXi cloud.  My virtual machines would simply freeze.  They would show many disk errors.  I thought there was an interruption in the transport layer (or on the wire if you will) because once I rebooted the compute node all machines seemed to work again.  Slowly these issues began to bleed through to other servers connected to the SAN.  

I thought, and I admit perhaps naively, that well, the particular NAS (or Network Attached Storage) unit that was serving these servers had RAID5.  If there was a disk issue, it would fail the disk to the hot spare and given the redundant nature of RAID5, it would continue to operate and alert me of the failed disk.  WRONG!   

For those who are not familiar with RAID5, in a nut shell RAID is the way you configure multiple hard disks to operate together.  RAID-5 for example, what I was using, is the practice of using 3 or more disks with fault tolerance such that if one hard disk failed the other 2 would function and there would be no data loss.  

So, in my case, I was using 7 2TB disks, effectively having 6 2TB drives or  12TB of storage  (less formatting) available.  RAID5 complexity allows any one disk to fail and there would be no service impacting issues.  Especially with the “hot spare” waiting.  (A hot spare is an installed disk on standby in case another fails.)

Now back to the point, I began to suspect that a particular NAS server was showing signs of complete failure.  After making sure all my backups were up to date, I began to take a look at the system.  When I looked at the console, It was violently spewing out disk error and retry messages.  Every time there was a service stall, the console would begin to projectile puke these massages that make you freeze in fear.  Could my NAS be completely failing???  Could RAID5 have deceived me?

With poise and professionalism, I got my composure and exited my server room to face an office at 9am slowly growing full of people asking questions like; “why is FogBugz not working?” and “why cant I access the shared files on the server?” … and on and on.  I was looking at a systems failure of about 50% of all the services I operate.

On looking at the web client of the NAS, I began to check the health of all the disks.  What was actually happening was a SMART drive abnormality.  (SMART is the function that is built into all modern hard drives that can detect pending failure).  A disk in the RAID5 array had not completely failed, rather, it was about to.  It was not quite timing out to a failure, but as the drive was franticly trying to reallocate bad sectors, it stalled out the whole disk array.  But it would restore operations before it times out completely to failure but this was service impacting.  

So what I am trying to say here is that you cannot rely on RAID levels as a redundant measure.  You MUST also monitor the SMART status of all the attached drives.  A drive with an emanate failure can take out an entire array and play havoc with your services.  All I needed to do was remove the bad disk and the system failed over to the hot spare.  After the RAID rebuild completed, I added a new hot spare and all was good in the land of NAS once again.

Moral of my story here is that make sure all your monitoring systems are in check.  Setup regular SMART tests on all production systems.  In the case of this drive the SMART system was telling me that there was an abnormally high rate of bad sector reallocation.  It was a bad disk.  

As a side note here, we have the incorrect thought that modern hard drives are more stable than older hard drives.  But in actuality, the have MUCH more bad sector counts( more sectors, more failures).  They just reallocate these bad sectors and mark them as bad more frequently.  We just never know about it now unless you run disk utilities to view this internal data.

Also, if you reply on a NAS unit for as many services as I do here, I recommend that you have a redundant NAS unit that is mirroring so that you can fail over to in  cases like this.  Fix the issues and keep services running.  Sadly, this was not in my budget this year.

Until Next time,

//Ian\\

PS: If you have any topic you are interested in, please let me know, and feel free to leave comments and start discussion.  It would be nice to see an actual comment rather than spam :)  

Digital Signage Expo 2013

Well folks, better late than never.  This year I have the opportunity once again to attend Digital Signage Expo, or DSE.   This year marked the 10^th Anniversary of the Digital Signage Expo.  I will avoid talking about typical displays.  But rather, I would like to highlight the unique installations and technologies.  LCD displays are  simply displays.  With various sizes and aspects.  There is not much to be said (well with the exception of 4K displays!).  The teaser here is uniquely shaped displays, unique applications/installations, LED assisted bezels, and players sub $100 that are capable of playing HTML5 content. 

Lets start with the show floor and talk about the technologies I have seen. Planar had a rather unique mosaic installation (above).  Using their software to deliver your content.  As digital advertising becomes more of the 'norm' being creative and unique with your displays is going to be more important.  Although this install was not ground breaking, it was a rather nice and unique installation.  Although it may be costly to install, it can deliver a memorable experience.

Touch revolution also had some new products.  This year, they debuted their commercial Android tablets!  Seen here they are rated for 24/7 operation, and run PoE (Power over Ethernet) so no extra cabling is required other than Ethernet and of course they do run wireless.  These are made for fixed installation (shelf side or other applications).  These also come with a software toolkit to lock the devices down at a software level.  Onboard they have an ethernet, MicroSD card slot, usb ports and power port.  I really like these and can see many applications for use in retail.  Unlike using consumer tablets in an commercial application, these are designed for 24/7 operation and are front side, NON-branded.  I cant stress this enough.  Commercial devices should be non branded.  You are using their products to advertise OTHER products.  So why would once pay prime dollars for branded commercial devices.  This was refteshing to see.

