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Iconic Industry Rep Steve Zaboji Killed in Plane Crash

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Industry Stunned as Zaboji Died Pursuing His Love of Flight

UPDATED: Yamaha Responds to News

Photo of Steve ZabojiOne of the most iconic manufacturer sales representatives in the consumer electronics industry in the Mid-Atlantic territory, Steven B. Zaboji, was killed Saturday just before 2:00pm, when the Piper Pawnee aircraft he was piloting crashed shortly after releasing a glider it had towed into the sky. According to the Virginia State Police, the crash occurred near the Front Royal Airport, the airport it had taken off from, in Warren County, Virginia.

See more on this shocking death of Steve Zaboji… [Read more…] about Iconic Industry Rep Steve Zaboji Killed in Plane Crash

A First: The Technology & Business Summit Hits the Big Apple

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Photo of exterior of MetLife StadiumFor the first time ever since the creation of the Technology & Business Summit in California some seven years ago, it comes to the Big Apple…and the big show made a big impression. Held over two days – Tuesday in Long Island; Thursday in Northern New Jersey – organizer Mark Cichowski tells us it was a huge success.

See more on the Technology & Business Summit in the Big Apple… [Read more…] about A First: The Technology & Business Summit Hits the Big Apple

Shares in Japan Display Jump 24% on OLED News

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JDI's logoJapan Display Inc., a unique public/private partnership that was once Japan’s largest supplier of LCD panels but has been struggling of late, saw the price of shares of its stock jump as much as 24% Wednesday on news that it had developed a new lower cost manufacturing process for OLED panels. The company, which had been struggling with slackening global demand for LCD panels, will seek outside investment to pursue the opportunity provided by this new OLED manufacturing process.

See more on this surprising announcement out of Japan… [Read more…] about Shares in Japan Display Jump 24% on OLED News

Sonos Finally Gets Smart with Sonos One

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Photo of Sonos OneAfter many months of rumors and promises, Sonos announced today the new Sonos One, their first wireless speaker with voice-control capabilities built-in – in other words, its first smart speaker. And we have to say, Sonos was pretty smart about how they approached the smart speaker market.

See why Sonos, and the Sonos One, is so smart… [Read more…] about Sonos Finally Gets Smart with Sonos One

Case Closed: Classé Closing October 6th

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Classe logoMultiple sources are telling us that on Friday, October 6th, the Montreal headquarters of Classé will close their doors for the last time and all remaining employees will be let go. This includes the dismissal of Classé President Dave Nauber, who has been with the company since 2002. Classé is part of the B&W Group, which itself is going through a major restructuring in the wake of the dismissal of President Doug Henderson as we reported to you back in July.

See more on what we’ve learned about the situation at Classé… [Read more…] about Case Closed: Classé Closing October 6th

Emerald Announces Big Jump in CEDIA 2017 Attendance

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Photo from CEDIA 2017
Show floor, CEDIA 2017

Find Out Who’s on Emerald’s CEDIA Show Advisory Board

Emerald Expositions, the new owner of the CEDIA tradeshow, announced this week that the CEDIA 2017 show had a significant jump in attendance. According to the exposition company, attendance jumped almost 7% from 18,750 last year to “more than 20,000 home tech professionals” this year. This announcement, normally released on the last day of the show, was held for 11-days by Emerald, Strata-gee was told, so they could perform deep data analysis.

Unfortunately, they chose to share very, very little of that data in this announcement. But more is promised.

See what Emerald has released so far about CEDIA 2017… [Read more…] about Emerald Announces Big Jump in CEDIA 2017 Attendance

Control4 Launches Ingenious Networking Certification Program

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Control4 Pakedge PCNA logo3rd Party Testing & Techs Can Earn Their Own Pakedge Gear

Control4 announced today a smart new training program that it hopes will create an army of Pakedge Certified Network Administrators (PCNA) throughout the custom integration industry. The company noted, correctly we think, that “Practical, hands-on training for networking has been lacking throughout the…custom install industry,” Control4 has designed an exceedingly clever learning program with a strong participation motivator – techs can earn Pakedge gear for their own systems.

See more on this smart training program from Control4/Pakedge… [Read more…] about Control4 Launches Ingenious Networking Certification Program

What We’ve Discovered About CEDIA’s Sale of the Show

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Did Emerald ‘Overpay’ for the Iconic Tradeshow?

Emerald Expositions logoIt was only just a matter of months ago, in January 2017, that we learned that CEDIA had sold off their trademark show to Emerald Expositions, the biggest B-to-B tradeshow promoter in North America. This news came completely out of the blue, with no forewarning to members of the Association.

When the sale was announced by the Association, the very last line of their notice was: “The financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.” This lack of disclosure makes it virtually impossible for any loyal supportive CEDIA member to evaluate this major decision – selling off the single largest revenue generator for the Association – by the group management.

Now, we have a major piece of the puzzle, the purchase price… [Read more…] about What We’ve Discovered About CEDIA’s Sale of the Show

Strata-gee Interviews Emerald Expositions Executive

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Photo of Brianna MorrisWhat the Future Holds for the CEDIA Show

“Do I need to ‘prepare’ for anything?” Emerald Expositions Marketing Manager Brianna Morris asked us in a firm tone as we met to set up a date for an interview. “Prepare?,” we asked. “Yes…we’re read your stuff,” she said in a deeper tone.

I could tell right then, it was going to be an interesting interview.

See our interview with Emerald’s CEDIA show marketing manager… [Read more…] about Strata-gee Interviews Emerald Expositions Executive

Getting Out the Vote for New CEDIA Directors

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cedia logoCEDIA has opened voting to fill the three open seats on the board due to term expiration. The organization has selected seven potential candidates, all of whom are integrators with two international candidates. CEDIA says the Boards Governance committee, after an “in-depth process” has determined that these seven candidates “met the competencies required” to be placed on the ballot.

See more on this election process… [Read more…] about Getting Out the Vote for New CEDIA Directors