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4 episodes with crts
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4 episodes with crts
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3 episodes with crts
2 episodes with crts
2 episodes with crts
3 episodes with crts
43 episodes with crts
Welcome back to the Dollar Wise Podcast. In this episode, Jason Gabrieli, CFP, is joined by Andrew Barhardt, CFP, to explore how charitable contributions can be optimized for tax efficiency. They discuss practical strategies such as donor-advised funds, gifting appreciated stock, and estate planning techniques to ensure your generosity also leads to tax benefits. Whether you're navigating a high-income year or planning your legacy, this episode offers valuable insights to help you give wisely.Tune into this episode to also learn:● How donor-advised funds can provide flexibility and immediate tax deductions.● The benefits of gifting appreciated stock to eliminate capital gains taxes.● When charitable remainder trusts (CRTs) are appropriate for advanced planning.● Why designating charities as IRA beneficiaries can be a smart estate strategy.What we discussed● [00:00:06] Why many charitable contributions don't provide tax benefits under current standard deduction rules.● [00:02:45] Introduction to donor-advised funds and how they work.● [00:05:29] When donor-advised funds are most advantageous, especially in high-income years.● [00:07:12] How deduction bunching can help maximize tax deductions.● [00:11:37] Gifting appreciated stock to avoid capital gains taxes.● [00:14:00] Overview of advanced charitable trusts like CRATs and CRUTs.● [00:17:03] The best assets to leave to charity versus heirs in estate planning.● [00:18:26] The importance of tax-efficient charitable giving both during life and after death.3 Things To Remember1. Donor-advised funds offer a flexible way to manage charitable giving while optimizing tax deductions.2. Gifting appreciated assets can eliminate capital gains taxes and enhance the impact of your donations.3. Strategic estate planning ensures that both your heirs and charities benefit in the most tax-efficient manner.Useful LinksConnect with Jason Gabrieli: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasongabrieliLike what you've heard…Learn more about HFM HERESchedule time to speak with us HERE
Robin Wigglesworth, editor of Alphaville, the Financial Times financial blog, joins host Patrick Dolan to discuss the differences between synthetic and non-synthetic CRTs, common types of CRTs and their appeal to investors. Robin also reviews the historical developments and differences of the European and US markets, and their impact on the private credit market. We'll also cover regulatory changes like Basel III, and explore the current and future market trends.
2:45:24 – Frank in New Jersey, plus the Other Side. Topics include: Business monkey bottle, Generation X, snow, early bus, hotel demolition, CRTs, cat wheel training, condo association, Trout Fishing in America, vegan scrambled eggs, comic shop, Comfort Cuckoo CD Collection, Star Magic, Cingular Wireless, Dungeon Crawler Carl, AI, subtle graffiti, new arcade in Port Authority, […]
2:45:24 – Frank in New Jersey, plus the Other Side. Topics include: Business monkey bottle, Generation X, snow, early bus, hotel demolition, CRTs, cat wheel training, condo association, Trout Fishing in America, vegan scrambled eggs, comic shop, Comfort Cuckoo CD Collection, Star Magic, Cingular Wireless, Dungeon Crawler Carl, AI, subtle graffiti, new arcade in Port Authority, […]
Jim, Chris, and guest Paul Neiffer, CPA, continue their discussion on Charitable Remainder Trusts. They also answer listener questions related to CRTs, CRATs and CRUTs. The post Charitable Remainder Trusts Part 2: EDU #2504 appeared first on The Retirement and IRA Show.
On this week's episode of THE FINANCIAL COMMUTE, host Chris Galeski invites Wealth Advisor Mike Rudow to discuss charitable giving strategies to ensure you are optimizing your donations.Here are some key takeaways from their conversation:QCDs (Qualified Charitable Distributions) allow individuals over 73 to send required minimum distribution amounts directly from their IRA to charities, avoiding taxable income. CRTs (Charitable Remainder Trusts) provide a way to donate assets, reduce income taxes, avoid capital gains, generate a beneficiary income stream, and benefit charities at the trust's end.CRTs are especially beneficial for assets like appreciated stock or real estate, allowing tax-free sale within the trust while providing lifetime income to the donor.DAFs (Donor-Advised Funds) are flexible charitable accounts where donors can make contributions, receive immediate tax benefits, invest the funds, and distribute them to charities over time. They can also help families pass down charitable values since the account-owner's children can have access to the account and choose which charities to donate to, but cannot use the funds for their personal needs. Look out for an upcoming episode on a year-end financial planning to-do list, which will also touch on charitable giving action items.
The Federal Reserve reported a sharp rise in delinquencies, especially credit cards and auto loans. That wasn't all, as the New York branches also showed record high rejections strongly indicating where things really stand in the credit cycle. As a result, we have to pay some attention to CRTs, otherwise known as SRTs, the latest financial engineering akin to the 2020s version of credit default swaps. Eurodollar University's Money & Macro AnalysisFRBNY Household Debt and Credit Report Q3 2024https://www.newyorkfed.org/microeconomics/hhdc/background.htmlBloomberg Ally Auto Borrowers With 2022 Loans Now Struggling, CFO Sayshttps://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-11-07/ally-auto-borrowers-with-2022-loans-now-struggling-cfo-saysBloomberg Ally's Charge-Offs, Bad-Loan Provisions Beat Expectationshttps://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-07-17/auto-lender-ally-reports-stronger-than-expected-debt-managementFederal Reserve Frequently Asked Questions about Regulation Qhttps://www.federalreserve.gov/supervisionreg/legalinterpretations/reg-q-frequently-asked-questions.htmhttps://www.eurodollar.universityTwitter: https://twitter.com/JeffSnider_EDU
"Talking Trash" is our Patreon only series where Vanfernal and B-Ross discuss their lives before our Super Garbage Day episode. Song: "RJD2 Gimmie the loot mashup"Show linksSupport the showShow Links: https://linktr.ee/supergarbagedayHosted by: B-Ross and Vanfernal Produced and edited by: B-Ross Email us at: supergarbageday@gmail.com
Greg Hertrich, Managing Director at Nomura Securities International, Inc., joins host Patrick Dolan to discuss the changing world of Synthetic Risk Transfers (SRTs) and Credit Risk Transfers (CRTs). Greg explores the potential impact of increased regulation under a Trump administration on SRTs and CRTs, and how Basel III and other regulatory changes could shape these sectors, including both current and future issuance volumes. Additionally, we look at risk profiles for different loan and asset types, such as large corporate, SME, consumer and commercial sectors.
This week on the Podcast, Hackaday's Elliot Williams and Kristina Panos joined forces to bring you the latest news, mystery sound, and of course, a big bunch of hacks from the previous week. First up in the news: we've extended the 2024 Supercon Add-On contest by a week! That's right, whether you were held up by Chinese fall holidays or not, here's your chance to get in on this action. We love to see the add-ons people make for the badge every year, so this time around we're really embracing the standard. The best SAOs will get a production run and they'll be in the swag bag at Hackaday Europe 2025. What's That Sound pretty much totally stumped Kristina once again, although she kind of earned a half shirt. Can you get it? Can you figure it out? Can you guess what's making that sound? If you can, and your number comes up, you get a special Hackaday Podcast t-shirt. Then it's on to the hacks, beginning with what actually causes warping in 3D prints, and a really cool display we'd never heard of. Then we'll discuss the power of POKE when it comes to live coding music on the Commodore64, and the allure of CRTs when it comes to vintage gaming. Finally, we talk Hackaday comments and take a look at a couple of keyboards. Check out the links if you want to follow along, and as always, tell us what you think about this episode in the comments!
Jack Harrison has one of the most niche logo design techniques you'll ever find, specializing in degrading modern graphics through CRT screen recordings. His process allows him to create some of the most genuine VHS filters that exist, emulating nostalgic graphic designs you would find from the 80's. Although it may seem simple in concept, the effort and attention to detail Jack puts into his work may surprise you. Find out how he got started and grew his presence in today's episode of the CinePacks Podcast.Follow Jack – https://www.instagram.com/mr_jackio/?hl=en00:00:01 - Introduction to Jack Harrison and Digital Joy00:02:17 - From VR Game Design to CRT Art and Vintage Video Effects00:04:53 - Discovering CRT and VHS Techniques for Retro Video Design00:07:45 - Freelancing for Major Artists: J. Cole, Kehlani, and More00:09:36 - Blending Analog and Digital: Creating Vintage Visual Effects00:12:34 - Workflow Tips for CRT Animation and Logo Design00:16:32 - Collaborating on J. Cole's Album Art and Other Big Projects00:21:19 - Studio Setup: Using CRTs and Vintage Video Mixers00:24:56 - How to Get Started with CRTs and Video Synth Gear00:33:50 - AI in Filmmaking and the Future of Retro Visual Effects00:38:01 - Camcorder Magic: Using Handy Cams for Retro Film Aesthetics00:42:04 - Favorite Gear: CRT Monitors, Video Mixers, and More00:48:25 - The Power of Documenting Your Creative Process00:53:40 - Future Projects and Advice for Aspiring Visual ArtistsSupport the show
00:00:00 Intro 00:02:10 Tony's Gallbladder 00:09:30 CRTs are heavy! 00:14:50 French Quarter 00:20:25 Top Games of 2002 00:24:00 Gametoppers LLC 00:26:30 Flip 7 00:29:35 Foundations of Metropolis 00:40:50 Portal Games 00:42:45 The Gang 00:47:35 Pagan 01:00:35 Miniature Market 01:02:05 Forges of Ravenshire 01:17:37 Outro In this episode we cover some of the hot games we saw at Gen Con. We also look back at the top games of 2002. And Tony misses game night because he and his gallbladder couldn't get a long
Before we had games like Space Invaders we had electro mechanical games like Ride Motorcycle. These were games that did not have CPUs or CRTs but motors and lights. Today we talk about games like Motorcycle, Pinball and Varisty as well as the Tomy Classics Digital Derby, Baseball and Blip where were all electro mechanical games. https://www.arcade-museum.com/Arcade/motorcycle https://rctoymemories.com/2012/11/16/tomy-digital-derby-auto-raceway-1978/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blip_(console) https://handheldmuseum.com/Tomy/Diamond.htm --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/intheshadeofan80sarcade/support
SLATs, CRTs, and IDGTs, Oh My! Utilizing Trusts to Optimize Estate Planning and Business Sale ProceedsOur episode today featured Christine Schmidt and Julie Westbrock, advisors with Trust Point. Both are heavily involved with business owner clients; one from the Family Office area and the other from the Wealth Management area. Today's topic was not one we've covered at such length, so we felt that it was time for us to dive into it a bit deeper. We spent our time discussing some of the most commonly used Trust instruments. An Irrevocable Trust can be a good option for a family with a business or other significant assets that are appreciating in value. An attorney with knowledge in estate and business drafting is crucial. A knowledgeable and supportive trustee to administer or family office to engage all parties; this would be a role Trust Point would play, along with accounting and Valuation experts. These help families to transfer the value of the business out of the owners estate and stillmaintain control of the business with the owner during their lifetime. A couple of other commonly utilized Trust instruments are Intentional Defective Grantor Trust (IDGT) a SLAT (Spousal Lifetime Access Trust) and a CRT (Charitable Remainder Trust). Christine and Julie explained the typical reasons for use of these as well as benefits and risks of each. Listen to the podcast to learn more here. Connect with Christine Schmidt here and Julie Westbrock here Support the Show.Join the Twin Cities Chapter of EPI at the 2024 Owners Forum! Learn More and Register here
Send us a Text Message.In the latest MedEvidence episode, join cardiologists Dr. Trevor Greene, Dr. Carlos Henriquez, and Dr. Michael Koren as they help you navigate heart failure, from symptoms to advanced therapies. Dive into the heart of heart failure treatment as we explore a multifaceted approach emphasizing personalized care. From diuretics and ACE inhibitors to groundbreaking SGLT2 inhibitors, The cardiologists provide a deep dive into the medications revolutionizing heart failure therapy. Discover the importance of regular follow-ups with healthcare providers to tailor treatments and enhance patient quality of life. This episode sheds light on the primary goals of heart failure therapy—extending lifespan, reducing hospitalizations, and improving overall patient well-being.Finally, we tackle advanced treatment strategies and the substantial economic burden of heart failure. Learn about the role of devices like ICDs and CRTs in managing severe cases and the intriguing hormone relaxin, which might offer new hope for heart failure patients beyond pregnancy. The doctors also share practical advice on navigating the healthcare system and the impact of seasonal variations on heart failure management. Tune in for a wealth of knowledge and actionable insights that could transform the lives of heart failure patients and their caregivers.Talking Points:Understanding Heart Failure EpidemiologyCauses of Heart Failure Treatment Strategies for Heart FailureEconomics of Heart FailureRole of Relaxin in Heart HealthHeart Failure ResearchRebroadcast for WJCT Studios on May 29, 2024Be a part of advancing science by participating in clinical researchShare with a friend. Rate, Review, and Subscribe to the MedEvidence! podcast to be notified when new episodes are released.Follow us on Social Media:FacebookInstagramTwitterLinkedInWant to learn more checkout our entire library of podcasts, videos, articles and presentations at www.MedEvidence.com Powered by ENCORE Research GroupMusic: Storyblocks - Corporate InspiredThank you for listening!