Among other innovative products, were e-paper based  wifi enabled shelf price tags from Opticon.  These  were disposable products, however, based on 5 price changes a day, would run for about 5 years.  From various companies were other e-ink/paper based signs which were quite effective for things like room signage.  These are great for B/W NON INTRUSIVE, low energy usage signage.  On initial glance you would not realize they were digital signs.

One product did grab my attention.  As we know, many manufacturers are trying to eliminate the screen bezel all together.  However we know this is not w/o limitations.  Lxi International did come up with a very interesting way to work around it.  Their displays are simply displays WITH a bezel.  However the bezels are strips of LED lights which change colour to match what’s happening on the edges.  Although you can see the edges...   they do look better than black lines in my opinion.  Have a look!

  

Another very interesting product that would be a serious asset to actually gaining quantitative data for installations was a self contained customer profiling box.  We have had technology that would asses a viewers dwell time, approximate age and sex for a while, but they have been very complex installations and required some high end hardware.  Now Aware Live Technologies has come up with an appliance to do just this.  Its a small box with Ethernet, power and an Asus (Kinect like) camera attached.  This can be hidden within an installation to log and graph quantitative data.  

Seen above is a picture of me on its monitoring screen.  It has assigned me a unique visitor number, sex, age and added a count to the amount of people in front of it.  You can aggregate this data as to the direction the person has moved off the screen, and other valuable data for the client.  

Another interesting product was a video delivery device made by Matrox which would scale output to match the screen.  This would be a very useful device when sending video to may different screens.   So long as the aspect is the same resolution, it would not matter as it would scale the content for us.

There were also many other oddly shaped displays such as long aspects and rounded displays. 

Among other things were a plethora of signage players.  Many too complex and useful for very specific installations.  However the last item I would like to profile is Broadsign's $99 android player.  This small device is very light weight, and by small, I mean very small.  Sadly I did not get a picture of the device I was just so excited about this product and got talking to the rep for a while about it and walked away and did not take a snap.  Lets just say it will fit in the palm of your hand.  Also, since the device is Android, Dual Core 1.5Ghz it should be able to deliver signage through our stack.

This years show was much larger than 2012, and full of energy you see at the likes of InfoComm.  If you are into signage or displays of any sort, a visit to DSE will be in order.  Dont forget all, that next years show will be at the Sans Feb 11-13.  Not the LasVegas Convention Centre as it has been in the past.  Mark your calendars now.

//Ian\\

Computing Power Paradigm Shift

So I have noticed that I am now part of a paradigm shift.  I am not talking about a major shift in assumptions here nor the dreaded marketing speak, but a shift in how I consume my computing power.   I personally see computers as part of our lives now.  By far we are not the Star Trek characters known as Binars...  yet...  But I noticed having grown up as a small child entering the computer revolution and the loving geekdom that my life became, that it was about how bad ass your 286, 386 and 486 rigs could be!   Ok that dates me.  The Pentium entered the scene when I was in my OAC or grade 13 year in high school.

But I digress, back to the point.  I feel that unless you are a serious gamer or somebody who requires graphics, or scientific computing power, that its no longer about how powerful your PC is.  I realized this (at least for myself) in the last few days as I was getting increasingly frustrated with my Samsung Galaxy Note.

This is a very fine phone.  In fact, for most people its more than they need.  I however want the best from my mobile device.  I use it more than I do my own laptop now.  It keeps me posted on new messages, I take calls on it, I listen to music on it.  a LOT of music on it.  While I do that, I am usually playing a game, watching a movie, surfing,or reading and replying to emails before I arrive at the office.

Since I used my phone so much, I began to get frustrated at the slowness it would have to switch between tasks.  Since I used so many apps frequently, it had issues keeping up with my scatter minded multitasking.  I found that it was becoming too slow.


So even though my laptop is a MacBook Pro Core 2 Duo with 8GB Ram, and I run flight simulators and musical editing suites, it was primary for me to have a better, faster phone.  Lets face it, the Laptop I have does its job.  This is where I realized as I walked out of the local wireless store with my Samsung Galaxy Note 2 in hand, in a mild state of cognitive dissonance,  that I was more willing to drop my hard earned money on a new phone rather than a new Laptop or an upgrade.

I have entered the computing power paradigm shift.  Its all about the portable device now.  I never thought in my increasingly luddite mind that this would ever happen, but hey, perhaps I am not going to become a luddite after all!  I am ahead of the curve?

Thoughts?

Digital Signage Expo 2013

Ok folks!   Its that time if year again and at the end of the month, I will be headed down to Sin City once again to take in the latest in Digital Signage technology at DSE2013.  As usual, I plan to post while I am there.

