I will start by saying I was dragged reluctantly kicking and screaming into the Twitter-verse about 5 years ago.  I had no time or inclination to tweet, post, share, pin, or instagram anything whatsoever.  Only some inside baseball on how social media affects SEO changed my mind, as I was helping launch a new division […]

Well, another round of trade shows is upon us and once again the marketing spinnerets are at work spinning nonsense into innovation and trying to capture the consumer in the web. We’ve seen it all year with the misuse of the term 4k and with the unnecessary curving of our LCD and OLED screens, and now […]

Sara Abrons recently shared a video of Human Projection Mapping done by Omote artist Nobumichi Asai.  It is an amazing display of what can be done today in AV if you are able to combine your creative skills with available technology. It has been asked repeatedly if being in the AV industry ruins the “magic” of […]

Their army has assembled On the border of the land.        Some say they want no battle But to work hand in hand. Yet there has been a small invasion Into the outer realms One which may show intentions Of what is still to come. Reminiscent of a battle At an ancient date But played out […]

I’ve gone to quite a few movies in my day.  I love films, especially some of the more thought provoking ones like Kassovitz’s Hate or Nolan’s Following. Nothing ruins a film more for me however than noticing that every time the shot goes to the kitchen there is a Pepsi can on the table or somehow […]

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away… Switch Wars   In the decades prior to the Switch Wars, the Republic was seen by many as a failing entity, plagued by corruption and mindless proprietary methodologies that led to systems plagued by inconsistent performance, especially those where the paths were not being traversed across the […]

I am amazed at how much traction my last post on 4k vs UHD stimulated.  I have had some great discussions on my arguments in the comments, on LinkedIn, and via email.  They included compliments as well as constructive criticism or some clarifications on some of the finer details.  I love that interaction with readers, especially […]

After my last piece on 4K and UHD and the infrastructure challenges we face in order to implement it in its best form, I honestly thought I’d be done with the topic for a while. After all, the most recent piece I wrote on 4K before that was in May 2013, almost a year prior. […]

After my last dissertation on 4k, I had to put up a post that was pure levity, so here goes. I had posted a couple things on Twitter that referenced AV and pop culture mixed together, and it got me thinking of how AV could create some power couples with celebrities, bands, or even other […]

There has been a lot of talk about 4k. There are actually several formats that people are describing when they use the term 4k. There is true 4k from cinema (4096 by XXXX) and then UHD-1/2160P (3840 by 2160) which is what type of displays are hitting the market. For the purposes of this blog, […]

This admittedly took me a little longer to get around to writing. Most of what I write is stream of consciousness, so it takes little time and effort to crack my brain open like an egg and spill it onto the keyboard. This post however required a little more thought, reflection, and some research, and […]

I have seen a lot of discussion about the new acquisition of AMX by Harman. Many have tried to say that because of the large consumer division of Harman, that AMX will be marginalized in the commercial space going forward. I’m quite certain that won’t be the case given that AMX has been placed in […]

I’ll start by saying I personally got a lot out of InfoComm14. I was able to connect with my company leaders and peers to discuss the vision for the rest of 2014 and to share strategies and best practices. I was able to connect with many of my AV integrator clients at the booth for […]

Alright, so it’s official. I finally lifted my 12 year boycott on getting my CTS, bit the bullet, and took the test. Then I waited in nervous anticipation for my score, and by some glitch in the system software, I passed! Given that it’s been 12 years, I felt an explanation as to why I […]

So I have to say that InfoComm14 has been much different so far than my past InfoComm shows. I came in on Sunday and reported to my booth to be assigned some set-up duties. I actually hung an interactive whiteboard and interactive short-throw projector in the booth with minimal injury to myself (a huge victory) […]

You may remember last year before InfoComm, I put out a post saying that I’d be looking for Howard Hughes on the InfoComm floor.  I defined what I meant by saying that I’d be looking for passion, innovation, and courage like that we hadn’t seen in a few years.  I even gave an AVator Award […]