Show Notes On this week's podcast, Dan and Kris tackle the May 10 20 30 40, where they look back at notable game releases from 10, 20, 30, and 40 years ago this month. But these last few entries haven't been all that spectacular overall. Will this month be any different? Will the PS2 or Intellivision save the day, or will a baby of mundane releases suck all the fun out of things yet again? We'll find out! At the top of the show, Dan gets hit with a sudden bout of hypochondria, but still has time to play some rounds of Balatro. Meanwhile, Kris had a Memorial Day party and finally got to play a proper local 6-player match of Shredder's Revenge, plus some classic Wii Sports and X-Men arcade. He also gives his less than stellar impressions of Lunar Lander Beyond. Finally, in Week Old News, it's Not-E3 season, and Sony andMArvelout Entertainment kicked things off with some… well they certainly were game showcases. State of Play lacked farming simulations because Marvelous had them all, Astro makes a fantastic-looking comeback, and Silent Hill 2 looks kind of off. Also, more gross gamer discourse online, people are modding CRTs, Legend of Zelda LEGOs are officially a thing, and a whole lot more! Enjoy! Useful Links Support us on Patreon StoneAgeGamer.com The Gratuitous Rainbow Spectrum Safe at Home Rescue Shoot the Moon Stitches Art of Angela SAG's theme Song “Squared Roots” by Banjo Guy Ollie What's New at Stone Age Gamer Fenrir Duo Back in Stock New Giveaways! Social Stuff Join us on Discord! Stone Age Gamer YouTube Twitch Geekade Facebook Stone Age Gamer Facebook Geekade Twitter Stone Age Gamer Twitter Geekade Instagram Stone Age Gamer Instagram YouTube Geekade Contact Us
Joining the NHL '94 Podcast for an interview is dangler. Since entering the world of King of '94, dangler has worked his way up the ranks to a top tier player after becoming the winner and 2 time runner up. He has top shelf skill level on the SNES version of NHL '94, and also pretty handy on the Genesis/MegeDrive version of the game. _______________________________________________________ Twitter / X - https://twitter.com/NHL94Podcast YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@NHL94Podcast Rumble - https://rumble.com/c/c-5524878 Email - NHL94Pod@gmail.com Other Work (Canadian Bitcoiners Podcast): https://www.youtube.com/c/CanadianBitcoiners A proud member of the CBP Media Network! (https://twitter.com/CBPMediaNetwork)
The 16:9 PODCAST IS SPONSORED BY SCREENFEED – DIGITAL SIGNAGE CONTENT The health care sector has long struck me as having environments and dynamics that would benefit a lot from using digital signage technology. Accurate information is critically important, and things change quickly and often - in ways that make paper and dry erase marker board solutions seem antiquated and silly. But it is a tough sector to work in and crack - because of the layers of bureaucracy, tight regulations and the simple reality that medical facilities go up over several years, not months. People often talk about the digital signage solution sales cycle being something like 18 months on average. With healthcare, it can be double or triple that. The other challenge is that it is highly specialized and there are well-established companies referred to as patient engagement providers. So any digital signage software or solutions company thinking about going after health care business will be competing with companies that already know the industry and its technologies, like medical records, and have very established ties. LG has been active in the healthcare sector for decades, and sells specific displays and a platform used by patient engagement providers that the electronics giant has as business partners. I had a really insightful chat with Tom Mottlau, LG's director of healthcare sales. Subscribe from wherever you pick up new podcasts. TRANSCRIPT David: Tom, thank you for joining me. Can you give me a rundown of what your role is at LG? Tom Mottlau: I am the Director of Healthcare Sales for LG. I've been in this role for some time now; I joined the company in 1999 and have been selling quite a bit into the patient room for some time. David: Has most of your focus through those years all been on healthcare? Tom Mottlau: Well, actually, when I started, I was a trainer when we were going through the digital rollout when we were bringing high-definition television into living rooms. My house was actually the beta site for WXIA for a time there until we got our language codes right. But soon after, I moved over to the commercial side and healthcare, around 2001-2002. David: Oh, wow. So yeah, you've been at it a long time then. Much has changed! Tom Mottlau: Yes, sir. David: And I guess in some cases, nothing has changed. Tom Mottlau: Yep. David: Healthcare is an interesting vertical market for me because it seems so opportune, but I tend to think it's both terrifying and very grinding in that they're quite often very large institutions, sometimes government-associated or university-associated, and very few things happen quickly. Is that a fair assessment? Tom Mottlau: Absolutely. There's a lot of oversight in the patient room. It's a very litigation-rich environment, and so there's a bit of bureaucracy to cut through to make sure that you're bringing in something that's both safe for patients and protects their privacy but also performs a useful function. David: I guess the other big challenge is the build-time. You can get word of an opportunity for a medical center that's going up in a particular city, and realistically, it's probably 5-7 years out before it actually opens its doors, right? Tom Mottlau: That's true. Not only that but very often, capital projects go through a gestation period that can be a year or two from the time you actually start talking about the opportunity. David: And when it comes to patient engagement displays and related displays around the patient care areas, is that something that engineers and architects scheme in early on, or is it something that we start talking about 3-4 years into the design and build process? Tom Mottlau: Well, the part that's schemed in is often what size displays we're going to need. So, for example, if somebody is looking to deploy maybe a two-screen approach or a large-format approach, that's the type of thing that is discussed early on, but then when they come up on trying to decide between the patient engagement providers in the market, they do their full assessment at that time because things evolve and also needs change in that whole period that may take a couple of years you may go as we did from an environment that absolutely wanted no cameras to an environment that kind of wanted cameras after COVID. You know, so things change. So they're constantly having those discussions. David: Why switch to wanting cameras because of COVID? Tom Mottlau: Really, because the hospitals were locked down. You couldn't go in and see your loved one. There was a thought that if we could limit the in-person contact, maybe we could save lives, and so there was a lot of thought around using technology to overcome the challenges of contagion, and so there was even funding dedicated towards it and a number of companies focused on it David: That's interesting because I wondered whether, in the healthcare sector, business opportunities just flat dried up because the organizations were so focused on dealing with COVID or whether it actually opened up new opportunities or diverted budgets to things that maybe weren't thought about before, like video? Tom Mottlau: True, I mean, the video focus was definitely because of COVID, but then again, you had facilities where all of their outpatient procedures had dried up. So they were strained from a budget standpoint, and so they had to be very picky about where they spent their dollars. Now the equipment is in the patient room, but at the end of the day, we're still going to get the same flow of patients. People don't choose when to be sick. If it's gonna be either the same or higher because of those with COVID, so they still need to supply those rooms with displays, even though they were going through a crisis, they still had to budget and still had to go through their day-to-day buying of that product. David: Is this a specialty application and solution as opposed to something that a more generic digital signage, proAV company could offer? My gut tells me that in order to be successful, you really need to know the healthcare environment. You can't just say, we've got these screens, we've got the software, what do you need? Tom Mottlau: Yeah, that's a very good question. Everything we do on our end is driven by VOC (voice of customer). We partner with the top patient engagement providers in the country. There are a handful that are what we call tier one. We actually provide them with products that they vet out before we go into production. We go to them to ask them, what do you need? What products do you need for that patient? I mean, and that's where the patient engagement boards, the idea of patient engagement boards came from was we had to provide them a display that met, at the time, 60065 UL, which is now 62368-1, so that they can meet NFPA 99 fire code. David: I love it when you talk dirty. Tom Mottlau: Yeah, there's a lot of stuff out there that. David: What the hell is he talking about? Tom Mottlau: Yeah, I know enough to be dangerous. Basically, what it boils down to is we want to make sure that our products are vetted by a third party. UL is considered a respectable testing agency, and that's why you find most electronics are vetted by them and so they test them in the patient room. It's a high-oxygen environment with folks who are debilitated and life-sustaining equipment so the product has to be tested. We knew that we had to provide a product for our SIs that would meet those specs as well as other specs that they had like they wanted something that could be POE-powered because it takes an act of Congress to add a 110-amp outlet to a patient room. It's just a lot of bureaucracy for that. So we decided to roll out two units: one of 32, which is POE, and one that's 43. Taking all those things I just mentioned into consideration, as well as things like lighting. Folks didn't want a big night light so we had to spend a little extra attention on the ambient light sensor and that type of thing. This is our first offering. David: So for doofuses like me who don't spend a lot of time thinking about underwriter lab, certifications, and so on, just about any monitor, well, I assume any monitor that is marketed by credible companies in North America is UL-certified, but these are different grades of UL, I'm guessing? Tom Mottlau: They are. Going back in the day of CRTs, if you take it all the way back then when you put a product into a room that has a high-powered cathode ray tube and there's oxygen floating around, safety is always of concern. So, going way back, probably driven by product liability and that type of thing. We all wanted to produce a safe product, and that's why we turned to those companies. The way that works is we design a product, we throw it over to them, and they come back and say, okay, this is great, but you got to change this, and this could be anything. And then we go back and forth until we arrive at a product that's safe for that environment, with that low level of oxygen, with everything else into consideration in that room. David: Is it different when you get out into the hallways and the nursing stations and so on? Do you still need that level, like within a certain proximity of oxygen or other gases, do you need to have that? Tom Mottlau: It depends on the facility's tolerance because there is no federal law per se, and it could vary based on how they feel about it. I know that Florida tends to be very strict, but as a company, we had to find a place to draw that line, like where can we be safe and provide general products and where can we provide something that specialized? And that's usually oxygenated patient room is usually the guideline. If there's oxygen in the walls and that type of thing, that's usually the guideline and the use of a pillow speaker. Outside into the hallways, not so much, but it depends on the facility. We just lay out the facts and let them decide. We sell both. David: Is it a big additional cost to have that additional protection or whatever you want to call it, the engineering aspects? Tom Mottlau: Yes. David: So it's not like 10 percent more; it can be quite a bit more? Tom Mottlau: I'm not sure of the percentage, but there's a noticeable amount. Keep in mind it's typically not just achieving those ratings; it's some of the other design aspects that go into it. I mean, the fact that you have pillow speaker circuitry to begin with, there's a cost basis for that. There's a cost basis for maintaining an installer menu of 117+ items. There's a cost basis for maintaining a Pro:Centric webOS platform. You do tend to find it because of those things, not just any one of them, but because of all of them collectively, yeah, the cost is higher. I would also say that the warranties tend to be more encompassing. It's not like you have to drive it down to Ted's TV. Somebody comes and actually remedies on-site. So yeah, all of that carries a cost basis. That's why you're paying for that value. David: You mentioned that you sell or partner with patient engagement providers. Could you describe what those companies do and offer? Tom Mottlau: Yeah, and there's a number of them. Really, just to be objective, I'll give you some of the tier ones, the ones that have taken our product over the years and tested and provided back, and the ones that have participated in our development summit. I'll touch on that in a moment after this. So companies like Aceso, you have Uniguest who were part of TVR who offers the pCare solutions. You have Get Well, Sonify, those types of companies; they've been at this for years, and as I mentioned, we have a development summit where we, for years, have piled these guys on a plane. The CTOs went off to Korea and the way I describe it is we all come into a room, and I say, we're about to enter Festivus. We want you to tell us all the ways we've disappointed you with our platform, and we sit in that room, we get tomatoes thrown at us, and then we make changes to the platform to accommodate what they need. And then that way, they're confident that they're deploying a product that we've done all we can to improve the functionality of their patient engagement systems. After all, we're a platform provider, which is what we are. David: When you define patient engagement, what would be the technology mix that you would typically find in a modernized or newly opened patient care area? Tom Mottlau: So that would be going back years ago. I guess it started more with patient education. If Mrs. Jones is having a procedure on her kidney, they want her to be educated on what she can eat or not eat, so they found a way to bring that patient education to the patient room over the TVs. But then they also wanted to confirm she watched it, and then it went on from there. It's not only the entertainment, but it's also things that help improve workflows, maybe even the filling out of surveys and whatnot on the platform, Being able to order your culinary, just knowing who your doctor is, questions, educational videos, all of those things and then link up with EMR. David: What's that? Tom Mottlau: Electronic medical records. Over the years, healthcare has wanted to move away from paper, to put it very simply. They didn't want somebody's vitals in different aspects of their health stored on a hand-scribbled note in several different doctor's offices. So there's been an effort to create electronic medical records, and now that has kind of been something that our patient engagement providers have tied into those solutions into the group. David: So, is the hub, so to speak, the visual hub in a patient care room just a TV, or is there other display technology in there, almost like a status board that tells them who their primary provider is and all the other stuff? Tom Mottlau: So it started as the smart TV, the Pro:Centric webOS smart TV. But then, as time went on, we kept getting those requests for, say, a vertically mounted solution, where somebody can actually walk in the room, see who their doctor is, see who their nurse is, maybe the