Advanced Designs Unique Mobile Video Wall In Two Weeks For New CTV Show "The Social"

What do you do when your TV show uses a video wall for direct viewer interaction, but the entire set needs to be mobile because other shows film on the same soundstage throughout the day? According to the makers of the new CTV talk show “The Social”, you call Advanced, Canada’s premier AV and IT integrator, to develop an innovative mobile video wall solution that can be easily rolled on and off the set!

Advanced recognized that the show needed a solution as technologically advanced as the show’s concept, which capitalizes on social media to make viewers a very literal part of the show, allowing folks at home to tweet and message the show in real time and influence discussions and pose questions. It’s the 21st century’s answer to the old mainstay of “let’s go to our next caller”, and the set deserved a 21st century display to show the audience’s input.

The most amazing thing may not be the display itself, but the fact that Advanced designed, built and installed the custom mount and display in just two weeks working only after-hours, from the day the order was placed to completion. According to Advanced’s General Manager of Systems Integration Omar Prashad, systems such as this one usually require a 4-6 week lead time, which meant that the team had to work literally 24 hours a day for the final two days to have it finished on time for the show’s debut on Monday, September 2.

“We’ve never built a mobile video wall before,” he said, “so there was a lot of brainstorming at the very beginning to determine the best way to build the mount that houses all nine 46-inch displays. It's not something a lot of AV companies could do, but we developed a custom mobile mounting solution with custom welding that can be moved by a single person, even though it weighs nearly 800 pounds. We also couldn’t be on the set during the day because it’s used for a variety of programming, so we constructed the mount offsite, then spent the final two days working around the clock to get it integrated with the switchboard and working flawlessly for its debut on the air on Monday.”

The video wall is composed of nine 46-inch ultra-thin NEC X463UN displays, creating a nearly seamless 138-inchdisplay that gives viewers an HD view of show graphics that may include photos, videos, text and live viewer feeds from Twitter and other social networks. The video feed is delivered directly from the switchboard to a Kramer scaler that optimizes the incoming signal and then sends to the video wall.

“It was a lot of pressure to design, deliver, color calibrate and make sure it was 100 percent working in such a short time frame, but it was exciting to see it all happen,” Prashad added. “There’s nothing Advanced can’t do, and this last-minute mobile video wall is an incredible proof of that philosophy.”

Ecko Unltd. Named As CES Innovations 2012 Design And Engineering Award Honoree

MIZCO International’s EckoUNLTD. product marketing division today announced that it has been named an International CES Innovations 2012 Design and Engineering Awards Honoree for its new Spray™ Bluetooth speaker. Products entered in this prestigious program are judged by a preeminent panel of independent industrial designers, engineers and members of the media to honor outstanding design and engineering in cutting edge consumer electronics products across 32 product categories.

The Spray is the newest addition to the Ecko UNLTD.SOUND line of powerful, stylish mobile audio products from MIZCO International. It is the ultimate Bluetooth speaker for use with iPods, iPhones, iPads, laptops and PCs, and all Android, BlackBerry and Windows smartphones. With two full-range high-output 40mm drivers delivering 3W each and two 45mm passive radiators, it can fill a room with high-fidelity audio or bring music to the outdoors thanks to the high-capacity Li-Ion battery that provides up to 10 hours of play time.

Utilizing Bluetooth 2.1 technology the Spray pairs with any Bluetooth device up to a maximum range of 30 feet, includes a built-in microphone that enables hands-free calling with any Bluetooth cell phone and has a 3.5mm line input for direct connection to any music player or smartphone. The Spray’s dome twists to control volume and skip to the next or previous song, and the Spray’s nozzle is a button that controls the play/pause and call functions.

The Spray has a high gloss black finish and includes a high-density metal grille. The high capacity Li-Ion rechargeable battery is user-replaceable, so owners can carry spare batteries to provide virtually unlimited playtime.

Graffiti has played an important role in Marc’s creative vision ever since he first glimpsed the vibrantly painted subway trains rumbling through New York City. In designing a Bluetooth speaker that looks and feels like a Spray paint can, he is sharing a part of his history and paying homage to those artists who came before him.

“Marc Ecko and Mizco have brought a new level of fashion, function and features to the consumer electronics industry with the Spray, giving consumers the chance to hear the colors sound can make, and we are proud to have that recognized by the CEA,” said Steve Kops, Executive Vice President of Sales for the EckoUNLTD. line at MIZCO. “The EckoUNLTD. line of mobile device accessories will continue to grow and introduce today’s consumers to Marc’s unique fashion style.”

