Welcome to my 23rd annual Kayye’s Krystal Ball! I wonder if this will be my last … are you bored yet? To think I have been opining this column for 23 years is stunning to me. I am humbled by your loyal readership, and I continue to be amazed by how many of you read […]

During the pandemic, Zoom made a fortune. The company could do no wrong, even when it did — like in 2021 having to pay an $85 million fine to settle claims that it lied about offering end-to-end encryption and in 2020 when it accidentally used its Chinese servers to generate encryption keys. The number of […]

We’ve got to stop being so reactive. Stop giving them just what they want. “If you don’t tell them it exists, they certainly won’t buy it from you!” Our clients just aren’t that creative. LED Imaging ✅ Stage ✅ LED Lighting ✅ Loud ✅ As Gen Z continues to emerge as the most creative generation […]

Soooooo, there’s only one stop left on the 2022 E4 Experience tour — Boston on Oct. 20. As you likely know, the E4 Experience is the largest regional educational-based trade show in the ProAV, UCC and Digital Signage markets and is in its 13th year. The show, running alongside an AVIXA CTS-certified educational conference, includes […]

Coming back out of this long nightmare known as the pandemic has been painstakingly slow and that’s an understatement. We’ve had a number of starts and stops in and all over the live events market. And, attendance at every event along the way — from ISE, to NAB to InfoComm and a host of regional […]

I have been attending CEDIA Expo since 1991; I think it was the first-ever CEDIA show, in fact. It was in Dallas, Texas, and (if my memory serves me right) it was in the Dallas Market Center. It’s always been one of my favorite trade shows. It’s like the state fair of trade shows — […]

I’ve read Barco’s new survey of 1200 executives across 13 countries to find out how the office is changing and how workspaces are used — and it’s enlightening. My biggest takeaway? The business I want to be in right now is selling office furniture and the tech to support it! In my opinion, that’s exactly where AV […]

“Adapt or Die.” That was everyone’s mantra over the past two years, but it’s likely that no segment of the market adapted faster than Houses of Worship (HOW). Though generally not considered the most tech-heavy in application, HOWs took to Facebook Live faster than any other segment of the market took to any other messaging […]

Although the live events market is still around 30% of what it was pre-COVID-19, the good news is there is more than light at the end of the proverbial tunnel. Unlike last summer’s fake reopening, this one seems to be sticking. Companies like Walt Disney have canceled the mask mandates at all theme parks. Cities like New York, Chicago […]

Welcome to my 22nd annual Kayye’s Krystal Ball! I can’t believe I have written this article 22 times. I am beyond humbled by how many of you read this; last year, it was viewed by over 90,000 #AVtweeps. #LOVE ❣️ The bottom line is I love writing this article. It keeps me curious and humble. […]

When we think of digital signage, we think drive-thru menu boards, retail store signage and even wayfinding on a college campus. But, the coolest part of the signage market (and the segment that the advertising industry is accelerating) is what’s commonly referred to by techies as Projection Mapping. Of course, everyone reading this would immediately […]

In Part 1 of my “Simple Expectations of InfoComm 2021” series of blogs, I explained some of the elements of how InfoComm 2021 will be like no other InfoComm we’ve had in history — for OBVIOUS reasons. In part 2, I explained why showing only one product in your booth is critical to success at InfoComm […]

In Part 1 of my “Simple Expectations of InfoComm 2021,” series of blogs, I explained some of the elements of how InfoComm 2021 will be like no other InfoComm we’ve had in history — for OBVIOUS reasons. In Part 2, I explained why showing only one product in your booth is critical to success at InfoComm 2021. Today’s blog is all […]

Most houses of worship are only used a few hours a week. The rest of the time, the worship halls are either empty or barely visited. And, even with the accelerated concerns about COVID-19 or future viruses, the openness of the typical worship hall offers an amazing opportunity for uses that will help both future […]

In Part 1 of my “Simple Expectations of InfoComm 2021,” series of blogs, I explained some of the elements of how InfoComm 2021 will be like no other InfoComm we’ve had in history — for OBVIOUS reasons. And, my advice to exhibitors to help them maximize their ROI and reach the attendees well was simple […]

The Sony CLED has been the torchbearer for microLED’s wow factor for four years now. Everyone remembers the first time they saw it at InfoComm in the Sony booth. It was and continues to be a, “wow, that’s an amazing image” kind of thing — over and over. But, the CLED from Sony has been […]

