Indholdsfortegnelse for January - February 2019 i Residential Tech Today

Richard Millson often seems like the smartest guy in the room. There’s a confidence, bordering on arrogance, sure, but he’s not one of those people who thinks he has all of the answers but turns out to be all bluster. Millson actually seems to know all of the answers, at least when it comes to running a custom integration company. The CEO of Millson Technologies Inc. in Vancouver, BC, began working in the technology business while he was still in high school. In fact, he was so successful that he never graduated, and saw no need to attend college either. The remainder of his education was through the school of hard knocks… with a lot of CEDIA courses and manufacturer-led trainings as well. These days, Millson is known for his…

In 2018, nearly 38.4 million households were using some sort of smart home device. By 2022, that number is projected to hit 93 million, according to data compiled by Statista. While the number and variety of devices that homeowners are employing can vary, one thing is clear: people want this technology. While the term “smart home” might naturally conjure images of suburban domiciles, this tech, of course, isn’t limited to just houses, and many high-end condominium and apartment developers are trying to find ways to better incorporate this technology into their units. However, due to the sheer size of many of these luxury condo developments, it can be difficult to do custom integration in every single unit. But that hasn’t changed the expectation of prospective buyers. As George Harrison, founder…

Riding the crest of a wave of highly publicized female-led movements, such as #MeToo and the Women’s March on Washington, female leaders are sprouting up in places where they’ve previously been seen as unicorns. The technology industry, for one, has felt the surge of female entrants. Women in technology are finding positions in sales, as project managers, lighting designers, programmers, and installers. Yes – FEMALE installers. For those women already present in home technology, we have been waiting for you! Let me hold the door open: come on in, ladies. Here, you won’t find a line at the restroom, or at least, not yet. What you will find, however, is an industry that is predominantly male, filled with some of the most intelligent people you’ve ever met. I’ve had the…

In early 2017, Control4 acquired the Triad Speakers audio brand from Larry Pexton, in response to dealer and customer requests for more premium multi-room audio solutions. The company saw Triad as an opportunity to bring high-fidelity, designer-friendly, multi-room audio solutions to the Control4 product family. Since then, the company’s dealers have gained easier access to Triad’s full line of speakers – from home theater, to multi-room audio, to a single solution for a TV room, and even full outdoor systems and custom options. Control4 has brought many new Triad products to market since acquiring the brand, including Triad Designer Series, an in-ceiling speaker and subwoofer with a discreet four-inch grill; Triad Garden Array, a family of all-weather landscape speakers and a flexible subwoofer; six new additions to the Triad R…

“Removing complexity is always key to what we are doing.” This quote from NEEO Co-Founder and CEO Raphael Oberholzer perfectly exemplifies the mission of his company. While the devices that make up the modern smart home have undoubtedly improved over the years, housing the sheer number of different pieces of technology can result in a jumbled mess for any tech-savvy homeowner. Game consoles, smart speakers, smartphones, tablets, and smart appliances make up just some of the devices of the connected home, with each potentially having their own method of control through specialized applications and remotes. After 15 years of creating smart home experiences for a litany of customers, Oberholzer wanted to expand to a wider group of users in 2014. He did this by assembling a team of talented engineers…

Sony Electronics promotes its Bravia Master Series of premium televisions as bringing home “the experience of watching a professional-grade studio monitor.” The branding is an extension of the manufacturer’s “lens to living room” message, explained Sony Training Manager Robert Brennan. Brennan points out that Sony professional cameras are used for TV and movie production and that the company also owns the studios to produce and acquire the content. Additionally, the industry uses Sony reference monitors (like the BVM-X300) for professional post-production color grading, and Sony participates in the distribution of that final content to the customer’s home. “This experience,” Brennan said, makes Sony “uniquely positioned to understand both the creator’s intent (what the content is intended to look like) and the optimal customer experience on their home TV.” The term…

Imagine tossing your briefcase onto the kitchen table and in an instant every device inside begins to charge. Your laptop, smartphone, and tablet are seamlessly connected to power, just as your smartphone seamlessly connected to Wi-Fi when you walked in the door. This is the vision of Metaboards, an innovative tech startup from Oxford focused on cutting consumer dependence on wires. With the creation of “metamaterials,” Metaboards aims to change the way people power their devices. The company is creating accessible, intuitive charging surfaces that may one day replace the need for outlets and plugs. CEO Nedko Ivanov envisions a future in which walls, floors, and workstations provide wireless power for any device, eliminating the need for messy wires and practically erasing the notion of a dead battery. If wireless…