physician can come in and understand certain vitals of the patient, and so that's why we developed those patient engagement boards that separately. They started out as non-touch upon request, we went with the consensus, and the consensus was we really need controlled information. We don't want to; we've had enough issues with dry-erase boards. We want something where there's more control in entering that information, and interesting enough, we're now getting the opposite demand. We're getting demand now to incorporate touch on the future models, and that's how things start. As you know, to your point earlier, folks are initially hesitant to breach any type of rules with all the bureaucracy. Now, once they cut through all that and feel comfortable with a start, they're willing to explore more technologies within those rooms. That's why we always start out with one, and then over the years, it evolves. David: I assume that there's a bit of a battle, but it takes some work to get at least some of the medical care facilities to budget and approve these patient engagement displays or status displays just because there's an additional cost. It's different from the way they've always done things, and it involves integration with, as you said, the EMR records and all that stuff. So, is there a lot of work to talk them into it? Tom Mottlau: Well, you have to look at us like consultants, where we avoid just talking folks into things. Really, what it has to do with is going back to VOC, voice of the customer, the way we were doing this years ago or just re-upping until these boards were launched was to provide a larger format, and ESIs were dividing up the screen. That was the way we always recommended. But then, once we started getting that VOC, they were coming to us saying, well, we need to get these other displays in the room. You know, certain facilities were saying, Hey, we absolutely need this, and we were saying, well, we don't want to put something that's not rated for that room. Then we realized we had to really start developing a product that suits that app, that environment, and so our job is to make folks aware of what we have and let them decide which path they're going to take because, to be honest, there are two different ways of approaching it. You can use one screen of 75”, divide it, or have two screens like Moffitt did. Moffitt added the patient engagement boards, which is what they wanted. David: I have the benefit, at least so far, of being kind of at retirement age and spending very little time, thank God, in any kind of patient care facility. Maybe that'll change. Hopefully not. But when I have, I've still seen dry-erase marker boards at the nursing stations, in rooms, in hallways, and everywhere else. Why is it still like that? Why haven't they cut over? Is it still the prevalent way of doing things, or are you seeing quite a bit of adoption of these technologies? Tom Mottlau: Well, it is, I would say, just because we're very early in all this. That is the prevalent way, no doubt. It's really those tech-forward, future-forward facilities that are wanting to kind of go beyond that and not only that, there's a lot of facilities that want to bring all that in and, maybe just the nature of that facility is a lot more conservative, and we have to respect that. Because ultimately they're having to maintain it. We wouldn't want to give somebody something that they can't maintain or not have the budget for. I mean, at the end of the day, they're going to come back to us, and whether or not they trust us is going to be based upon whether we advise them correctly or incorrectly. If we advise them incorrectly, they're not going to trust us. They're not going to buy from us ten years from now. David: For your business partners, the companies that are developing patient engagement solutions, how difficult is it to work with their patient record systems, building ops systems, and so on to make these dynamic displays truly dynamic? Is it a big chore, or is there enough commonality that they can make that happen relatively quickly? Tom Mottlau: That's a very good question, and that's exactly why we're very careful about who's tier one and who we may advise folks to approach. Those companies I mentioned earlier are very skilled at what they do, and so they're taking our product as one piece of an entire system that involves many other components, and I have full faith in their ability to do that because we sit in on those meetings. Once a year, we hear feedback, we hear positive feedback from facilities. We see it but it really couldn't happen without those partners, I would say. We made that choice years ago to be that platform provider that supports those partners and doesn't compete with them. In hindsight, I think that was a great choice because it provides more options to the market utilizing our platform. David: Well, and being sector experts in everything that LG tries to touch would be nightmarish. If you're far better off, I suspect I will be with partners who wake up in the morning thinking about that stuff. Tom Mottlau: Yeah. I mean, we know our core competencies. We're never going to bite off more than we can chew. Now granted, we understand more and more these days, there's a lot of development supporting things like telehealth, patient engagement, EMR and whatnot. But we're also going to make sure that at the end of the day, we're tying in the right folks to provide the best solution we can to patients. David: How much discussion has to happen around network security and operating system security? I mean, if you're running these on smart TVs, they're then running web OS, which is probably to the medical facility's I.T. team or not terribly familiar to them. Tom Mottlau: Yeah, that's a very good question. Facilities, hospitals, and anything that involves network security bring them an acute case of indigestion, more so than other areas in the business world. So these folks, a lot of times, there's exhaustive paperwork whenever you have something that links up to the internet or something that's going to open up those vulnerabilities. So, Pro:Centric webOS is actually a walled garden. It is not something that is easily hacked when you have a walled garden approach and something that's controlled with a local server. That's why we took that approach. Now, we can offer them a VPN if there is something that they want to do externally, but these systems were decided upon years ago and built with security in mind because we knew we were going to deploy in very sensitive commercial environments. And so not so much a concern. You don't need to pull our TV out and link up with some foreign server as you might with a laptop that you buy that demands updates. It's not anything like that because, of course, that would open us up to vulnerability. So we don't take that approach. It's typically a local server and there is the ability to do some control of the server if you want a VPN, but other than that, there is no access. David: Do you touch on other areas of what we would know as digital signage within a medical facility? Like I'm thinking of wayfinding, directories, donor recognition, video walls, and those sorts of things. Tom Mottlau: Absolutely. I mean, we see everything. Wayfinding needs have been for years and years now, and those are only expanding. and we start to see some that require outdoor displays for wave finding. So we do have solutions for that. Beyond displays, we actually have robots now that we're testing in medical facilities and have had a couple of certifications on some of those. David: What would they do? Tom Mottlau: Well, the robots would be used primarily to deliver some type of nonsensitive product. I know there's some work down the road, or let's just say there's some demand for medication delivery. But obviously, LG's approach to any demand like that is to vet it out and make sure we're designing it properly. Then, we can make announcements later on about that type of stuff. For now, we're taking those same robots that we're currently using, say, in the hotel industry, and we're getting demand for that type of technology to be used in a medical facility. David: So surgical masks or some sort of cleaning solutions or whatever that need to be brought up to a certain area, you could send in orderly, but staffing may be tight and so you get a robot to do it. Tom Mottlau: Absolutely. And that is a very liquid situation. There's a lot of focus and a lot of development. I'm sure there'll be a lot to announce on that front, but it's all very fluid, and it's all finding its way into that environment with our company. All these future-forward needs, not only with the robots but EV chargers for the vast amount of electric vehicles, we find ourselves involved in discussions on all these fronts with our medical facilities these days. David: It's interesting. Obviously, AI is going to have a role in all kinds of aspects of medical research and diagnosis and all those super important things. But I suspect there's probably a role as well, right down at the lobby level of a hospital, where somebody comes in where English isn't their first language, and they need to find the oncology clinic or whatever, and there's no translator available. If you can use AI to guide them, that would be very helpful and powerful. Tom Mottlau: Let me write that down as a product idea. Actually, AI is something that is discussed in the company, I would say, on a weekly basis, and again, I'm sure there'll be plenty to showcase in the future. But yes, I'd say we have a good head start in that area that we're exploring different use cases in the medical environment. David: It's interesting. I write about digital signage every day and look at emerging markets, and I've been saying that healthcare seems like a greenfield opportunity for a lot of companies, but based on this conversation, I would say it is, and it isn't because if you are a more generalized digital signage software platform, yes, you could theoretically do a lot of what's required, but there's so much insight and experience and business ties that you really need to compete with these patient engagement providers, and I think it would be awfully tough for just a more generalized company to crack, wouldn't it? Tom Mottlau: I believe so. I mean, we've seen many come and go. You know, we have certain terms internally, like the medicine show, Wizard of Oz. there's a lot out there; you really just have to vet them out to see who's legit and who isn't, and I'm sure there are some perfectly legitimate companies that we haven't worked with yet, probably in areas outside of patient education we, we have these discussions every week, and it's, it can be difficult because there are companies that you might not have heard of and you're always trying to assess, how valid is this? And, yeah, that's a tough one. David: Last question. Is there a next big thing that you expect to emerge with patient engagement over the next couple of years, two-three years that you can talk about? Tom Mottlau: You hit the nail on the head, AI. But you know, keep in mind that's something in relative terms. It has been relatively just the last few years, and it has been something that's come up a lot. It seems there's a five-year span where something is a focus going way back, it was going from analog to digital. When I first came here, it was going from wood-clad CRT televisions to flat panels, and now we have OLED right in front of us. So yeah, there's, there's a lot of progression in this market. And I would say AI is one of them, and Telehealth is another; I guess we'll find out for sure which one sticks that always happens that way, but we don't ignore them. David: Yeah, certainly, I think AI is one of those foundational things. It's kind of like networking. It's going to be fundamental. It's not a passing fancy or something that'll be used for five years and then move on to something else. Tom Mottlau: Yeah, true. But then again, also, it's kind of like when everybody was talking about, okay, we're not going to pull RF cable that went on for years and years because they were all going to pull CAT5, and then next thing, you know, they're saying, well, we have to go back and add CAT5 because they got ahead of themselves, right? So I think the challenge for any company is nobody wants to develop the next Betamax. Everybody wants to develop something that's going to be longstanding and useful, and so it's incumbent upon us to vet out those different solutions and actually see real practical ways of using it in the patient room and trusting our partners and watching them grow. A lot of times, they're the test beds, and so that's the benefit of our approach. By providing that platform and supporting those partners, we get to see which tree is really going to take off. David: Betamax, you just showed your age. Tom Mottlau: Yes, sir. That made eight tracks, right? David: For the kiddies listening, that's VCRs. All right. Thanks, Tom. That was terrific. Tom Mottlau: Thank you very much, sir. David: Nice to speak with you.
Tram Le-Jones has an eye for detail, a people-centric personality, and a passion for computer science — making her perfect for VFX production roles. After getting a job on The Matrix Revolutions via craigslist (no, really), she became a sought-after coordinator and then moved into producing VFX for movies including Spider-Man 3, Tower Heist, and Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, as well as commercials, moving from west to east coast and back again along the way. Having served on the front line of VFX, Tram has taken her expertise into project management software for media and entertainment, starting with Autodesk's Shotgrid and moving to Backlight's ftrack. Tram talks through her fascinating career, from lugging huge CRTs around Digital Domain's office, to working with Spike Jonze on his short film “I'm Here,” to the challenges of integrating cutting-edge virtual production technology into traditional VFX pipelines.
This episode we chat with John Pansini from the 'Game The System' podcast. John is one of those retrogamers that is willing to roll the dice and learn on the fly in the name of preservation. We talk in depth (to the best of our limited knowledge) about CRT televisions (cathode ray tube). Basic maintnence and fault finding...some safety tips for new players.... and how the CRT really is the hub of any retrogamers collection and gaming life. We also chat about John's small but specific collection of arcade machines and what it means to be a small but active machine operator having machines out there in the wild for the public to enjoy and experience. We also touch on a new and maybe contraversial arcade game record keeping and management system that the guys from 'Game The System' have developed rivalling the likes of Twin Galaxies etc. You can find out all about this and more on the 'Game The System' podcast page linked below along with many other great resources including a very supportive and active Discord open to all. http://gamethesystem.co/podcast You can find me at @skt73 on Instagram and contact me at pixelpiepodcast@gmail.com with any questions, gdays or feedback whether it be positive or not...all communications are appreciated. You can also find the podcast on SPOTIFY, GOOGLE PODCASTS, APPLE PODCASTS, STITCHER, OVERCAST, BREAKER, POCKET CASTS & RADIO PUBLIC
Jim and Chris discuss listeners questions relating to Social Security, Roth conversions, taxes, CRTs, beneficiaries, and MYGAs. (2:45) A Texan listener looks for clarification on a Social Security spousal benefit for someone not living in the US, marrying someone who is not a US resident. (10:15) George from Massachusetts asks about converting after-tax dollars and […] The post Social Security, Roth Conversions, Taxes, CRTs, Beneficiaries, and MYGAs: Q&A #2403 appeared first on The Retirement and IRA Show.
Wendy answers a few emails from listeners. A Raindrop Training is coming in January in Colorado if you are interested in being certified. Someone writes in from New Zealand, and another person is newly pregnant from Progessence Plus supporting her hormones!
This week Joe sits down with Sam to talk about rad trade ins at the shop, relentless questions about CRTs, Mythos Coffee, Gameye, and more! If you have any questions for the Q&A segment in future episodes, ask them in the comments below!