The prestigious Innovations Design and Engineering Awards are sponsored by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA)®, the producer of the International CES, the world’s largest consumer technology tradeshow, and have been recognizing achievements in product design and engineering since 1976. The Best of Innovations honor is awarded to the products with the highest judges’ scores and will be featured in the Innovations Design and Engineering Showcase at the 2012 International CES.

EckoUNLTD.’s Spray will be displayed at the 2012 International CES, which runs January 10-13, 2012 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Honorees will also be displayed at CES Unveiled: the Official Press Event of the International CES from 4-7 p.m. on Sunday, January 8 in the Venetian Ballroom of the Venetian.

The Innovations entries are judged based on the following criteria:

• Engineering qualities, based on technical specs and materials used
• Aesthetic and design qualities
• The product’s intended use/function and user value
• Unique/novel features that consumers would find attractive
• How the design and innovation of the product compares to other products in the marketplace

Products chosen as an Innovations honoree reflect innovative design and engineering of the entries. Examples may include the first time various technologies are combined in a single product or dramatic enhancements to previous product designs.

Innovations 2012 Design and Engineering honoree products are featured on www.CESweb.org/Innovations, which lists product categories, as well as each product name, manufacturer information, designer, description, photo and URL.

Family Owned Chain of Pharmacies Keep An "Eye on Their Stores" Using the ELAN g! Control System

The Lomax family is no stranger to running a successful business. Founded in 1973, the family’s pharmacy business is experiencing rapid growth and now includes five northeastern Arkansas pharmacies. In 2009, their then newest pharmacy suffered, in a two-month period, two break-in attempts and several false alarms from the store’s security system. And every time an incident occurred someone had to get up, even at 2 a.m., and drive 50 miles to reset the alarm and survey the situation. The family realized this was an extremely inefficient and inconvenient way to manage security for multiple stores, so they went in search of a solution, and found it – the ELAN g! Control System.

The Lomax’s introduction to the ELAN g! Control System occurred in the fall of 2010 when they were getting ready to open their newest of five pharmacies. They met with Ryan Heringer, President of Jonesboro, Arkansas-based Sound Concepts, who suggested and installed the ELAN g! Control System to give them remote control over the store’s surveillance cameras, security system, heating, air conditioning and lighting.

“I knew the ELAN g! Control System was what they needed for the pharmacy,” said Heringer. “And once they saw how simple it is to control their whole store from the iPhone app, they knew it too. Now they can monitor surveillance cameras and the alarm system from home, and also control lighting, heating, audio and video, so it was the perfect solution.”

Now, instead of waking up to drive 50 miles when an alarm is triggered, Kyle Lomax can open the g!Mobile app on his iPhone and instantly view the live surveillance cameras, and turn off or reset the alarm. “On Saturday we close at noon, and one Saturday I got a call from our alarm company at 2 p.m. that the alarm tripped, and they asked if they should dispatch the police,” said Lomax. “I said yes, and then immediately logged in to the g! iPhone app to view the surveillance system. Before the police even got there I knew it was a false alarm. If I didn’t have the g!Mobile app, I would have had to go all the way back to the store right after I got home.”

The Lomax’s know that pharmacies are a potential target for criminal activity, so security and surveillance are very important to them. “We’ve had people try to come in through the drive-thru window before, so now we have a camera right above the window,” said Lomax. “There’s another one outside the front door and the back door, and seven more inside the store. We can’t see the whole interior from the register area, so having all the camera feeds on one screen right on the counter is important for the safety of our employees and our store. And we can adjust everything from any computer in the pharmacy.”

To reduce their energy costs, they programmed the system to automatically turn on and off the lights, heating and air conditioning at specific times every day. The system also includes three zones of audio with ELAN Elios speakers and a 37-inch HDTV in the waiting area that displays the pharmacy’s internal marketing messages and cable news programs.

The Lomax’s are now installing the ELAN g! Control System in all five of their pharmacies, as well as any new locations that they open. “As our business grows, we will increasingly rely on the remote-monitoring system to ensure our stores run smoothly and to handle any incidents,” said Lomax.

The ELAN g! Series Control System provides users with the most uniform and intuitive icon-based control from their favorite devices, including TVs, touch screens, touch pads, PCs, iPhones, and iPads. The standardized interface works across platforms, so that the trendy g!Mobile app users love on the iPhone appears and works similarly on ELAN touch screens, valets and handheld remotes as well as users' TVs and mobile devices. And the system's IP backbone makes it just as easy to control the system from across the room as across the globe.