Recipe for Rear Screen Amphiatheatre:

The Challenge: what do you do when your summer amphitheatre is so bright you cannot show slide shows till 11 pm?

In the past we simply did not do any slide shows. This summer we are doing a pilot of a rear screen approach. Here are the ingredients to our high light recipe:

1. NEC WT 600 Short Throw LCD Projector:

2. DVD Equipped Laptop

3. Radio Frequency Controlled Presentation Mouse:

One  of the challenges of PowerPoint presentations is line of site for IR remotes. A number of projectors are IR equpped, whereas Radio Frequency controlled remotes work though walls.

This was a big deal for my agency, we are attempting to solve a long standing presentation problem  through the use of rear screen projector, combined with a RF controlled mouse like the Gyration. Logitech has a RF presenter mouse, but its range is only 25 ft. So it that respect the Gyration appears to be the better solution.

4. Light Gathering Rear Projection Screen

OK, so there you have our key ingredients that result in the hardware being stowed safely out the public's way, while the presenter, waves the RF remote and advances the presentations!

I'll let you know how this configuration works in practice, after this summer's pilot test!

4:52:45 PM    

OpenBC the social software application for professionals based in Hamburg, Germany really derserves a laudation. It only started in October 2003 and already features thousands of members. It is quite similar to other services like LinkedIn, but features a much stronger openness in general. Contacts can be made one-sided and most members can be contacted directly. A simple but very helpful plus is the obligatory photo which helps to recognize people strongly. Another big plus is the recommendation on the overview page for contacts of your contacts and new members. Even the rather disturbing "network" boards which work like news boards have frequent entries now. The best besides all these features is the "liquidity". Surprisingly many members that haven't found their way to LinkedIn have found their way to OpenBC. It's amazing how active many "social nodes" actively broaden their network.

Also, most services are still free. The premium membership is nice to have, but not really needed unless you are working in sales. I’m pretty curious how the system will develop. The openness is often a blessing in the beginning and may result in a curse (spam& unrequested contacts) in the end. Maybe it turns out as a growth brake for OpenBC later on?

2:44:50 PM    

Technology Review has a nice collection of new technologies that will see their commercialization in the next decade. A bit far flung but a good read.

2:44:19 PM    

Christopher Allen on Social Network Services…

Posted Jan 11, 2004, 11:11 PM ET by Judith Meskill

Christopher Allen, founder of Alacrity Ventures, an angel capital investment firm, writes a two part series in his weblog — Evaluating Social Network Services and Followup to “Evaluating Social Network Services”……… — on the accounts he has created with Ryze, Tribe.Net, LinkedIn, and Friendster. Chris reflects, on what works and what doesn’t work for him with each of these services. He concludes his first post with a description of what he feels would be “The Perfect Social Networking Service”:

My ideal service would have the the multiple professional affiliation features of LinkedIn, but also allow me to show non-professional affilations. It would allow me to form intentional communities like Tribes.Net, but would also let me do a Wiki in addition to a message board. It would have meeting/party invite services like eVite, and blogging features like LiveJournal. It would have an endorsement system like LinkedIn integrated not only with professional endorsements, but personal endorsements as well, and you could even endorse intentional communities. It would let me better map and control my network, giving different friends different privileges. It would handle the release of my personal information like Ryse, but less clunky.

2:01:50 PM    

One  of the challenges of PowerPoint presentations is line of site for IR remotes. A number of projectors are IR equpped, whereas Radio Frequency controlled remotes work though walls.

This was a big deal for my agency, we are attempting to solve a long standing presentation problem  through the use of rear screen projector, combined with a RF controlled mouse like the Gyration. Logitech has a RF presenter mouse, but its range is only 25 ft. So it that respect the Gyration appears to be the better solution.

9:48:04 AM