Five Ways to Make Time for Customer Outreach
Inattention to long-term marketing will only make your daily problems worse.
Lock Your Android Up Like Fort Knox
Unlike iTunes, the Android marketplace is an open store. That means any developer can put up any application for download.
Home Audio - Gibson Brands Announces Agreement to Acquire Philips' Audio and Home Entertainment Business
As part of its continued growth and diversification in the music and audio lifestyle arena, Gibson Brands, Inc. ( www.gibson.com ) today announced that it has signed an agreement with Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA) to acquire WOOX Innovations, the audio, video, multimedia and accessories business of Philips. Under the terms of the agreement, Gibson Brands will pay $135 million and a brand license fee, relating to a license agreement for an initial period of 7 years. The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2014, subject to customary conditions, including regulatory filings and works council procedures.
Gibson Brands, based in Nashville, USA, has in recent years invested in audio brands including Onkyo and TEAC as part of its ambition to become a global leader in music and sound. This transaction will leverage Gibson Brands' strong market presence in the U.S. and Japan, and WOOX Innovations' market strength with Philips-branded audio and home entertainment products in Europe, China, Latin America and other growth geographies.
Home Automation - Bosch HomeConnect platform will offer one app to control your home appliances, regardless of brand
BSH (Bosch Siemens Hausgerate) is launching a unifying platform called HomeConnect designed to connect all your home appliances, regardless of the brand.
Talking at the IFA Global Press Conference 2014 in Belek, Turkey, Dr Claudia Happ, digital transition project leader for HomeConnect, introduced the new platform, saying that BSH research revealed that 90 per cent of customers had different home appliance brands in the home, but 66 per cent want one app to connect to them all.
Outside the core needs of flexibility, usability and efficiency, customers revealed through BSH research that connectivity was high on the list of desired features, allowing remote control and service functions.
HomeConnect will be an open platform, designed so that a range of domestic appliance manufacturers will be able to use it, not just Bosch and Siemens.
Aiming for interoperability, BSH wants to deliver one app, saving customers from needing to use a different app for each different device. Currently there is no set standard for appliance connectivity, but BSH confirmed today that the aim would be to have HomeConnect work with other domestic control systems, so in the future it could be integrated into a larger home control service.
Home Security - Korner home security is simple, affordable, versatile
When someone mentions “home security,” it evokes images of cameras, wires, sensors, and a little warning sign posted in the yard. If you agree, you wouldn’t be wrong. That’s how the common security system is perceived. But things have been changing over the years. Advances in technology have transformed home security products, making them more accessible and easier to use.
If you’re interested in easy – like, really easy – you couldn’t do any better than Korner. Korner, which is currently funding on Indiegogo, is a simple yet genius home security product. There’s only three parts to set up: wireless router fob, the tag, and the mobile app for Android or iOS. The single-piece tag is as easy to “install” as putting a sticker, well, anywhere.
Korner works by detecting motion of the object its attached to, such as a door or window. The sensors in the tags can determine when there has been an entry. The sensors are smart enough to know the difference between an entry and vibration, so false alarms are kept to a minimum. What happens when there is an actual entry? The tag communicates to fob, which in turn sends an alert to your mobile device. From there, you can notify authorities, friends, or neighbors.
Home Audio - This Trick To Improving Home Audio Involves Zero Electronics
Our ongoing investigation into how home audio is changing in 2014 has unearthed a surprising nugget of sonic wisdom, for those of us who are trying to take home audio just a little more seriously. Now that legitimate digital music services sound so good, fans no longer have to put up with dodgily-encoded MP3s from Napster and the like — and so it’s worth it, for many of us, to give our music the sonic respect it deserves, whether we want to spring for new player hardware or not.
The single most important thing you can do to improve your sound is to improve the physical mechanics of its reproduction — mainly, your headphones or speakers. It’s always worth paying more for either of these than you think you really should, because nothing else can make your tunes sound better (i.e. stirring, soul-restoring, inspirational, mind-blowing, empathetic, mournful, joyful, and everything else it can make us feel) than making the conversion of ones and zeros into vibrating air as clean as possible.
