Signs of the Times - March 2013 - (Page 14)
TECHNOLOGY UPDATE
Darek Johnson is ST’s Senior Technology Editor/Analyst.
Email him at darek.johnson@stmediagroup.com
By Darek Johnson
Gotcha?
“They” know your pants size.
“If you want to keep a secret, you
must also hide it from yourself.”
– George Orwell, 1984
“We boil at different degrees.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
Time.com’s “Will ‘Stalking Apps’
Be Stopped?” story (February 4),
written by Adam Cohen, outlined
how Nissan had rigged its all-electric
Leaf automobile with a GSM, cellular,
Internet connection that provided
telemetry information (location,
speed and direction) to Nissan Corp.
and possibly other websites through
an RSS feed. GSM is a cellular network that wirelessly connects to
the Internet by searching for cell
towers in one’s immediate vicinity.
Cohen said Nissan didn’t tell
Leaf buyers it was gathering the
information, or was passing it on to
third parties without their consent.
He said Leaf owners aren’t alone
– that iPhones and Android smartphones may have secretly sent
Apple and Google information on
users’ whereabouts.
Why?
Market research. If the marketing
people know where you are, they
can send online, direct-location or
interest-specific ads toward you.
Interest specific?
Sure. Knowledge of your personal
habits helps marketers choose and
display ads that present objects
Smart Inking: Increasing profits
with effective color management
Dean Derhak is the product director at
SAi (Salt Lake City). As part of his job,
Dean visits signshops and large-format
print businesses to learn what processes
they’ve employed to increase their profits.
He often asks about the shop’s ink costs per square foot
on each printer. Dean said two out of three shops admit
they don’t know. He also asks about ink waste and,
again, few shops are aware of ink costs they are losing.
He said some confess they would rather not know, lest
they discover the inconvenient truth.
Here, in a series of monthly articles, Dean will share
print-cost saving ideas with ST readers. He’ll explain
how costing effective color management and media
profiling can help signshops and large-format print
providers reduce ink costs and also keep customers
coming back.
14 SIGNS OF THE TIMES / MARCH 2013 / www.signweb.com
you’re more likely to buy.
Hammer drills for tool shoppers,
for example.
Truth is, both business and the
government know more about you
than you think. Forbes.com, in a
July 2011 MoneyBuilder column,
reported “Many of the nation’s
leading banks and card issuers,
including Wells Fargo, Citi, USAA,
Sovereign Bank and Discover, are
selling information about consumers’
shopping habits to retailers.”
A Consumer Reports (CR) article,
titled “Big Brother is Watching”
(September 2009), tells of companies
that “compile tons of personal
information on you.” It said your
personal information comprises
everything from shopping habits to
health history. Your data is available
to creditors, employers, property
owners, insurers, law-enforcement
agencies, criminals and others via
public and private databases that
collect, buy and sell such records.
CR said the information could
include your background, health
history, credit history, checking
accounts, insurance claims, purchase
Knowing helps ink costs is a effective job quotes and
your
good business practice
because it
you prepare
reduce ink usage. For example, a shop that annually
spends $35,000 on ink, but learns to save 15% of that
cost, could add more than $5,000 in additional profits.
Calculating average, square-foot ink cost through a
given period is easy. Each month, simply divide your
total ink costs into the total area you’ve printed. Be
sure the print-area figure is your actual print area,
per printer.
Most RIP software packages include a job log that
allows a shop to determine the total amount of media
used. Also, some RIPs display the per-job print area,
while others give the width and length for jobs (and
therefore require a manual calculation). Tally this for
the month to learn the overall area printed by your
business.
Other ways can determine this figure. For example,
http://www.Forbes.com
http://www.signweb.com
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Signs of the Times - March 2013
Signs of the Times - March 2013
Contents
ST Update
Smart Inking
Technology Update
Vinyl Apps
Strictly Electric
Lighting Techniques
The Moving Message
Technology Review
Technology Review
Design Matters
New Products
ADA: One Year Later
The Supergraphic Connection
ISA Sign Expo 2013 Preview
Compensability and Valuation of Billboards in Condemnation
Industry News
Advertising Index
Editorially Speaking
Signs of the Times - March 2013
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