So stay Tuned.  Also to my few followers, Sorry I have not posted in some time.  Busy time of year, but I am back at it once again!

Cheers Folks!
//Ian\\

GrooveShark.com - My most used service!

The Best Streaming Music Service Ever!

Those of you who know me in person, will have heard the words GrooveShark so many times! Yes, I am a self admitted GrooveShark whore! I LOVE this service. If you like music and you have lived under a rock, time to wake up, put the CD's and MP3's away. Enter GrooveShark. Most anything you want to hear, when you want to hear it.

Whats even better, is I have discovered artists that I never would have heard thanks to the Explore function, and the 'radio' function. I also find it fascinating to see what inspires other artists by listening to their play lists!!!

now I have also used many software applications that “try” to build play sets based on your listening, however, Grooveshark has been the best at this. So long as you don't have the likes of my partner and I selecting very different tracks (Various Show Tunes, to Electric Presidents, to Linken Park), it functions quite well. Even then, I experience some different and new things when we build a combined eclectic play list. Lol!

Another very cool feature is the ability to tweet/facebook what you are listening to, moreover, you can get a direct URL to share in any other fashion.  << BONUS!  VERY COOL!   I also hear new tracks from what my friends share.  You can also "friend" and follow other GrooveShark users!   This is a GREAT MUSIC DISCOVERY TOOL!

All of this is FREE! Now, if you are complete music buff, then I would HIGLY recommend that you pay for an account which gives you GrooveShark Mobile! Yes, that's right, a very functional app that allows you to OFFLINE MUSIC! You can Offline songs while you are on WiFi so as to not suck up your data plan. But you are free to use your LTE/4G network to download and use the Radio function as well. It also gives you the option to prefer more compressed streams to conserve..... nice, but, not for me.

GrooveShark has been around for many years now, and I have been a user since the early days. They have grown up! They are now a world class Streaming Service. You can even beta their new interface if you which, which I personally find more functional. To see the new interface, please check out www.grooveshark.com/new

Cheers!

Samsung, In the box... In a good way!

The Samsung UD22.  Finally, manufacturers are thinking outside  the box.    Paradoxical thought brought Samsung back into the box.  Finally a decent 1:1 aspect ration screen!

Some of you may be thinking ok, why?  But if you are thinking of building a video array using many screens, a 1:1 aspect is an essential building block!  Can you imagine Lego with out the square blocks?  Moreover the UD22 1:1 aspect ratio screen is in the pro series.  Meaning it has all the pro features like a robust PSU, DVI Daisy chaining, MagicInfo and a slim bezel (.3mm). 

Although I had the pleasure of visiting Samsung HQ Canada and got to see the device, it was the day after public launch, so I am unable to find the details of the device. 

Since I am planning to use them in a new installation, I will receive details soon.  What I can tell you is, the resolution is 960x960.  The contrast ratio and viewing angle, I cannot give you numbers, but I can say its brilliant,  and the and - GREAT!  Only when looking at it side on do you loose image quality.

What I can share here is an image taken while at the Samsung Offices of the display.  There are 2 of them side by side.  I cant wait to get in there for some scale testing and the actual installation of them!

While I was there I also saw their new Transparent Display Case.  Not unlike the SamilCTS Screen I talked about from Digital Signage Expo earlier this year.

Until Next Time!

//Ian\\

Experiment Over

Firstly, pardon my gap in the experiment.

Day 3 and 4 I did nothing except work (so I was using my traditional linux desktop) so there was really nothing to report.  However moving forward, using my tablet and keyboard only served to slow me down by a large degree.  So I had to abandon because it was more of a hindrance   

But lets look at the functionality, speed of typing aside.

The Good:

• I was able to accomplish everything I started out to do.  This included working on spreadsheets, complex Word documents, SSHing to Unix servers, FTPing and making changed to my web site, and standard media consumption.
• Accomplishing what I set out to do was quite easy and only required downloading a few apps, that I otherwise would not have needed under a Linux environment.
• The Nexus 7 is a very fast device!   In many cases typing aside, i was able to accomplish some things faster than using a traditional desktop.
• I can go a long way without interfacing with the grand grid!  AKA Electricity!   Battery in a tablet is WAY better than a traditional laptop.
• I was fine without a mouse and did not miss it (see the bad)

The Bad

• Typing was very very slow!!!!  This was the main thing that made me stop the experiment.  Although I could 'get by'.  My error rate was way way higher than a traditional keyboard.  This was due to the size of the keyboard.
• Bluetooth wow's.  I am not sure if this is just a bad quality keyboard, however after not typing for about 2 min, the keyboard would sleep.  So when I tapped/clicked on a text feild, the on screen keyboard would pop up until the bluetooth connection was re-established (About 10-20 seconds) at which point the on screen keyboard would go away.
• Using a Bluetooth Mouse and Keyboard at the same time caused communication issues.  (stuck and repeated letters, and no letters)  I would love to know if this is just my combination of hardware.  If anyone out there has a Nexus 7 and a bluetooth keyboard and mouse, pair and use them together and let me know if you see this issue!   Thanks!

