Brand new hospital - blank screens

Digital signage in err action at Pembury Hospital

We had a routine scan appointment at Pembury Hospital and it's the first time we've been there since it was opened.

Shiny new hospital, so you would expect state of the art well, everything! I still can't believe how many TV screens I see running without content on them.

Someone went to the trouble of specifying a signage system, deciding what should be displayed, securing budget (which is already tight in the NHS) and then commissioning a company to install the hardware.

However, what's happened to the content management? This wasn't the only screen sitting idle (on a power consuming white image no less) in the hospital. ALL of the screens were in the same state.

It could be an anomaly you say? Just opened so teething problems? We went back weeks later for a follow up scan and guess what? The TVs were still showing the blank white screen. The time wasn't right or even consistent between screens.

If you're going to spend thousands of pounds of public (or private for that matter) money on hardware and software to inform patients, clients and staff then please put some relevant engaging content across the system or simply turn them off.

It's interesting that there are hundreds and possibly thousands of digital signage vendors and it seems not many can get it right! I've seen mouse pointers, error screens, circles displayed as ellipses, screens that are off or content that's out of date.

When you're shopping for a vendor, do yourself a favour; make sure the software to push content to the displays is easy to use and intuitive.
 

Microsoft Surface Type cover after 60 seconds use

 

Just "installed" Surface Type cover

So my friendly UPS guy just dropped off my MS Surface Type keyboard which I ordered on March 4th - so delivered on the third day. Not bad Microsoft.

I decided to sell the Touch cover because I use this for work and other than protecting the screen I just couldn't get along with it.

Granted, you do get sort of used to it but I found I could type faster on the glass screen of the tablet. Also, the touch pad was inaccurate and not very sensitive. I've been typing on this for only a few minutes and can say it's so much better. It's almost as good as my Lenovo laptop keyboard which is saying something.

Also, it's not much thicker or heavier than my Touch cover. I put the Touch cover on eBay and scored £82! Only £18 less than retail. Less eBay fees, I netted about £71 so added £38 more for a type cover. Not bad in my book.

I didn't mind the Touch cover for occasional use but the writing was on the wall when after a meeting, the company founder and me were editing a document in a coffee shop. He was immediately impressed by the Surface but that quickly faded when I looked like an incompetent typist. He decided to write his edits down instead. Ouch - I looked like I wasn't understanding where he wanted his edits! That shouldn't be the case any longer with my new Type cover.

Highlights:
- Fast accurate typing almost on par with a laptop (only detractor is some slight flex but hey it's so thin so I'll take the compromise
- Same flock finish on the rear makes it nice to touch
- Nice sized keys probably as a result of the wide screen form factor of the surface
- Responsive touch pad (fingers slide instead of snag like on the touch cover)
- Barely thicker than the touch cover
- Now I can truly say that this is the ultimate laptop replacement

Lowlights:
- Some flex when tying "laptop" style
- Touch pad is slightly too small if you need to "drag and select" would have been better if they used the space below for the buttons (I'll probably get used to this so time will tell)
- Thicker and slightly heavier than the touch cover

Other updates:
- I'm still loving the Surface now as much as I did in the first few days. I don't lust after an iPad and don't miss my laptop
- eBay app has been updated with messages so it's complete now
- It's wearing very well indeed despite me not having a case for it (that will come soon)
- Feels good in the hands once you get over the corners digging into your palms when using it tablet style

All in all, it's doing the job I bought it for. Can't say that for much else these days! Oh yes, of course this was all typed up on my Surface.

Microsoft Surface as a desktop replacement - update

I'm still using my Surface now as a full on work computer. All seems to be going very well after three plus weeks of daily use.
 
Here's the new pluses and minuses I've discovered with a little more use
 
Still great
 

• The unit is durable - no marks or scratches yet and I don't have a case
• I'm getting used to the squarer corners and holding this as a landscape tablet
• I don't miss a larger screen and can work on this 8 hours plus without fatigue
• The flash Whitelist "hack" still works to enable flash sites, a work around but better than nothing: XDA developers thread
• Screen does pick up fingerprints but they aren't really visible and easy to clean off
• Clear bright screen, no letter boxing on 16:9 content
• Ability to search, share and access settings from the charms bar in any application trumps Android and IOS - plus you can search other apps from within an app (yes this is useful)

Best apps

• Tuner free MCE (most UK on demand services) created by Martin Millmore at Millisoft
• News Bento - almost like Flipboard
• TVCatchup 
• Still MS Office and Internet Explorer it's why I can work on it!

