manuellynch

Does anyone have experience in using high power variable frequency or variable speed drives to control blowers, routers, etc in large sign shops? This technology seems to be dramatically cutting electric and maintenance cost: www.payback.com and www.magnadrive.com Has anyone heard of or have you considered using this technology? This stuff is amazing. I used it in development of an electric drive train for motorcycles and air/swamp boats.

Our ISP suggested something...they said you can: A) turn off your incoming DSL/Cable/Ethernet modem for 24hours - the IP will reset itself B) change the hardware on your incoming modem to a different device (computer, another router, etc) and it will assign a new IP address....and then you can connect your old modem after some time...this assigns a new IP address to the MAC addresses of your modem. And then - when you find out who reported you - Blacklist them.

Stealing people's artwork without giving credit just got amazingly funny. http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/content...amp;c=ms&ms

Did anyone go to this - anything new from table top exhibitors?

Call their corporate office and ask for the mobile number of Jim PAtalano - he lives in So California and he can help you. He will know all the details.

And our AXLE3WG65-1 is brighter and there are 2 per foot and it cost only $6.50 per foot. It was pretty amusing the other day when a customer connected our 15VDC product to a 12VDC GE power supply and our products were still brighter. They asked what the lifetime of ours would be if we ran it at 12VDC and I didnt quite now how to answer them...maybe 300,000 hours!

Careful Marko - some people might chime in and justify that high prices for a product that isnt that bright is worth it....especially if GE loans your end customer a lot of money. But I agree - robbery is a crime in some countries...but here in LAs Vegas the Sheriff said on the radio the other day that if you get robbed they may not come to your house - they may take the report over the phone!!!! But if you "really want them to come to your robbed house...they can arrange it" So I guess if you do buy GE parts at $45/ft and get robbed that they might be able to "arrange" getting you the products.

And if the ISP they report it to happens to be national company - you are quite screwed - especially if your customers use the same domain. So they may very casually blacklist you to their ISP but it may affect a lot of your customer base. So to answer YYZ - it can simply be one (1) person. Kind of works that way in Las Vegas - if you are blacklisted as a gambler or as a dealer - you dont work in this town again - the ISP network of Casinos all work together.

I went to dinner with some people in the industry the other night and heard about something that was happening to them that also happened to our company. Their competitor reported their sending domain/IP address to a "Blacklist" and their emails were blocked from being received by quite a few customers. The same thing happened to us and we found out thru a bit of research that the company that reported us had an IP address of an LED module competitor. Just wanted to let you know that this a new and rather interesting way of people trying to stop competitors as opposed to making a better product at a better value. Just a heads up.

I just heard that several people left GE including the LED Sign sales guy. Does anyone know if Jim Patalano is still with them? I havent heard from him in forever.

One week before 9/11 I had a meeting with a banker in one of the towers. I still have my ID card I was issued by security to go up the towers. What happened was really odd. I worried about the guy I met with because his office was high up. I saw him 3 months later - almost everyone in his company had passed. Here is to memories

Simple rule I have taken throughout my career - figure what your company does well first and why they get the business they do and how...I suspect Erik business is less on price on more on design and quality. Once you understand how the business has come in - just do more of what has worked...and then add a little bit of you to the equation.

Happy Birthday week Erik With all the toys and with the prospect of you or her watching it sounds very intriguing. And "half way done" - I would say..."almost done"...come 40 you dont have too many other birthdays...unless Kgirl is proposing more interesting possibilities....then I would celebrate 1/2 years as well.

and they use school teachers to buy competitor products

I was in Lake Tahoe recently and there was a Ferrari meet and greet - about 50 Ferrari owners from around the country had their cars trucked in and delivered to Lake Tahoe so they could begin a week long driving tour. We saw them a few days later on the coast in California - it was a site...or it was a definite sound you cant forget.

I agree with YYZ - they seem to be the two names that pop up all the time due to sign supply distributors pushing those two products. USLED performance would be almost amusing in your test and GE's would just show how having a big name costs people a lot more.

Now that is pretty accurate. Shouldnt it be more prestigious as a sign company to do high end and high quality Ferrari signs vs a lot of signs for low cost Walmart? I met a sign company once that just focused on high end brands - they did very well - sign making was indeed an art.

And it takes longer to get customers, vendors, and spouses even longer to get them the way you want them...

Large customers come to town to visit us all the time...we are always puzzled...what do they want. Can those of you that travel here answer a quick poll...we need some help.

How many of you have used these halogen based products from BK Lighting for front lighting applications? http://www.bklighting.com/products_category.php?ID=185 We have developed a set of MR16 and BiPin GU10 drop in LED replacements for the halogen lamps and wanted to get an idea how many sign companies are using this type of front lighting product.

Not this year - but next? Maybe Marko - we could have fun. The art is pretty interesting and amazing - this place is in the middle of nowhere with no services (plumbing, water, electricity). The rampant drug/sex scene is a little bit of a time gone by...and when you see a couple having sex on the barren flat sand in the middle of the day as people bike by and a kid on a Big Wheel circles them...ok. A lot of kids when I was there. Perhaps the best experience was standing in the center of this massive camp and looking at an art piece and the man next to me dressed in drag seemed familiar. Hell...it was George Mueller, the ex CEO of Color Kinetics. It was odd to meet up in the middle of this...and soon after they sold their company to Philips.

Do the Google concept and have all the artist on this board submit you artwork for the top - get some creativity going.

EL has a very short life compared to neon. EL also operates at voltages (I believe it is 80V) above Class 2 levels so it isnt that safe in wet environments. Usually used for short life display applications. EL was the first light source used on PDAs, then CCFL, and now LEDs. The stuff is very popular at Burning Man.

The logon issue is the same thing I told you about before - the one on the bottom works - the one on the top doesnt. On another board like this it has the same problem.

Would suggest a smaller (shorter) graphic at the top of the page so you dont have to scroll so much...just a suggestion.