Jason Kelln, an ATP and CRTS who is the sales manager at PrairieHeart Mobility in Saskatchewan, joins HME News in 10 to talk about being named the first president-elect of NRRTS from Canada. He shares why the organization wants a “bigger stage” beyond North America and how, regardless of geography, the common goal should be having certified professionals, quality products and fair reimbursement. He also talks about why the complex rehab industry needs to embrace both “an aging out” workforce and a younger workforce. Hosts: Liz Beaulieu Theresa Flaherty Guest: Jason Kelln Sponsored by:
1050 Barber Creek Drive (Building 100) Watkinsville, GA. 30677 (706) 395-6042 www.core-restore.com info@core-restore.com Core Restore LLC is a boutique personal training studio that specializes in Muscle Activation Techniques (MAT®). Owner Christopher Verdi is your very own core muscle and movement training specialist who will use his skills, training, and knowledge to provide you with a consistent application of strategic methods in order to rectify problems halting your success in accomplishing your individual health and wellness goals. Chris received his Bachelor of Arts Degree from Franklin College, and has been certified by the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) and The National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) since 2005. Chris has specialized in MAT® since March 2007, and has worked closely with professional athletes, personal trainers, individuals from the NHL, NFL, MLB, UGA Hockey, and those in training for the Olympics. What is MAT®? MATRx® is a program developed and owned by Greg Roskopf. MAT® is along the lines of kinesiology, and is a method that involves the resetting of the connection between the muscle and the brain through manual reactivation, which restores mobility and increases muscle contraction while eliminating chronic muscle problems. MAT® helps to enhance the body's ability to handle exercise and movement. MAT® practices have gained recognition throughout all facets of sports and recreation. Professional athletes use MAT® to shorten recovery time, and as a maintenance tool to keep their bodies at peak performance. What is The Core Restore Training System (CRTS™)? The Core Restore neuromuscular movement Training System (CRTS™) focuses on generating muscular contraction to increase the stimulation of the stabilization slow-twitch muscle fibers. CRTS™ enhances athletic performance by preventing and dealing with movement imbalances and compensations that can lead to poor muscle adaptation and injury. One of the most important components of working out receives the least amount of attention, and that is the critical significance of RECOVERY. CRTS™ will be able to create significant impact on the body's recovery system. CRTS™ is a training program designed to strengthen muscle groups in all planes of motion by ensuring each section of the body can work in isolation before integration. CRTS™ benefits include: Improved Motion & Stability Increased Range of Motion Improved Posture & Coordination Improved Sports Performance Improved Fatigue Resistance Increased Muscular Endurance
Bob McGough ( https://talesbybob.itch.io/ ) ( More Meat for the Machine, Issue #5 ) Janos Biro ( https://janosbiro.itch.io/ ) ( Overrun, Issue #33 ) Discographette ( https://cohost.org/panicattheopticon ) ( glitch art, game reviews, media, CRTs, weird gear, funny takes, deeply trans. ) Zhanko | Dylhan ( https://zhanko.itch.io/ ) ( Perpetual Foreigner; Letter to my grandmother; What if I'm the train, Issue #43) And don't forget to check out the show Saturday at 2-4pm EST at indiepocalypse.com/radio! Get episodes the Monday after they air at indiepocalypse.com/patreon or a month later in podcast places --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/indiepocalypse/support
After last week's get-together, the DF Team are back in their boxes, talking Starfield reviews, how Larian and Microsoft resolved the Baldur's Gate 3 Xbox impasse and the unfortunate closure of Volition. John's excited about Sonic Superstars and Armored Core 6, while Rich and Alex decide that there needs to be an intervention and some level of expectation management when it comes to FSR 3 frame generation's deployment on the consoles. All this and more in this special 'go on lads!' edition of DF Direct Weekly. 0:00:00 Introduction 0:01:14 News 01: Starfield: reviews and reactions 0:44:09 News 02: Baldur's Gate 3 to hit Xbox this year, without Series S split-screen 0:49:45 News 03: PSA: FSR 3 won't fix console performance 1:00:39 News 04: Volition closes after 30 years 1:08:30 News 05: Sonic Superstars impressions! 1:12:52 News 06: Armored Core 6 is good on PC 1:20:49 Supporter Q1: Did you see Switch 2 at Gamescom? And do you think the Switch 2 in portable mode could run Switch 1 software with docked mode settings? 1:25:15 Supporter Q2: Do you think running games designed for CRTs at super high resolutions makes sense? 1:29:49 Supporter Q3: Should DF give medals for technically accomplished games? 1:35:14 Supporter Q4: What games would you like to see remastered by Nightdive Studios? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The 16:9 PODCAST IS SPONSORED BY SCREENFEED – DIGITAL SIGNAGE CONTENT Things are changing - and both buyers and sellers are getting more knowledgeable about how to design and execute digital signage projects. But it's still nice to have a chat with an AV solutions company that resolutely insists on establishing the objectives behind a job before even talking about the technology that might get used. And how much of it. The Dutch firm First Impression made its first impression with me when it kept getting recognized earlier this year at the global Digital Signage Awards, which were handed out back In February during ISE in Barcelona. "Who are those guys?" I was asked. "No idea," I replied. But now I do know, because I met Loek Wermenbol, the company's Retail Strategy Director, at the recent Digital Signage Summit Europe in Munich. We found a relatively quite little area in the hotel lobby and had a great chat about the origins of First Impression - which is located down near Eindhoven. We talked about a lot of things, notably how it approaches engagements with clients, including the Dutch beauty brand Rituals. Subscribe from wherever you pick up new podcasts. TRANSCRIPT Tell me about First Impression. What do you guys do? Loek Wermenbol: We are First Impression, what we call on paper an AV integrator, as many companies over here … But you're qualifying that. Loek Wermenbol: No, maybe other people qualify us as an AV integrator in the market and we still are. They put you in that bucket, but there's more to it. Loek Wermenbol: Yeah, there's definitely more to it and I think our proposition that we have is a little different than some of the other integrators in the market. First of all, strategy is a really important part of what we offer and we really try to help the customer to ask the right question, and sometimes that's needed in the process. Yes, they have knowledge, but most of the time, not all of the knowledge is needed to do really good integrations. Because in part, they're fixated on a display or something other that's captured their imagination. Loek Wermenbol: Yeah. It can be technical or otherwise, if other departments are involved, information can be fragmented throughout the organization, and it might be hard to bring that together to form the right question, and sometimes there's just a lack of knowledge, and that's okay because it's a different field of play for a lot of retailers. Yes, they have big online marketing teams, etc. But doing in-store communication, it's a little bit of marketing, it's a little bit of formula, it's a little bit of data, and that combines and is needed for a good integration. So if you help your customer determine what that right question is and where we actually can help them solve problems or help them with the threats they have in the market, or enlighten their opportunities. In the end, the ROI on what we do right and what we are going to install in a solution will be much better. So rather than just answer… And it's gonna scale out as opposed to being one of. Loek Wermenbol: Yeah, of course, and we're in the scaling business too, but you have to scale the right solution rather than just a solution, and of course, we also integrate Windows screens and sometimes that is just step one. Right, but then they're a customer and can ask you for more. Loek Wermenbol: Definitely, sometimes the challenge is bigger, sometimes they already have digital in place and need to replace us, or want to make the second step or the third step in the process, and sometimes it's the first step for retailers in the world of digitization on the retail floor. And then the steps are different, but still, you have to focus on where you want to be in three or four years also as a retailer. I think at First Impression, we help them really well in defining those steps towards that in three to four years, and step one can be an easy step. Let's do a rollout of Windows screens because it is almost in the industry, a no-brainer in integration. Still, you have to do that correctly, with the right content, etc. There is a lot to talk about. You can talk for half or an hour about just Window screens, etc. But, that strategy part is you ask what do we do differently, it's just one part. By offering a more holistic service package to our customers. So it's a lot more than where do you want to put it, how many do you need, and when do you want it in? Loek Wermenbol: Yeah. Because if you're a supplier of hardware, you're just a supplier. Yeah, you're not a business partner. Loek Wermenbol: Exactly. If you are more on the strategic side and you are helping your customers achieve their business goals or to tackle their problems, you are on the strategic side, and you're a totally different person on the table. When it's from a strategic point of view, rather than just a hardware provider and the added value is much bigger, and otherwise, it's just about how fast can you do it, what's your price, etc. Yeah, so let's back up a little bit. Did the company start that way or did they realize that this is the customer house and this is how we should evolve, and how long has the company been around? Loek Wermenbol: No, it definitely didn't start that way at all. The company started 26 years ago already, and it literally started… In the time of CRTs. Loek Wermenbol: Yeah, one of the owners who started the company was a DJ and into music and creating cool parties, literally starting from the basement of his parents as many of those beautiful stories go. And he bought some materials to make the show a little bit more attractive, more materials, and at one point, he had so much of materials that he could rent out some stuff. That's where the business began and that's where the First Impression began. So that was really more the rental side of the AV technology, and through the years that of course had evolved and after roughly six to seven years, fixed installation became a part of the organization, and basically everything turned around and it became a bigger part, until where it's now. Almost the only thing we do is that we still have a little department that does temporary projects but it's mainly fixed installations as it goes in the market. And we focus heavily on retail. Roughly 80% of what we do is retail, and the other part is Oracle experiences, which can be an experience center, , a business center, a museum, or a building that has an experience factor in it. And you're based in the Netherlands? Loek Wermenbol: Yes. Is that the primary market, or are you kinda across Europe? Loek Wermenbol: It started of course out in the Netherlands as our home market but definitely not our only market. We have an office in the south of the Netherlands, our headquarters is in Tilburg. We have an office in Amsterdam but also recently, we opened offices in France, and also in Germany. But we're already operating globally, and doing installations all over the world and on every continent. Is that because it starts with something more regional and as they say, can you also help us out with the store we're opening up in Shanghai? Loek Wermenbol: Yeah, and it really depends on the brand, for example, if you look at Rituals, those are big Dutch brands. What do they sell? Loek Wermenbol: All kinds of beauty products and everything you need as a woman to feel good. So, nice high-margin products. Loek Wermenbol: Nice high-margin products. They probably don't want to say that, but that's the reality. Loek Wermenbol: Yeah. It's a really beautiful brand and it's actually a brand that a lot of trade retailers look at because they are there in the markets on lots of different levels and also in AV technology. And pardon the pun, for them, first impressions are, I suspect, really important. Loek Wermenbol: They are, but actually there is a funny story because we really wanted that client in the beginning, but they were quite resilient against AV integrations because they thought it didn't resemble their brand because it's all about serenity and the body and the products, and if you look at their stores, you may figure out why, but we actually did two things. One of them was to create a piece of content. It was really simple, but with a little bit of animation in it, in line with the branch values of Rituals, and the other thing we did, we made a breakdown of the comparison between the integration of a Windows screen, comparison with paper, and the number of replacements they did with paper. And that was a really interesting business case, and those two things together with the setup we created in our unique experience center in Tilburg, managed to get them over and finally convinced them to go into digital, with little steps. The first step is a window display, a cash desk display, the first thing most retailers will do. But now we evolved from that and actually, Rituals is the perfect client to work with because their teams now know how to operate in the equation together with us to get the best results and to do innovations that are unique in the market. And it's not just you going to them trying to sell them something new, like, “Hey we went to this trade show and we saw these new amazing displays. You should have some!” Loek Wermenbol: No. Because then you're selling technique, and we never start with hardware. We always start with the right challenge and question. For instance, we created a unique piece for them that's all about perfume, and they didn't sell perfume for a long time because it's a hard category, lots of big competitors, high loyalty with brand loyalty with which potential customers look for themselves. There's always one fragrance that they've had for ages, so how do you convince people to switch? Yeah, completely foreign to me, but… Loek Wermenbol: Maybe some listeners will recognize this. But we created a really nice piece that not only looks beautiful but actually does the job of convincing people maybe to try one of the perfumes of Rituals, and in the end can convince them to replace a bottle that has been there for ages. Of course, if you look at that from an aesthetic point of view, it looks beautiful, but the magic is inside with how we use sensors and data to figure out which perfume fits the market. Actually, we were awarded that two times with the best digital innovation for retail in 2022. Yeah, I wasn't aware of your company, but if I remember correctly, at the Digital Signage Awards, your company won two or three awards. Loek Wermenbol: Yeah. At the Digital Signage Awards, we won three and a recommendation. So we were getting back and forth to the pool. And I was like, who are those guys? Loek Wermenbol: I know. I think we're a challenger in the market and sometimes it's good to be a challenger. I think one of the big advantages we have is we're still privately owned. So there's no private equity or something. How many people? Loek Wermenbol: Almost 200. Okay, that's a good size company in this industry. Loek Wermenbol: Yeah, definitely, and did a turnover of 40 million euros last year. So that's quite a decent company to show it like that, and of course, you were there, last night, we were awarded as the rising star in the industry. I think that says a lot. We are noted in the market, not only by our colleagues and the industry itself, but also by retailers, of course, because we do something different and we try to help them with the total process of integrations, in a smart way that it also connects to the total customer journey because that physical space where we do the integrations in the end we're a specialist in doing communications on the retail floor. We're more like an agency than a hardware integrator. We use the hardware components to make it possible, but in the end, it's part of a bigger thing. Yeah, I was going to ask about the creative side of it. Obviously, it didn't start with creative