Big Day for HomeAV Stuff — Did You Even Notice?

There are two stories that caught my eye today, and both have implications in the HomeAV market. The first: Biscotti 2.0 Biscotti Inc., the company that created the Biscotti TV Camera, released new MyBiscotti Cloud Services, making the product much more than just a home-based videoconferencing system. Biscotti’s MyBiscotti Cloud Service is aimed at extending the smart TV cam experience, transforming […]

Big Day for HomeAV Stuff — Did You Even Notice?

Choose Your rAVe Radio (And How or Where To Listen)

Since our official rAVe Radio podcast launch at the beginning of October, we’ve heard lots of great feedback and encouragement from many of our listeners and we’d like to extend a huge thanks to you all! Many of you already know that the best place to access our rAVe Radio podcasts is atrAVePubsRadio.com  — but we also understand that a web […]

Choose Your rAVe Radio (And How or Where To Listen)

The Power of AV Good

I’ve always been so impressed with our industry and the people who are part of it. Being service-oriented by its very nature, our industry is comprised of people who just generally want to help others. But, what I’ve been witness to over the last few weeks has touched my heart profoundly and has been an […]

The Power of AV Good

Sale… Four Letter Word For Your Brand’s Value?

Today is Cyber Monday! Likely the biggest shopping day for e-commerce retailers. Probably the day following the biggest weekend of the year for retail stores. Retailers of all kinds are probably selling more this time of year…but at what cost? However, competing in a low-cost marketplace is dangerous and very few win. Just ask Wal-mart, […]

Sale… Four Letter Word For Your Brand’s Value?

Be Still My Beating Heart

Oh My Gosh!! You have to read Joel Rollin’s blog about a Crystal Radio!! At least so SOMEONE has to help me understand what the heck that is 🙂 Seriously… Joel and I have had a lot of conversations about how we are not “Tweeters.” Meaning, neither of us feel we can say anything truly […]

Be Still My Beating Heart

Strange ReTales: Cash And Carry

Now that the holiday selling season has kicked into high gear with the lunacy of Black Friday, it reminds me of the madness, insanity and poor decision making I’ve witnessed in my own years in retail. If anything, the holiday shopping season is defined by the fact that people want what they’re buying now: not now, but RIGHT […]

Strange ReTales: Cash And Carry

Crystal Radio – Back to Our Future

Last week, I had a great conversation on The Week on rAVe Radio, with Jennifer Willard of Women in AV and Sara Abrons of rAVe Publications. We talked about women in the current AV workplace. One of the things I brought up with them was the low ratio of women in certain hands-on technical portions of the business, especially in the systems […]

Crystal Radio – Back to Our Future

Anticipation is Better than Reality

When it comes to vacations, when are you happiest? -One month before you leave -Three days into the trip -As soon as you return According to research out of the Netherlands published in the Applied Research in Quality of Life, sadly, we are happiest when we are planning the vacation. In fact, when we return, […]

Anticipation is Better than Reality

SAVE The Date for AV’s 1st Holiday Party!!

Our industry is always known for breaking new ground and creating innovative firsts. The very nature of what we do for a living is about creating solutions for customers and clients to allow them to perform business in ways that haven’t been able to before. The same is true of the Women in AV group. […]

SAVE The Date for AV’s 1st Holiday Party!!

Two Weeks After Sandy

Well here it is, more than two weeks after Sandy. Much of the area is still recovering, and much has not even started yet. So, on this week’s episode of “The Week,” I decided to talk with David Stout. David is an old friend, an AV businessperson, and a survivor of Hurricane Katrina. I wanted […]

Two Weeks After Sandy

Quality in AV

I think you will all enjoy this week’s episode of The Week on rAVe Radio. I talk with Mario Maltese, long-time industry educator and Executive Director of the Association for Quality in AV Technology. In it, we discuss quality management systems, when and why to adopt them, and how to get education in the kind of quality […]

Quality in AV

Is Best Buy About to Go Bye Bye?

As a last-ditch effort, Best Buy has hired Sharon McCollam, a former Williams-Sonoma finance wizzard. She accepted, coming out of retirement to helm the Best Buy recovery plan financially. The stock already wet up today from the news, but can she even accomplish this? Best Buy made a living under-cutting the hundreds, no thousands, of mom-and-pop as well […]

Is Best Buy About to Go Bye Bye?

Follow Up on Apple TV: Wireless that Works

After my first article for rAVe Ed came out, I had several people email or tweet me questions or comments.  I thought they were so good, and thought provoking, that I decided to respond to them here. Mike Tomei (@miketomei) and Conner Krey (@connerkrey) wrote to me asking more about the Bonjour protocol.  Mike wanted to know more about what it meant that […]

Follow Up on Apple TV: Wireless that Works

The “Ritual of Unpacking” Your Brand

Chances are that you own a product made by Apple, as about 63 percent of those between the ages 18 and 49 own at least one Apple product, based on a survey completed by CNBC. Apple doesn’t have to worry about that growth slowing either, as those homes with at least one Apple product actually own […]

The “Ritual of Unpacking” Your Brand

Strange ReTales: Career-Limiting Decisions

All of us can think back to pivotal moments in our lives: that one moment where, with one decision, our futures branched off in a new direction, for good or ill. I’d like to think that I’ve only ever made one terribly poor work-related choice, what you might call a “Career-Limiting Decision” in my life. […]

Strange ReTales: Career-Limiting Decisions

Sandy

Well, I got through Sandy pretty well here. Connecticut, although hurt badly, had less flooding and is recovering quickly. My place got power back yesterday, just shy of a week. Our friends and neighbors in NY and NJ bore the brunt of the storm, and now it is up to those of us who fared […]

Sandy

Please Help Our AV Friends

This morning I was catching up with posting our Women in AV demographic survey across our social media. While it is important to us and something we value, I couldn’t help but throw it all away as soon as I saw JD Systems’ post. We’ll make sure to advance women forward, but realizing the extent […]

Please Help Our AV Friends

RackBuilder Delivered Like Having Daylight Savings Every Day

Every year about this time, I look forward to having an extra hour on the weekend. For some reason, my head gets filled with ideas of what to do with that extra hour: sleep, read, get a nagging project done. It becomes a bit of an event. I decide when the free hour is added. […]

RackBuilder Delivered Like Having Daylight Savings Every Day

Who are we WAVE?!

