Where does all the time go. It seems like only three months have passed since last Christmas and we are now only two weeks away. It’s been one of those years where everybody has worked harder for less. I know that to be true of folks at Acentic, and for that I am grateful and proud. We have taken to market our Digital TV range, Panorama in DVB and IP, launched a new Laptop connectivity range of product and services, opened for business in the Middle East and India and started discussions to take Acentic further afield. All good stuff for next year and beyond.

I now need to get my mind around the Christmas presents. I received a card today with a thoughtful poem on gift suggestions.

  “To your enemy - forgiveness
  To an opponent - tolerance 
  To a friend - your heart
  To a customer - service
  To all - charity
  To every child - a good example
  To yourself - respect”

I think my girls will be expecting a bit more than ”a good example!” I’m a Christmas Eve shopper really, preferably alone. It’s a day when you put work completely behind you and savour the festive atmosphere. To all friends of Acentic, customers, partners, suppliers, staff and families…and yes, even competitors…a very Merry Christmas!

“It was the night before Xmas
When all through the hotel
There wasn’t a sound, of a sleigh, or a bell
An empty bar, no party, no drama,
The guests were in bed
Watching… Panorama”

Ha ha… have a good one!

With the onset of winter we have started to see an increase in the number of movies watched in our hotel sites. Yes, just like for the hotel restaurant the viewing of in-room movies can be impacted by the outside weather conditions! A glorious sunny day will always encourage me to take a stroll into town and find a nice restaurant and take in the local sights and culture. A wet and cold miserable evening will, on the contrary, lead me to the hotel restaurant and then to my room where I’ll sit back and enjoy a movie and, in one great hotel I have previously mentioned, a free bag of popcorn. So whilst I do encourage hoteliers to prepare for winter by investing in a quality in-room entertainment and Internet system, I would suggest they don’t forget the essentials such as heating. This evening I have precariously perched the hairdryer on the desk and left it on for 1 hour in an attempt to heat up my room. Not only is the noise deafening but I also realize that I am damaging the environment through high energy consumption which, as we are all too aware from the current Copenhagen summit, leads to global warming. That same global warming, which may temper our winters and encourage guests to take a stroll down town rather than eat in the hotel restaurant and then watch a movie.

Hi, you may think that I’m behind times but, yes, video on demand has finally hit my home in the UK. No longer do I have to trek down to the local video store in the great British drizzle…I now have a huge selection of titles provided straight to my living room. Unfortunately the releases are rather old. Our consumer PayTV operators obviously don’t have the same access to early release schedules as we do. But I am now part of the millions in the UK that watch a VoD title every week.

I walked into a hotel last week thinking about what I was going to do for the evening- have dinner in the hotel restaurant or walk into town and have dinner there. The great thing about hotels is that you get the choice just like at home really. Well, the same can be said for entertainment. Now that I have movies just one zap away (yes, not a click, a zap. W are talking about TVs not PCs) at home watching movies has become a habit and it now impacts my behaviour on the road. The other choice for me was obviously finding where the local cinema is, paying a taxi to get there and then watching a movie in a language I don’t understand. Not very appealing! So after my healthy dinner (I have to keep fit for my tennis tournaments) I went up to my room and there I was presented with multiple choices: a choice of movies but also the possibility of a free popcorn bag should I purchase a movie- now, that is better than my home experience! So please, don’t tell my wife or tennis trainer but I settled down to watch a movie that we’ll only have in our homes in 6 months time and I indulged in a bag of fantastic popcorn.

Well, James Cameron’s Avatar is arriving in Cinemas across the world on December 18th. (He’s the guy that brought us Terminator, Alien, True Lies and Titanic to name but a few). This is the biggest 3D film so far. I tried to read the synopsis but gave up…

“Since humans are unable to breath the air on Pandora, they have created genetically-bred human-Navi hybrids known as Avatars. They are living breathing bodies controlled by a human “driver” through a technology that links the drivers mind to the Avators body…!! Is it me!? I think I will need more than special glasses…

The list of 3D films is growing. Virtually all Dreamworks animations will now be in 3D, and George Lucas is remastering Star Wars in 3D. I am told that the new 3D format does not give you headaches (which is comforting). They are shot in two frames, one for the left eye and one for the right (probably lost on me as I’ve been virtually blind in my left eye from birth). The projector buffers the left and right streams and projects them in alternation…apparently. Cinemas need to install a special screen and digital projectors after which there won’t be much saving on Euro 100k, but current showings are commanding a ticket price of about double the norm.

So, it all sounds a bit far away from being mainstream and certainly a long way away from being a hotel room experience. I, however, am more looking forward to Wall street 2 which will be in hotels in mid 2010 (Filmbank). It is 20 years since Gordon Gecko was imprisoned for his actions…? and the film begins with Michael Douglas being released from the Pen to find Shia LaBeouf  (Transformers) engaged to his estranged daughter. The film rebuilds Gecko’s financial career in a mid 2008 banking environment, so full of “Hedge fund managers”, “bad banks” and “bailouts”.

I can’t wait!

While meeting with a potential customer the other day the debate went back to the subject of Internet and the television. I showed him how it worked and how yes, an Internet experience is possible on the TV. However, his jaw dropped when I told him that this was probably the most uninteresting feature for hotel guests. I referred him to my previous blogs (yes I admit not all hoteliers have the time to read my blog), and then gave him insight into how the Internet can intelligently enhance the TV viewing experience, which I remind you must be as passive as possible and therefore simple to use.  It is best if video and graphics are used as opposed to text-based user interface.  It is also best perceived if it can meet ultimate test, which is to allow the guest to multitask whilst using the Internet.

Getting the mix right between the passive TV viewing and the active Internet is going to be difficult and will require considerable thought and trials. At a recent Intel developers forum in San Francisco, Intel's digital home group leader, Eric Kim, mentioned “Keep my TV simple and easy and don't make it act like a PC.” More recently Google stated that they wanted their new Chrome operating system to be as fast as switching on the TV. Acentic is developing and trialing a number of new applications that leverage the Internet in such a way that it enriches the viewing experience as opposed to distracting from it. Taking into account usage levels, customer feedback and guest feedback, as well as studying what is happening in the consumer world, we, at Acentic hope to get the balance right and entertain guests in new ways.