With the increasing reach of over-the-top (OTT) content on tablets and mobile phones, content consumption can follow us around the home in a way that a fixed location TV never could. Holding onto the mobile device isn’t always convenient, whether it’s because more than one person is viewing or because you’re elbow deep in cooking, carving (my father often watches […]
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When Amazon first released their FireTV player there was not a ton of excitement for the AppleTV competitor. Sure it looked the same, provided similar features, and cost the same ($99), but for most consumers the features were too similar to create a buzz. With the release of the FireTV Stick however, Amazon has now targeted the very popular Google […]
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There is a point in scaling out a home theater where a good universal remote control becomes an essential part of the experience. Yes, you can get by with the pseudo universal that came with the AVR, but then you have to train your family, and worse the babysitter, how to use that in a productive way. They need to […]
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We met with the folks at Silicon Dust during our week at International CES 2015, and among the things we talked about were the antennas they were using to pull in a signal. They are manufactured in the USA by HD Frequency. While we were not able to meet in person with them at CES, we did get a […]
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We saw OOMI at ShowStoppers and while they didn’t have actual product, they certainly said all the right things to indicated a good understanding of what HA is and what HA users want to get from the system. If you’d like to get in on the launch [aka pre-order] price of $229 (SRP will be $449) head on over to […]
Read moreEureka Park is one of my favorite things about going to CES. It’s a special place where pretty much anyone can come to the show and demonstrate their product. Most are actual products (like UPPER DESK), some will be soon, and others are still questing for funding. With Internet of Things (IoT) (which BTW is a horrible name, but since […]
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Our kitchen is small so there really isn’t a good place to put a TV, even a small one. So I often end up watching football of the tablet while getting the Sunday roast started. Finding a good place to put it can be difficult though because I don’t want it down on the counter with the chicken and vegetables […]
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I don’t remember seeing Zipato at CES last year, so when I noticed their unique Z-Wave ZIPABOX home automation controller (HAC) while roaming the show floor I made a point to stop in and have a look. With all the change in the smart home space it can be tough to select the right hardware; with the HAC the most […]
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Z-Wave sensor/switch maker AEOTEC teased a new switch before CES, so I made a point to stop by and have a look. It was worth it. Losing ½ the size from the previous generation external module the Smart Switch 6 gains USB support and doesn’t give up any of the energy monitoring features present on the previous generation. We will […]
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Creating a new standard for anything is hard. For a market as diverse as home audio, I can only imagine how difficult it is to get OEMs to collaborate, let alone agree on a wireless standard that lets end users build best-of-breed systems according to their needs – instead of playing to the vendor’s desire to lock them into their […]
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