In Conclusion, I think this could have been a great success if the following factors were to change.  Most importantly, a full size keyboard that was not prone to the above noted issues.  Secondly, if working to permanently replacing a laptop or a desktop, a 10"+ screen would be a serious asset.  I did get tired of using the 7" screen when working for more than half hour.

Questions Comments?  Lets talk!

//Ian\\

Android Saturation, Day 2

Day 2 of Android saturation.  Today I spent some time trying to get my tools that I may need to take support calls.  Since I carry a support phone for work, I may need to connect to client web servers to check out any issues. 

So today i spent some time going through the Google  Play Store offerings on free SSH Clients.  There were a few, but many would not work with special characters in passwords, or would have font sizes that were fixed and one need a micron microscope to see them.

There was one shining star.   Its called VX ConnectBot. It was able to accept my passwords with special characters and increase the font sizes.  So now I am able to connect to my office desktop via VPN and SSH.  From there I can access in-house tools to connect and access client systems,.

Today's App is VX ConnectBot.  Very elegant application.

Until Day 3
//Ian\\

Only Android Day 1

OK, let the experiment begin!!!

Nexus7 issues all solved and my only expected hindrance is that of my small keyboard and my stubby fingers.  So writing these entries may be of use in that I am beginning to use the small keys more. 

So, today I am starting.  I will refrain from using a desktop or a laptop with the following exceptions...  come on people, I am a geek and will require some hefty cpu power at times....
   - when i need cpu power for things such aa
         -music composition and audio processing
   - creating complex diagrams for external clients
   - Day job, I will continue to use my linux station, however my sidekick will no longer be my MBP, but rather this Nexus and its Keyboard.

I will also allow myself to use my Galaxty  Note.  After all, the point of this experiment is to see if one can use an Android device as a primary computer.  So today, I have been watching a movie using the StickIt application, allowing me to have a movie in a moveable window.  I downloaded a file off my web site, and edited it in OfficeSuite.  I have to say that OfficeSuite was a disappointment of a paid app.  For $15, it seemed  like a good deal, however, they fail to mention that the extended fonts are another $6 and then you need to download a third party dictionary, which costs more money.
 
I was then able to download an FTP client and re-upload it to my site :)   So far so so good.    I was also doing normal internet research using Chrome and Google Maps.

This blog was also written, uploaded, and published on the Nexus 7 using OfficeSuite, and the Blogger Apps.

Cheers!!!
//Ian\\

PS, Bullets did not cut and paste into the Blogger App, and the Blogger app does not have bullets.  First known limitation.   :)

Experiment on Hold :( Bad Device.

Sadly friends, I will have to suspend this little experiment of mine until I can get my Nexus 7 replaced.  Mine no longer wants to accept a charge.  Constant plug-in (12 hrs), still shows battery decline.  My nexus has about 16% battery left on it and I needed that to backup my data before she dies.  Also time to perform a factory reset to see if that solves the issue.   So far, its been about 10 min after a factory reset and the battery is still showing decline.

I have tried its charger, USB Port on my PC, USB on my Macbook, Various AC chargers (Samsung Galaxy Tab Charger, Nexus S charger, various cables and nothing seems to give my new love the go juice it so needs. 

So sadly, I will have to return it and wait for a replacement.  Since the place where I bought it is again out of stock, I am sure I will have to wait a few days.

I have scoured the forums looking for reasons for this issue and I have tried them all.  So if anyone has any other suggestions...   (and the nay sayers, hold your comments about iOS devices.  It will never happen!) please do let me know.

Sadly signing off this experiment until I can get a new device.  But rest assured friends, I will restart the experiment in all its glory as soon as I have a replacement Nexus.

Stay Geeky.
//Ian\\

{PS: 
As an aside, if you have tried the factory reset and cant get into the Recovery mode and are stuck at the Google screen, make sure your device is plugged into a PC.  Then it will start recovery mode for you.  Not sure why this is...  Maybe to assure it has power to perform the operations?}

Day 1 No Laptop Aug 7/2012

Day 1

So today my case came with the keyboard.  It goes without saying that this keyboard is a little smaller than what I am used to.  So if I can get used to the smaller size, I think I can make this work.  Yes, I am currently writing this blog on my android using an office package.  Fact is, i am quazy sitting in comfort on the subway.   Although I am making errors, its nothing that I cant fix later and I think I can make this work.

