The Death of Flash?

Filed under: Tech, Transformation, Web Services on Wednesday, March 10th, 2010 by eric | Comments  

With all the buzz about IE6 dying, I’d like to throw this out there. Adobe Flash is dying too. What or who is killing it off? HTML5. It’ll be a couple years though, Flash does enjoy over 99% market penetration, after all. But Apple’s continuing decision to not support Flash on their mobile devices (iPod Touch/iPhone/iPad) tells you something’s up. And websites like this one (hat tip: Andy Clark), that use nary a lick of Flash, didn’t used to be possible, even as recently as a year or so ago.

The entire nature of web design is in flux, as it has been from the beginning, we’re just entering into a whole new era at this moment. “Web 2.0″ — that awful moniker — is becoming a reality — and Flash is not a part of it.

Recycling day at RedPost

Filed under: Goshen, Green-ities, World Headquarters on Wednesday, March 10th, 2010 by eric | Comments  

Yesterday was recycling day here at RedPost, with ADEC coming to pick up our e-waste and BetterWorld Books emptying out our book recycling bin we host. ADEC picked up 7 CPUs, 12 TVs, 22 CRTs, 24 printers, 10 VCR/DVD players/stereos, 3 microwaves and a host of other electronics. BetterWorld Books collected well over 100 books from their bin. Here are some photos:

The Death of IE6, cont’d

Filed under: Web Services on Wednesday, March 10th, 2010 by eric | Comments  

A month ago, with Google’s quiet announcement of  discontinuing support for IE6 as of March 1, 2010, I wrote:

Everyone’s been waiting to dump IE6 for a long time (I’d guess about 5 years) but hasn’t quite got the nerve to do it yet; thanks to Google’s lead, by the end of the summer I predict a giant leap forward in the speed, functionality and general usefulness of many web apps. Countless, countless development hours are now freed for actual, useful tasks.

Today, I see this announcement on my bank’s online banking site (provided by third party NetTeller):

Important information regarding access to your Online Banking Account: Effective April 8, 2010, Internet Explorer 6.0 (or older) users attempting to access Online Banking will no longer be able to access their account with this browser version. Internet Explorer 6.0 (or older) users should update to the 7.0 or 8.0 version of Internet Explorer prior to April 8, 2010.

It’s happening! IE6 is dead!

Outsourcing…locally

Filed under: Best Design, Elkhart County, RedPost/Sign, Sign/Kit on Thursday, March 4th, 2010 by eric | Comments  

RedPost is now starting to sell LCD mounts designed and manufactured locally by MOR/ryde (check out their product line here), who builds several components we use, including our custom-designed Sign/Post. These are great mounts — rock solid, high quality, much better than a lot of the cheap crap coming out of China nowadays. Here’s a pic:

In low volumes, they cost us a bit more, but I’m fine with that as the money stays local and in the U.S.

Elkhart County #1 in business investment in 2009

Filed under: Elkhart County, Good Data on Thursday, March 4th, 2010 by eric | Comments  

From the IEDC release:

ATLANTA (March 4, 2010) – Elkhart, Ind. was the top destination for new corporate investment in 2009 among metropolitan areas with populations less than 200,000, according to data tracked in Conway Data Inc.’s New Plant Database.

Governor’s Cup winners are selected based on the number of new corporate location projects in each state and metropolitan area that meet at least one of three criterions: involve a capital investment of at least $1 million; create at least 50 new jobs; or add at least 20,000 square feet of new floor area.

As I said, we’ll be fine.

DSE ‘10 Gossip

Filed under: Digital Signage, Tidbits on Monday, March 1st, 2010 by eric | Comments  

A fun round-up of Digital Signage Expo 2010 gossip by Adrian Cotterill over at DailyDOOH. My favorite:

  • If there really was a USD 1,000 fine levied by the LVCC for anyone caught using an unofficial / unlicensed wireless router then there were at least a dozen brave souls that we saw using 3G/Gg wireless routers on their stands

At $750/day for network access, a $1,000 fine + 3G card is a better deal than actually paying for network access. I’ve used my Sprint 3G card for the past two years since we exhibited at DSE ‘08 and I’ve yet to pay what I would have paid for 3 days of network access. I’m just saying.