We are beyond thrilled to launch the very first Women in AV demographic survey —  we want to know about YOU WAVE!!  Who you are as a business professional, what are your interests in furthering your career and what types of opportunities you would like to see offered more by our WAVE group.  We’ve put […]

Who are we WAVE?!

The BIGGEST Winner from the STAR WARS Announcement

I can’t help but write a column about STAR WARS. I’m a huge fan — I saw the original at the Grauman’s Chinese Theatre back in summer of 1977 after standing in line for at least five hours. I sat in the 11th row (yes, that’s how geeky I am) on the far right of the screen by myself — all […]

The BIGGEST Winner from the STAR WARS Announcement

This Week on rAVe Radio

I think you will all enjoy the interview I just did with Randy Lemke, the CEO of Infocomm International, for this week’s edition of “The Week” on rAVe Radio. It has been posted and is available at our website ravepubs.com. In it, Randy talks about his time withInfoComm, his newly-chosen successor, and the future of the AV industry. Don’t miss it. […]

I Have To Hire A New Sales Person

I have to hire a new sales person. I feel like I am always hiring new sales people. But this is the truth of running a small business — or any type of business, I suppose.  There should always be new recruits coming in.  New blood, as they say. I have found that one of […]

I Have To Hire A New Sales Person

The Best Things In Life Are (Nearly) Free

As an audiophile (and an audiophile in recovery, as it were) I’ve always been in the camp that subscribes to Value: that getting the Best Bang For Your Buck is a more important consideration than just throwing money around. And that’s the trick, isn’t it? Spend enough money on your audio system and of course […]

The Best Things In Life Are (Nearly) Free

Face to Face Still Matters

Let’s have a conversation about technology shows… and I am not talking aboutInfoComm. I am talking about the smaller manufacturer technology showcases that take place throughout the year. These product showcases are put together for dealers, consultants and hopefully a handful of end-users. These shows are heavily marketed and require a huge amount of coordination […]

Face to Face Still Matters

AMC/DISH Settle – Now What?

This past summer saw a clash of lawsuits between multiple satellite and content providers over carriage contracts. For background on the disputes, read my July post here. On Sunday, Oct. 20th, DISH Network and AMC/Cablevision reached a settlement in their breach of contract lawsuit that will see DISH pay $700 million to AMC and purchase […]

AMC/DISH Settle – Now What?

Strange ReTales: A Multimedia Music Memoir Music Matters.

Music Matters. As Vince Bruzzese, owner of Totem Acoustic and one of my favorite people in the AV business likes to say, “Everyone is an audiophile.” And as a less-famous friend that I used to work with once said, “there are only two genres of music: good and bad.” Music has certainly been central to my life, on numerous […]

Strange ReTales: A Multimedia Music Memoir Music Matters.

The Latest on rAVe Radio

I had a great weekend, working on this week’s edition of “The Week” on rAVe Radio. I had a great discussion with Jim Smith of Polycom, who is one of the real “Road Warriors” of theTelepresence industry. Jim and I have been friends a long time, so I was able to prevail upon him (while he is on vacation, […]

The Latest on rAVe Radio

Why Do We Keep Being Surprised By Apple Just Being Apple?

Last month, on the day of the iPhone5 announcement I was in Toronto at the Canadian Wireless Show. It was expected, yet surreal, when at 1 p.m. local time the entire trade show floor ground to a halt as everybody tuned into their phones and tablets to follow the Apple presentation for the next forty five minutes. While the resulting […]

Why Do We Keep Being Surprised By Apple Just Being Apple?

Fuggedaboutit Friday: The Adventure of the State Fair Prize Tiger

So, this is something I shared earlier this week on my own social media accounts, but it’s one of those events that I’m STILL laughing about, and so I thought it be fitting for this week’s Fuggedaboutit Friday. My husband and I went to the NC State Fair last week along with some friends. To make a […]

Strange Retales: Dress Code Violations

Like it or not, if you have a job, at least most of the time they expect you to wear clothes. And if your employer doesn’t issue you an actual uniform, then they generally set a standard for what constitutes “acceptable” workplace apparel. In some cases, what not to wear might be subtle. When I […]

Strange Retales: Dress Code Violations

The Future is Mobile, Even in House of Worship

The needs of a vertical market are often so niche-specific that the opportunities seem faint given the greater opportunity for a broad appeal. But sometimes these verticals are strangely aligned along certain technology paths, making it both practical and affordable for the A/V/L industry to develop tools, systems and processes that work across vertical channels. […]

The Future is Mobile, Even in House of Worship

Your Opportunity is RIGHT NOW!

I’m sure you’re all pretty sick of hearing about convergence.  It’s been the buzzword from InfoComm, NSCA and most of our major publications for, oh, the last decade.  IT is coming!  Convergence is upon us! Adapt or die!  The clarion call has been shouted from rooftops, proclaimed in industry classes and discussed endlessly — in roundtables and keynotes […]

Your Opportunity is RIGHT NOW!