For months now, the industry’s poorest kept secret has been the reentry back into the intensely dense atmosphere of the custom integration industry by the colorful and spark-spewing starship Jeremy Burkhardt – one of the original founders of SpeakerCraft, which he left (forced-out our sources tell us – Burkhardt says he “retired”) in 2012 in one of the many Nortek reorganizations. At first just a rumor, Burkhardt a few months back began a series of “leaks” about his decision to launch a new company. Speaking mostly one-on-one, off-the-record with various journalists, dealers and reps…the buzz began to build – finally reaching its crescendo on the eve of the 2014 CEDIA Expo.
Just days before Expo, Residential Systems unveiled Burkhardt’s new venture , Origin Acoustics, to the world – followed a few days later by press releases to the rest of the media.
Panasonic Corp. announced last week that it is launching a new product that it believes will capture major market share in the market for what they call a “wearable assist robot.” Starting in 2015, the company will field this “wearable” that – for lack of a better description – is like a lightweight, backpack-style partial exoskeleton.
