Home Automation
Jem Accessories, Energizer Team For Smart-Home Line
Jem Accessories has partnered with Energizer Brands to produce and market smart-home devices, a first for the power badge. The Energizer Connect line of...
news
Home Automation
Amazon Shows Us Another Echo, This One With Touchscreen
For the second time in two weeks Amazon this morning has introduced another variant to its market-leading Echo smart-speaker line. This time, the House...
Home Automation
Harman Hooks Up With Cortana For Invoke Smart Speaker
Harman International will tap the burgeoning smart-speaker market this fall with the launch of the Harman Kardon Invoke, a premium, voice-activated Echo-like device. Perhaps...
Industry
Stanley Weston, ACTV Founder & GI Joe Inventor, Dies At 84
Stanley Weston, co-founder of interactive TV programming company ACTV — and the man who conceived the idea of the G.I. Joe action figure —...
Industry
Paul Boris Named COO At Vuzix
Vuzix, a manufacturer of smart glasses for the VR and AR markets, has brought on Paul Boris as COO, a new position for the...
Home Automation
Amazon Echo Controls 71% Of Smart-Speaker Biz: Report
A trio of new reports confirms what we kinda already know: that voice control is the happening new user interface, and that smart wireless...
Distributors
New Age Summit Encore To Be Held At … The Encore
New Age Electronics, the national CE and gaming distributor, will reprise its annual Retail Dealer Summit this summer at the Encore Las Vegas. Now...
Accessories
Pioneer Grows High-Res Line With XDP-30R Player & SE-CH5BL Buds
Pioneer expanded its high-res audio offerings with the addition of the XDP-30R digital audio player and the SE-CH5BL ear buds. The XDP-30R player has...
Appliances
Samsung Ships FlexWash + FlexDry 2-In-1 Laundry Pairs
Samsung has begun shipping the two-washers-in-one FlexWash and two-dryers-in-one FlexDry laundry pair, first previewed at CES in January. Designed to provide laundry flexibility for...
news
iPhone 7 Sales Performance Matches iPhone 6S But Growth Is Slowing: CIRP
Although the iPhone 7 is performing comparably to its predecessor, iPhone users are still hanging on to their phones for longer periods, new research...
Audio
DARTS Theater Separates From Phase Technology
DARTS (Digital Audio Reference Theater Systems) Theater is creating its own identity. The hi-fi manufacturer, which was previously marketed as a product brand by Phase...
Home Automation
Universal Electronics To Acquire Residential Control Systems
Universal Electronics (UEI), a manufacturer of smart-home controllers and sensing technology, will acquire Residential Control Systems for $9 million. Residential Control Systems, also known...
news
Best Buy Brings In Vivint For Smart-Home Services
Best Buy has partnered up with smart-home systems provider Vivint to up its stake in the connected space. Beginning this summer, Best Buy customers...
Home Automation
Amazon’s Got Sol: GE’s Stand-Alone Alexa Lamp Will Ship In September
Consumers will soon be able to have Alexa-controlled smart lighting without owning an Echo, Dot, Tap or Look. GE has revealed shipping and pricing...
Industry
Klipsch Brings On Tyler Nelson
Klipsch has hired Tyler Nelson as channel marketing manager of custom integration, professional and cinema, a new position. Nelson will be tasked with channel-management...
Appliances
Whirlpool To Acquire Yummly
Bolstering its commitment to the smart home, Whirlpool will acquire Yummly, an app and website that provides personalized recipes and cooking resources. Yummly, which...
Distributors
D&H Plots Growth Investments For Upcoming Year
D&H Distributing revealed a series of new initiatives for its 2018 fiscal year, which kicked off May 1. Investments planned by the tech distributor...
CTA
CTA Hosting, Streaming 1st New American Jobs Summit Today
The Consumer Technology Association (CTA) is hosting its first-ever New American Jobs Summit just steps from the Capitol Building in Washington today. The summit...
Computers
Microsoft Intros Surface Laptop, Windows 10 S
While the Surface was initially positioned as the tablet eliminating the need for a laptop, Microsoft has indeed launched a Surface Laptop. Featuring a...
