The Gordian Knot

The legend goes that an oracle had prophesied that whoever undid the Gordian Knot in the palace of the Phrygians would rule all of Asia. When Alexander the Great and his armies arrived in Gordia, he faced the knot, drew his sword and cut through it. The point of the story of course is that […]

The Gordian Knot

The Joys of Cable

Some topics, when you review them every couple of years, you come to realize that the more things change, the more they stay the same. I remember all the prognostication ten years ago about cable cutters and the death of TV. Being me, I always took a more pragmatic, some might even say cynical, view. […]

The Joys of Cable

Go Big Or Go Home

One of the most crucial pieces of advice I’ve ever received was, “Don’t decide for the client how much is too much. It’s not your job to say ‘no’ on their behalf.” Put another way, don’t be afraid of overselling the job; be afraid of underselling the job. This is a separate issue entirely from […]

Go Big Or Go Home

Berra’s Law

That great sage and commentator on the human condition Yogi Berra is credited with creating this commandment-like law of technology: In theory, there’s no difference between theory and practice, but in practice, there is. Now, of course, Yogi didn’t realize or intend his statement to become one of the unwritten laws of the AV/IT universe […]

Berra’s Law

The Shortest Distance Between Two Points

Although it’s verity has long since been debunked, there’s a popular adage about how during the height of the Cold War and the Space Race, NASA spent millions developing a ballpoint pen that could write in zero gravity, while Soviet Cosmonauts just used a pencil. Regardless, the moral of the story as I’ve always applied […]

The Shortest Distance Between Two Points

The Video “Easy Button”

Several years ago, Staples developed the marketing campaign of the Easy Button. The concept was that going to Staples was as easy as pressing a single button and getting what you needed. I always thought that this should be the concept for touchpanels and control systems in our classrooms. Yet, there always seems to be […]

The Video “Easy Button”