Blogs
Pleasant Black Friday Surprises
Contrary to what you might have thought, given all the gloom and doom, Black Friday retail sales were solid this year. And I saw...
Blogs
Blogs
This Week’s Sign Of The Coming CE Apocalypse
Joe the Plumber — yes, that Joe the Plumber — is starring in a series of videos on www.velocitystore.com to educate consumers about the...
Blogs
Canon Sees Camera Market Contraction
No huge surprise, but Canon’s president Tsuneji Uchida told Reuters that digital camera unit sales may contract in 2009. Uchida noted that d-SLR sales...
Blogs
Being Thankful
I’m posting this just a couple of days before Thanksgiving and Black Friday, so forgive me if I seem more than a little philosophical....
Blogs
Energy Efficiency
How large a roll will energy efficiency play in future HDTV purchases? In a recent Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) consumer survey, it was noted...
Blogs
Obama Demographics: Lessons For Our Industry
This past week I finally had time to think about some of the implications of the recent presidential election. The election of Mr. Obama...
Blogs
Petters’ Fall From Grace
It’s been a while since we last checked in on L’Affaire de Petters. Here’s what’s developed: Petters girlfriend has given an interview wherein she...
Blogs
’Tis The Season For Holiday Greeting Cards!
No doubt the economy is top of mind for every CE dealer, large or small. Booked custom-installation pipelines are drying up, new business isn’t...
Blogs
Follow TWICE With Facebook
TWICE now has a Facebook page so you can keep up with the latest consumer electronics news while you’re catching up with friends. To...
Blogs
The Need For Green
In this turbulent economy, with energy costs going rising, consumers are more conscious than ever about power consumption in their homes. We’ve also just come...
Blogs
Sirius XM Gets Pounded
As General Motors goes, so goes Sirius XM, or at least that’s what Wall Street thinks, as it’s been punishing Sirius XM stock even...
Blogs
Let Me Be Perfectly Clear
Seems in this day and age, many people have a voice. The Internet makes all seem the same size, the same knowledge and the...
Blogs
Power in Numbers: The Benefits of Joining a Buying Group
During this economic downturn the words strength and power in the marketplace are seldom heard of. However, buying groups give the independent dealer the...
Blogs
Face Detection Evolves
Let’s say you, like me, are ugly (or as I like to say, homely). Well, help is on the way: “Tessera Technologies, Inc. announced...
Blogs
Callpod Sues Target
Callpod, a CE accessory manufacturer, announced yesterday it has filed a lawsuit against Target, alleging “that Target’s ‘6-in-1 device charger’ sold by Target infringes...
Blogs
Marketing To Women: It’s All About R-E-S-P-E-C-T!
“The great question that has never been answered, and which I have not yet been able to answer, despite my thirty years of research...
Blogs
The Vinyl Man Cometh, Again
Veteran audio fidelity and music journalist Michael Fremer has just released his second DVD focused on preserving and maximizing the enjoyment of analog audio...
Blogs
Toshiba’s Cool Matrix Ad
For my money, the British make the best technology commercials. A year after the London-based agency Fallon produced this Sony Bravia ad, Toshiba tapped...
Blogs
TWICE State of the Industry, TWICE Mobile
Between Tweeter going out of business, Circuit City closing and doing a liquidation sale at 155 stores and going Chapter 11, three LCD panel...
Blogs
What Readers Are Saying About Specialty A/V Retailing
Several readers posted insightful comments in response to my earlier blog, “What Tweeters May Be Saying About Specialty A/V Retailing.” All of the comments...
Blogs
Home Theater, Rocket Scientists Required?
You know what they say: “Necessity is the mother of invention.” Or what I like to say: “Mother is necessary for invention.” After several...
Blogs
SEMA Met Its Forecasts Despite Slump
A note to depressed car aftermarket suppliers: The 2008 SEMA, (Specialty Equipment Marketing Association) Show actually met its forecasts for an attendance of 100,000,...
Blogs
Facebook Faces Its Problems
Here are some excerpts from a white paper from the The Entertainment Technology Center @ USC on what consumers will spend in the coming...
Blogs
Our Businesses Are In Jeopardy
Get scared right now! The world economy is tanking and your business will be affected. The headlines are real, and now is the time...
Blogs
From Apple To Lemons
Apple founder Steve Jobs managed to rescue his company from ruin back in the 1990s when he returned as CEO and quickly reversed years...
Blogs
TVs As Stocking Stuffers
Shopping for the holidays? Think of it this way: Putting a TV in someone’s stocking will help the economy! There are predictions that with...
Blogs
What Tweeter May Be Saying About Specialty A/V Retailing
Most everyone who remembers the heyday of specialty audio/video retailing is saddened by the loss of Tweeter. At its peak, Tweeter — and the...
Blogs
Controlling Your Life
The truth is that for the last 25 years our industry has been plagued by a common problem. This problem is still one of...
Blogs
Is There A Future In A/V Specialty Retailing?
Most everyone who remembers the heyday of specialty audio/video retailing is saddened by the loss of Tweeter. At its peak, Tweeter — and the...
Blogs
Is Integrity Necessary?
When I was asked to write a blog for CEDIA to submit to TWICE, I was very intimidated. I have never done that before...
Blogs
Tweeter Employees Weren’t ‘WARNed’
There’s a federal statute (the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, or WARN) that requires employers to give workers two month’s notice before a...
Blogs
Mad Catz Rocks
Mad Catz announced this morning it has entered into a licensing agreement with Nintendo, giving it the right to produce and distribute peripherals for...
Blogs
Troubling Headlines Can Have A Silver Lining
This week’s news about Circuit City’s plans to close about 20 percent or 155 of its U.S. stores in 12 cities, coupled with last...
Blogs
Tweeter, Circuit City Aftermath
Well, November finally arrived, as I indicated in my print Viewpoint column yesterday, but as the cliché goes, “Watch out what you wish for.”...
Blogs
A New Music-Distribution Business Model
The Consumer Electronics Association’s (CEA) Digital Freedom blog hails the success of Radiohead’s novel distribution tactic: “The data is in from Radiohead’s ‘name your...
Blogs
Bluetooth SIG Launches Online Pairing Guide
The Bluetooth Special Interest Group has introduced a Web site that lets consumers match their Bluetooth devices with companion products from its 11,000-plus member...
Blogs
3-D To The Home
A revival of 3-D is now upon us. Based on current estimates, 30 percent of digital cinema theaters will be equipped to showcase 3-D...
Blogs
Weathering the Storm
Last week I spent the better part of a day in Detroit where I gave a paper on the topic of meeting consumer needs...
Blogs
Reasonably Optimistic On TV Holiday Sales
On the verge of a holiday season facing predicted sales slumps in an unstable economy, I’d like to think that we can be realistic...
Blogs
A Gift For The AIG Exec In Your Life
Super Talent Technology is offering a limited edition 18-carat solid-gold version of its bleeding-edge Pico-C water-resistant 8GB USB drive. It boasts a blazing 200x...
Blogs
Sanyo’s New Wi-Fi Frame
Sanyo has pulled back the curtain on a new Wi-Fi digital photo frame: the HNV-M70 ALBO. Available in Japan at this point, the 7-inch...
Blogs
A New Blog From TWICE
Here is a brief heads-up from yours truly about a new blog we are introducing this week, called “Executive Insight.” TWICE has decided to...