Industry
Voxx Combines Vehicle Groups, Led By Joe Dentamaro
Voxx Electronics announced it will combine its vehicle security, remote start and telematics group with its advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) group. The new...
news
T-Mobile Unveils 5G Plans
T-Mobile said it has its sights set on a rollout of 5G network technology in the U.S. by 2019, with nationwide coverage by 2020....
news
E Fun Builds Theft-Deterrents Into Its Nextbook Ares Tablets
E Fun has begun building in theft-deterrent solutions for retailers into its Android tablets. The company’s Nextbook Ares 8- and 10.1-inch tablets will ship...
Industry
Beyerdynamic Appoints Larry Drago As Marketing Manager
Headphones manufacturer Beyerdynamic has brought on Larry Drago to marketing manager. Drago will be responsible for growing the brand and market share in the...
Appliances
Emerson Quiet Kool Returns With New Home-Comfort Line
The venerable Emerson Quiet Kool line has returned to the U.S. home-comfort market under new ownership and with a revamped product line. The brand,...
news
10 Top Majap Debuts That Deliver Big Dividends
Related: 11 Dealers Leading The Appliance Charge Sharp Black Stainless Microwave DrawerSharp’s next-gen product becomes the first, and we believe only, microwave drawer available...
news
The Mall’s Not Dead, It’s Digital
The promise of e-commerce, born in no small part from the massive proliferation of data available in the digital arena, continues to pay dividends...
Accessories
Sennheiser’s MKE 2 Elements is a Dev Program Graduate
Sennheiser launched a portable microphone for use with the GoPro Hero4 action cam as part of its participation in the GoPro developer program. The...
news
Samsung & Amazon’s HDR10 Takes On Dolby Vision
Samsung and Amazon are teaming to deliver a higher standard of high-dynamic-range (HDR) performance to the video market. The Samsung-backed HDR10+ technology (based on...
news
Majority of Consumers Plan to Buy A Smart-Home Device Within The Next 2 Years
More than half of U.S. consumers plan to buy a smart-home device in the next two years, and of those who already own one,...
news
Price Cutting ≠ Better Retail Sales
Does having the lowest prices result in more sales? According to a Bain & Co. survey, customers’ perceptions are often at odds with reality....
news
Music as The Earth Intended
Joining the rising tide of turntable sales (see House of Marley’s newest model, the ecofriendly Stir It Up. Manufactured with a solid bamboo plinth,...
Appliances
The Connected Kitchen
Bosch Home Connect Built-In Coffee Maker This caffeine wizard enables consumers to use their smartphones or tablets to remotely brew coffee with the push...
Appliances
The Home Appliance Renaissance
Remember when the kitchen was for cooking and we entertained family and friends in the living room and dining room? Well, not anymore. Market...
Accessories
Hot Product: Azpen DockAll D100
This Qi wireless charging device features two variable powered USB ports for multi-device USB charging, 64GB MicroSD slot, upright docking stand, built-in microphone for...
news
Luxury Audio is Another World
Editor’s note: On the heels of our April 17 Luxury Issue, we asked our friends at Future-source Consulting to identify what sector of the...
Appliances
Majaps’ Mixed Messages
A pair of key industry reports issued last month proffered divergent snapshots of the state of the appliance industry as it headed into spring...
news
11 Dealers Leading The Appliance Charge
Related: 10 Top Majap Debuts That Deliver Big Dividends No question appliances are hot. Once the bastion of boring “sea-of-white” sales floors, and embodied...
Appliances
Samsung, LG Majap Turf War Raises Concerns
With Samsung and LG Electronics now dominating the U.S. major appliance market, as they did in the first quarter, industry observers now have to...
news
Consumers Loosen Tech Purse Strings
Consumers’ propensity to spend their hard-earned greenbacks on consumer electronics is on the rise. According to the latest monthly index from the Consumer Technology...
Appliances
Beyond 2017, Tech Sales Promising
While there are a plethora of new and disruptive technologies inching their way into the mass market, global sales of consumer technology products are...
news
Bigger Isn’t Always Better
The percentage of consumers who prefer watching TV shows on TV sets plummeted by 55 percent over the past year, said market research firm...
Accessories
Not Just Phone Cases: LifeProof Brings its Grit to Speakers
Smartphone case manufacturer LifeProof has entered a new CE category: Bluetooth speakers. Keeping in theme with the company’s ultra-durable cases, the trio of Aqua-phonics...