Stewart Filmscreen Rep Creates Texas Showroom
By Llanor Alleyne
With the shadow of a recession engulfing the future plans of many businesses nationwide, it is always impressive and heartening to get a tip about a company bucking the fear and investing in potential growth avenues.A couple of weeks ago, Residential Systems got an email regarding Stewart Filmscreen manufacturing rep firm, Charles Lucas Sales Company which, to the delight of its customers, created a custom-built home theater showcase room at its Fort Worth, Texas location. “We took a three step approach to designing our showrooms,” Sam Lucas, CFO of the company noted. “First we designed a ...
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ESPA Creates Technician Marketing Tool Kit
By Jeremy Glowacki
As business begins to slow in this down economy, now is the perfect
time for employers to get their technicians trained and certified. By investing in your technicians, you're showing them that you care
about their career growth and you're demonstrating to your customers
that you demand the best from your techniciansIn that vein, the Electronic Systems Professional Alliance (ESPA), the group representing entry-level electronic systems technicians in the residential and commercial AV installation channels, has created a technician marketing tool kit for employers. The kit contains a sample ...
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Monster Responds to Mini Golf Backlash
By Jeremy Glowacki
Ok, I get it. You own a copyright and you have to protect it. Otherwise, it’s not worth the paper that it’s printed on. I still have a hard time siding with Monster Cable, even after the company posted a response to the backlash over its lawsuit with the owners of the Monster MiniGolf franchise.I was pretty tough on Monster Cable last week, but I wasn’t alone. Despite what Monster’s leadership says, they’re the big boys here and don’t need to flex their muscles and protect their brand against a mini golf franchise, even if they are both related to "entertainment" in some way. Maybe Monster ...
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Capitol Sales Offers Smart Business Tips for Integrators
By Jeremy Glowacki
So many times, business is all about common sense. But during an economic downturn it never hurts to revisit some key pointers. That’s just what Capitol Sales has done by issuing a list of helpful hints for dealers in the custom installation industry.Here they are:Manage Financials With Your CustomersMake sure your customers sign a contract before you order product or start work. Invoice before you start and secure 30 percent payment up-front.Collect a second down payment of 30 percent partway through the job.Collect a third payment of 30 percent when you're almost done with the job.Collect ...
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Talking Up the iPhone… One More Time
By Llanor Alleyne
I tend to refrain from saying things like, “This [fill in the blank] is the best thing. Ever,” mostly because shortly thereafter said item, act, book, either falls short or is replaced by something that can, quite legitimately, be the next best thing ever. But, because I have been known to break my own rules, I am going to go ahead and say this: The iPhone is the best thing...ever. (I reserve the right, however, to retract that statement at any time). Since giving in and buying one earlier this fall, my affection has slowly grown from a wary adoration to full-blown love. At the time that ...
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Monster Cable's Latest Victim
By Jeremy Glowacki
It's the not-so-secret dirty little secret in our industry. Monster
Cable views trademark infringement litigation
as a profit center for bullying small companies out of business. What we're talking about are not
simple patent infringement cases, though Monster has taken on those as
well (see www.bluejeanscable.com/legal/mcp/index.htm for one example). Worse
than that are the hundreds of examples like the one I
learned about today involving the Rhode Island-based owner of the
Monster MiniGolf franchise. Essentially, Monster Cable is making a
mockery of the legal system by suing ...
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Seasonal Spectacle in Grand Central Highlights LCD Technology and Green Collar Jobs
By Margot Douaihy
New York, NY -- All this month, commuters through New York City’s Grand Central Station will be treated to the annual Kaleidoscope Light Show and a new high-tech holiday delight. Thanks to a creative project by Sharp Electronics, Richard Gray’s Power Company (RGPC), and The HOPE Program, the traditional Christmas tree has been reinvented. 43 high-definition Sharp AQUOS liquid crystal displays (LCDs) of various sizes have been arranged in the shape of a 26-foot high Christmas tree between Grand Central’s main concourse and the Vanderbilt Hall Bridge. Besides high visibility for the Sharp ...
