This holiday season I gifted a small, simple smf useful electronic device that can play music, control your home, integrate to other smart devices very easily, assist you throughout you day and night, and so much more through the power of the internet. It’s offered in a variety of colors, can be bold or blend […]

Lately I’ve spotted what I believe to be either a new audio trend — or perhaps it’s always been this way, and I just wasn’t paying enough attention to notice. More often I’ve seen record players be the music player of choice, or live musical entertainment with actual instruments offering up harmonic vibrations for the […]

Some of the most impressive properties that I’ve helped design and create into smart controlled experiences for their occupants all included a healthy mix of controlled and zoned lighting, with audio and video as well, in order to shape some truly incredible experiences in the residential, commercial and industrial spaces. The truly impressive ones, however, […]

There has been a resurgence of Hi-Fi over the last several years, and it’s a trend I’ve watched both develop and blossom from format wars and reshape itself into a new audiovisual experience for generations to come. It is one that could truly be amazing for anyone willing to appreciate it and one that has […]

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 […]

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. […]

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 […]

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 […]

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, […]

“The Internet of things is a network of physical devices, vehicles, home appliances and other items embedded with electronics, software, sensors, actuators and network connectivity which enables these objects to connect and exchange data.” Each “thing” is uniquely identifiable through its embedded computing system but is able to inter-operate within the existing internet infrastructure. If this […]

Recently I found myself reliving a much different time in my life, from the past, while I was at my mothers house, and digging around in the garage. I went over to move around some belongings I had left in her garage years ago, and found shelves and shelves of records, amplifiers, speakers, endless cables […]

Voice control has become a new standard for our daily lives. We see it in media consoles, smart devices, automobiles, office environments and more. Some manufacturers partner on one platform while others embrace a larger audience on a completely different one. Most provide a similar concept of assistance, but others excel in the experience — […]

Is anyone really surprised that Amazon bought Ring Labs? It doesn’t seem like that big of a shock, or shocking at all for that matter. Since they released their original Echo product, initially to Prime members only, and then later to the masses in mid 2015, the smart assistant, Alexa enabled, speaker and personal assistant […]

Music in the office is a must for me and recently I went from having a rather extravagant distributed audio system at the workplace, to a new company where we don’t have such a luxury, and honestly, I miss that experience. The ability to pick and choose genres and distribute it to different areas, really […]

Valentine’s day is almost upon us, and rather than the traditional gifts you may be used to, I propose that you give the gift of audio. Music is a universal language, and it can set the mood, promote and inspire creativity, it boosts productivity and much more. Here’s a few ideas that will make your […]

It’s 2018, cars drive themselves and run on electricity. We carry around at least one smartphone at all times and they are more advanced than the computers we used to send humans into space. Personal assistants are now virtual, built into watches, phones, tablets, computers, electronic accessories and they’ve got built-in artificial intelligence. Facilities, buildings […]

  Johnny is THE MAN. Not only is he one of the most-liked guys in AV but, he’s also a prolific podcaster — out-podcasting even an entire network that only does podcasting — single-handedly. Mota just handed in his 100th AV Insider podcast for rAVe RADIO but, add that to the 60+ The Trade Show Minute podcasts he recorded […]

In June, InfoComm in Las Vegas saw rAVe Publications reporter, Johnny Mota, and podcasting partner, Victoria Barela, having fun, as usual. The two had set up rAVe [RADIO] podcast desk and were hard at work, creating podcasts from the show floor that featured interviews with a variety of exhibitors and attendees. Key to this year’s […]

I pick up in Part 2 with the show that has certainly been a large part of my year in 2015, working with some of the best and most dedicated people I have ever come to know. When you talk about a team, the AV Power Up crew embodies that term – in fact so much […]

It’s coming to the end of what I truly consider a winning year in podcasting here on rAVe. We will be moving strong into 2016 with AV Power Up, with some show and Crew member announcements going into the new year as well. Part 2 will focus on AV Power Up, here I will be […]

It all began here: I attended the WIN Breakfast at InfoComm 2015 and afterward the Council meeting, in part because of media responsibilities with rAVe, as well as the fact that we had done a show prior to InfoComm (our Episode 6 “We’re Talking a WIN for the AV Industry” with Erin Bolton, Jane Johnson […]

I am writing this blog to talk about our podcast show that took place at InfoComm, which was in the end nothing short of a grand slam as we had achieved exactly what we had all been looking forward to doing – a tremendous AV Power Up! show at InfoComm 2015, which I had called […]