Strategy in TECH...
I read recently that a majority of Americans say their favorite time of the year is fall. I am a big fan of the changing of the seasons, and have always lived where there were four full seasons a year. Yes, I do like fall with its more moderate temperatures and colorful tree leaves…but my favorite season – hay fever aside – is spring.
And here we are!
[Read more…] about We Wish You a Happy Easter, Passover, or Whichever Holiday You Celebrate
In a huge deal between two power tech players – Japan’s Sony Corporation and China’s TCL Electronics Holding Limited – TCL is set to become the majority owner of Bravia, Inc., a new holding company that will consist of Sony’s TV and audio business units. It is a deal that may ripple through the industry, as other brands may seek to mimic Sony’s move to jettison its hardware properties in order to transform themselves into a more profitable software, content, and services company.
Kaleidescape, the industry’s leading provider of high-fidelity movies and high-performance movie streaming devices, is celebrating its 25th Anniversary. Since 2001, the company has excelled in providing movie lovers with the best-looking and sounding movies. It’s a remarkable milestone when you consider that over that time, the company flirted with its survivability as the industry initially strongly resisted the idea of allowing homes across America to copy digital copies of movies to home servers.
But the company eventually found a legally safe path forward, overcoming the controversies and becoming the leading provider of high-fidelity movies at home.
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.
The Reuters News Agency is reporting that Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook, is preparing plans to lay off as much as 20% – “or more” – of the entire company. These plans are being made at the same time that the company has said it is preparing to spend at least $600 billion on data centers by 2028 to facilitate its growing artificial intelligence (AI) business.
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.
