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CRE Rentals – Tech Product Update, Part 2 of 2

November 5th, 2009

Part 1 of this two-part update appeared Tuesday, November 3rd.

As we discussed in Part 1, the pace of technological advancement is positively dizzying. How can anyone possibly keep up on all of this? Well, the folks that do—like the folks at Web sites from AnandTech to ZDNet (yes, A to Z)—pore over every announcement from thousands of manufacturers, then summarize their findings by category. That way, another “layer” of editors and helpers, like CRE, can get the info we need to keep the users of our desktop rentals and our interactive kiosks updated on just the “tech they need to know.” Without further ado, here’s more news from the leading edge of technology.

HD video in the pocket

JVC GC-FM1 Picsio JVC’s latest pocket camcorder, the GC-FM1 Picsio, has four video and camera modes. You can record 1440 x 1080p video at 30fps (that’s HD, folks) and take 3264 x 2448 still images. Video is saved in MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 format to SD/SDHC memory cards up to 32 GB in size. Image stabilization minimizes camera shake even when using the 4X digital zoom, and high-end features include CMOS sensor and HDMI connectivity (currently the top digital transfer standard). In the hands of the kinds of pros that CRE knows, the video is good enough to import to Final Cut Pro for editing with a CRE G5 with Kona Card rental. Smaller can be better, too.

New LCD monitor

Acer Corporation has a new LCD monitor, the S243HL. The company claims this latest model is the first to have a contrast ratio of 8,000,000:1, with full HD resolution of 1920×1080. The slimmest 24-inch widescreen display on the market, it is under 15 millimeters thick, has an integrated speaker and offers energy-saving, white LED backlight. CRE has great LCD monitor rentals already, and is committed to the technology for its environmentally friendly ways. Compared to traditional monitors, says Acer, the S243HL can reduce power consumption up to 63%.

Wearable display

In the “wearable monitor” market, Vizix is set to release its latest video eyewear, the Wrap 310. The new unit features a widescreen display with 428×240 screen resolution, equivalent to viewing a 55-inch screen from about 10 feet away, and runs six hours on two AA batteries. Some of the professionals currently using CRE plasma rentals and other big-screen displays for exacting, detailed work in video, post-production and design work may want to keep an eye (or both eyes) on this developing monitor technology. Even today, this unit supports every 3D video format and connects to portable DVD players, desktop computers, laptops, Blu-ray players, iPhones and iPods. Companies like Vizix claim that, within several years, most highly magnified, detailed visual editing will be done on these kinds of wearable displays.

Need answers for your own technological challenges? Contact one of our experienced Account Executives—by phone or e-mail from our Contact Page—or fill out our Quick Rental Quote for a swift reply. We’re here to answer questions, offer solutions and reduce your crunch-time stress, and we’re good at it. Let us know how we can help you today.

November Trade Shows Focus on Gaming, Auto, Hospitality

October 6th, 2009

HD Expo 2009

The Hospitality Design Exposition for this year is right around the corner. HD Expo 2009 will run November 4th and 5th at the Burbank (California) Marriott, providing a matchless annual resource for the newest products and services. Most important for attendees, it puts them in touch with the global hospitality design community. HD Expo 2009 will feature over 1,200 exhibitors, the manufacturers and artisans behind the hottest hospitality products and services. Informative and innovative sessions on hospitality design will cover the latest and most important issues facing the industry.

With some 11,000 attendees, 2009 HD Expo is the best way to establish your firm and reach the design professionals that dominate the industry. You will also connect with established buyers and sellers in the industry, so making your booth stand out with a special convention rentals package from CRE is a smart move. Raise awareness, expand your marketing reach and promote your product—with CRE’s help.

SEMA Show 2009

SEMA (Specialty Equipment Market Association) will take over the Las Vegas Convention Center November 3rd to November 6th. The SEMA 2009 Show is the premier automotive specialty products trade event in the world, drawing an international attendance that needs to stay abreast of the ever changing opportunities in the automotive, truck, RV and SUV markets and aftermarkets. The show offers attendees product demonstrations, educational seminars, special events and important networking opportunities.

Staying in touch with your marketing team at the SEMA Show has never been easier, thanks to tablet PC rentals from CRE. With a pen-driven, touch-screen interface, WiFi and a full complement of efficient software, you can manage staff and notes at the same time. If you want to show booth visitors sell-sheets, animated logos or new TV commercial, an interactive kiosk or SEMA plasma rental (including the magnificent 61″ NEC) provides an excellent way to do so. We’ve created a lot of great, custom rental packages for SEMA conferences, and can take care of you, too.