because you were doing DJ rentals and things like that, but did you add on in-house creative capability because external agencies, maybe the agencies of record for these different brands, didn't really get it, didn't understand it and was this a need, or did you just see it as another revenue stream? Loek Wermenbol: No, definitely not the last one. In the end, you have to do that properly, and they will be additional revenue. But there's a skillset and insights that an agency isn't going to have. Loek Wermenbol: Yeah. We started roughly 10 or 11 years by hiring the first person that did content creation and mainly because we noted that we do a perfect installation, and then somebody comes along and puts on a piece of content and basically wrecks the solution because the most important part in communicating with the clients and addressing the purpose is that piece of content. So if somebody's going to create it, who doesn't know how communication in-store devices works, ninety-nine out of a hundred times, it won't be the right piece of content. Yeah, and you talked about Rituals and the serenity idea or vibe, so to speak, and if you had third-party agencies who just drop something in, it would be visually jarring potentially. Loek Wermenbol: Yeah, and we did a lot of communication for them. We created, and we worked together because they have an in-house agency too. Rituals are kind of a different story in that way. So we helped them in the beginning and now they're creating a lot of the content themselves because they know how to do it and they have a really skilled team inside. So that's how we work too. Sometimes we start off and create content first and show the internal agencies or people how to do it and otherwise in some other cases, we keep on creating the content for them. But it's so important because it is also for agencies that do generic commercials or socials, etc, creating content for this matter is totally different because there are so many factors that you have to think of. Dwell times, sight lines on and on. Loek Wermenbol: Exactly. Position, lights, dwell time, passage time, angles, UXs, et cetera. Even the privacy of people, are we going to use a device when it's tilted or does it need to be flat, etc. It's all going to determine what your content looks like, and it is so important in the end to be successful with that solution and to have an ROI on that solution, and the content is a major part of that. There's been a lot of noise in the last, I would say, six months in particular around Retail Media networks, and I was interested, we were at this conference in Munich, and I've heard or spoken with a couple of people, it's all getting a little fuzzy to me after two days, talking about Retail media networks, incorporating third party advertising, programmatic advertising into a store, and that actually rattled me a little bit because it just didn't seem right. I understand the idea of endemic advertising for brands that sell in the store, but do I really want to see a T-Mobile ad in a Ritual store? I know they wouldn't do that, you know what I mean. Loek Wermenbol: Yeah, Retail Media is almost a buzz word right now, but we actually started operating our first Retail Media network for one of our clients already, I think, two or three years ago. And they've been around in some form for 25 years. Loek Wermenbol: Yes, but in a serious form, it's not that long. And of course, retailers are starting to know that, “Hey I can create a valuable position over here,” and brands like it too, because if you do it correctly and which is important, then it will be an added value for everybody involved. It will be an added value for the advertiser because it's related to a product he can buy in the store… …which encourages sales ideally. Loek Wermenbol: Yeah, it encourage sales, and of course, it is interesting for the operating party of the Retail Media network too. For instance, we do a big supermarket chain called in the Netherlands called, Jumbo and they have almost a thousand outlets. We operate there in a Retail Media network with them but there's always a keen balance between commercial messages and... It's a slippery slope. You don't want to feel like you're on a highway. Loek Wermenbol: Definitely, if it's too much, it won't work. That's one way of a Retail Media network. Related to products you can buy right in the store you are in or entering. The other one is we also have a big Retail Media network in Basic-Fit, and Basic-Fit is a large fitness chain in Europe with roughly 1400 outlets in Germany, France, and Spain, and they have a lot of screens inside too. Because of that, they have a special proposition, they're on the low end of the market and they want to be able to operate clubs with one person to keep that cost low, and to get a low entry fee. Hence the name! Loek Wermenbol: But the funny part is that if you enter the club, all the products are really good, and it's a really good training facility, but if you want to do so, you have to do a lot different, and it's a lot of digitization within those store from training that you can do in a digital way and activate yourselves through all kind of other stuff, but also communicating with your clients, giving them maybe messages to motivate them or any health advice, but also just to inform you that maybe the shower is broken in the ladies room, for instance. But those screens are roughly around seven to eight in each club and of course, are really interesting for Retail Media too, because the target group that is coming into a sports club is pretty defined. If you know the proposition is on the low end of the markets, then you have real good statistics on demographics, which people are coming in. So that's a perfect match, and a lot of advertisers, of course, are really interested in that target group and now have difficulty in reaching them, especially in the younger generation. So that's also Retail Media. So is that real money to Basic-Fit or is it a rounding error? Loek Wermenbol: Oh, it's definitely real money. I can't talk about figures, but it's real money, and basically, they're operating in two ways in operating Retail Media networks. The first part is direct sales. There's a team within the Basic-Fit commercial team from Retail Media that is in direct contact with big clients to sell time on the screens. But there will always be leftover inventory, and what we did, I think it's one and a half years ago, we connected software that is able to connect on the backend to the big marketplaces the media companies use to buy their ads. Like the Vistas and so on? Loek Wermenbol: Yeah, and they can directly tap into the system and buy leftover inventory. And you could put the parameters in so that it's not going to show a competitor on the screen with you? Loek Wermenbol: Exactly. You can tailor it however you like. But it's a really good way of not getting rid of your inventory but basically sell out your inventory. Of course, it's another price when you buy it in that way. It's going to be cheaper than direct sales. But in direct sales, you have the best spots and the best time slots, and maybe you want to only advertise in a certain area or maybe in a certain country, etc. So that's really interesting in Retail Media and it's going to evolve. We are going to see more spots within environments that show Retail Media, and you were mentioning, Dave it's strange when you see an ad for a wireless carrier or whatever in a retail store, and I think so too the market is really looking now, where are the edges of what we can and can't do, in approaching and maximizing our revenues from Retail Media, and on the other hand, not breaking down our brand. Because those go hand in hand. You spoke a little bit about the return on the investment of display and all the technology in a store. How is that being measured? Because I've seen companies who do audience measurement and retail measurement and so on, talking about conversion ratios and so on, and I'm always a little skeptical about how accurate they can be. Loek Wermenbol: This is a really good point because this is not the same for every solution. It really depends. Of course, we love to measure everything because that gives us insight, gives us data, and will help us improve. But mostly, If you do an installation with a combination of techniques that actually can set up a kind of a funnel, for instance, where you can measure that there are so many people in front of my solution and making use of that solution, and of those people, so many people do step two, maybe go and pick a piece of clothing out of a wall of jeans. And we can measure that because we have counters in the ceiling, we also can measure how many of those people go into the fitting room and actually try on something, and if we know they're going into the fitting room, we can also measure if they come out and if they go to the cash desk, and if we do it like that, then we actually can create a funnel, and see what is happening, and not only see that happening but also tweak and improve. I mentioned the Rituals solution before, and I'm trying to visualize this in a verbal way. It's a beautiful piece of furniture with all the perfumes on it, and rather than having to spray the perfume off a piece of paper and smell it. In front of all those perfumes, there are little glass cones, and you can pick those up, and beneath is a little piece that we impregnated with the fragrance. So if you pick it up, you can smell it. And the important thing to know is if you pick it up, we measure your pickup, so we know how many pickups there are of that piece. So you've got some sort of sensor embedded in there? Loek Wermenbol: Yeah, it's actually a light sensor that covers, and if you open it up, the content that is displayed when you pick up that specific color of glass, say I'm picking up perfume A, when I pick it up, on the display it will show the content of perfume A. But it's layered content, so the longer I have this piece in my hands, the other types of content will be displaced, like an information funnel, but it also gives you the information that a certain person is more interested in this piece than somebody that puts it immediately down because maybe they didn't like the fragrance and all that information gives us all that data, gives us information about that specific setup in that specific location because, of course, fragrances can differ in different areas, cities, countries, etc. And it actually helps the divisional merchandisers to create a setup with the different perfumes on that piece of furniture that is matched perfectly with the audience they are serving at that point. Because we can use the pickup data, the content data, but also the data that is being generated by the cash desk, and if you combine those, then you have real information that will help. It's going to be more difficult if you want to measure the success of a window display because there are a lot of factors in place. Why somebody will come in or not, or why it's busy in a high street or not, temperature or events… Yeah, you'd need some sort of a cookie on that person, otherwise, how do you track them? Loek Wermenbol: Yeah, and then, of course, you have the tracking of people in general, and GDPR is a thing, so we have to take that into account in some cases. Actually, we want to do really good management and measurements, and sometimes we can, but GDPR will limit us, and it's not only the effective GDPR, but it's also the perception of the user itself. It could be allowed by GDPR, but it is not received in a nice way by the customer because he feels monitored and on camera somewhere. So perception is really important to take into account, and if you use it, be open about it, and tell your customer about it. Is it your software management platform, like in-house, or are you using a third party? Loek Wermenbol: We actually do both. We have our software platform, and we keep on developing that, especially for certain clients with certain wishes. We tend to push the limits in the market, and often we look for things in software that just aren't available in the market. But on the other hand, there are really good products in the market too. So we connect with certain platforms to make use of that. I was curious because at a conference like this and everywhere I go and everything I get in by email, there are so many software companies who state that retail is their key vertical, and what you've been describing, it strikes me as it would be very difficult for a very brand sensitive and brand forward store, retailer to just go with a software company because they really need and has benefit from all that front end advice and the simple poking at them to say, “okay, why do you wanna do this?” Loek Wermenbol: The software is relevant for the client only if he is going to operate it by themselves. Basically, which probably doesn't happen that much anymore. Loek Wermenbol: No, of course, there's a little bit more to it. And that is because the interface and the user-friendliness of that product will be relevant. But if you look at the other way around, in the end, what's most important for the reader is whether will this be a successful integration in total, am I going to improve my customer journey, can I add more experience that is going to generate more sales for me? And it really doesn't matter what kind of software does the job. It really doesn't matter what kind of hardware does the job. That's almost a commodity. It needs to be good, and for the AV integrator, you need to have those four-letter words together. It's so important to keep those channels, have a good service proposition, and make sure those screens are always on 99.9% of the time, they sre energy saving, all that kind of stuff. But also in managing the content on the screen. It's important, but it's not the thing that matters most for the client and this industry tends to look more on the technology side and try to say to the clients that we have all of this. Yes, it's important, but if you're starting off with the wrong journey and the wrong question in the beginning, it really doesn't matter that you have really good stuff. If you're selling on features and specs, you're dead. Last question, with retail, generally speaking, they want a business partner or service provider who's going to take them right from ideation all the way through managed services and run the network for them? Loek Wermenbol: Yes and no. I say no because they don't always know that these kinds of offerings are available in the market, and if you don't know that, then you're not looking for it, and it's getting a little bit better. But we try to really focus on that holistic approach and offering, so that we can basically help our clients on every level. We have specialists on every level. We have 125 different types of roles within our company, if you think about it with roughly 200 people in the company, that's huge. We have specialists for every occasion. So if it's about IT, we have specialists that can talk with the IT of the client. If it's about strategy, we have strategists that can do that. If it's about marketing or content strategy, we have those specialists. They don't need to use every offering in our total portfolio. But we offer it, and at least in the end, if they don't use it in our offering, we can talk with them on a high level about the specific topic then and help them anyway in that topic. I think that is really important as our business, especially retail, is transforming more in helping brands to communicate in the right way with the digital retail floor, and that's why I said it, and it sounds a little bit strange, it's more like an agency which is part of communication and knowing how to do that, and advising clients how to do that is super important. But we can only do that, and that's important, maybe last words, if we have everything really good lined up in the backend. We have super good people to make those integrations, super good technicians, and we can tell a beautiful story, but in the end, if we can deliver what we promise to our clients in our first talks, we're out of business. So that has to be perfect.
Many regional and community banks in the United States are under intense pressure from economic forces beyond their control. This has led to a contraction in the lending markets, and may even shut off the spigot for some asset classes. Some banks might look to credit risk transfer (“CRT”) trades to keep the lending pipeline open. These cutting-edge transactions keep the loans on a bank's balance sheet, while eliminating risk from the portfolio” and providing substantial capital relief. Further, by shifting risk to non-bank investors, CRTs provide a new opportunity for private equity and others to use the powder that they have accumulated over the last several years. Please join Mayer Brown partners Stuart Litwin and Matt Bisanz as they discuss why now is the time for regional and community banks to consider CRTs.