We asked renowned audiophile and author of The Audio Expert Ethan Winer for some advice to share with our readers on the best thing they can do to improve their audio quality in the home. According to him, the answer has nothing to do with electronics:
“The single best way to improve audio clarity is to add some acoustic treatment to the room,” said Winer. “Even one 2×4 foot acoustic absorber panel placed at the key place on each side wall will improve the clarity of music enormously. Most ‘average’ people have no idea about this, and most probably wouldn’t consider adding panels in their living room or bedroom anyway. But it’s the correct answer. Serious audiophiles and home theater owners do understand the importance of room acoustics, and some have extensive treatment.” Full Article:
Home Automation - Lightpad: The intelligent light switch that wants to control your home
There are lots of companies trying to crack intelligent lighting in the home. Philips has its Hue lighting system with intelligent bulbs, while others like Belkin's WeMo system let you control everything via smart plugs.
Plum, a relatively new and unheard of company based in Austin, Texas, is tackling the problem from a different perspective.
It has designed an intelligent light switch that will not only control the current lights in the house, but also have the potential to control internet-connected devices like Sonos in the future.
"The long term goal is an app that will control everything in your home, from your lights to your sonos," explains Utz Baldwin, CEO at Plum, to Pocket-lint over a coffee at Capital Factory, a startup hub in Austin, Texas.
Called the Lightpad, the light switch promises to fit into a standard American light switch fitting (a UK version is due in 2015), and then allow you to control your lights either via the switch or an accompanying iPhone or Android app.
Created by Baldwin, who in a previous life was the Chairman of CEDIA, a global home technology trade association that offers home automation, audio video, home network training and certification, Baldwin has used his numerous years in the field to invent something he believes will be the answer to controlling your home without always having to reach for your phone.
DIY - Top 10 Ways to Turn Your Retired Gadgetry into the Technology of the Future
With the rapid progression of technology each year, it's easy to accumulate a pile of obsolete gadgets that you just can't bear to get rid of. So don't! Here are our top 10 ways you can take the retired gadgets you've already got and turn them into something that has a solid place in the future.
Full Artice with Instructions and video on LifeHacker:
1. Turn an Old Computer Into an Internet PVR, Downloader, and NAS
2. Automate Your Home with an Old Router
3. Turn an Old Computer into an XBMC Home Theater PC
4. Build a Cellphone-Powered Robot
5. Make a Touchscreen Tablet Out of an Old Netbook
6. Turn an Old Projector into a Book Scanner
7. Use an Old PC Fan to Create a Battery-Charging Wind Turbine
8. Create a Home Security System with a Webcam
9. Create a Wireless Internet Radio from an Old Router
10. Turn an Old Mobile Device into a Dedicated VOIP Handset
Google Glass targeted as symbol by anti-tech crowd
(CNN) - Glass, Google's high-profile entry into the world of wearable tech, may help launch a revolution if it's released later this year as expected. But test models already on the street have begun playing a more unlikely role -- as symbols in a simmering fight over Silicon Valley's impact on the city of San Francisco.
It's a local story, but one with ramifications everywhere. While our smartphones drop easily into pockets and tablets get zipped up in cases or backpacks, wearables such as Glass are, quite literally, in your face all the time.
The $1,500 device, which displays Web content on a tiny screen, signals its wearer as a likely member of an affluent tech elite. And Glass also can discreetly shoot photos or video, which some people view as invasive.
That's caused unease for some folks and, in some cases has led to arguments, altercations and even attacks against people wearing the technology. (cont'd)
Graphene - The New Magical Material
Graphene may possibly be the future replacement for silicone. It's a two-dimensional material that measures just one atom thick and has a breaking strength 300 times greater than steel.
Power Of Choice: Breaking Content Barriers Can Be Good, Then Again…
The beginning of the end for cable's linear, scheduled TV approach comes when the Internet players have too many subscribers for the content rights holders to ignore.
Synching Mobile & Desktop Devices
Andy is an Android Operating System that runs on your computer - essentially making your Android device and all of your apps available on your PC or Mac!
Brands That Communicate Win
To combat this onslaught of mediocrity, we all need to remind our customers how much enjoyment quality AV gear can provide.
Video Consistency: Entertainment Flexibility … Viewing Becomes Personal
The good thing is, every network/station is getting their shows up to 4K as quickly as possible to capture even more eyeballs (ad dollars), so when you get your UHD TV set, you'll have plenty of content.
Installing Central Vacuum Systems
For both the consumer and builder, the central vacuum system adds value to the home, which means a builder has a high margin upgrade that he can build into the price of a home. The builder also has a competitive advantage over other builders who don't install central vacs.
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