My main challenges at this point are having yet another device to charge (the keyboard) and the idiosyncrasies with using a bluetooth keyboard.   I have found myself having to re-pair the device a couple times today.  But I admit that may be user error.  DOH

The first issue I had was, by default, the Nexus 7 home screen is only in portrait.  But I am not a fan of stock home screens anyway.  So I have already replaced it with Go Launcher which allows either mode and is more feature rich anyway plus it has pretty animations, and hell, I'll admit, I like the pretty stuff.  There I said it!

So the rules I have set out for myself in the next week:

• No using my laptop...  with a few exceptions.  Sometimes I need cpu power for software such as Ableton Live.  Also I use a tool for work called OmniGraffle.  I will use my laptop for those.
• I will remain using my workstation at the office as I cannot sacrifice workplace productivity for a personal experiment.

I think that is about it.  So this has been day 1, and I have written this entry, a few personal emails and that's about it.   I use my laptop more on the weekends, so by then,  i hope to be all set and comfy.

Until tomorrow friends.

Please tell your friends about this, and tweeeeeeeeet  :)   I would love to get a discussion going around this little experiment of mine.

Cheers!!!

PS   I posted this article the following morning on the bus on my way into work.  See picture below.   On to day 2! 

Ditching the Laptop for Android.... Sorta...

Hi All,

Now that I have an Android Device that has a real processor (Ill explain more later), I am going to try a little experiment soon.  I am such geek that my laptop lever leaves my back pack, except when its in use, and I never go anywhere without my back pack.    Basically, I don't go anywhere w/o my laptop... my life.

So I recently scored a Nexus 7 tablet.  This thing is peppy, and quite beautiful.  Sporting the latest Android, Jellybean (4.1), and a Quad Core CPU, battery to kill, and a screen resolution such that I cant see any pixels.

So the experiment.  I want to test to see how functional Android is for production.  So I have ordered a case, that flips up like a  laptop and has a keyboard.  My Bluetooth mouse will pair and work with the device.  So once the case arrives, I am going to ditch the laptop for a week.


Stay Tuned!

Save in VIM as root! Quick and easy!

Hi all,

Don't have much time, but just ran across this....  So many times I am editing files, in VIM, and I have not issued sudo before hand...   :w .... "Cannot save" Pain in the ASS!

Do this...  edit your ~/.vimrc file and add this little line to'er

cmap w!! %!sudo tee > /dev/null %

Save that and all you have to do now is w!! and your good!  Enter your sudo password and away you go.  Now I caution, I would change the w!! to something that you have to think about as w!! can just become habit and habits and sudo are NOT GOOD!   So something like w!root may be a good option.

Just a quick post.
Cheers!
//Ian\\

Post Project Thoughts - Digital Signage

Although I have worked with digital signage products for quite ome time having worked at Gesturetek.  I was more in-house testing, debugging and doing QA.  I did go on site and setup trade show booths and fixed customer issues.  But now, I have just finished a project where I took a technical lead in the design of the hardware needed.

It has been quite the educational experience.  I cannot talk about the project or the client in any detail yet, and I would hope that at some point I can reveal that with some pictures!   What I can say is that this project employed 20 plasma screens ticker style, 24 mini display systems,  and 4 touch screen systems, each with a user controlled video wall (another 16 displays and 4 touch screens).  

This, for me, was mammoth!  But what a fun ride it was!  Having completed my Digital Signage Certified Expert program (Special thanks to Alan and Jonathan of Brawn Consulting, Digital Signage Expo, and the Digital Signage Federation) I learned so much.  Although I was well into the project and my designs, of how this would interconnect, the base knowledge I took away from that helped me steer in the right direction.  

Although I feel this project was an overwhelming success, there are some things I took away from this. I would like to share these experiences with you.  Hopefully if there is someone out there who is heading down this road too for the first time, you can take caution on the things I have learned.

The AV Provider, and your other Supports!

Since I am not an AV reseller, or installer, I made the designs of the systems.  I would suggest that you work with an AV integrator.  The mounting of the devices is an intricate thing and you want to work with somebody who does this every day.  The last thing you will need is to have a display fall down!   To be clear, this did not happen.  Its just something you should be aware of.  The experience I had with my AV provider was a little rocky.  Communication with our rep was sporadic.   However the technical staff were great and very professional.  They were good at answering my "noob" questions and were a great guide.  The installer was very professional and did a great job painstakingly mounting the bezeless plasma screens for PERFECT alignment.  

They also supplied many of the devices used.  At the last minute, I got a call that they were short 3 of 16 devices I needed to complete the project (1.5 weeks before I was to fly out to begin installation).  Apparently there were just no more of these specific screens in Canada.   This in my opinion was the forst major hiccup. 