"They say critical race theory means America is a racist country. It doens't mean that." As Michael Harriot's series explaining the two CRTs continues, he introduces you to the man we have to thank for the recent CRT movement that is based on lies. He'll explain Christopher Rufo's agenda to rebrand critical race theory and how he's managed to convince dozens of states to follow his lead.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
"The history of racism is what they don't want you to know." The push to keep accurate Black history from being taught is nothing new and Michael Harriot highlights several times throughout history that anti-CRT has been the norm. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
John, Alex and Will take to the mics this week to discuss the possibilities of some exciting iterations on gaming favourites. Do the recent reports of a PS5 Pro make sense? What about an OLED Steam Deck? And if Counter-Strike is so great, why isn't there a Counter-Strike 2? 00:00:00 Introduction 00:01:24 News 01: Resident Evil 4 impressions! 00:13:53 News 02: PS5 Pro - is it coming? 00:25:01 News 03: Valve says Steam Deck OLED refresh unlikely 00:32:02 News 04: New Counter-Strike imminent? 00:44:30 News 05: Hands-on with Viture XR AR glasses! 00:47:53 Supporter Q1: Could Xbox Series consoles get small internal improvements, even without an enhanced model? 00:51:20 Supporter Q2: Is the Xbox Series DirectML support just PR? Or is it actually going to be transformative for games? 00:55:21 Supporter Q3: How do you purchase and research older equipment, like CRTs? 00:59:23 Supporter Q4: Could current-gen enhanced consoles run UE5 games at 60fps with hardware RT? 01:03:31 Supporter Q5: Weird Al is “All About the Pentiums”, so what arguments would you say to get him to switch to Zen 4? 01:05:17 Supporter Q6: Alex, what do you think the Next Big Thing is for PC graphics? 01:06:49 Supporter Q7: What do you think about forced DLSS 3 in games, like the PC version of Sackboy: A Big Adventure? 01:09:48 Supporter Q8: Do you still use simple pixel edge counting for determining the resolution of games? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In this episode of Our Classroom, Dr. Kimberly N. Parker, author of Literacy Is Liberation: Working Toward Justice Through Culturally Relevant Teaching, discusses one of the CRTs that are driving some folks crazy. Classroom notes: Her best-selling book Literacy is Liberation: Working Toward Justice Through Culturally Relevant Teaching The focus on Culturally Relevant Teaching and how it has guided her work An overview of Culturally Relevant Intentional Literacy Communities (CRILCs) CRILCs are places where vulnerability is necessary. Kimberly N. Parker, PhD, has been working in literacy communities with young people for more than 20 years. She has always believed in the power of literacy to normalize the high achievement of all students, especially Black, Latinx, and other students of color. Her career has included public school teaching, preparing preservice teachers, conducting research about how to support the success of Black boy readers, and delivering professional development across the country. She is currently the director of the Crimson Summer Academy at Harvard University, the 2020 recipient of the NCTE Outstanding Elementary Educator Award, a cofounder of #DisruptTexts and #31DaysIBPOC, and the current president of the Black Educators' Alliance of MA (BEAM). Welcome to Our Classroom! Follow: IG - @drkimparker / Twitter - @TchKimPossible Don't be late to class! Subscribe to Our Classroom today. For more education resources subscribe to Multicultural Classroom. Resources - Books & Curriculum / Blog / Merch
Stephen Cowart is the CRT "whisperer" and a founding member of SaveTheCRTs.org. We have a nice geeky discussion on advice, tips, and realities of finding and using CRT display tech well into the 21st century!https://savethecrts.org/
The 16:9 PODCAST IS SPONSORED BY SCREENFEED – DIGITAL SIGNAGE CONTENT Mediavue Systems has the somewhat unique experience of being a PC manufacturer that started in digital signage, versus any number of companies that had personal or industrial computers with the dimensions, specs and pricing that met the industry's needs and desires at the time. One hell of a lot has changed in the intervening 15 years, and the Boston-based company has shifted with them. Erik DeGiorgi co-founded the business with his dad Dave. He's now its President and focused on what he says is a major evolution of the company and brand. His goal is changing industry perceptions about what Mediavue does, to a point that he now talks about the company more as a software shop than a hardware manufacturer. That's because Mediavue has been steadily developing software tools - most notably for configuration, deployment, remote device management and security. The IT people they work with think much more about uptime and efficient management than they do about the size of the box or, in particular, the price. I had a great chat with Erik about the roots of his company and where PC hardware and software sit in an industry landscape that now also has options for low-cost smart displays and single-purpose media players. Subscribe to this podcast: iTunes * Google Play * RSS TRANSCRIPT Eric, thank you for joining me. Can you give me the rundown on MediaVue systems? Erik DeGiorgi: Yeah, sure, Dave, first and foremost, thanks for having me on, and also thanks for the invite next month. Looking forward to seeing you and everybody else at the mixer. Nice to get back to reality there, huh? No kidding. Erik DeGiorgi: But yeah, sure. I'll give you a snapshot. We've been around for about 16 years at this point. So MediaVue was founded in 2007. The initial product we brought to market was now what's called a media player. We started designing and building bespoke hardware for the industry back before there was really a name for it, and so we brought to market our first hardware device, I believe it was probably 2008 when we went to market, and the company's evolved quite a bit over the past 15 years. We initially went to market through our channel relationships with CMS partners. So back in the day, we were a heavy SCALA house long before the StrataCash acquisition and everything. But we partnered with CMSs. We started to develop operating systems, include that on our devices and embed CMS and try to make it as turnkey as possible. The evolution of the companies really centred around the kind of product innovations and responses to needs in the market. So again, at the very beginning it was, let's build a device that can go and be turned on 24/7, play videos and not break as they all were. Then it was, okay, we fixed that, then how do we create it more turnkey because of all the problems we were encountering? The integration, putting the software in the hardware. Then once we resolved that it became an issue of scalability. So, if you remember back, 10-15 years ago, these large-scale networks would be deployed, but there'd be no network management. The people would transition, and there'd be no way to know what was in the field. There'd be no way to cope with the problems when they would arise. It was just really an operational nightmare for the system integrators and certainly the end customers that were trying to scale these networks. So we responded to that and built out a robust network management platform. So that really was the kind of pivot point where we moved from being really a hardware company to a software company. So today, fast forward, what we deliver is really a turnkey operating platform. So it's a combination of hardware, it's a combination of our software management tools, support that goes along with that. It's the integration of CMS software. It's audience analytics, whatever you need to design and deploy and manage signage networks in an array of markets, we now have a fairly robust platform that supports that at scale. That's interesting that you describe yourself as a software company. I would think most people who know MediaVue would think, they're a hardware company. They make small form-factor PCs for signage. Erik DeGiorgi: And I may be getting ahead of myself because, as I do, but we are actually poised to go extensive, top to the bottom rebrand of the company right now and teaser come January, the look and feel of MediaVue is gonna be quite different. So did you start the company with digital signage in mind or were you doing industrial computing and found your way into it? Erik DeGiorgi: So David, our CEO was previously, his previous company was actually in display repair. So this was back in the 90s and the early 2000s. When people used to fix things, he was repairing CRTs and was doing that for all the major brands. He had service contracts with Dell and ViewSonic and Mitsubishi. If you bought a PC at Circuit City, you know the service contract would go to him. So he was doing large scale monitor repair, and by virtue of that, he got pulled into the digital signage industry because of early projects, this is 20 years ago, he had the service contract for the display and this was back in the day of, hanging a Dell Optiplex on the back of a screen in a large harness, and those things were failing left and right, and by virtue of having the contract for the display, they asked him if they could fix those, and so he got into that business and then looked at that and said, is there a way to build a better mousetrap here? And that was the origin story. MediaVue was started, and we went to work on what became our first media player, but it was very much in response, having the exposure to the earliest deployments, seeing the catastrophic failure rates, and then coming up with a solution. David DeGiorgi is your dad, right? Erik DeGiorgi: Yeah, you will see a common last name there. He and I sat down and started MediaVue in about 2007. Is he still involved? Erik DeGiorgi: He is still involved. I've read some of your recent postings and things, there comes a time in life when you maybe step back from some things and focus on some other things and, Dave, will never slow down, don't let me mischaracterize him. Yeah. He's a bit of a live wire from what I remember of meeting him. Erik DeGiorgi: Yeah, he's 110% at all times. But yeah, we certainly work in tandem and have since the outset. And you're in the Boston area, right? Erik DeGiorgi: Yep. Our HQ is just south of Boston, and we've got an international presence. We've got sales teams out in MEA and spread across certainly here domestically. But one of the things that I think is unique, going back to our roots, in hardware, we still have our assembly line in Boston, so since day one and continuing today, I think the majority of what we do is really in the kind of management tool set and all of the software stack and the integration and everything that we do at that level, we still design and assemble hardware, and we do that in the back half of our headquarters and we've got our assembly floor right there along with the front of house. And how does that resonate with resellers and end users? Is that important to them that it's domestically made? Erik DeGiorgi: I don't know if it's there's a Made in USA badge on it, and that's important to me. I think where the value comes from having control over that process. So our assembly line is very adaptable. So we can very quickly respond to the needs of customers. So whether that's a hardware configuration, whether that's a setup and an integration with different software, we can do all of that and make very quick adjustments to our assembly line to accommodate the customer and I think that's where the value is. Yeah, I'm sure there are people who do wanna buy products made in the USA but I, I tend to think there's probably a lot more who are buying for other reasons and like the idea that there's the support that is in 12 hours away and in Mandarin. Erik DeGiorgi: Yeah, absolutely, and the full experience that you get with MediaVue is based domestically, So everything, the account rep you get obviously is regional, you get attached with a Sales, Engineering, and CSE at the beginning, that's a person that's domestically based. That individual works with you through pre-sale. When it converts to a sale, that person maintains the attachment to that account. You have continuity there throughout the lifetime of the deployment, and that's how we differentiate. Our origins are certainly in hardware, we're doing a lot more now. But we're never gonna be able to compete on cost with some of our OEM competitors out in Asia. There's just absolutely no way. So we have to create a lot of value add. We have to create a lot of it's an experience working with us. It's the whole lifetime of the engagement and the deployment, it's very hands-on, and that's how we've been able to differentiate. You describe the old days of Dell Optiplex hanging off the back of monitors and back in 2007, at that time, it was a big deal to come up with a small form factor PC. That doesn't really matter anymore, does it? Cuz everybody is like that. Erik DeGiorgi: The playing field has levelled, certainly on the hardware side it's, but it's in form factor, it's in computing power. The value proposition back then was, how many bits and bytes can I put in the smallest form factor and, run my 720p video and, do that successfully, and the playing field is flattened there. It's not as competitive as it was. The computing's kind of caught up. I always get a kick out of how many pixels can you actually put on a display before you have to be three inches away from it before you can tell, so it's like hardware is caught up, I think, to the industry's need if that makes sense. So now it really becomes about the value of Integration. How do you successfully roll out a deployment? How do you have that go as seamless as possible, both in the installation and in the ongoing management and maintenance of that network? Because we all know the greatest cost to doing that is getting people in the field, turning wrenches and screwdrivers. So the more you can minimize that ease, the burden for the integration partner. Certainly, that brings value to them as they're reselling things in managed services contracts. It brings value to the end customer because the cost of operating the network in total is far less. So really honing in on the stability, reliability, the scalability of these networks is, I think, more of our present challenge rather than, packing pixels on screens and having more gigabytes of processing power. I'm gonna guess that resellers and integrators understand that a lot more than end users. Erik DeGiorgi: There's certainly a learning curve. The ones that have been through it and felt the pain know it very well. You have to go through it to see that. We still get opportunities to come across and people will haggle on price and this box is a hundred dollars less than that box or something and we try to educate, we try to help people see the light, if you will, and look at the total cost of ownership of these networks a little bit differently maybe than they are, and it's one of those lessons that you have to learn. And I noticed on your product list that your small form factor, I forget the name of it, but it was a small box and it just had a Celeron running in it, and it used to be the case that people would pay a lot of attention to the generation of the processor and everything else and they might think that a Celeron not powerful enough, but they are now, right? Erik DeGiorgi: Yes, certainly years ago, it was very much spec driven, and it was very important to, gigabytes of this and megabytes of that. Like I was saying before, the technology's kind of caught up to the needs of the industry and there's only so much you're doing. Compute power really is now doing onsite analytics and doing things like real-time decisions and stuff like that, that's pushing thresholds. It's just not as important a factor because there's just enough there. When you started it was PCs and PCs, that's what people used for digital signage. There was the odd sort of dedicated player type, like the old digital view boxes, and there were a few others out there. But then smart displays came along, BrightSign bubbled up, and now you have two categories that you're competing with. How do you sell against those? Erik DeGiorgi: Yeah, so that's a great question. So we're rooted still in that PC tradition, and we do so because we're looking at the life cycles of these deployments and we believe that kind of platform has the required adaptability and scalability where some of these other architectures don't, simply I look at it as, if you're rooted in kind of this PC topology and architecture, it's built to do a lot of things versus doing one thing very specifically if that makes sense. So it has the ability to adapt not just to the initial customer needs, but throughout the lifetime of the deployment, and that's getting into some of the things we're gonna be rolling out first, at the beginning of next year, really rely on that adaptability, that topology. There are also some big security issues, and it's something that's not discussed in the industry that is very much overlooked when you get into ARM-based products, and I will try not to get too technical here, like smart displays when I say system on a chip and stuff like that, that's a hardware stack, that's a chipset that is licensed and manufactured by any no name, chip house that you've never heard of versus say an Intel, AMD and the major difference from a security perspective is that you need to maintain Operating system, you need to maintain your operating system and have that be updated because a lot of your security, a lot of your threat mitigation comes from having a stable and current operating system. What happens is when you use these unknown chip manufacturers to develop the SOCs and things like that, they don't maintain driver support for the current operating system updates. So what happens is you are unable to continually update your operating environment because you don't have strong driver support for those chipsets. So in our opinion, that creates significant security vulnerabilities. So it's yet another reason why we maintain the kind of traditional Intel and AMD chipset topology. Is it your opinion and perspective, or are you hearing real-world stories talking about that? Erik DeGiorgi: I don't hear many people talking about it. I think it's one of those things like many things in the security world that is just unknown, and it's not something that comes up. So it's a message we're certainly trying to get across. So the