Global Gaming Expo (G2E)

The Global Gaming Expo 2009 (G2E) is set for a four-day run, also at the Las Vegas Convention Center, from November 16th to the 19th. G2E is the world’s largest, most comprehensive exhibit and conference for the gaming industry. The 100+ presentations and educational seminars are developed by leaders in the industry to educate attendees in the latest technologies, emergent management practices, amenities and marketing. G2E helps gaming professionals succeed in today’s volatile marketplace.

The exhibitor list is a long one, and many of them will be ready with kiosk rentals, monitors and other helpful technology. If you deal in products and services that serve any of the many aspects of the gaming, hospitality and entertainment industries—such as video gaming, cashless systems, game design, customized and electronic games, furniture, etc.—then you know you’re going to be there. You should also know that when you need a LCD monitor rental, CRE Rentals is ready to help.

In fact, we are ready to help you at a conference or a trade show—or help you put on your own—with powerful projectors and portable screens plus everything else you could possibly need. CRE is also your source for special processing tools, like the new Mac Pro rental powerhouse, powerful PC desktops and a full range of special video editing workstations. Whatever you need, our expert and efficient Account Executives can get you set up quickly and cost-effectively. Fill out the online Quick Rental Quote form, give us a call or send an e-mail, and you’re one huge step closer to having everything 100% covered.

Technology Rentals Keep You Ahead Of The Curve

September 29th, 2009

New high-technology tools are expensive when they first come out. This used to mean that only deep-pocket Fortune 500 firms were early adopters. However, with the rise of high-tech rentals, the latest and greatest developments are available to all companies.

Full-service firms like CRE don’t just “do” computer rentals, and don’t simply add more and more items to a rental list. CRE is also an experienced event management firm, tying its expertise in computers and audiovisual gear to the real-world needs of companies displaying at trade shows and conferences.

Cutting-edge equipment

At one time the tablet PC was a “new and improved” item, a flat, portable computer with WiFi connectivity and a touch-screen interface.CRE has been providing tablet PC rentals for some time, as they are very handy for running presentations, taking notes and staying in touch with “the team” in cavernous convention centers.

For audiovisual rentals, there are various types of gear to choose from to help you present to five or 500 people while exhibiting at a trade show or presenting in a meeting room. Why not rent, in quantity, plasma displays to create a video wall for your firm’s trade show booth? The effect is absolute stunning and will stop people in their tracks—coincidentally, right in front of your booth.

To capture some of the people who won’t make it to your booth, you can rent an interactive kiosk that will be your “digital stand-in.” You can position it strategically at the convention to make product presentations and request customer contact information. A kiosk is a tireless assistant for your marketing efforts.

Factors to consider when renting

There are a number of considerations if you are thinking about a high-tech rental.

Know the need, peg the cost

Computers with more advanced abilities (faster CPUs more RAM, etc.) will always cost a bit more to rent. Make sure you know what computer you need. If you are going to be doing high-end graphics work, you are talking about a muscular Mac Pro tower like CRE rents. Do not try to do video editing on a five-year old home PC.

Time, effort and quantities

Video walls are more costly to set up since you need multiple monitors and the installation takes time and expertise. Similarly, you may need to rent multiple laptop computers for large training sessions. You can often work out a discount if this is an ongoing need.

Timing and availability

As with quantities, the length of time that you have an equipment rental will affect the cost. Also, commonly available devices like monitors will be less costly than high-end X Serve or X Serve RAID rentals. Try to be ahead of your own curve to keep costs in line.

The where and when

Getting your rentals delivered and set up at convention centers will generally cost more than having them delivered to your business address. This increased cost is partially due to convention center drayage fees, logistics, additional labor, etc.

For large projects or small, CRE has what you need to get the job done. Contact our Account Executives by phone or e-mail, or use the Quick Rental Quote form to get an answer in a jiffy. Whatever it is you need to do, CRE is here to help you do it—efficiently, cost-effectively and with the finest technology available.

October Conferences from Audio Engineering to Oracle Open World

September 22nd, 2009

For over 60 years, Audio Engineering Society (AES), founded in 1948 by a group of forward-looking audio engineers, has been the major force promoting the discovery, analysis and distribution of technical information for the recording industry. This year’s conference—AES New York 2009, to be held Oct. 9-12 at NY’s Javits Center—is the 127th AES convention and, as always, is the most important annual gathering of audio professionals in the world.

