Latest headlines: Gary Kayye’s top AV news stories of 2019, Pete Coman’s thoughts on media day at CES 2020, plus news from Metra Home Theater Group, Samsung, Martin Audio, LG, Stealth Acoustics and more
January 15, 2020 | Volume: 17 | Issue: 1
Somehow — we’re already halfway through January, but Happy New Year! I hope that you’ve all had fantastic holidays if you celebrate and that you’re ready to start 2020 off with a bang because we are!
You already know we’re getting ready for ISE next month, but did you know we go to other shows, too? CES, for instance? Since it’s crucial for us to stay one jump ahead, we sent Pete Coman, aka TECMAN, to the show. He gave us the lowdown on all the newest products. You can read his column here.
We have a few other columns for you to read today, including Gary Kayye’s top AV news stories of 2019 and Lee Distad’s home cell booster install. In other news, the Samsung Sero is coming to U.S. markets (finally!), and Savant partnered with USAI Lighting to make a daylight mode for its products.
2019 was like no other year I can recall. While the AV-economy experienced explosive growth, at the same time, a few big brands nearly disappeared, namely InFocus and Polycom. How can the Kleenex of projectors, InFocus, literally divest themselves of projectors? Well, it happened and, that happened to be our biggest story of 2019.
A consequence of this being a brand new neighborhood is that the cellphone reception is terrible, almost nonexistent. There are two reasons: The first is that the nearest tower our carrier TELUS has is quite far away, northwest of our location. The other is that because of all the new development south of that cell tower, the total load on it from the mobile devices of all the people living in his area are too much for it. The result is a weak signal and lots of dropped calls.
Those who follow know me to be a supporter of diversity in an industry which remains too white, too male, too old – and I say that as a white male rapidly approaching the half-century mark. What frustrates me about the discourse? Too much of it focuses on why we need diversity. On how diverse workforces are more productive. On how they are more creative. And yes, on how there is a moral imperative to treat everyone equitably regardless of gender, race, religion, national origin, gender identity, sexual orientation or any other aspect of one's personal identity. We know that diversity at the highest levels provides an example and an aspiration, and tells everyone entering the field that someone like them can accomplish anything. We all know this.
