EPR Creations LLC

Doctor’s Office Entertainment System using Apple Products

I recently had the opportunity to set up the entertainment system at a new gynecology doctor’s office in the Atlanta area. The entertainment system includes the following:

• TV in the waiting room
• Music in each of the exam rooms
• Conference room TV setup

I decided to develop a system that could be controlled from an iMac at the receptionist’s desk at the front of the office. From this iMac computer, all videos shown on the TVs and all music playing in the exam rooms will be centrally controlled. And I did this all utilizing Apple products.

Here is a full list of the items purchased for this setup:

• 55″ flat screen monitor for waiting room
• 46″ flat screen monitor for conference room
• Two Bose 3-speaker stereo systems to be connected to these flat screens
• Two Apple TV devices to connect to the two flat screen monitors
• Two Bose wave radios for the two exam rooms
• Two Apple Airport Express devices to connect to the wave radios
• One Apple 22″ iMac computer
• One Apple Time Capsule to be used as a router and automatic backup

The idea here is that all content is stored on the iMac. There are videos and music that the head surgeon wanted available to play on any of the TVs or stereos in the office. Therefore, all music and videos were added to the iMac and added to the iTunes library. From this library, videos and music can be sent to the flat screen monitors using the Apple TVs and music can be sent to the exam rooms. The same song can be played on both TVs and both wave radios so that the same music is playing simultaneously throughout the office. Fun videos like Disney & Pixar movies can also be added to quickly show in the waiting room if children are present.

The first item I installed was the Apple Time Capsule. The Time Capsule functions as a wireless internet router as well as an automatic backup device for the iMac. This is the backbone of the entire system as all Apple TVs and AirPort Express devices will connect to this wireless connection. A Time Capsule is not required, but makes connection a lot easier. Plus, the Time Capsule could also be used as a shared storage device between multiple office computers.

The second item I installed was the Apple iMac computer. I went with the base iMac model for a few reasons. First, the iMac just looks incredible and sets the tone for the office as it is one of the first things a patient will see at the receptionist’s desk. When I installed the iMac, one of the other contractors working in the space just stood there in awe looking at the computer wondering where the hard drive was. Also, the iMac is fast and has the required storage space I needed for all music and videos to be added to the computer for playback throughout the office.

Then, all TVs were mounted with the Bose stereos connected to the TVs and connected to Apple TV. Also, I installed the Bose wave radios in the exam rooms and connected those devices to the AirPort Express devices. AirPort Express allows you to do a couple of things. One, the AirPort Express can actually act as a wireless connection repeater, which will strengthen the wireless signal throughout the office. It also acts as a receptor that the iMac can connect to and dictate the songs being played on the wave radio. The AirPort Express and Bose wave radio are connected using a simple stereo cord.

Next, I opened AirPort Utility on the iMac and set up each of the AirPort Express devices. I named them so that the receptionist would know the exact room where the music was being sent. I named the Apple TVs as “Waiting Room TV” and “Conference Room TV” through the actual Apple TV setup process. I then turned on Home Sharing on the Apple TVs and the iMac so that content could be pulled right from the TV using the Apple remote (instead of pushing all content from the iMac).

The beauty of this system is that everything is integrated. The head surgeon can even bypass the iMac and use an iPhone or iPad to push videos and music to specific devices. The conference room also contains an HDMI & VGA connection so that people can plug their computers directly into the flat screen to show specific presentations or items from their computers. In most other office setups, each TV would be a separate entity and the music system would be completely different. With this solution, everything works together and can easily be controlled from one location (or many if so desired).

Top Ten Apple Predictions for 2012

I spend a lot of time on Apple products and consult a number of clients on how best to use computers & mobile devices. For this blog post, I am sharing my ten predictions I have for Apple product, marketing and service releases for 2012:

1. Apple will begin Courting the Businessperson with Renewed Effort

The incredible list of products already exist. But there is a huge gap between Apple product knowledge and use in the business world. Apple needs to begin devoting massive ad spending to court this segment of the market. This prediction isn’t as much about upcoming product launches as it is in marketing focus.

For example, I go into board rooms and meeting rooms all around the city of Atlanta. I have only seen one Apple TV in a meeting room. Every board room and meeting room should have an Apple TV hooked up to the projector or flat screen. It’s just $100 and it allows any person with an iPad to show a presentation through a WiFi connection. I hear that Turner Broadcasting is installing Apple TVs in all of their meeting rooms. Other companies should do the same. Think of the savings in time from not having to have different presenters plug their computers into a projector.

2. Apple TV will be Renamed

The Apple TV device has expanded beyond its name to the point that “Apple TV” actually confuses people. Is it a TV? Is it a bird? Is it a plane? And plus, the rumor is that Apple is actually going to release a TV this year, as in an actual flat screen TV.