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Hacker Anger Toward Tweeter
By Jeremy Glowacki
Apparently not willing to let the folks at the soon-to-be-shuttered Tweeter corporation go quietly into the night a group of angry and industrious hackers offered their less-than-subtle redesign of tweeter.com this morning. Thanks to our friend Nick at Caster Communications for tipping us off. What do you think of this? Anyone looking for a new IT guy?? ...
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My Black Friday Experience
By Jeremy Glowacki
I've never been one for post-holiday early-bird retail sales. My family, however, loves them, having purchased much of their Christmas wrapping paper and decorations at day-after-Christmas specials over the years. Black Friday (named for day-after-Thanksgiving sales when most retailers finally make it into the "black" for the year) has never been as big an occasion for my relatives for some reason. This year my wife and I changed that tradition, having been suckered in by Wal-mart with the promise of a $198 door-buster deal for a Samsung BD-1500 Blu-ray Disc player.Last month I wrote about ...
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My Trip to Redmond
By Jeremy Glowacki
I worried that the appearance of my iPod audio recorder would raise a ruckus during my first visit to Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, Washington, last week. But when the invited “bloggers” across the board room table from me whipped out their Mac Powerbooks, I knew I figured that they would probably take more flak than I would.Upon my arrival to Microsoft headquarters, I was excited to learn that a handful of press and I had been granted first-time access to several members of the Media Center team, even gaining a rare behind-the-scenes glimpse at three testing labs.It is great to see the ...
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Welcoming Utz
By Jeremy Glowacki
So what do I think of CEDIA’s pick for its first-ever CEO? Easy. I think Utz Baldwin is a great guy and will be an excellent “face” of the organization.I’ve known all of the past CEDIA presidents (now called “chairmen”) pretty well since Mitchell Klein’s two-year term in the late 90s. During this “modern era” of CEDIA leadership, all of these men had unique leadership styles and all had affable personalities. Over the years, the role of the top board of directors member seemed to be reduced in significance by the growing strength of the association’s full-time staff and the development of ...
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Optoma Shows Another Use for a Napkin
By Llanor Alleyne
Digital projection and display manufacturer Optoma is making the rounds this week in New York to get the word out about a few new products coming down the pipe line. This morning, I met with Jon Grodem, the company’s director of product and marketing, who came armed with two Picos, and a lot of insight into where the projection market is heading in these heady times.Over coffee and after a near disastrous water spill, Grodem unveiled the Pico PK-101, touted as “the world’s smallest and lightest micro-portable DLP projector.” Shipping now, (can you say, Christmas present?), the Pico has been ...
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Control4, Panasonic Tap into Phones
By Llanor Alleyne
Panasonic, which most of us find notable for its consumer electronics, took this rainy and windy Thursday in New York City to highlight its communication-branded products -- delivered and appropriately packaged as "enhanced communications solutions." While many of the unveiled products were targeted at the small business market (fun fact: there are 25 million small businesses in the U.S. that, according to Panasonic, represent the world's third-largest economy), custom installation integrators might find one the company's latest offerings of interest.Back in September Panasonic entered into ...
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Retail AV Hit Hard by U.S. Economic Woes
By Jeremy Glowacki
There’s always been a Catch 22 for the custom installation channel when
it comes to mass-market retail competition. On one hand, most retail
outlets -- particularly the big-box stores like Best Buy and Circuit
City -- often under-serve customers looking to make big purchases like
flat-panel TVs, computers, and digital cameras, because of their lack
of product training or simple apathy. Even the “installation
departments” of these retailers typically provide nothing more than a
hang-and-bang attitude with no customer service to speak of. On
the other hand, retail does provide the ...
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Netflix Finally Recognizes Mac Users
By Llanor Alleyne
As an advocate of the mail order DVD rental site, Netflix, i was thrilled to learn last week that the company had finally opened up its "Watch Instantly" functionality -- which streams some movies directly to a PC's screen for no additional cost (with a subscription to Netflix, of course) -- to the Mac platform. I was immediately zinged, however, when I signed into my account and got the "Our apologies, but..." this feature is not available for Macs; the beta-version of the platform was only open to certain Mac customers that Netflix had apparently already chosen. The comments section of one ...
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