Needs improvement

• Unit shuts off without warning when the battery hits 5% (a rare occurrence as the battery lasts so long)
• Windows store could be better organised, also Microsoft could be more stringent on approvals - quantity isn't quality and there are lots of duds on there
• Mysterious slow downs occasionally when there aren't loads of apps running (hopefully a future update will solve this)
• Music app crashed when I paused a webinar and returned to it after viewing another app
• Needs to be more media friendly (some .mov videos won't play but strangely work without audio when embedded in PowerPoint - codec issues?)
• No support for airport express but then again my Android has issues with that too)
• Still can't print to my Samsung ML1630W Wi-Fi printer - Please Samsung or Microsoft release a driver

Conclusions so far

The surface is a brilliant work tool - I don't regret foregoing my laptop for one minute. It's light, durable and efficient. Plus, I'll say again - I didn't have to shell out £119 for MS Office which Surface Pro owners do. I don't mind not being able to run legacy desktop applications on the Surface. If I need desktop apps I'll pull out the Lenovo X100e laptop. This is 100% the right device for me with very little compromises.

Microsoft Surface on the road

Is the Surface good for business use?

So, I've taken my Surface out for a road trip which is a business meeting involving showing some emails, pdfs and PowerPoint files to the founder of the company.

I felt clever as I flipped out the stand and placed my Surface on the table. "Wow, that's a neat stand" he remarked as his legless iPad lay flat next to him.

Business commences and there's no more talk of the tech. So how was it?

Good

• Showing Excel and making notes as we went along was easier than on a laptop
• Using swipe gestures to switch between email, PPT, Excel, PDF instead of ALT + TAB
• Smooth and fast
• Good viewing angles and clear enough for both of use to see
• No battery anxiety, so much so that I left the charger at home!

Not so good

• I would have brought my external mouse for Excel edits as I'm finding the Touch Cover clumsy and not as responsive as I'd like - plus I could input without moving the tablet
• Same for my wireless keyboard for Excel edits
• Typing this post on the touch keyboard and still haven't mastered it, slow going

Conclusion
I was able to do everything I needed without too much pain and much preferred bringing the Surface to lugging a laptop about. I still need to learn the best ways to use the device input wise. Do I get a Type keyboard? Carry a rollup wireless one plus a mouse? Depend more on the touch screen?

I have to say that it's really light compared even to 'ultra' and netbooks. You really don't feel you're lugging around such a capable device. Seven hours into the day on 5/8ths brightness and still 38% battery left.

Further updates as I continue to use it.

Who or what is the Microsoft Surface for?

Microsoft Surface RT in "desktop" mode

 

Okay, I got this idea in my head that I should get a Microsoft Surface. A couple of years ago I got rid of my home laptop, a Fujitsu P1510D which happened to be a convertible laptop/tablet with a stylus and resistive touch screen. Needless to say I seldom used the touch functions.

I've long been a fan of ultra portable laptops and have had my share of Toshibas and IBMs. Spending a lot of time on the road and in presentations I have always sought light, powerful laptops with long battery life.

I've just started a new consulting job which entails working from home, lots of travel and potential trips out to India. I toyed with the idea of getting an iPad but knew that it couldn't completely replace a laptop or desktop computer.

Enter the Surface RT. eBay is usually my first port of call for technology, most of my phones, computers and even household items come from eBay as lightly used or repairable. My most recent phone, the Samsung Galaxy Note is an eBay special. It's only a few months old, less than half the new price and I've put it on a £8 tariff with Talk Mobile. Who needs to spend £35+ per month? but I digress, let's get back to the Surface (no pun intended).

I looked at the unit briefly at John Lewis and also compared it to be Samsung Ativ. I didn't know much about Windows RT but a Samsung rep was on hand to assist.

"Does this come with Windows 8 Pro?" I asked. "It comes with Windows but I think you can upgrade it, let me ask the Microsoft rep" she replied. A few moments later she came back and confirmed (incorrectly) that I could upgrade to Windows 8 Pro, that it would be free and come as an update.

I'll spare you the details of the back and forth but suffice it to say that in these instances of confusion, Google is your friend...It simply confirmed what every other reviewer has said; the Microsoft marketing machine has done a poor job of educating people on the subject of Windows RT vs. Windows 8.

The Surface RT 64GB at John Lewis with the touch cover is £559 -  precisely the same price as the iPad 4 64GB. Coincidence? Perhaps. You could argue that the Microsoft is as good value as the iPad because it comes with the keyboard, but then again the iPad has the famous Retina display. So, probably a wash. The critics has said that MS has made a huge error on pricing and they should have undercut the iPad etc. etc.

If it was cheaper they may have gained more market share. But, would that have meant people would hang on to them even if they bought it to run legacy Windows applications and found out they couldn't? Probably not.

Which brings me back to eBay, many received these as gifts at Christmas or bought a Surface without knowing you were limited to installing only what was in the Microsoft store or signed by Microsoft. You could jailbreak to bypass the signing issue but it really doesn't bring huge benefits because of the absence of useful ARM compiled apps.

I found a seller who had parted with the £559 and decided that RT wasn't for him. We negotiated a bargain price of £370 an eye watering loss on his part of almost £200 in two months. It came it its original box AND  it came with a 32GB class 10 micro SD card which would have been around £30. So a loss north of £200 for him and possibly a gain for me.

I could have bought a Core i5 laptop for the same money with many gigs of ram, terabytes of storage and a bigger screen (not touch though). But with that also comes more weight, more heat, more noise and moving parts. So I opted for the surface in the hopes that it could and would serve as a replacement for a normal computer.

