Why So Few Posts – I’m Seriously On The Road

October 28, 2024 by Dave Haynes

If you are wondering why the volume of posts have slowed to a trickle the last week or so, it’s because I am on an epic planes, trains and traffic research trip, and am typing this from my hotel room in Taipei at 6 in the morning.

I’m not a good travel sleeper – planes or hotels – so I’ve been up for a while and thinking about what I am putting together for a special report on the state and future of display tech as it relates to digital signage and pro AV.

That will come out in January, before ISE.

Last week it was Southern California, with a bunch of meetings and hours and hours staring at the back of Teslas as I crawled along the 110, 405 or wherever Google Maps told me to go that MIGHT be a hair faster. Dear God the traffic!

But I had great meetings with a bunch of companies. I got a lot more of the back story on Ventana premium LED tiles, had lunch with Alan Kaufman of DynaScan Technology at an old school restaurant just off Rodeo Drive, which the gaudy, look-at-me shopper crowd on that lux retail strip didn’t seem to know about, and an-in person look at Proto Hologram way the hell up in Van Nuys.

It was worth the drive up, but I now know to look at maps and estimated drive times before I arrange meetings. Three hours to get back to my hotel!!!

Earlier in week, I got filled in on the custom operations of Peerless-AV, met the agency/media company StandardVision up in Glendale, and had a reliably great meet-up with Jim Nista, who took me to a serene oceanside bar in Palos Verdes.

Then I did 14 hours to Taipei from LA. I thought flying from the west coast would cut a few hours off that flight, but nope. Not how commercial air routes work.

Taipei makes LA traffic seem like traffic in Hubbards, Nova Scotia, but at least here somebody else was driving. Plus there is excellent high-speed rail and the subway system is awesome.

Sunday I walked and walked and walked and never did find the soup dumplings place I was looking for (yes, I know about Din Tai Fung, but the line-ups were ghastly!) I eventually found a place that looked OK and had … something. But it was tasty!

George Pappas, CEO of i5LED (which makes guess what), is over here all the time, and he offered to be my wing man this week (as he did years ago when I did a first research trip to wrap my empty head around LED tech).

Monday, we had a lengthy tour and discussion with AUO, one of the biggest white label display manufacturers in the solar system. We talked a LOT about microLED, and I saw some interesting prototypes like a transparent microLED overlaying an LCD. The idea is it could be used for things like gaming machines, which attract people with bling. I think the kids call that sort of thing extended reality.

They ordered in. Great lunch. And only head office I have been in that has its own convenience store, and a nice Starbucks.

We then went pretty much across the street in sprawling Hsinchu for an animated chat with E Ink about where it is going in digital signage. I wondered if it is a sideline thing for a company that knocks out millions of e-reader and ESL modules, and they said very clearly signage is a major market and focus because of their support now for color and the many, many, many millions of replaceable paper posters out there.

We finished off with a company called Raffar, which does integrated circuit drivers for displays … and I mostly didn’t know what the heck they were going on about. George’s meeting. But we went for dinner and I was pleased as hell to see it was a microbrewery and had English language menus. Taiwan is a foodie paradise, but I’m not overly adventurous.

High speed rail from that station at top got us back to Taipei FAST!

Today, back to Hsinchu and three more meetings about … I’m not sure. i5LED arranged these. They all relate to LED, though!

Back at world HQ next week.