3. AirPlay will be extended to All Devices and All Programs

Right now, I can mirror my iPad screen onto a flat screen through Apple TV. But I can’t do that with my iPhone or MacBook computer. What if I could show a presentation on my MacBook without having to get up from my seat and plug in my computer to a monitor? What if every person in the room could show their spreadsheet, presentation, or document by simply clicking a few buttons? The ramifications for the board room and meeting room alone are enormous.

4. Apple will Advertise more about Inter-connectivity of Devices

This is another marketing prediction. Apple will (or should) use advertising money to show how seamlessly a MacBook can connect to an iPhone and how photos, documents, etc can be backed up automatically. As people use 2012 to simplify and connect their device use, Apple is in a prime spot to show how they can do this best.

5. Apple will purchase Dropbox

This prediction is one my brother-in-law has recommended for a few years. Apple should purchase Dropbox. iCloud is great for photos and a few other things, but it seriously lacks as a viable solution to saving any type of document in the cloud. With Dropbox, this could easily be integrated into iCloud.

6. AirPlay will be extended to include Multiple Devices that Play Different Songs

For instance, if I have TVs and Airport Expresses connected to different stereo systems in one location, the only way that I can pick and choose which device should play music is through iTunes on a computer. If there are 4 rooms, I can choose to play music in 2 of the 4 rooms. Right now, I can’t do that on an iPod touch, iPhone or iPad. I can only push music to one of the rooms. So, the prediction is that I can choose which room and further to that, I will be able to choose different songs, videos, etc for each room. Right now, I can only play one song. Sonos already has the capability to play different songs in different rooms. Apple should too.

7. Another AirPort Express device will be Released

My prediction is that a new AirPort Express device will be released that costs just $50 and allows for connecting to WiFi to print or connect to a stereo. The drop in price will occur because AirPort Express Lite will not have the router capability but will just be a receiving device.

8. The Mac Mini will Wirelessly Connect to an External Monitor

This will render an HDMI connection from the Mac Mini to an external monitor unnecessary. If the monitor has an Apple TV connected, the Mac Mini will connect automatically.

9. iPad & iPhone app developers will begin to treat these devices as tools instead of interfaces

Right now, you can play a racecar game on your iPad where the iPad becomes the steering wheel and the actual track shows on the flat screen through Apple TV. This is just the beginning. We will begin to see the iPad become the paintbrush and the flat screen TV will be the canvas. The iPad will be the keyboard and the TV or monitor will be the output. iPad Mirroring was the big thing for 2011. Separate interfaces will be the big thing for 2012.

10. The iPod Nano will add a Telephone Feature and WiFi Connection

Most people talk on their phones through a headset already. The actual iPhone device may not be required as a phone if that could be moved to the iPod Nano. Plus, it would be incredibly awesome to start up Siri and tell her to call your wife by slightly lifting up your arm and dictating to your watch. The WiFi connection will open up the device to Apps and more connectivity.

The Future of Apple AirPlay Mirroring

Have you tried the new Apple IOS feature allowing you to show your iPad screen on your flat screen tv? It is called AirPlay mirroring and it ‘mirrors’ your iPad screen with any tv containing an Apple TV connection. It’s really mind blowing. This all happens wirelessly. Think of the ramifications. You can now load anything onto an iPad and show it on a bigger screen wirelessly. Set one of these up in your office conference room and each participant can show their portion of the presentation without fumbling with a projector, wires, or power point.

Mirroring is really amazing, but the next step in this development will not be better mirroring, but rather a separation of functions. For example, developers have already created games on the iPad where you use the actual iPad as the controller and the game shows up on the big screen. In the case of a racing game, the iPad becomes your steering wheel and the big screen becomes the course. In this case, the iPad becomes the device controlling the on-screen content.

This separation of the mirroring function will quickly move from games to productivity and office applications. One place I think we will begin to see this separation is in document and spreadsheet creation tools. The iPad can become a keyboard and complete editing device while the big screen is where the actual spreadsheet will be shown. In that case, a spreadsheet would not need to be squished onto the iPad with enough room for the keyboard. The keyboard could be extended to contain additional features necessary in working on spreadsheets.

I also see this being a great feature for photo editing and image creation tools. The iPad can become a complete drawing and editing tool while the photo or canvas can be shown on the big screen.

As of now, mirroring is not available on the iPhone, but I see this as the next step with the separation function occurring soon after. Think about giving a presentation on a big screen directly from your phone!

I think the days of plugging computers into projectors is coming to an end. I see most corporate board rooms beginning to install flat screens and Apple TV devices that allow employees and visitors to give a presentation from anywhere in the room.