This is where I reached out to Alan and Jonathan Brawn of Brawn consulting.  As part of my certification course I took with Alan, they are there to help me in these sorts of situations.  That was a GREAT comfort.  Although they immediately sourced places that had the screens I needed, companies in the USA are reluctant to sell across the border.  So sadly, that could not happen.  Again, relationships with your vendors are VERY important.  Insight Canada(my preferred vendor) stepped in and was able to broker the 3 remaining devices from the USA.  This however came at a price!  I ended up paying about $1000 more per device for the brokerage, shipping and Canadian duties on the devices.  However, all the devices were delivered on time.   Crisis averted.   Plan for contingencies. 

The sporadic communication with our AV salesperson caused some issues in that we were not sure where they were in the process at times, and we ended up with devices we did not order on site.  If you are in this situation, step up to the plate and call out these issues before they become a problem.

Cables Cables Cables!

Since all the displays were in a retail environment, we had to link everything to computers to drive the displays.  The rack that housed the systems was in a back room many meters away.  So we had to use cable extender systems.  Moreover, there was display mirroring happening in that one of the systems had 5 display outputs, we split each of those and again into an extender.  So, although I planned this right, and we had all the needed devices... one thing I did not anticipate was the number of cables and how the heck to manage that.  Also, since these were high end pro DVI lines, they were quite thick and thus harder to manage.

So lest see, 5 display outputs, each to a powered splitter, then to a Cat5 extender, break that down...

• 5   adapters - Minidisplay port to DVI 
• 5   DVI - initial output
• 10 DVI - From the splitters
• 5   POWER - To power the splitters
• 10 Ethernet - From the splitter

So thats 30 cables which I had initially thought I could lay the devices out nicely on the rack tray, however, since they were so thick, they moved the devices and nothing would stay put!  A lot of zip ties later, I made it look OK.  Not great, but OK.  I have since learned that the client has cleaned this up.  This is my greatest learning lesson.   In retrospect, I would have gotten a big plywood board and mounted that to the wall and affix all the devices and channel the wires so it looks clean, nothing moves, and debugging with a client would be MUCH easier.   

So please remember CABLE MANAGENT!!!  This was my biggest lesson.

Construction Zone!

A flag I knew about going into this was the fact that this was still a construction zone.  Working around construction crews, dust, and trying to keep track of the 80+ boxes of devices and other things needed got difficult.  More of a concern was the dust!  Its just something to keep in mind.  Its never advisable to install technology in a dusty environment, but sometimes, deadlines overrule!

Final Thoughts... a VIDEO CAMERA?

One final thought I have in regards to this particular project is that of a video camera.  Since most of the display devices were running from computers in the back where I could not see the displays, setting up was a little hard.  I ordered extended range mice, so I could walk out to the floor and operate, it was still a little hard to manage as I had to go check connections and debug, it was a lot of walking back and forth.  

What would have been great was a video camera that could see your devices, and a monitor in the back where the rack of systems was located.  This would have aided me in hooking up the extenders and getting all the devices working in perfect synergy.

In the end, all is working well with a few shake down issues and expected bugs.  I hope this helps somebody out there prepare for an installation.  I would love to hear your feedback and get a discussion going.  Please feel free to comment!

Stay Geeky,

//Ian\\

  

Digital Signage 2012 - Show Floor Notes and thoughts

Hi all,

With the close of DSE2012,  My brain fried with soaking up knowledge in Digital Signage, I must say that when transparent displays are a commodity, the advancements in screen glass from Corning, add in 3D stereoscopic glasses free displays and touch interfaces, we are about to enter the future world.

Advertising, and the way we see media will drastically change in the coming few years.  Moreover, the way we interact with machines.  During the keynote Peter Bocko from Corning shared their concept of the future.  This video was originally made to inspire the employees, but they have made it pubic.  Admittedly, some of the ideas shown in this video are ideas that others have made, but may be made possible with their products.  Id like to share as I find it personally inspirational.  

If you are like me, my first thought was "damn, FINGER PRINTS ON EVERYTHING.  I did immediately after go to the Corning booth to ask if they were working on glass that does not pick up finger prints.  This is confirmed (their competitors are also doing the same).

Some other really interesting things that wil change the landscape are that of transparent displays.  I see a virtually limitless application of this.   From ambient applications, education, and of course retail.   But imagine, store fridge doors showing your favorite pop slowly pouring into the glass that you see through and then not...  the ideas here are great.  From store windows, to museum, and school windows that may educate children and augment their reality in the classroom  (this i thought of, but I am sure I am not the first).  Have a look here at transparent display in action.  Sorry folks if you see a split image, this was filmed in 3D.  If you have a 3D screen, then you are lucky  :)


A large deal of the floor was content management companies, display manufacturers, video matrix switching gear, and rather sharp looking touch screen manufacturers.  Large scale format displays and flexible large scale such as Nanolumins.

Among the display manufacturers, LG had some rather great looking displays.  VERY thin.  Some 40" were only about 2cm thick.  Although, very cool, one has to wonder about the MTBF (mean time before failure) on units like this.  Nor could they be displayed in public because I am sure they can be easily broken.