I wrote another blog about Microsoft and InfoComm that asked whether Microsoft’s presence really signaled that AV/IT convergence was finally here.  The comments and Twitter discussion quickly turned to speculation about what Microsoft may actually be showing on the show floor. The consensus there was that we all expect to see Lync, Skype (perhaps with […]

Inspired by the presence of Microsoft at InfoComm 2014, AVPhenom announced today that he will debut his new startup AV control and video switching brand at InfoComm June 17th in Las Vegas.  rAVe Publications secured an exclusive interview with AVPhenom to discuss this “game changing” announcement. rAVe:  “What is your new company called and how […]

There has been much ado lately in the AV world about the appearance of Microsoft at InfoComm 2014. Most of that hype has been around the fact that they believe it means that AV/IT convergence is complete. I have my own thoughts on that subject which will be released shortly as an eBook download, but […]

We all know how delicious a 7 layer dip can be.  Salsa and beans alone are OK, but when they are combined with 5 other ingredients they become a mouth-watering extravaganza!  (Yes, I have issues with food.) Adding layers is not only a good strategy for a party dip, but also for developing engaging, interactive content.  However when […]

If you didn’t see my previous post, this is a retread of five blogs I wrote in 2011 about Sales Etiquette. I was inspired by Lee Distad’s recent blog on manners so I thought I’d share these lessons for anyone who may be able to get something out of them. Sales Etiquette I don’t know […]

I just saw a post on this site by Lee Distad on Why Good Manners Make a Difference. I liked Lee’s post as it questioned whether or not manners are going “out of style” so to speak.  I think we have come into an era where the entitlement attitude of the celebration generation may very […]

I awoke Friday morning to promptly receive an email from Chief’s own Joel Hagen.  Joel emailed me a link to Scott Tiner‘s post of that day entitled “Over Here! Over Here!” in which he in essence called out his local manufacturer’s reps for ignoring him even though he specifies and even installs much of the […]

I wrote a blog a couple weeks ago about Why I like InfoComm’s New APEx Program.  The blog brought attention to the fact that the new program will include client surveys that must be positively completed each year for an integrator to remain in good standing in the program.  That is an idea I have […]

Last week I was at NAB for the first time and to be honest I never knew the show had gotten that big.  Every hall was full.  I happened to be in the hall that had a lot of post-production and video equipment, as well as screens and media servers, etc. One of my colleagues […]

I actually heard about InfoComm’s new APEx program about three weeks before InfoComm announced it formally. I attended an InfoComm roundtable event in Irvine, Calif. where Duffy Wilbert , SVP of member services, described how the organization intended to raise the bar on customer experience and thought leadership. Duffy related that InfoComm had come to […]

In a true move of AV/IT convergence, Google has acquired AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc for $8.6 Billion Dollars. Google has been matching Apple point for point with their mobile OS Android, the Google Play Store, ChromeCast, Nest and Google Nexus tablets. It seems they are now trying to round out the content and media creation ends […]

I have to be reading a book of some type constantly.  Sometimes, when I don’t have a new one, I pick up an older one and revisit it.  I did that this week with a book by Dan Arielly called “Predictably Irrational“.  As it is subtitled, the book talks about “The Hidden Forces That Shape […]

I saw Sara’s story on Epson’s 39% marketshare as well as listened to Gary’s almost daily Rants and Raves episode on the subject and felt uniquely qualified to make a couple comments on the subject given some recent experiences. I have had the opportunity to do a couple events with Epson in both Portland and San […]

As is often times the case, I saw some social media and blogging that inspired me to chime in with this post.  I saw a video where a fellow AVTweep stood up and made the statement that “We are custom AV integrators, and we’re proud of what our systems are able to do for our clients’ […]

I have been following a series of posts by Matt Cooper of rAVe called Gaming the AV Industry.  I have read each post so far, and have commented on a couple of them in the past, (in fact Matt asked me to comment on one of them, knowing I may take exception to some of […]

I was at an InfoComm Roundtable the other day here in Irvine CA.  The keynote speaker was a man named James Feldman and his company and theme of his talk is “Shift Happens“. By all standards he was very engaging.  His goal was to help integrators re-evaluate their strategic plans to brave this new world […]