So far so good. I'm not going to rave about the Surface nor am I going to slate it. I am going to say that it comes with MS Office Home and Student 2013 which is updated from the preview to a full version via Windows update. This is a great inclusion considering that it would cost £109.95 for the package. By the way, Surface Pro does not come with Office.

Positives:

• You can pick up a nearly new 64GB unit with the touch cover keyboard for £400 or under
• It comes with Office 2013 Home & Student
• The legacy (old) desktop is present and you can work in Windows like on a "normal" computer
• You can access the file system, drives, removable storage, printers as in Windows 7/8
• All day computing on one charge (yes, really)
• Runs cool
• Fast enough for office work
• Very portable and you don't have to lug your laptop everywhere
• Full size USB port
• Clear, bright screen, I use this as my desktop and I'm not yearning for an external monitor - beats my Lenovo laptop screen into submission despite being smaller
• Great industrial design - it exudes quality and feels substantial

Not so good:

• It didn't have a driver for my not so old Samsung ML1630W wireless printer and MS support couldn't help
• No Windows Media player
• Would have been nice to play WTV files produced in Media Centre. (I realise only 6% of users ever open Media Centre and only 10% of those actually use it so understand this omission)
• Sure, there are 17,000+ apps in the store but I can assure you most are either useless or seem incomplete (e.g. no messages on the eBay app, no journey planner in National Rail)
• Microsoft should have put their own developers to work so the most popular apps were available at or shortly after launch (e.g. Flipboard)
• Takes some getting used to when using it as a tablet because it's wider than an iPad in landscape mode and the square edges can be uncomfortable

It most definitely isn't a media consumption tablet although you can scrape by if needed. If you're looking for a stellar media experience you're better off sticking to IOS or Android tablets. However, if you're willing to wait it does show promise. News 360 is almost a Flipboard replacement for now. I do use it in the evening for "entertainment" but my Galaxy Note can step in to fill any gaps.

It is however, a suitable replacement for a normal office computer. It's fast enough, light, pleasing to use and comes with Office, a real USB port and expandable storage.

I'll be updating this so stay tuned for more updates. I wouldn't write the Surface off just yet...

The channel was just forced on us

Is this a familiar sight?

While I've been going round and doing channel audits for one of the largest retailers in the country, I noticed an interesting trend with employee TV screens. The communications team said that the channel was "forced" on them by one of the senior people in the business. 

I don't need to bang on about the issue about adding channels without clear objectives but it was fascinating to see how it filtered down to the front line. The communications team didn't really want (or probably need) the channel so the effect of it hasn't been all that good. 

The content was well produced, looked polished and it seemed that it was relevant for branch employees. But...here is what I uncovered during my channel audit:

• The communications team didn't want the channel so it's not looked at as a serious means of getting messaging to front line staff
• Many of the TVs were switched off or had the volume down because they were in lunch areas or people were tired of hearing the same messages again and again
• The messages were too long - one was about 10 minutes in length, digital signage is good for bite sized messaging and at-a-glance content
• Staff such as drivers who are not desk based wanted to see weather, traffic and information related to their day-to-day jobs rather than the usual corporate messaging
• The built in interactivity was too hard to use (a numerical keypad to navigate content)

LCD screens are definitely an auxiliary means of getting messages across. It's certainly good to augment campaigns sent across more "serious" communications channels and can be powerful when you get it right. 

It goes without saying that if you apply the comms basics as you would with any other method of communication, digital signage will be much more effective.

There are also hundreds of vendors out there but I've not seen many who tick the right "comms" boxes. I'd love to hear about digital signage disasters but also success stories, write to me at ray.edun@gmail.com or post a comment. 

Communicating with a mobile audience - Case study: Metroline Buses

The Client

A dynamic and ambitious transport company, Metroline is proudly serving London, one of the world’s busiest cities. Their principal business is the provision of bus services under contract to London Buses, operating through an area that extends from North to West London, including Central London and the City.

Every day Metroline strive to meet their passengers’ expectations, be it through good customer service, a clean and presentable vehicle or simply getting their customers to their destinations on time.

The Challenge

Metroline employees are constantly on the move, driving from depot to depot. This makes communication a real challenge. Irregular shift patterns and 24 hour a day staffing can make it difficult to communicate important legislation and safety announcements.

Metroline require a way of communicating with drivers when they arrive for their shift or whilst they stop for a break.

The Solution

Sabercom worked closely with Metroline to specify and provide an 11 site corporate digital signage system for communicating across all bus depots.

Placing screens in the reception and break out area of each depot allows for important messages to be read by each of the drivers.

Communication managers can broadcast important safety messages and update drivers on new legislation. A mix of travel and weather news means that drivers are constantly informed of any hazards that may occur during their shift.

Sabercom users at the individual depots can also control the content of their locations screen, this ensures that information is local and relevant.

The Sabercom system has proven to be one of the most important communication channels for Metroline. Sabercom's on-going relationship ensures that the solution is constantly evolving to meet their requirements.