With the displays, were more and more auto stereoscopic displays (3D w/o the need for glasses)  Since I was at InfoComm in 2010, I have to say that the technology has gotten better in that there "sweet spots" are more, and the clarity and resolution is much better.   This class of displays is an area where I have a keen interest in.  Its marketing and educational values are quite apparent to me.

There were also new classes of vending machines.  With LFD (Large Format Displays) that were touch screens rather than clunky buttons complete with (or maybe it was a complete mock up, I did not ask) Google Wallet integration.  Perhaps it was a concept machine.

There were also store shelf display combinations and touch conversion kets a plenty!  Its becoming much easier to buy conversion kits (which are screen frame overlays that report touch to your computer) making it possible to turn any display (and existing ones) into touch.

I really think that in a few years we will see that the way we see marketing will change a great deal.  Its bringing us closer to the mindset of many of the visionaries of this time.  As always, if you have any questions, please just ask!

Cheers!
//Ian\\

Digital Signage Certification

Well,

I should note here that I am not certified YET, I must go write the exam which I will have the details on in the coming week.

Although I have some signage experience, I must admit that there is so much information to absorb. I would like nothing more than to take in other sessions.  To name a few, Digital Signage and NFC, Digital Signs Hardware Details, and most importantly, the digital signage tour of Las Vegas (that I will have to do on my own tonight).  However, since I am quite new to this world, I (and my work place Trapeze Media) rightfuly decided that this certification was the best bet.

My brain is full an tired now, but I am sure I have it in me to get this out there.   Firstly, one of the most important things in planning a Digital Signage solution (here after I'll replace Digital Signage with DS, because I am lazy.  There I said it!)  is the 7 key elements.   They are

• Hardware
• Software
• Connectivity
• Content 
• Operations 
• Design
• Business

Many would say the most complex would be the hardware and man, could the masses not be more INCORRECT.  Having had experience now in the marketing industry, the old saying is content, content, content!!!  If you cant deliver the content, you will loose your audience.

You have about 3-6 seconds to capture the attention of your audience.  In most cases they are in transit and will pass by an DS installation in said time.  There is a large degree of psychodynamics here.  But to be honest, content is not what puts the drive behind me personally, its the technology and making it all tick.  But planners, be warned...  content, content, content!

More interestingly, retail only makes up 1/3rd of the DS market space and is the most easy one to penetrate.  Draw customers in to your message.  There are many other applications of DS that most dont often think of.  Such as industrial, and education.  Education is one area where I can see it being of great and wholesome use!  It enables a teacher with a class of more than 15 to help maintain that intimate interaction that they loose after you pass that 15 student barrier.  Other areas of Signage that people often miss are security and healthcare.

Another area of focus is that of consumer technology vs. commercial technology.  Many people opt to use the much less expensive consumer gear over the commercial gear.  This can be a very bad mistake!   Lets face it, commercial gear is more costly due to its solid construction, longer MTBF (Mean Time Before Failure) and environmental robustness!  Moreover, warranty and support.  With consumer, you have to take apart, and return the gear yourself whereas most manufacturers of commercial gear will have on site support, and fast too!  So this is an area where many make their first blunder.

It seems that DS customers see DS as a commodity.  They could not be further than the truth, if its done right, however the integration can be.  When a DS customer works with the right integrator, with clear communication and a firm understanding of the customers objectives, the whole package from the customers idea to the working solution can be positioned as such.

Must of the last half talked about recognizing your value as an integrator, ROI, and ROO (Return on Objective) and was very much more business geared.  Great stuff, and I have a lot of learning to do around it,  but far beyond the scope of this blog.

Stay tuned as tomorrow, the expor floor opens and I get to see and maybe get my grubby hands on some of  this gear.  Until next time...

//Ian\\

Digital Signage 2012

Hi Folks,

I will be heading to Vegas tomorrow to attend Digital Signage 2012  (http://www.dse2012.com).  While I am there I will be taking in as many workshops as I can, and getting my Digital Signage certification.   I hope to post a few blog during the show.   The Expo floor is Wednesday/Thursday where I get to see the really cool toys  (cough cough... transparent displays!!!)

So tomorrow I am heading YYZ to LVS to take in the Digital Signage playground!  There is a Digital Signage tour of Vegas Tuesday which sadly I will not be able to take part in as I will be doing the certification track.  Oh well, I will have to take my own tour.  Part of that will be the Cosmopolitan!   I just wish I could get a behind the scenes tour of that!!!   Anyone out there have any contacts that could get me in?  I would love nothing more than to learn how all that is wired, powered, and content is fed!

So stay tuned!  If you think there is anything I really NEED to see other than the Cosmopolitan, in this Mecca of signage, please do let me know and I will be sure to swing by (time permitting)

Cheers!
//Ian\\

Acer Iconia A100

New Toy Folks,

I will spare you the Android 3 reviews, if you really want to know more about Honeycomb, there are many good reviews out there and you just need to spend about 1.5 nano seconds with Google.   I will however, talk a litte about the hardware.