U.S. Manufacturing: Not the sink hole you think it is

Filed under: Good Data, Tidbits on Monday, March 1st, 2010 by eric | Comments  

A fascinating article over at 538:

There is a common theme across the internet: US manufacturing is dead and it’s never coming back. Well, there’s a big problem with that analysis: it’s not true. In fact, as the chart above indicates, it’s actually false. Note that since 1960, the index of industrial production has risen from a little below 30 to its current level of about 100. And note the increase is continual — meaning the number didn’t just hover around 30 for most of that time only to spike up in one big move. The index has continually risen over that entire period.

There is, however, a decline in manufacturing jobs, but this is due to greatly increased productivity, not decreased manufacturing. I love how the CW is so often wrong.

The end of the Revolution…

Filed under: Big Idea, Digital Signage on Thursday, February 25th, 2010 by eric | Comments  

…will be when, at Digital Signage Expo, all signs such as the below will actually be digital. I’m just saying, there’s nothing as simple, quick to install, and cheap as paper. Note that the arrows on these signs swivel for maximum flexibility.

The Revolution: Less BS, Part II

Filed under: Big Idea, Digital Signage, Soap Box on Thursday, February 25th, 2010 by eric | Comments  

Here at Digital Signage Expo there’s a lot of talk about revolution. You see it on banners, brochures and of course on digital signs. But for the most part, besides being a bit bigger, there’s not too much revolutionary stuff on display. Some new (largely unavailable) display technology. Some more advanced technology (more evolutionary). Some slightly less expensive digital sign hardware. But nothing too revolutionary.

Perhaps the biggest (not quite revolutionary) development of the show this year is the formation of the first potentially effective, independent, non-profit industry group, the Digital Signage Federation.

For some background, read my May post about BS. But essentially, the industry to date has consisted of a complicated web of trade shows (5 total? 6?), industry pubs/websites, sponsored white papers and an association or two that are connected to a trade show or publisher. So essentially, everything’s been “Pay to Play” — you’re a lead sponsor in the Digital Signage Association and you get prominent placement and coverage in an industry pub and win a lot of awards at trade shows, etc.

I have no problem with this system insofar as I like capitalism; however, ultimately, what it’s done is confuse customers as they can’t figure out what information sources are unbiased.

So, this is where it gets a bit complicated. The newly formed Federation is receiving seed capital from Digital Signage Expo in exchange for having DSE be the exclusive trade show of the Federation, which seems like a fair trade. It also seems like a good idea for an industry non-profit to not do a trade show, as they can tend to take over an organization’s focus.

Entere the Digital Signage Association, which, until this week, has been owned by NetWorld Alliance, which runs a bunch of websites, including DigitalSignageToday.com. Their response to the DSF?

LAS VEGAS – The Digital Signage Association announced today that its advisory board unanimously approved two initiatives:

The DSA will immediately be incorporated as a non-profit industry association, governed by an independent board of directors.

A task force has been assigned to secure proposals from professional trade show management companies to help establish a digital signage conference and trade show under the direction of the Digital Signage Association.

I’m not in the know with all the back-room stuff going on here, as in, it appears that the DSA’s action is in result to a perceived threat by the DSF/DSE combo. But clearly, starting ANOTHER trade show is not a good solution, it’ll just result in more customer confusion. And also clearly, having an independent, non-profit industry group is much better than a pay-to-play system. So at some point, ideally sooner rather than later, the DSF and DSA need to merge efforts, especially if they’re both non-profits now (we don’t need two).
But it’ll probably be awhile, as the vested interests in each are evidently not on the same page. And in the meantime we might gain another trade show. And more customer confusion.

Goodbye Hummer

Filed under: Elkhart County, Tidbits on Wednesday, February 24th, 2010 by eric | Comments  

South Bend, located beside Goshen (where RedPost is) in neighboring St. Joseph County, just got some bad news — GM is closing down the Hummer plant. That shouldn’t help our local unemployment numbers one bit (somewhere around 1,500 people work there).

It’s also marks the end of an economic era in the U.S..