Audio Engineering Society (AES) Trade Show

The landmark event is expected to bring attendees and presenters from more that 100 countries together for a full schedule of seminars, workshops and exhibitions. Many exhibitors of hardware, software, instruments and equipment will demo their products on the Apple Mac Pro computers that CRE rents. They can also display their wares on AES plasma rentals or bright, clear LCD monitors, while others will opt for standalone kiosks to capture attendee information and present their product lines. You can do one or all of these things with CRE’s help.

The show offers participants a unique opportunity for forming new, innovative business partnerships. Journalists as well as corporate sales and marketing personnel can use wireless tablet PC rentals to stay in touch, take important notes and get up-to-the-minute information over WiFi. In a departure from previous years, top recording artists will broaden the view from engineering to a musical-and-technical take on such recording processes as choosing studios and producers, nurturing creative relationships, and using Macinstosh and PC computer rentals for audio recording.

The Platinum Mastering panel will focus entirely on the cataloging, repair and preservation of landmark recordings. Other Platinum Panels will share new insights, behind-the-scenes stories and audio clips from classic sessions on such historic albums as Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the USA,” Paul Simon’s “Graceland,” and Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.” A MicroTrack Digital Recorder from CRE could come in very hand to capture all of the information being dispensed at this amazing conference. Of course, all the things you need to make a good impression as a presenter or exhibitor—projector rentals, displays, PCs—are available from CRE.

Oracle OpenWorld 2009

From October 11th to the 15th, Oracle OpenWorld 2009 will feature over 1800 sessions, 400+ partner exhibits and keynote addresses from global technology leaders at San Francisco’s Moscone Center. Hands-on labs, special networking events and other interactive opportunities give the many OpenWorld attendees and exhibitors a chance to meet new people and old friends, field questions and hear comments.

If you are making a presentation at this important event, you can survey your audience responses and get crucial data with an audience response system rental. Well-prepared exhibitors and presenters will gain tremendous advantages by considering the entire event an “adjunct marketing opportunity,” and the information you can collect from the top global professionals in networking will prove extremely valuable in all facets of your business.

Although Oracle will not hold onsite testing or the popular “exam cram” this time around, the OCP lounge will fill in some of those gaps. With a MacBook or MacBook Pro rental from CRE, recording these sessions will be a snap with the built-in microphone and iSight camera. Oracle will also put on two certification-related Power Sessions for all those interested in pursuing Oracle certificates, at any level.

Members of the Oracle Certification team will attend OpenWorld this year. Their stated intent, per Oracle’s PR materials, is to mingle in the OCP Lounge with the people that they “communicate with throughout the year” by phone, fax and e-mail. This presents smart exhibitors the opportunity to do some effective, one-on-one interaction. Whatever you need for OpenWorld, from laptops to plasma displays, CRE will help you make just the right impression.

Get the right help with ComputerRentals.com

CRE’s own professionals, the well-trained Customer Service Representatives and Account Executives alike, can help you get whatever you need to outfit your booth(s) at one or both of these events. Fill out a Quick Rental Quote and get an even quicker answer, right now!

Tele-Immersion: Videoconferencing on Holographic Steroids

August 6th, 2009

Let’s take an imaginary look at the office of the future, perhaps even the near future. Forget picking up a phone. You will simply tell your computer, “Phone home,” and one of your office walls will flicker to life when your spouse, child or genetically engineered SmartDog answers. On their end they will enjoy the same, totally immersive experience. That’s “tele-immersion,” a Brave New World-ish technology that can bring two or more distant locations into one simulated setting. It could put a big dent in business travel, no question about it.

Even today, you can rent a nice plasma display from CRE, add some software to a sufficiently powerful computer, hook up your webcam and have a pretty impressive videoconference. Tele-immersion, however, is a new kind of communication that goes way beyond videoconferencing. If you’ve used a webcam for a videoconference then you know that it is far from a perfect form of communication, with hardware limitations, software glitches and network delays that can create “jerky” video. In addition, walking out of view of your single camera will cause you to disappear from the other person’s view.

In a tele-immersion scenario, not only can’t you disappear from view (unless you leave the room), the person you are speaking with can look around your office simply by viewing their display screen from various angles. It’s pretty much like looking through a window. The most advanced holographic environments will require computers many thousands of times faster and more powerful than even the Mac Pro “personal supercomputer” that CRE rents. This is why today’s systems are hugely expensive, build-to-order propositions, or installed at tele-immersive “studios” where you would book time for holding your teleconference.

