Collaboration is so far past being a buzzword that it’s almost become kitschy. Nearly every booth at this past summer’s InfoComm show figured out a way to entwine the word collaboration in their messaging somewhere. But collaboration is truly important. It’s at the core of how the workplace is changing to accommodate modern work styles. […]
There are, within our space-time continuum, some immutable constants. For example, we can be assured that the earth will revolve on its axis every 24 or so hours and produce a sunrise and a sunset. In the sound system world, the number of absolutes is far more constrained by reality but there is one that, […]
About a week ago, I wrote about the death of what I referred to as the “Generalist” AV firm. In case you missed it, you can read it here. As you may imagine, I received a lot of commentary on this blog through the comments, through Linked In, and through Twitter. Based on those comments, I […]
Every week, I am highlighting some of the incredible people who work for the Audio Video Industry. In this post, we are profiling Andrew Hill . Here is his brief introduction. Andrew has been working for the Audiovisual industry for about 17 years. He is currently working for AVCON, Inc., Cary, NC as an engineer. 1. […]
CEDIA Expo is the ultimate AV geekfest. Walking around CEDIA is like being an eight-year-old at Toys ‘R’ Us wishing you could have everything. But like Toys ‘R’ Us, it’s on the verge of disappearing. Let’s be honest here — the show has had flat attendance (right at 20,000, INCLUDING exhibitor personnel) for the past […]
Crystal clear audiovisual. Effective acoustics. Perfect lighting. Comfortable and functional furniture. These are the key ingredients of the experiential huddle space design that creates truly memorable experiences and makes participants eager to return and use the space again. What Is Experiential Design? Millennials are likely the group to thank for inspiring the huddle room. They […]
Last month, I wrote about how I don’t want to see another whiteboard advertised as THE solution for the classroom of the future. I stand by that, I still don’t like them, but I think I may have not been clear about one thing, the concept behind what they are trying to do makes sense. […]
If you’ve read my posts before, you’ll notice that I have rarely predicted the death of any particular technology or business model. Sure, I have my ideas on where the industry is heading or which technologies may ultimately win out in the end, but I never go so far as to say this is the […]
It’s been a year since last September and a year since I last decided to #OptOutside. While the “Opt Outside” movement started as an alternative to Black Friday, it has moved into choosing a life outdoors; my story is about a life outdoors with today’s technology. Much like last years adventure into the great wide […]
So, funny story. Or at least I think it’s funny. Also, this coincides eerily with the editorial that ran last week, “Going To Get Myself Connected.” The router in my house has been acting up, needing near daily rebooting. It occurred to me today that not only have I not updated the router’s firmware lately, […]
Those of you who know me know that I loathe most social media, especially Twitter. I feel that Twitter has done significant damage to our language, to the point that I now get email without punctuation or complete sentences. Our universities seem to have eliminated the essay in favor of the Tweet. I actually heard […]
Every business owner in every company hopes, especially when they invent or pioneer something unique, that their competition will be good. Bad competition tends to shred an industry and can lead to its eventual demise. For example, I have many friends that own AV integration firms — they love the good competition and loathe the […]
This publication has recently been using the hashtag #AVisLIFE. The first few times I saw it, I thought it was neat, if a bit nerdy. After all, my family still thinks that AV means I set the timers on VCRs and wheel televisions around campus. However, recently I began reflecting on my time in the […]
By now you should now that I’m partial to music, high resolution audio and productivity. What you may not know is how much I rely on music to guide me through my day-to-day task, at work, at home and everywhere in-between. Music can set the stage, the tone and pace to any project at hand. […]
There are quite a few conferences that focus on AV equipment. On the consumer side, there is CES, on the broadcast side there is NAB, then for residential AV there is CEDIA Expo and for commercial AV, we have InfoComm. The latest conference to focus on AV equipment, however, happened Friday, August 10th. The conference? DEFCON. […]
Lately, it seems like just about every device maker in the conferencing space is coming out with a 4K webcam or conference camera. It started in February 2017 when the Logitech BRIO 4K Pro Webcam was introduced at ISE, and since then I’ve seen announcements from Cisco, Panacast, Aver and Dolby (just to name a […]
