At CEDIA 2017, Savant displayed and demonstrated a whole roster of innovative new products – the very fact of which was an in-your-face proclamation that this new company era under founder Bob Madonna intends to use innovation to drive growth. And while we had only a limited time available at Savant, we were fortunate enough to grab a few moments of Mr. Madonna’s time to get a real cook’s tour of a couple of his latest offerings.
Posts
In Epic Legal Battle with Sonos, D&M Dinged Again
Will a Change of Judge Bring a Change of Outcome?
The battle for patent supremacy between Sonos and D&M Holdings is picking up significant steam. In one 30-day period of this year alone (June), we counted no less than 110 docket items. That’s more than four filings a day if you take out weekends. The vast majority of these items were heavy legal motions and other multi-dozen page document filings.
The lawsuit, originally brought by Sonos against D&M Holdings and their HEOS line, and ultimately reciprocated with a D&M counter-suit, has been raging on since October 2014. Yet as the matter is plunging headlong towards a trial by the end of this year, D&M is handed another loss, as Judge Richard G. Andrews denies two key D&M Motions for Summary Judgment in his last ruling before turning the matter over to a new judge.
See the latest developments in this battle between Sonos and D&M Holdings… [Read more…] about In Epic Legal Battle with Sonos, D&M Dinged Again
Case Closed: Classé Closing October 6th
Multiple 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
Is Strata-gee Tolerating a Violation of Its Comment Policy?
Recently, we were publicly called out on Twitter with a somewhat snarky tweet about the Strata-gee “Comment Policy.” Or rather, to be more precise, a tweet appeared that slyly inferred that our policy was toothless. This tweet was in response to a social media post we had made promoting our article titled What We’ve Discovered about CEDIA’s Sale of the Show.
It wasn’t the article that upset the Twitter poster, but rather, it was apparently a comment placed on that article that he appeared to feel violated our Comment Policy. So, let’s talk about that…
Did a comment get published in violation of Strata-gee policy?… [Read more…] about Is Strata-gee Tolerating a Violation of Its Comment Policy?
At CEDIA 2017, Dana Innovations Emphasized Innovations
As a member of the press corps for many CEDIA shows now, we have duly trudged through many a manufacturer’s booth review – Dana Innovations included – which can often be a mind-numbing bit of drudgery, as often all we see are a long list of existing products…nary an innovation to be found. However, this year, Dana Innovations – parent of Sonance, Trufig, and iPort – surprised us with a focused review of…well…innovations.
See what innovations that Dana Innovations had to show the media… [Read more…] about At CEDIA 2017, Dana Innovations Emphasized Innovations
CEDIA/Home Advisor Smart Home Survey
At CEDIA 2017 CEDIA and Home Advisors partnered to present the results of a recent member survey on the Smart Home market that the two parties collaborated on recently. The results were interesting although not particularly surprising or earth shattering.
See what CEDIA and Home Adviser uncovered about Smart Homes… [Read more…] about CEDIA/Home Advisor Smart Home Survey
Emerald Announces Big Jump in CEDIA 2017 Attendance
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
3rd 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
Did Emerald ‘Overpay’ for the Iconic Tradeshow?
It 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
What 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.