Use Apple TV for Your Presentations

I recently had a meeting with a client who said all school and company presentation rooms should now contain an Apple TV. Why? Because as more and more people purchase MacBooks, iPads, and iPhones, these devices can be used to wirelessly show presentation slides through the use of AirPlay. You can purchase a nice size flat screen and an Apple TV for less than most projectors.

Although Apple has recently released AirPlay, more and more apps will begin using this feature to show what is on your MacBook, iPad, or iPhone on a screen through Apple TV.

For now, it’s a little cumbersome, but you can show a PowerPoint presentation through AirPlay using your iPad or iPhone. Here are the instructions for how to do this:

• When complete with your PowerPoint presentation, choose the option to save the presentation as images.
• This will save each slide as a separate .jpg image.
• You can then upload these images to your iPad or iPhone
• You will need to join the wireless network that the Apple TV is located on.
• Photos on the iPad or iPhone are one of the items that can be used through AirPlay to show the images through AppleTV
• Once you have opened up the photos, move back and forth between the images on your iPad or iPhone and that will change the images on the screen.
• You can be sitting in the back of the room moving back and forth between the slides.

How to create a Home Entertainment System with Apple Products

Over the last few weekends, I have set up a complete entertainment system for some family friends. Being a lover of all things Apple, I attempted to use as many Apple products as possible. It is actually a not so secret desire of mine to have a sizable budget to use at my discretion at Apple and Best Buy.

In putting together the system, I was quite surprised at how much Apple has created the ability to connect multiple devices in the home. Products that used to seem disconnected now work together to create a home entertainment system you could have only dreamt about just a few years ago.

Here is a list of Apple products that were combined to make a super connected home entertainment system:

• 11′ MacBook Air
• iPad
• iPhone
• Apple TV
• 2TB Time Capsule
• Airport Express

Here’s what I did:

First of all, I connected Apple’s Time Capsule to the home Internet connection in the basement of the house. The Time Capsule serves two purposes. It is a 802.11n wireless router that works great with Apple products. It also acts as a 2TB hard drive. The Time Machine functionality can be used so that every computer in the house backs up wirelessly on the hour. No more carrying around an external hard drive and having to remember to back up your computer. This one happens automatically for the whole family.

Another great feature of the Time Capsule is its ability to connect a printer and provide printing capability to all household computers.

The next thing I did was to connect two different Airport Express devices in the house. One was connected on the main level and the other was connected in the master bedroom. In a similar fashion to the Time Capsule, the Airport Express acts as a wireless router. The beauty of the device is that it can also be utilized as a repeater of the main wireless signal. So, if your wireless signal coming from the basement is weak in the upstairs levels, the Airport Express repeats the signal to make it stronger.

You can also connect a stereo system to the Airport Express’ auxiliary output. This output can go into a stereo input. So, in the living room on the main level of the house, we connected the Airport Express to a Bose Wave Radio. In the master bedroom, we connected the Airport Express to the bedroom TV.

With these stereo connections in place, the MacBook Air, iPad, and iPhone all became portable music players that could play music on any of these two stereos. So, as long as the computer, tablet, or phone was connected to WiFi, it could send any song located on the device to the stereo system. You could be a DJ in the basement while reclining in the den.

The realization of how much things had changed hit me as I set up the mid-level stereo system. I removed a 100 disc changer from the entertainment system cabinet and told the family they could now control even more music from their phones.

After setting up the stereos, it was time to work on the TVs. I got 2 Apple TVs for this part. One was for the family room tv and the other was for the downstairs children’s entertainment room. In addition to being able to stream Netflix movies, you can now stream music, photos, and movies from the computer, iPad, iPod Touch or iPhone. And this ability only became available on the iPad, iPod touch, and iPhone with the release of IOS 4.3, and that was only released within the past few weeks.

So, we’re talking about brand new functionality here that really only came out in the last month. The family already had two flat screen tvs and I set up some nice sounds systems to the tv/Apple TV comination.

The final product was really astonishing. By using an iPad, this family could now choose which movie to watch on their TV, change the music playing in the basement, set some jazz music in the living room, and have classical music going in the master bedroom. And they could do this from any room in their house using a computer, iPad, or iPhone.

The Apple products cost around $3500 total. Then of course, tvs and stereos were needed throughout the house. But if you wanted to, you could do a similar system for less than $1000. Here’s how:

• One iPhone 3GS (currently $49)
• One Apple TV ($100)
• A surround sound receiver with 6 speakers ($350)
• 40″ Flat Screen TV ($450)
• HDMI, Taxes & Other Cables ($50)

Now, I’m making the assumption that you already have wifi set up. With these devices, you could use the iPhone as a remote or as a music player that would play music, podcasts and music through the Apple TV and through your surround sound receiver. You could even show photos and videos you took on your iPhone on your new flat screen tv.

If there is anyone else out there with a big entertainment system budget in Atlanta, let me know. I’d love to help.