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Downsizing the Dream
Yesterday, I sat (like several others on my staff) waiting for Apple’s usual “insanely great” announcement of their latest “breathtaking” portable technology – the iPad. Let me first explain that I’m...
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Don’t Cross the Streams
In the movie “Ghostbusters, there’s a highly memorable scene where the three “heros” are called upon to remove an “obnoxious little spud” of a poltergeist from a hotel. The three, who are wearing...
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Spring Forward
Well, the spring we were all waiting for is finally here. The trees are budding, the snow (for those of us who get snow) is melting, and hopefully the rental market is thawing out a little, too. For...
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The Little Things
Well, here it is again. Time for “The Show.” InfoComm time. And, as usual for someone in the rental portion of the industry, I go off to “the Show” looking for things a little different than the rest...
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Buzzards in the AV Industry
I’m sorry – I’m writing this article on an iPad, and auto-correct changed my text to the title above when I typed in “Buzzwords”. But the example saves me the trouble of defining one of the biggest...
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The Projector’s Slow, Lingering Death
By Joel Rollins, CTS-R Sometimes, there is little difference between the needs of the rental/staging company and the mainstream AV dealer. We use the same equipment (albeit sometimes in different ways)...
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Rental and Staging Predictions for 2012
Well, it’s January, and time once again for me to exhibit the same holiday-induced lack of imagination as every other columnist, and write a predictions column. OK, OK, I’ll do it. I’m as lazy as the...
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Digging Up Jimmy Hoffa
By Joel Rollins Well, after last month’s column, I received a lot of email and even a number of telephone calls from old acquaintances. It tells you a lot about the issue that the calls accused me...
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One Teaches, Two Learn
By Joel Rollins Yesterday, I was hunting through quotes by one of my favorite authors, Robert A. Heinlein. I was looking for the exact text of his famous quote about technology sufficiently developed...
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Manual Control
I sit here after the holidays, with (as usual) a list of people that I forgot to get gifts for, but I have figured out the gift that I am going to give everyone this year. For 25 years, I have been...
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Ancient AV Aliens
By Joel Rollins I’m back from ISE in Amsterdam, and after a blizzard upon my return, I am finally having time to reflect on the experience at ISE. Because, you see, I made an amazing discovery at the...
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The More Things Change
Well, as some of you know from the blog, I am just back from the annual InfoComm Live event in Dallas. While my blog entry was written immediately following the event, largely while on a very...
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Be Careful Out There
This week, I had a talk with Scott Tiner on THE WEEK on rAVe Radio. This interview followed Scott’s column in rAVe ED [Education] about safety and the tragedy in Alabama. We talked about safety in our...
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The Jawbone of an Ass
Picture this: You’re shopping for a new car. You have a vacation road trip coming up, and you really want new wheels. Your friends have recommended that you look at a couple of cars, at a couple of...
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The Art of the Killer Demo
In last month’s Crew Call, I cataloged (from first-hand experience) the many things that we do to shoot ourselves in the foot when we demonstrate technology. Bill Sharer and I have also spent the last...
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The Moving Target
I have always had two ways of defining a professional. The first, and the one I use most often, is that a professional is someone who gets paid for their work. Admittedly, sometimes, in the audiovisual...
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2 B or not 2 B (What Makes the Next Gen Client Different)
Last month, we talked about the idea that the next generation of client will have changing standards in quality, production values and even the very nature of work and communication. I proposed that...
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On Your Marx
Over the last two issues, we’ve talked about the emerging generation of executive clients, and how the attitudes and expectations of that generation will change the way they make business decisions,...
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2014: Will We Get Any Smarter?
Well, another year draws to a close in the rental and staging industry. As I sit here, filling out a box of Christmas cards with comical pictures of Santa holding a MacBook Pro, I am reflecting on what...
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The Skill Set
Happy New Year, readers! Last month’s column left our hero (yours truly, since I’m writing this) promising to explore the skill set required for the successful rental and staging technician. It’s quite...
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