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Apple, sensing an opportunity to gain an edge on its tech industry rivals, is weaponizing its privacy policies by demonstrating unusual transparency with users. The move is brilliant, and one that is not likely to be followed by many of its more opaque tech industry rivals like Google and Amazon.
See more on Apple using transparency as a competitive advantage... Continue reading
Legrand and Lumileds announced today that they have signed a partnership agreement that is designed to combine forces and help drive industry adoption of tunable white LED lighting. The two will create and sell what they say is a "simple to integrate" and "easy-to-install plug and play solution" that delivers high quality tunable white LED light. This partnership is another example of the growing interest in this more human-friendly lighting solution.
See more on this tunable white lighting technology partnership... Continue reading
As more research continues to emerge on consumer utilization of voice-controlled devices, it becomes clear that there are still impediments to end-users utilizing their voice-control capabilities regularly, according to research by Social Lens. A separate study by Nielsen reaffirms what Strata-gee has previously reported, that people use smart speakers more for listening to music, than for any other task...including voice-control of their home automation solutions.
See more on this pair of new studies on voice-controlled smart speakers... Continue reading
I've been sounding the alarm about a housing slowdown for a couple of months now, starting with this overall look at how a housing industry-led recession could be just around the corner. Now, new data on housing, the industry that was a major driver of the last recession, continues to offer a bearish outlook with housing construction starts dropping a significant 5.3% in the month of September.
See more on the latest data from the Commerce Department on housing starts... Continue reading
The NY/NJ Tech Summit rolled in to the Big Apple last week, almost exactly one year after its first iteration, which took place last year in the MetLife Stadium...a really unique venue. This year, I looked forward to it with great anticipation, interested to see if the Summit would begin to gain traction and what changes would take place as a result of the show being acquired by CEDIA.
There were interesting answers to both of these questions. See more below... Continue reading
'No One Lost Their Job Except Me!'
Gary Wermuth, founder of WAVE Electronics in Houston, TX, spoke with Strata-gee about his company's recent acquisition by Kingswood Capital, which also owns AVAD and plans to merge the two operations. The deal, announced last week and the cause of substantial buzz around the industry, has actually been in the works since April and he was clearly pleased to have the deal done and behind him.
See more of what the WAVE founder told me in our Q&A... Continue reading
As we reported last week, the world learned that the private equity group that owns AVAD has made another deal, acquiring Houston, TX-based WAVE Electronics, another major custom integration distribution company. After an initial ripple of excitement over the deal, most of us went back to our daily lives - looking at this deal as nothing more than just another private equity acquisition. But there may be more here than meets the eye...
See how distribution is changing... Continue reading
Will you indulge me for a moment? I want to draw your attention to an article I wrote for Residential Systems titled New Takes on Tech Training. Regular Strata-gee readers are most likely aware of the fact that I also write for Residential Systems, and this article is one that I'm quite proud of.
Why am I proud of this particular article? Read on... Continue reading
Are Elan, Speakercraft, Niles, Proficient, etc. In Play Again?
Melrose PLC, owner of Nortek, including Nortek Security & Control, is openly talking to U.K. media about the likelihood of selling off Nortek - saying, in essence, their work is done, the turnaround is complete. This being the case, their thinking is that it is time to harvest their crop by selling off the company to reap their reward of profits.
But what does this mean for Nortek and its stable of brands?... Continue reading
Emerald Expositions Events, Inc. (stock symbol: EEX) reported last week that attendance at CEDIA Expo 2018, the first Expo run totally by Emerald Expositions employees, had an attendance of "more than 20,000 home tech pros" or flat as compared to their announcement of "more than 20,000 home tech professionals" at the event last year.