My previous tablet was the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7".  That was a well rounded device.  Although the A100 is not as hefty as that, it does have  a good feel for a 7"'er  :P   I chose the A100 over its bigger brother the a500, a 10".  Personally, if I was to use a 10" I would rather just use a laptop.  The A100 is small enough to actually get in your pants pocket if need be.

Its construction is quite solid.  However, the screen seems like very low grade plastic.  I fear that its going to get scratched easily.  More over it picks up finger prints and oils from your hands VERY fast on both front and back.   Other than that, its very solid.  It has a nice feature, the Rotation Lock.  With a rocker switch on the top right, you can lock the rotation in.  (If you are like me, a screen rotating when you dont want it to is very annoying)

It has a dedicated home button (capasitive).  The lower edge features, a pin hole reset button, Left/Right speakers, dedicated Micro HDMI port, Dock Port and a Micro USB Port.  Its power is a dedicated coax plug.  A little annoying, however, the Tab never charged from a standard usb supply anyway, you had to use the supplied adapter.  So in another way, at least you can charge AND use the USB at the same time.

I should note that a feature that I would have liked to see, was what its brother the A500 has, is a dedicated standard USB Input port.  However if I am not mistaken, this can be done with an adapter for the Micro USB.

I find the touch on the screen not quite up to par.  Touching notifications on the edge are often miss interpreted.  Also touches are not as sensitive as one would like.  I actually found myself wondering if it was resistive.  However once I installed a better keyboard into the system, things got much easier.

The camera is very quick to focus and grab your shot.  This was a very refreshing thing to see.  Its rotation is also very fast compared to other devices I have used.  Notifications are shown by flashing the LED on the power button and the home button as well.

Something that really is important in my opinion is the SD Card slot.  There is also a MicroSD card slot to compliment its onboard 8 or 16 gig memory.  I see things like the iPad, Galaxy Tab 10", Playbook without a simple MicroSD card slot.  WHY??  I dot get it.  So this has a slot that can accomodate up to 32GB.

So all in all, for a sub $300CDN device I can't complain.  The value of a dual core 1Ghz tablet usually sits at 400-500+  This one costs $250CDN.  If you can deal with the finger prints, add a screen protector, install better keyboard software, you are good with this device.

Happy Tabbig!
//Ian\\

Digital Signage Expo 2012, Las Vegas

Hi Folks,

Just a quick update to let you know that I will be going to LasVegas on Monday and will be attending Digital Signage Expo 2012 (www.dse2012.com)  I will be writing soon so stay tuned!

//Ian\\

Macintosh Default Printer Settings

Ok, WOW!  Sometimes an easy answer is just not an easy place to be found!  This one has shocked me!!!  Here is the scoop.  In the office where I work, we have a colour printer.  Its on a maintenance contract and we pay 9 cents for every colour page used.  and yes, I spell colour with a U!   I am Canadian after all eh!?

I have a fleet of Macs in the office and I could NOT figure out how to change the default printer settings.  Yes, sure I could create a new preset, but then I have to assume that my users would remember to change the setting every time they printed.  Lets be real here, thats not going to happen!  I don't blame the users, hell I have forgotten and I am a systems guy and the one who has to answer for the higher than normal printer costs.  I just wanted to be clear on that.

So, back to the point.  You want to know how to adjust the printer defaults so the user will not have to make changes every time they print.  I did see a posting where you could start hand editing some .plist files, but lets not get into that.  Why not just change the defaults.

So here's how.  Apple probably doesn't want you to think you are using a UNIX style system.  But you are  :)   That being said, the system uses CUPS (Common Unix Printing System)  Most people are not aware that CUPS runs a local web service where you can make changes to the....  wait for  it..... DEFAULTS!!!!

1. Go here:    http://127.0.0.1:631/printers  (Yes this is a local address {Its on your computer})
2. Select the printer you want to change the defaults on.
3. On the drop box that says, Administration, select Set Default Options!
4. Make your setting changes (remember, there are other option classes on the top (Options Installed, General Banners etc...)  Go through them too.
5. Click Set Default Options
6. You will now be prompted for a user name/password.  Use your Macintosh Login credentials and you are done!

NOTE:  If you don't use a Mac Password at login, that's horrible!!!  I will not tell you about the security issues with that here, only that you will need to set a login password.  You can do this while the password dialog is up, click APPLE > System Preferences > Accounts.   Set a password (leaving your old password box blank.  you can now go back to the web CUPS interface and use the new password.

I don't understand for the likes of me why Apple has not gotten around to making this a Mac UI select-able option.  But there you have it!     Enjoy!    I hope my coworkers like me today, now I can take back all the user codes and passwords I was ab out to make them use to print!!!