Videoconferencing of the Future

Yet there are working systems online today. Cisco’s “On-Stage” TelePresence Experience captures holographic meetings for broadcast over IPTV (Internet Protocol TeleVision), so TVs or PCs with wireless or wired broadband connections can join in. Cisco says there are over 150 rooms, in almost 30 countries, now capable of high-definition videoconferencing. Today’s computer/Internet kiosks, like the Friendlyway Interactive rental available from CRE, will quite likely evolve into service platforms where customers can interact with real people, in real time.

Perhaps five years from now, telepresence will no longer be restricted to special locations or costly devices. Cisco engineers and tech pundits alike are predicting that homes, offices and hotels will be on the holographic conferencing bandwagon—they just can’t say exactly when. Another firm, however, thinks it is onto a better way already. DVE (Digital Video Enterprises) has designed its Tele-Immersive Room with industry standards that allow other, older videoconferencing systems to participate in the “DVE experience.”

DVE is assisting Christie Digital Systems with the integration of its technology into Christie’s Mirage HD3 units, among the most impressive projectors in the world. The Mirage HD3 leverages 1080p DLP (Digital Light Processing) technology to deliver an incredible 120 frames per second of lifelike, high-definition, flicker-free, active stereo imagery.

Before following the usual technology “trickle down” route to the enterprise level, 3D holographic teleconferencing will likely be used at large conventions, media events and conferences. After that—again, no one knows when or cares to predict with any specificity—the tele-immersive experience will come to the average person’s office or home. Your friends could walk into your living room, virtually speaking, and talk to you the same way that Princess Leia did with Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars. The possibilities of this futuristically realistic technology are limited only by the imagination, and there seems to be plenty of that still left in the world judging by what Cisco, DVE and others are doing.

A Kiosk For All Seasons—And Reasons

June 30th, 2009

A kiosk is a fully self-contained audio/visual display system built around a small-format, Intel-based PC. Integrated into a housing unit with a regular or touch-screen monitor, a sturdy, enterprise-grade keyboard and pointing device are usually the only other controls needed. A sleek, attractive design fits in anywhere, and you can customize the look and feel of the graphics to carry your company name, logo and other branding components.

If you manage trade shows, conventions or company conferences then you already know about all the things you need to take with you, configure and set up, things that are vital to success. Desktops and laptops, tablet PCs and projectors, marketing materials and product samples—some or all of these things are crucial to the success of your convention or trade show. Another important component, of course, is a kiosk. Some strategic planning will help you determine which of these items you want to take, and which you would prefer to have show up where and when you need them, correctly configured by expert technicians and guaranteed to work.

One of many great tools

Experienced convention planners and event organizers know that CRE is the leading source for Friendlyway kiosk rentals—sleek, attractive, functional and interactive gear that can run custom applications—for trade shows, conventions and promotional events. It is also the source for the laptop rentals, computer rentals, projectors and other tools you need for a successful effort.

Your kiosk rental can be deployed for a wide range of functions, from simple Internet stations, automated visitor greeters and registration terminals to signposts, marketing communications outlets and productivity devices. They can be used at all kinds of events, too, not just annual conferences or public tradeshows. Businesses small and large have found them to be invaluable at stockholder meetings, company seminars, interdepartmental meetings, executive sessions and training programs, as well.

Customized capabilities

If you want to start some marketing buzz for a new product rollout, a short- or long-term kiosk rental can help get that viral marketing message moving. Installations in shopping malls, airports or busy business centers can position your message among people on the move, ones whose attention you can grab with a smart kiosk presentation. That’s why your CRE kiosk rental is tailored to your precise needs, custom-configured to deliver the right message to the right people in the right place. You can easily have one or more set up as sales points, lead-generating devices, courtesy Internet access, interactive PowerPoint presentations or any combination of the foregoing.

Whatever the critical time of year is for your business—fall fashion season, the winter holidays, spring break, summer vacation or all of the above—CRE is ready to set up the right kiosk system for you. Since the kiosk’s system is PC- and browser-based, you can use all the various media/communications formats including Quicktime, HTML, DVD, video, PowerPoint, Newsticker and RSS (Real Simple Syndication), while supplying WiFi connectivity, as well. With new tools coming out all the time for making your own news ticker, the sky’s the limit.

Our kiosks’ powerful graphics abilities enable you to use dynamic, high-resolution color images for dramatic presentations that support clear, solid audio, too. Naturally, all cabling and connections are neatly out of sight, making for a handsome device. CRE technicians can configure your kiosk rental to your precise specifications so that it is ready to plug and play when you are. Contact one of our professionals today and discover the many ways CRE can help you present (and obtain) important information with a computer kiosk.

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