Strategy in TECH...
Dr. Steve Weber was building a home in Colorado, and he needed an integrator to design and install the home’s automation system. Although he didn’t know it at the time, the result of that experience would alter the course of his career.
This week, I ran across yet another in a long line of critical articles about the unreliability of Smart Home technology. This one, from the New York Times, stings a little more, as it updates the well-worn path of complaints about home automation technologies, with a still-uncomplimentary perspective on new A.I.-enabled versions. The blunt conclusion: the Smart Home “Still Doesn’t Work.”
On Thursday, Josh.ai, a prominent control solution provider specializing in voice and AI technologies, held its annual Keynote presentation, this year called Josh.ai Keynote 2026, “Home in Harmony.” This year’s event highlighted largely software-based advances, such as an operating system update and a newly redesigned app.
AudioControl announced today the launch of the all-new Hyperion Series line of high-performance home theater products. This Hyperion Series is a completely updated line that builds upon AudioControl’s decades of experience in innovative high-performance audio system design, combined with sister company AVPro Edge’s cutting-edge video capabilities and system networking expertise.
The resulting redesigned Hyperion Series – a dramatic departure from past AudioControl designs – looks, feels, and I’m sure sounds like what might be one of the most contemporary high-performance home theater lines on the market today.
Sonos, a company that has recently scaled back its research and development team as part of a companywide austerity program to improve earnings, is resorting to some old “tried and true” methods of launching “new” and “innovative” products…by updating previous models. CEO Tom Conrad called it “…building on what already works.”
As such, it has introduced the “new” Play and Era 100 SL models. Will this strategy attract new users???
In a move that has some of Strata-gee’s sources perplexed and scratching their heads, high-end commercial and pro video projector and display manufacturer Barco (Euronext: BAR) announced this week that it has reached an agreement in principle to acquire VerVent Audio Holding (“VerVent” and “Vervent”). VerVent itself was created by the merger of French loudspeaker maker Focal and British high-performance audio electronics manufacturer NAIM some years ago.
Savant Systems, Inc. announced today that it has added Silent Gliss, a Swiss manufacturer of precision window treatments, to its Recommended Partner Program. Silent Gliss was founded in 1952, and Savant says it has been “a leading global manufacturer of precision window treatment solutions since it introduced the world’s first silent curtain track system” then.
The government is normally a very reliable source of key economic data. Lately, however, it has been thrown into a bit of disarray ever since the first government shutdown, and now again into a second partial shutdown, causing a delay in the delivery of its reports. In any event, we now have December 2025 residential construction data, which shows an increase in housing starts compared to November. However, December’s starts remain below the rate set in December 2024. Starts for the full year of 2025 dropped for single-family and overall starts.
WiiM, maker of a line of digital audio and streaming products that make a premium high-fidelity audio experience accessible to all, announced today that it is dramatically expanding its salesforce network in the U.S. It is doing this via the addition of at least six new independent manufacturer representative firms across the country.
SoundTube says building design trends are changing, and integrators need to recognize the new standard in commercial space design in order to adjust system configurations to deliver the best performance for the greatest client satisfaction possible. Specifically, the company notes that exposed-structure ceilings – once a limited funky or trendy design subset- are now mainstream or the “standard” in retail, hospitality, fitness, and mixed-use commercial spaces.
And that reality calls for some new and thoughtful audio system design considerations.