By Viktor Petersson Screenly Over the last few years, we have seen many cases of digital signage players being hacked for fun, profit and even propaganda. Hardcore porn shown on hacked billboard in Malmö Cyberattack claims multiple airports in Vietnam Hacked digital signage displays porn in Union Station Hijacking the Outdoor Digital Billboard – By […]
At my institution, we began putting our AV systems on the network over a dozen years ago. The advantages were simply amazing. In fact, we take so many of these for granted today, we forget some of them. For example, when was the last time you thought about how amazing it is that you can […]
Last week I attended a small, regional trade show by the name of “CI Expo” in Oakland, Calif. It was one day, lasting less than eight hours, and came with a free lunch, free training and education throughout the day, and my personal favorite part of attending any size/length trade show, lots of meet and […]
Keeping with the precedents set by other innovative AV companies, AV Phenom typically releases new products around InfoComm and ISE each year. Phenom has successfully developed and released several products over the last few years including the Smart HUBby, the VoiceSaver Remote, the world’s first 4K Speakers, and most recently the ShareChair TM. It’s hard […]
Today I got to check out the new Executive Briefing Center from NEC Display Solutions (that I kept calling an Experience Center), which also doubles as NEC Display’s new offices outside of Chicago, Illinois. This space was designed from scratch, taking up two floors and 6,000 square feet. See our earlier story based on NEC’s […]
You may have noticed that magazines and other media have for some time been overflowing with content on left brain vs. right brain and a many other variations on that theme. This is NOT one of those articles. In fact, this article takes a completely different analytical path to understanding decision making and the brain […]
This past week I was in Barcelona for ISE’s announcement that the show would move there icapitaln 2021 after 14 years in Amsterdam. We were under strict non-disclosure from telling anyone we had been invited there — we hadn’t been told what the announcement was, but it certainly wasn’t hard to guess — but then […]
Good news, everyone! Roon now streams to any Chromecast device, Google Home smart speakers, Chromecast Audio and Chromecast audio receivers, as well as a ton of third party devices. Roon announced it on their blog earlier this month (07/06/18) and you can read the full announcement here. “In addition to Chromecast streaming, today’s release includes […]
Did you watch the Wimbledon tournament or any World Cup games this year? Tennis, soccer, football, skiing and beach volleyball are just a few of the many sporting events live broadcasted on televisions around the world each day. Sporting events bring fans together in households, restaurants and bars for group cheering or friendly competition, giving […]
I spend a decent amount of time in airports and I can confidently share that there are two things that can be found at every airport in the world: a “port to air travel” and audiovisual installations. Ask any member of the rAVe team, they will share that I am like a kid in a […]
InfoComm 2018 is a month behind us, and over the last few weeks, people have been writing about the trends they saw at the show. We’ve seen blogs discussing increasing end-user attendance as well as several people’s lists of their favorite products or the ones they saw to be the most innovative or disruptive. There […]
Thank you for joining us for Part 4 in our series. So far, we’ve presented: Part 1 – The Key Players in AVL Design Part 2 – The Key Tools in AVL Design Part 3 – The Key Phases in AVL Design Now, we’ll finish our series by addressing the final phase of AVL Design […]
Back in 2015, Nest put out a video on its YouTube page called “Welcome To The Thoughtful Home.” It details all the dated appliances, devices, systems and “things” we all use daily and nightly in and around our homes that are rather time consuming, and designed from another area. The video itself goes so far […]
In the soundtrack of life, music matters. As far back as I can remember, music has always been a big deal in my life. It has always provided a most excellent, or as I like to say, a “double awesome” experience in everything that I do, whether it be work, play, explore, build, create, exercise, […]
InfoComm is the largest, most exciting event in North America focused on the pro-AV industry, with 1,000 exhibitors, thousands of products, and 44,000 attendees from 110 countries. I had the pleasure of attending this year, and it was a blast! The following is a list (not in any particular order) of my favorite booths, […]