When you first hear about it, it sounds a bit magical – technology capable of analyzing and repairing itself when problems arise. On a moment’s reflection, a bit of trepidation creeps in. Isn’t this how the Terminator movies begin? Dig to the heart of it, though, and self-healing networks are like most, if not all, of the technological innovations permeating our lives these days, which is to say that they’re certainly a convenience, but not without some consequences. But what is a self-healing network, exactly? What does it do? How does it work? To answer those questions, I turned to Luxul Product Manager John Epeneter, whose company recently added self-healing capabilities to select managed network switches in the form of auto recovery and power scheduling. He explained these two key…

Even the most tech-savvy among us can feel like a babe in the woods when it comes to protecting a home or business network from cybersecurity threats. When I explain to clients the steps they need to take to transform their home or business into a well-defended digital fortress, I often compare cybercrime to the physical security industry. I explain that their home or business now has digital windows and doors to protect as well. When appraising a building for a security system, it’s all about understanding the Crime Prevention Triangle, made up of Skill, Desire, and Opportunity on each side. The only element that you can control is Opportunity, by deterring bad behavior (snapping off the bottom of the triangle). In other words, don’t become a victim. Because good…

In the smart speaker market, Amazon got a running start, with Google taking on the role of fast follower. And, while Apple has been unable to gain much traction, it is a category with more potential to disrupt the connected home, as the technology continues to evolve. What happens next for smart speakers depends on the further evolution of voice recognition science and new developments in artificial intelligence. Here’s a look at smart speaker market share and revenue statistics, as well as notes about what content is being played on these devices. SMART SPEAKER SALES GOING TO INCREASE BY UP TO 50% IN 2019 32% OF CONSUMERS IN U.S. OWN A SMART SPEAKER 19 MILLION HOUSEHOLDS USE SMART SPEAKERS STREAMING IS THE WAY 75% OF PEOPLE LISTEN TO MUSIC, UP…

When the D.C./Baltimore-area audio-video specialists at Gramophone acquired a kitchen and bath design center last year, the company was already well on its way to offering more complete design-build services to complement its three other brick-and-mortar AV showrooms. Led by Brian Hudkins, who founded the company over 40 years ago, and CEO Andrew Davis, the company had hired a 30-year veteran of the custom-building trade to design finished basements and dedicated home theaters in a turn-key fashion. That led to sales relationships with high-end appliance brands like Wolf, Viking, Jenn Air, and Subzero. Acquiring a kitchen and bath showroom seemed like a natural next step. “It’s a ‘vehicle’ that we are using to get in front of architects and designers and homebuilders to talk about lighting and automation,” Davis explained.…

We spend 90 percent of our time indoors – in our offices and our homes. Unfortunately, those environments are not always the healthiest places to hang out. Indoor air quality can be two to five times worse than outdoor air quality, drinking water is often compromised by the quality of the pipes it flows through, and don’t even ask about the effects that all of those new LED bulbs are having on sleep patterns. Enter Delos, the pioneer of “wellness real estate” and the founder of the WELL Building Standard and the Darwin Home Wellness Intelligence platform. Darwin is designed to enhance health outcomes in the home and mitigate harmful indoor environmental concerns, by utilizing proprietary wellness algorithms and sensor technologies to create spaces that help reduce stress, improve sleep…

Maybe you first saw him in 2002’s 8 Mile or 2008’s Miracle at St. Anna. Or, you might have seen him during his three-year stint on CSI: Miami. Currently, you can watch him on HBO’s hit Ballers or hear him as the voice of Raphael on Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Regardless, it’s safe to say that Omar Benson Miller has had a prolific acting career, appearing in an assortment of movies and television shows, not limited by genre or character. Miller is not content with just acting, however. In between shooting episodes of Ballers and Ninja Turtles, he records a sports podcast called The O-Zone with his brother. He also has been involved with a number of philanthropic organizations, helping raise money for disenfranchised children and gathering…

JANUARY 8-11 CES 2019, Las Vegas, NV 15-17 Alexa Conference 2019, Chattanooga, TN FEBRUARY 5-8 ISE 2019 Amsterdam, Netherlands MARCH 1-4 ProSource Summit and Expo Nashville, TN APRIL 3-5 Azione Unlimited Spring Conference Bonita Springs, FL 15-18 HTSA Spring Conference Chandler, AZ 12, 14 Florida Technology & Business Summit Ft. Lauderdale & Orlando, FL 23, 25 Southern California Technology & Business Summit Irvine & Los Angeles, CA 29-May 3 The ProSource Spring Meeting San Antonio, TX…