I took my third business trip post-vaccination today and headed up to New York City for Sony’s first-ever AV Tech Expo at its 25 Madison Ave. location. I’d say it was worth the masking, walking and mouth-sweating (inside the mask). The expo was primarily focused on the new B (for high-brightness) and C (for high-contrast) […]

We’re fewer than 100 days from InfoComm 2021 week — the first InfoComm since 2019 and the first time two InfoComm shows will be in the same town two times in a row in over 20 years. I don’t think we need to review how and why we came to where we are with this […]

Hello, #AVtweeps! On June 30, I hosted this webinar with Rob Ziv, vice president of business development and strategy at Almo Pro A/V, as well as Adrian Doughty, director of North American sales at Nureva. For this webinar, we discussed how virtual mic and mic-array technologies revolutionize meeting rooms and classrooms — and this is […]

In January, as part of my 2021 predictions (dubbed Kayye’s Krystal Ball), I wrote “Epson will debut a new technology.” Well, my prediction came true today as Epson announced a hardware and software solution for enhanced lesson plans and student engagement — the BrightLink GoBoard Wireless Collaboration and Integrated Whiteboard Solution. BrightLink GoBoard will be […]

Remember way back when, when phone calls didn’t include video? I miss these days. Unbeknownst to my clients — sans the occasional siren or Harley Davidson motorcyclist, there were many, many times where I would jump on a call with them and walk, and walk and walk while strategizing. I loved it. Not only was […]

Chances are, you’ve heard of the Newline FLEX — we even covered it last year when it was first unveiled on the market. The Newline FLEX is a solution completely designed for desktop collaboration. The 27-inch monitor includes capacitive touch, full device touchback capability (with palm rejection), USB Type C connectivity (with power) and an […]

I have a half dozen LCD TVs around my house. We have at least 40 LCDs in our office. However, I’ve always wanted an OLED. But, I haven’t been willing to invest — even though I am an image snob. Honestly, I’ve been really happy with the QLED from Samsung. But, let’s be real — […]

Do not underestimate what I am about to tell you. In case you haven’t been reading the tech sections of the newspapers lately, there’s a global semiconductor shortage (branded as the “chip shortage of 2021”) and, although it hasn’t affected our market yet, it will, starting in late July. So, who cares? Well, you’d better, […]

Need a creative software platform to drive your digital signage displays? Well, Fugo, formerly Pixelart, wants to be that company for you. Here’s a video explaining what Fugo is: COVID-19 has turbocharged digital signage as it’s helping everyone reopen. Things like touch-free experiences, facial recognition, proximity sensors, people counting and bridging the physical and online […]

In case you missed this integral part of LAVNCH WEEK 3.0, during a session of the all-new GARY: Unscripted segment, I got the honor of speaking with my old friend, Jabra’s Aurangzeb Khan. During this session, Aurangzeb told me some of the new things that Jabra has cooking for 2021. Catch the below video to […]

Welcome to my 21st annual Kayye’s Krystal Ball! I love writing this annual predictions article — it’s both humbling and rewarding. It requires me to stop and research anything new, evaluate the potential impact it will have and then articulate it in a way that matters to readers. If you’re a regular reader of my […]

Simply stated, mid-September 2021. Decimated by COVID-19, most that are still standing have turned to virtual events. But, in those cases, you are trading dollars for dimes. Live events will not make any sort of significant recovery in 2021, I am sad to say. I miss them as much as anyone. But until we have […]

Some of my closest #AVtweeps know that back last summer, I volunteered to be one of the 43,448 people within the global trial to get injected with the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine (aka: BNT162b2 0.3 ml). Yes, I received the actual vaccine rather than the placebo (21,720 people in the study received BNT162b2 and 21,728 received […]

2020 sucked! So, now that we got that out of the way, let’s review the top 10 AV, UCC and Digital Signage stories, according to data, in 2020! The top story of 2020 was the the acquisition of Whitlock by AVI-SPL. Marketed as a merger, this didn’t appear to be one in hindsight. Whitlock is now […]

As much as I hated writing that headline, it’s true. And, despite years of warnings that the future of the cineplex was nothing but apocalyptic, Hollywood wasn’t prepared. Let’s back-up. Back in the late ’90s, companies started building DVD servers for home theaters. The idea was that a homeowner could buy a cache of DVDs […]

THIS IS A PROMOTED POST This year has forced innovation globally. Throughout 2020, much of the creativity has appeared in problem-solving and in the interest of human interactions returning to “normal.” For example, a handful of companies are rapidly developing one of the world’s first totally synthetic vaccines to fight COVID-19. But, the innovation didn’t […]