[madden1989]

This may seem like a strange subject for this subforum, so here goes. My company is looking to start hotelling cubes and office at our head quarters location. This means, each person needs to reserve a place to work when they are going to be in the office (great for traveling sales folks). A large concern is losing the personalization of peoples cubes and offices. One solution is to install a digital frame at each location and somehow stream content to it. I am open to ideas, but here is what I have determined so far:


-usb connection, network seems overkill

-can not write to local frame memory as people will never sit in the same place

-need to turn on and off as people dock and undock

-would be nice if it just worked and didn't require clicking something to kick it off

-can not happen at boot or log in as people sleep and wake their laptops

-will need a folder on one's laptop with photos


Now the question...how?! Is there anything out of box that does this? Google doesn't seem to think so. Thoughts about writing something in house for this? Any frames allow usb streaming?


Thanks guys!

 

[dmikester1]



Quote:
Originally Posted by madden1989 /forum/post/20788027


This may seem like a strange subject for this subforum, so here goes. My company is looking to start hotelling cubes and office at our head quarters location. This means, each person needs to reserve a place to work when they are going to be in the office (great for traveling sales folks). A large concern is losing the personalization of peoples cubes and offices. One solution is to install a digital frame at each location and somehow stream content to it. I am open to ideas, but here is what I have determined so far:


-usb connection, network seems overkill

-can not write to local frame memory as people will never sit in the same place

-need to turn on and off as people dock and undock

-would be nice if it just worked and didn't require clicking something to kick it off

-can not happen at boot or log in as people sleep and wake their laptops

-will need a folder on one's laptop with photos


Now the question...how?! Is there anything out of box that does this? Google doesn't seem to think so. Thoughts about writing something in house for this? Any frames allow usb streaming?


Thanks guys!

Man, that sounds tricky. I would think it'd almost be easier just to buy a second monitor and use special software on the PC to do it.

Mike

 

[madden1989]



Quote:
Originally Posted by dmikester1 /forum/post/20788191


Man, that sounds tricky. I would think it'd almost be easier just to buy a second monitor and use special software on the PC to do it.

Mike

Mike, we already drive two 24" screens, we can't drive three from our laptops...thanks for the reply

 

[sean_w_smith]



Quote:
Originally Posted by madden1989 /forum/post/20788027


This may seem like a strange subject for this subforum, so here goes. My company is looking to start hotelling cubes and office at our head quarters location. This means, each person needs to reserve a place to work when they are going to be in the office (great for traveling sales folks). A large concern is losing the personalization of peoples cubes and offices. One solution is to install a digital frame at each location and somehow stream content to it. I am open to ideas, but here is what I have determined so far:


-usb connection, network seems overkill

-can not write to local frame memory as people will never sit in the same place

-need to turn on and off as people dock and undock

-would be nice if it just worked and didn't require clicking something to kick it off

-can not happen at boot or log in as people sleep and wake their laptops

-will need a folder on one's laptop with photos


Now the question...how?! Is there anything out of box that does this? Google doesn't seem to think so. Thoughts about writing something in house for this? Any frames allow usb streaming?


Thanks guys!

Whats wrong with a digital frame and a USB stick.


What your asking for doesn't exist and would be expensive to delveop.


Sean

 

[madden1989]



Quote:
Originally Posted by sean_w_smith /forum/post/20788298


Whats wrong with a digital frame and a USB stick.


What your asking for doesn't exist and would be expensive to delveop.


Sean

We talked about that, we think people won't use the frame if they need to manually update, carry, install, and remove a stick...I know I know

 

[srauly]

I think the USB stick idea is probably the best one, but here's another:


- LCD monitor or TV w/HDMI input.

- Current gen (black) Apple TV.


User boots up their laptop and also starts iTunes (which, if you're not aware, can run on Windows or Mac OS). They'll need to enter their iTunes account into once (using the Apple TV remote), and then they'll be able to see their shared photos and have the monitor cycle through them.


I have a feeling there are some risks here, though. Any other audio/video content stored on their laptop which they have shared through iTunes would also be playable, and if they forget to erase the account info in the setup screen, and have left their cube (e.g., are in a meeting using their laptop on WiFi), someone could pop into that cube and scroll through their content. I suppose that's not too different than someone ruffling through their papers, though.

 

[DanPackMan]

There are photo frames available that can be pointed to a network folder. So individuals could each have a personal folder on a network drive, with instructions in each workspace how to change the folder it points to, or have an admin change it for when the space is reserved.


Thats a complicated approach and connecting such devices to a company LAN is usually not allowed. I think the only other practical choice is having folks simply carry their own USB stick or SD card with them to plug in to a simple photo frame.

 

[Suntan]

What about those Chumby things? (No idea what they do but I've seen them pop up every once in a while.)

http://www.chumby.com/


-Suntan

 

[bdoyledimou]

As a remote worker, who uses hotelling space, i would suggest you just save your time and money. It's a neat idea, but it isn't practical, and very few people would use it.. (in fact most people who use hotelling spaces just want a simple place to sit and do business..)

 

[madden1989]



Quote:
Originally Posted by DanPackMan /forum/post/20792554


There are photo frames available that can be pointed to a network folder. So individuals could each have a personal folder on a network drive, with instructions in each workspace how to change the folder it points to, or have an admin change it for when the space is reserved.


Thats a complicated approach and connecting such devices to a company LAN is usually not allowed. I think the only other practical choice is having folks simply carry their own USB stick or SD card with them to plug in to a simple photo frame.

I like the network folder idea, however that's 100 more devices on the LAN. I wonder if client software can be pointed to a share and then streamed via usb....


USB key seems like the "keep it simple stupid" solution however....

Quote:
Originally Posted by Suntan /forum/post/20794163


What about those Chumby things? (No idea what they do but I've seen them pop up every once in a while.)

http://www.chumby.com/


-Suntan

I never heard of this, will check it out...thanks

Quote:
Originally Posted by bdoyledimou /forum/post/20796380


As a remote worker, who uses hotelling space, i would suggest you just save your time and money. It's a neat idea, but it isn't practical, and very few people would use it.. (in fact most people who use hotelling spaces just want a simple place to sit and do business..)

I appreciate the honesty, and I do tend to agree with you. I'm the guy that needs to investigate it and then try to explain it to people that make three times what I do and have no technical background...wish me luck!