Blogging Hiatus

Webpavement will no longer actively post in this blog. An occasional post may show up here and there, but we don't plan to post very frequently.

We will continue doing what we do best, developing digital signage software.

Reasoning:
When we started this blog a few years ago, there were no resources for digital signage. Now there are a large number of websites for getting your digital signage fix.

Contact us if you need some help finding good digital signage blogs or forums.

Google Newspaper Ad System

Google is testing a newspaper advertising sales system.

Advertisers can pick specific newspapers and specific sections for their ads. They would place bids on ad size, sections and days a newspaper is offering. The newspapers can then view the bids from Google and make selections. The newspapers can choose to accept as many or as few bids as they like at any time.

Sounds like a system that's worth a look for digital signage networks.

Fantasy Football Dynamic Signage

The NFL season has begun here in the United States. With the start of the football season, many fans of the game participate in fantasy football leagues. Fantasy football can be very competitive. Obtaining real-time information on games in progress is in high demand. So much in fact that ESPN offers a service targeted at this popular and growing market.

Today we learned that Yahoo and Intel will make it possible to overlay customized fantasy football data on in-home TV sets. Is there opportunity for fantasy football statistics on out-of-home TV sets? We think YES.

Source: Yahoo and Intel to pipe sports data to TV screens

EA to embed dynamic ads in video games

Interesting read on the wilingness for advertisers to embrace alternative media formats to deliver a relevant message to receptive viewers. Read it

Pay Phone Digital Signage

As many of you know, pay phone usage in the United States is suffering. With cellphone ownership increasing, the demand for pay phones has decreased to the point where operators are removing pay phones that aren't making money.

"If a pay phone isn't covering its costs, we take it out," said Jim Smith, a spokesman for Verizon, which operates more pay phones in New York than any other company. "Toward the late '90s, the wireless phenomenon really got some momentum. That really put the squeeze on the pay phones."

This begs the question:

Do pay phone locations have the infrastructure needed for digital signage?

Undoubtedly, some pay phone locations that are being removed offer great locations for digital signage. We'd like to hear your thoughts.

Arbitron Tool For Profiling Outdoor Commuters

Found a cool tool to show advertisers the connection between commuting and Out-of-Home advertising.

For most markets, you can obtain:

• Average commute time
• Travel start time
• Transportation method used
• Comparison with U.S. national averages

Check out the Arbitron Metro Commuter Profiler.

USA Today's take on Electronic Billboards

Wanted to point you to a recent USA Today article headlined Outdoor ads make high-tech comeback noting that outdoor is probably the oldest ad media.

The article discusses features such as interactivity through text messaging, website interaction with the billboards and the fact that new digital billboards can change daily, hourly or by the minute at little cost.

Outdoor LCD Panels

At last week's Infocomm in Orlando, we saw a couple new outdoor LCD products. These new outdoor display products are lower cost than LED and range in size from 37" to 82".

The following products are compatible with Webpavement's digital signage media players.

Hy Tek Tuf Panel - 37", 42", 46"
Availibility: available now

Symbicom Icon One - 32", 40", 46", 52", 57", 92"
Availibility: available in Europe

Webpavement at Infocomm 2006

Webpavement will be in Orlando next week for Infocomm. We will be exhibiting with our partners Philips Business Displays and Almo Pro A/V. Please stop by our booth #1158 to discuss digital signage networking. We'll be armed with all the equipment needed for full software demonstations - including our Sign Server web-based digital signage server.

Remember PointCast?

Not too relevant for digital signage, but thought you would find this article interesting. Check out PC World Magazine's list of The 25 Worst Tech Products of All Time.

In 1996, there was a product called PointCast that was ranked 12th worst product. PointCast looked like a cluttered digital sign, but was used by individuals on their desktop computers. It was really cool.

The product was very popular and installed by thousands of users for streaming news, sports and other information. The product was supported by advertising revenue. PointCast's bandwidth requirements clogged corporate networks and was soon banned by many businesses. PointCast last broadcast was in 2000. I bet they would be in the digital sign software business today if they were still around.

If anyone has a screenshot of this product - let us know and we'll post it here.