devil's advocate argument would be if you're not hearing about it, maybe it's not really a thing? Erik DeGiorgi: Maybe. I can't argue with that but it's not likely. We're a very technical company, so when we all sit around at the lunch table, these are the kinds of conversations we have about vulnerabilities. So we're on the pulse of it may be a little more than others and paying attention to it a little more than others, but yeah I do think it's there, and so it's a combination of that. It's a combination of a kind of being there are inherent limitations, capability, and limitations when it comes to those types of chipsets as well, you're not able to just load any software on it. You're not able to go and connect peripheral devices to it. It doesn't have that degree of adaptability. So it's for all those reasons, we've stayed with the kind of technology stack, the topology that we have. My perception, and I'm definitely not a hardware expert or a software expert, is that these days, if you have a simple application like digital menu boards or FIDS displays, those sorts of things you probably don't need a PC for that. But if you're getting into anything, complicated and challenging, and as you say, it needs to evolve and have some malleability to it, you're probably gonna lean towards a PC. Is that a fair perception? Erik DeGiorgi: I think it's a fair perception. I think it's consistent too with where we position in the market. There are so many kinds of more simple use cases, I got a menu board and that's up and running. I'm gonna say that with a caveat but I'll get back to that in a second. The majority of digital signage is putting a picture on a screen, right? And that's about as simple as it gets, and we obviously can do that. I don't think our value is in that kind of In that type of use case. And you're probably not gonna win on price? Erik DeGiorgi: We're certainly not gonna win on price, and we've got no problem with it, it's just not our market. We're really focused on how we can be a technology partner for a large-scale enterprise that wants to deploy signage and communications infrastructure as an asset for their organization, and we partner closely with them. We work with, like I said, all of our software partners on the CMS side, and all our integration partners to put together a technology platform and an implementation program in order to deploy and manage that at scale. That's our sweet spot. Going back to the QSR example, menu boards, I guess you could say are simple, right? You're putting it up there. It doesn't really change much, It's just but then what happens when a menu board goes down? Because that's your business. If you don't have a menu, how are you gonna sell it? It's where we bring value to say that the application is doing things where you might have content switching. You might have redundancy in those menu boards. So do things with a bit more sophistication to make sure you're managing uptime and maintaining uptime. You can look at something and see it as simple, but at the same time to do it well at scale, there's always increasing layers of complexity. Yeah that's an interesting point because I think of digital menu boards as being really simplistic applications, but they can go down. So you need that failover and everything else. Erik DeGiorgi: There's that, and then it's also a really dirty environment. We've done QSRs and gotten devices back that you have to scrape the grease out. Again, there's always more complexity than you see at first glance. Is it fair to think that you probably tend to get more involved in projects than other companies that are just basically selling boxes? Erik DeGiorgi: Certainly, yeah. That's our value proposition, that's our model. Our sale is as much our management tool, our ongoing support and service, as much as the device, if you will. We're very hands-on. We're able, again, to be very flexible and adaptable to the customer's needs and that's not just to get the project going. That's the long-term maintenance and management and of course in conjunction with our integrator partners. You have something called an Active Network Manager. What is that and why is it needed? Erik DeGiorgi: Sure. So that is the name of the management stack of our software that I've been referencing. And so that was designed and built. We started working on that maybe not quite 10 years ago but pretty close, and that was to solve the problem with scalability. As I had mentioned previously, the devices work, and the integration with the CMSs works, but it was very difficult to deploy and manage at scale. So what that tool enables now, so if you partner with a MediaVue and purchase our product, what you're gonna get is you're gonna get an endpoint. You're gonna get a media player, a device that's gonna have an operating system installed on it that we design specifically for the content management software or other software that's being used and that is maintained. So part of our offering is not just the deployment of that, but we actually have a quarterly update scheme for our entire operating environment. So we will aggregate all the different updates and security patches and everything for the entire software stack, and then we test and validate and then bundle everything. So you don't get that kind of experience where your iPhone updates and all of a sudden your app doesn't work, so we eliminate that as a possibility, and then obviously stay on top of security. So you get that, and then the kind of software that brings all that together is our Active Network Manager, and that enables an installer to plug in the device, push the power button, and then have the network owner, the person that is, is managing the network to see that come up, to register CMS to go and set all of the, whether it's network settings, we that can take control of the display so we can make sure the display is on when it's supposed to be. All of that comes through an Active Network Manager and that's the toolset that enables it. It's really IT team-focused. So whoever it is, we don't do anything with content. We don't do anything with that. Never have, never will. We're strictly focused on having a robust technology stack and a toolset that enables the IT team to manage effectively. So an Active Network Manager is the heart of all of that, right? And, facilitates a lot of the kinds of a lot of customer interaction with the platform and the user experience that I've been describing. So 10 years ago when you started developing that a lot of the CMS companies had either no or pretty thread bear device management capabilities within their software. You had companies like Diversified who had kick-ass device management way, way back then, but a lot of these guys have caught up now. So are these parallel things or can they work together? Erik DeGiorgi: Yeah, I mean there's certainly management as we're describing it now is considered a necessity, so everybody has got on board. There are certain things baked into the CMS, some certain CMS offerings that have some device management. There are some things that we can do for various CMSs, like I mentioned, registration and plug and play and stuff like that. Yeah, and there are certainly third-party companies, good friends that just have a management platform for anything. So management has become ubiquitous. I think what differentiates what we're doing is we're really looking at it as a total platform. So it's the combination of hardware and software. It's the depth of integration that we're able to do by virtue of owning that entire ecosystem. So it just enables more. You can do more. Sparing you all the technical details results in greater stability, greater security, and greater longevity of the network, and that's something that's different as well. We look at a successful network being 5+ years. So if we install the devices, we don't want them to be touched for five years. The current hardware is about 10 years old. It's obviously like iterations of that and it's not the same exact stuff but we have stuff that's been deployed that is the previous generation for 10+ years. So we look at a 5+ year lifespan. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think industry standards might be like two to three would be considered successful, without any major intervention. But we look at it as for at least five years. We wanna get the stuff out, we wanna manage it, we want it to physically work. We want to have the remote capabilities to make necessary changes without having to deploy people, and I'm careful with my words cuz we're gonna be releasing some stuff that even greater enhances that remote capabilities in the coming months. Do you have metrics around fail rates, like people talk about 99.59s and all that sort of thing? Erik DeGiorgi: It's funny you bring that up because we exchanged an email about potentially doing an article around that, and yeah so what I proposed and what we're looking at doing is we actually just did a full audit of every intervention last year that we had on the support side, and I think those kinds of numbers and statistics, it's almost cursory. It's just fine, how many .9999 can you put in? It's just, I don't think it really tells the story, and the story that I'm interested in telling and sharing, certainly with the industry is, yeah, the physical devices work. It's the stuff that works. Software is fairly stable, but it's usually like the interaction of things. I'm just thinking through the kind of statistics that we pulled from last year. For as many actual hardware issues as there were, there were many more issues with something happening within the operating system, a software bug coming up. It was an interaction between, third-party software that we've integrated onto the devices. It was a failure in setup, in installation. There were so many. Or stupid shit like the janitor unplugging the thing. Erik DeGiorgi: Oh, for sure. That happens. That's real life. It's absolutely real life.it's that it's someone going and stacking boxes on the device and having it burn up, you know what I mean? We've seen it all. I hope it doesn't come across that I'm trying to avoid answering your question. The complexity of these things, just tells a different story rather than, one out of a thousand failing every year, or even like MBTF, it's not even a really accurate way of analyzing things. I'm hoping that if we collaborate on that, we can share some insights on what is a company that's deployed this hardware and software like this for well over a decade and has tens of thousands of devices that are currently managing, what it actually looks like in the real world? And I'm excited to be able to share that. So in January you're gonna do a brand refresh and push a revised proposition out there. How's all that gonna roll out? Erik DeGiorgi: Well, with your assistance of course. So I think what we want to do and it is very consistent with what you're saying. Our legacy is that when people think of our company, they think of hardware, what we're doing and what we are, the company we are today is just so different. And it's really that entire ecosystem platform that we've created and we deploy, it's the way we interact with our customers throughout the lifetime of the deployments and the support and everything that we offer. How we're going to do it? It's gonna be digital, so the look and feel of the company online is gonna be very different. We're going to be making announcements through all the industry publications. So we've got a hard date right now of January 17th, so we'll see if we make it. But we're hoping to put out a kind of industry-wide blast and when people sit down at their computers on that day, they see something that they haven't before. All right. If people wanna know more, where did they find you online? Erik DeGiorgi: MediaVueSystems.com All right. Eric, thank you so much for taking the time with me. Erik DeGiorgi: Dave, thanks for having me on.
Today's interview is with Luc de Rouw, founder of CRTVS. CRTVS is a personal digital agency that uses paid advertisements to help businesses scale to new heights.We go over everything from content creation, the journey of a digital agency, the power of tik tok, and more.Grab your coffee and get out the notebook, takes show is about to begin!Connect with Luc: www.tiktok.com/@thecrtvswww.instagram.com/crtvs_/crtvs.nl
Join the discussion with Wendy Selvig and Amber Grady (both Certified Raindrop Technique Specialists) as they discuss the Raindrop Technique and how anyone can learn to do it for their families. This technique is the natural health POWER TOOL that everyone should have in their tool belt! #RAINDROPTECHNIQUE #CRTS #WENDYSELVIG #THEOILYACADEMY
An Introduction to the Raindrop - why you need to know how to Raindrop! -- as a teaser to another upcoming podcast that features an interview with Amber Grady, CRTS. Get a copy of The Power of A Raindrop at GrowingHealthyHomes.com.
DF Weekly reaches its three-quarter-century this week, with John, Rich and Will discussing evidence of Sony creating its own PSN launcher for its PC titles, a fascinating inteview with Astro's Playroom developer Team Asobi, more GPU price madness and Intel video card discussion - plus, a remarkable new voxelised version of Doom! 00:00:00 Introduction 00:00:41 News 01: PlayStation PC game launcher to come? 00:11:10 News 02: Team Asobi interview hints at new game 00:19:03 News 03: Sonic Mania decompiled… and ported to Vita! 00:25:19 News 04: Intel ARC GPUs finally for sale outside of Asia + A380 performance discussion 00:37:53 News 05: GPU prices collapse! 00:46:14 News 06: New DOOM mod replaces sprites with 3D voxels 00:49:44 DF Content Discussion: New DF website launch 00:54:26 DF Content Discussion: DF Retro on the Klonoa series 00:59:21 DF Supporter Q1: Do 240Hz OLEDs have good enough motion clarity to match CRTs? 01:04:41 DF Supporter Q2: Could the Steam Deck be sold in mass-market retail stores? 01:09:08 DF Supporter Q3: Why do Insomniac's VRR modes get high praise, given their inconsistent performance? 01:13:26 DF Supporter Q4: What are some examples of high-end PC game options that never run well, even with new hardware? 01:16:46 DF Supporter Q5: Will Rich ever go back to doing unboxing videos?
Katy Stevens, recently named 2021 HME Woman of the Year during a virtual presentation hosted by VGM, has a keen eye for doing great things for people that need Complex Rehab Technology (CRT). I talked with Katy about how providers and Rehab Technology Suppliers can help raise awareness of CRT to provide greater access and independence for the people that need it.This episode is brought to you by the Premier Sponsors of the September 14 CRT Virtual Congressional Fly-In:Alliance RehabNational Seating & MobilityNumotionQuantumReliable MedicalRiftonVisit CRTAccess.com to learn about the Fly-In and register, for free, to help raise awareness of Complex Rehab Technology.
This week, Editor-in-Chief Elliot Williams and Assignments Editor Kristina Panos traded sweat for silence, recording from their respective attic-level offices in the August heat unaided by fans (too noisy). We decided there's no real news this week that lacks a political bent, except maybe that Winamp is back with a new version that's four years in the making. (Is Winamp divisive?) Does it still whip the llama's ass? You be the judge. After Elliot gives Kristina a brief math lesson in increasing area with regard to 3D printer nozzle sizes, we talk a bit about 3D pens, drool over a truly customizable macropad that uses a microcontroller for each keyswitch, and discuss dendrometers and tree health. Then it's back to keyboards for one incredible modular build with an e-ink display and haptic feedback knob which is soon to go open source. Finally, we talk tiny CRTs, a USB drive that must have the ultimate in security through obscurity, discuss the merits of retrograde clocks, and wonder aloud about the utility of jumping PCBs. Don't bounce on us just yet -- not until you hear about our first electronics wins and learn the one thing Kristina doesn't do when she's spending all day in the heat. Check out Hackaday for all the links!
At Teacher, we are often asked for more resources and information on behaviour management. In the latest episode in our Behaviour Management series, we spoke with Senior Lecturer and Course Leader for the Master of Applied Behaviour Analysis at Monash University, Dr Erin Leif, and Russell Fox, Lecturer in Behaviour Analysis, also from Monash University. They join us again in this episode, but this time, it's to answer your questions that you submitted. We asked for these questions in our weekly Teacher bulletin, which is a free subscription you can sign up for at our website, teachermagazine.com. In this episode, we're going to delve into the link between positive behaviour support and academic learning; how positive behaviour support can be integrated with the principles of trauma-informed practice; and how we can upskill other members of the school community to help us in this area. Let's jump in. Guests: Dr Erin Leif and Russell Fox Host: Dominique Russell
Not exactly a week for 'gigaton' news but plenty to discuss nonetheless. Portal and Portal 2 arrive on Switch, with Half-Life 2 mods appearing less than 24 hours later. There's joy at the news of a Switch Nier Automata port but confusion about how to actually pronounce it. Meanwhile, Sony unveils a new range of hardware - but is it aimed at PC or PS5 players? Also: FSR 2.0's open source nature brings about a new Cyberpunk 2077 mod - and we've spoken to the person who did it. Join John, Rich and Will for this one - but Alex Battaglia's Force Ghost is never too far away... 00:00:00 Introduction 00:00:47 News 01: Half-Life 2 modded onto Portal for Switch 00:09:10 News 02: Nier: Automata Switch port revealed 00:13:55 News 03: Cyberpunk 2077 modded with FSR 2.0 00:21:20 News 04: Sony launches PC headsets, monitors 00:36:39 News 05: Valve doubling Steam Deck production 00:43:42 News 06: New Star Ocean: The Divine Force trailer 00:46:55 DF Supporter Q1: If Alex came from a time warp and said the Switch 2 had better RT hardware than PS5/XSX, would you believe him? 00:52:30 DF Supporter Q2: Nintendo has been stockpiling materials - possibly a sign of a new Switch? 00:56:05 DF Supporter Q3: Which gaming industry figure would you most like to interview? 01:01:30 DF Supporter Q4: Which retro CRTs are a good pick - that aren't crazily expensive? 01:05:12 DF Supporter Q5: Could spatial upsampling like FSR 1.0 be integrated into displays? 01:08:47 DF Supporter Q6: Now that Alex is away, can we agree that Crysis isn't a particularly good game?
In this episode of the Planned Solutions Incorporated Podcast, the inflation breakeven rate is derived by comparing the interest rates paid on nominal Treasury bonds to the rates paid on inflation-protected Treasure bonds. It is a way for economists to gauge the inflation expectations of investors who are investing real money in these markets, as opposed to opinion surveys, making the inflation breakeven rate a historically more accurate gauge of future inflation. Recently this indicator has been falling signaling that inflation in the US may have peaked in the near term. Also, When 529 plan funds are left over after higher education expenses have been met there are several options for account holders. These include transferring the beneficiary to the next generation, using the 529 plan funds to pay down student loan balances, or taking a nonqualified distribution from the 529 plan in which the growth in the plan may be subject to income taxes and penalties. And, Charitable Remainder Trusts (CRTs) can be a valuable tax planning tool for individuals who own appreciated assets outside of a retirement plan, want to convert those asset values into an income stream, and have a desire to donate funds to charity after their passing. CRTs allow a donor to achieve all of these goals in a tax-efficient way. In addition, the beneficiary may benefit from income payments over a specified period or their lifetime with any remaining assets in the trust at the beneficiary's death going to charity. Plus a look at the Planned Solutions Incorporated Office Bulletin Board- Identity theft and fraud continue to be all too common. However, several best practices can be used to protect yourself: 1. Be suspicious of unsolicited phone calls, e-mails, and text messages asking you to send money or disclose personal information. If you receive a suspicious call from an individual or institution do not accept it, hang up, and call back using a known contact number. 2. Be cautious when sharing sensitive information and conducting personal or confidential business via e-mail since it can be compromised and used to facilitate identity theft. 3. Do not disclose personal or sensitive information on social media sites, such as birth dates, contact information, and mother's maiden name. 4. Do not verbally disclose or enter confidential information on a laptop or mobile device in public areas where someone could see, hear, or access your information. 5. Verify payment requests you receive by using a known phone number or e-mail. 6. Do not click on links in e-mails unless you have verified with the sender that the e-mail is legitimate. Please mark your calendars if you will be able to attend. Date: Friday, September 9th, 2022 Location: Rancho Murieta Country Club – South Course 7000 Alameda Drive ancho Murieta, CA 95683 Time: 12:30 pm shotgun start with a dinner to follow All profits go to cancer research and education. You can help by attending the tournament or donating. Not golfing? Bring friends and attend the dinner. Chase Armer's book- Financial Planning Insights is now available at: www.amazon.com/Financial-Planning…1586894022&sr=8-1 To subscribe to the Personal Finance Review (the written form of all the content we discuss on the podcast) please e-mail Katie@PlannedSolutions.com The Personal Finance Review is published and distributed on a biweekly basis by Planned Solutions, Inc. for informational purposes only. Please seek the advice of a qualified financial planner before taking any action. Planned Solutions, Inc. ADDRESS: PHONE: 1130 Iron Point Road, Suite 170 (916) 361-0100 Folsom, CA 95630 (800) 750-2111 E-MAIL: FAX: Shannon@PlannedSolutions.com (916) 361-0191 WEB SITE: www.PlannedSolutions.com
Originally Broadcast 2022/03/30: Vinnk had a great time interviewing with Louis Zezeran! I ask Vinnk about the origins of Famicom Dojo, what his experiences have been running Japan Retro Direct and whats his take on the state of second hand retro gaming products on the ground in Japan right now. Oh and we also talk about how Japanese retro gamers see CRTs as well.
Brent chats with Evan Unzelman about rolling over income interests in charitable remainder trusts. They talk about why these transactions can be tax beneficial and create flexibility for the right CRTs. Evan is the President of Sterling Foundation Management. Evan began with Sterling's Family Office Concierge Services in 2004, where he provided comprehensive solutions to the unique challenges faced by affluent families. In 2006, he became responsible for overseeing the administration of the company's charitable clients. In 2008, he was tasked with the expansion of the firm's Charitable Remainder Trust (CRT) Secondary Planning Services. Evan graduated from Pacific Lutheran University (summa cum laude) in Tacoma, Washington, where he earned degrees in Finance and Economics. Evan can be contacted at: eunzelman@sterlingfoundations.com, 703-677-8747, https://www.sterlingfoundations.com/.
Chris Johnson has been a certified Assistive Technology Professional since 2006 and has been an employee of Numotion since 2010. Prior to the early 90's there were no standards, certifications, or qualifications for the employees that fit people with custom wheelchairs. Chris talks about the history of Assistive Technology as a profession and how you can learn more about joining this industry.Chris makes reference several times to the organization that set the standards for Assistive Technology Professional, they give the certification exam and provide continuing education. Go to RESNA.ORG for more information on ATP certification.NRRTS (National Registry of Rehabilitation Technology Supplies). NRRTS is the organization that certifies suppliers, Certified Complex Rehabilitation Technology Supplier, (CRTS) .Go to NRRTS.ORG for more information.Another equally important organization is NCART (National Coalition for Assistive and Rehab Technology). NCART members are the suppliers, manufacturers, and other organizations involved in Complex Rehabilitation Technology (CRT) products and services. NCART's mission is to educate and advocate to protect access to CRT. Go to NCART.US for more information about what they provide to the CRT industry.Chris is passionate about helping people with disabilities through his work as an ATP. If you would like to ask Chris any questions you can email him at Chris.Johnson@Numotion.com
Join Editor-in-Chief Elliot Williams and Staff Writer Dan Maloney as they take a look at the week's top stories, taken straight off the pages of Hackaday. What happens when you stuff modern parts into a 90's novelty PC case? Nothing good, but everything awesome! Is there any way to prevent PCB soil moisture sensors from being destroyed by, you know, soil moisture? How small is too small for a microcontroller, and who needs documentation anyway? We also cast a jaundiced eye -- err, ear -- at an electronic cheating scandal, and if you've ever wondered how phased arrays and beam steering work, gazing into a pan of water might just answer your questions. We also share all our soldering war stories, and hey -- what's with all these CRT projects anyway? Links in the show notes!
A jam packed five star five course meal of bonus content awaits you inside this mp3 file! Featuring tim rogers' Coke Zero review, Kris Graft's grilling wisdom, Frank Cifaldi talking about classic games, CRTs and high end PCs, Brandon discussing his relationship with meat, and Vincent Diamante joining the exclusive club of guests who actually listen to the show. A SMALL DESCRIPTION OF EPISODES PULLED FROM: (Ep. 200) Post show. We EXCLUSIVELY reveal the big tim rogers review you've all been waiting for: new formula of Coke Zero Sugar. Jaffe calls the Guggenheim museum “The Gug.” I bleep something out by request. (Ep. 201) Pre-show. Jaffe negotiates a “One Day Early?” line read from Special Guest Kris Graft. Frank tries so hard not to use Amazon. Jaffe negotiates Evil Offsetting Calculus. Everyone has a riff on the idea of what a Fonzie Scheme is. (Ep. 201) Post-show. Special Guest Kris Graft gives a breakdown of his grilling technique, including tofu. Brandon explains the thing with meat. Buy 'Em Beat ‘Em Trade ‘Em At McVan's. The panel explores the idea of games as a commodity vs. appreciating them after time. Frank explains why he's a PC gamer and how he got a top of the line video card at retail price. (Ep. 202) Pre-show. Chris Kohler, subscribe to the Patreon if you wanna hear the bonus episodes. C'mon man, it's $3. Brandon and Jaffe negotiate a “One Day Early?” line read from Vincent Diamante. Frank got a new laptop. Jaffe makes sure nobody knows anything about the Sony press conference. The Craigslist ad Frank links in chat: https://detroit.craigslist.org/mcb/for/d/imlay-city-arcade-game/7377840888.html (Ep. 202) Post-show. An interesting numerical coincidence occurs. Frank likes the nuanced discussion about the Heritage Auction stuff going on in the forums. Jaffe's using some compressed air. Brandon explains the double edged sword of the forums. Many tell CRT TV stories. Pocket barks a bunch. All We Do Is Misconstrue.
We have a really big show this week! First off there is the news about Locast shutting down. We have what we think could be a good candidate to replace the Harmony Remote. We look at suggested seating distances based on screen size. You won't believe this one. Then we look at an article that tries to tell you how to evangelize Hi-res audio to your friends. Plus we read your emails and look at the news. SofabatonX1-Most Versatile Universal ALL-IN-ONE Smart Remote Sofabaton is launching X1, which is targeted at multi-device scenario-based Activity control, while adding a wireless Hub, which we believe can better meet the needs of power users. This looks like an actual Harmony Remote replacement with a hub. It's a Kickstarter project and has a cost of about $100. We will of course do a review when they become available. TV sizes: How big a screen do I really need? Your TV is probably too small. Use these rules of thumb to determine what size TV to buy. Full Article Here … SONY'S RECOMMENDED SEATING DISTANCE TV size Viewing distance range (approx.) 43-inch 35 inches (2.95 feet) 49-inch 39 inches (3.28 feet) 55-inch 39 inches (3.28 feet) 65-inch 47 inches (3.94 feet) 75-inch 55 inches (4.59 feet) 85-inch 63 inches (5.25 feet) Bottom line: You could go much, much bigger with your next TV The ultimate decision is one of personal preference. My goal here was to point out a rough idea of what's possible or recommended. For me, I would always err on the side of "too big." An old boss of mine used to say that no one regretted buying a TV they thought might be "too big." My opinion is that a 50-inch TV is too small for most rooms. That's not to say I think everyone should get a 102-inch screen, but the reality is a 50-inch flat panel is really not that much larger than the 36-inch CRTs of the old days. Since 65- and even 75-inch TVs are now far more affordable, they're worth considering if you've got the space. If you want to go really big, consider a projector instead if you've got control over the ambient light in your room. Another View: Breaking the Sound Barrier – How To Talk To Your Friends About High Quality Audio To stay abreast of everything Home Theater, Smart Home, and Audio, we subscribe to a lot of News Feeds, Blogs, and Newsletters and we also receive emails from our listeners alerting us to articles. This one came across in one of our news feeds from TWICE (Full Article Here) (This Week in Consumer Electronics) and thought it was interesting to discuss because we are completely on the opposite side of this discussion. The premise of the article is that with all the music sites going Hi-res, most listeners don't think they can hear the difference and somehow need you to tell them that they can. From the first paragraph of the article: For 25 years now, mainstream listeners have become accustomed to lossy, low-bitrate music. For audio enthusiasts that's been a longstanding gripe, but it appears to be finally over. With lossless and hi-res streaming about to go mainstream, bit-reduced audio will now go the way of the 8-track. That leaves an entire generation of listeners that don't know anything better and probably thinks they can't hear a difference. Audiophiles — this is a moment for true public service. Spread the word: high-quality audio is not only back, it's better than ever. Yes AAC and mp3 are lossy file formats, but low bit rate? The days of 96Kbps mp3 files on Napster are long gone. Apple, Amazon, Google, Spotify and others have been serving up 256Kbps AAC and mp3 files for years! This may be lower bit rate than Hi-res but we wouldn't call it low bit rate. Most people can't hear or even have equipment capable of reproducing the sound so that you can hear the difference. To be fair, most people would hear an improvement with 256Kbps files if they listened on good equipment instead of cheap earbuds or their talking tube devices. We argue you would be doing a better service if you convinced people to get higher fidelity playback equipment than trying to tell friends that their music would sound better on the same crappy equipment because it's Hi-res. From the article: Begin your public service by assuring your friends and all who'll listen that they really can hear the difference. The rational among them will immediately understand that more digital information means more sound. We call to the stand Rick Beato and his video Audiophile or Audio-Fooled? How Good Are Your Ears? In this video Rick explores the differences between MP3s, WAV, FLAC (lossless), AAC and whether you can tell the difference? He says it comes down to how you listen to music and whether it sounds pleasing or not. It's not about mp3, AAC, or Hi-res. If you listen to music in your car or on a run with earbuds, you have a different experience than someone who listens in a dedicated room with proper acoustics. From the article: Now that master-quality audio content is going mainstream, so too will the equipment to play it back. This will be particularly true of personal listening, because headphones/earbuds have become a dominant product category. We agree here, but not because of Hi-res, but because we are used to listening on comprised equipment. That's not to say it's bad, there is a place for lower quality gear. But if you really like high quality audio, invest in some hi quality speakers, amplifiers and headphones. The author finishes with: There's never been a better time to be an audiophile. Digital audio has made tremendous strides and will continue to evolve even further. Some lossless services will even deliver spatial 3-D audio; imagine the benefits for gamers and cinephiles. Good quality sound finally matters again. To those who already know the pleasures of deep listening and flawless reproduction, company's coming. If we help people find out about it, just watch how fast the audio world will grow. We agree! But it has nothing to do with Hi-res files because we are not living in the year 2005 any longer. Good quality sound always mattered and we have been listening to it for years. It's just that many people do not know what really listening to music is all about. Introduce your friends to the concept of truly enjoying music. Take your friends on this journey. Pour a glass of your favorite beverage and enjoy the music and where it takes you. Just don't be a snob about it.
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