news
Amazon Planning Second HQ, First NY Depot
Amazon is looking to build a second headquarters site in North America, and is accepting proposals from potential state and local government hosts. Founder/CEO...
Post Type news_article
Audio
High-Res Audio Growing Thanks To More Products, Lower Prices
High-res audio devices are seeing steady growth, The NPD Group said on Wednesday, and retailers can expect increased consumer awareness to continue this trend....
news
Conn’s Reopens 23 Stores Closed By Hurricane Harvey
Texas-based Conn’s is getting back to business in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, which ravaged the state’s coastal communities last month. The CE, appliance...
Industry
GE Appliances Promotes Robert Rogers To Sales VP
Robert Rogers, a 23-year-veteran of GE Appliances, has been promoted to sales VP at the Haier-owned company. Rogers joined the business in 1994 from...
Audio
CEDIA 2017: Alexa, Google Assistant & Other Voice UIs Come Into Their Own
This week’s CEDIA 2017 is giving A/V products and custom-installed integrated systems more of a voice in the way they’re controlled. New products are...
news
CEDIA 2017: Kaleidescape Signs Fox For 4K, Eyes PVOD
Kaleidescape, the supplier of luxury multiroom video-server systems, will expand its selection of downloadable 4K movies with 4K content from Fox and will participate...
news
Hisense Takes A Shine To CEDIA With 100-Inch Laser TV
Hisense is making its CEDIA debut with its $9,999-UPP Laser TV, promoted as a disruptively priced “market-creation” product said to combine the ease of...
Distributors
D&H Bolsters Home Entertainment Team
North American IT and CE distributor D&H Distributing has doubled down on its home entertainment business with two new hires and a new customer-facing...
news
T-Mobile Adds Free Netflix In Latest ‘Un-Carrier’ Move
T-Mobile has added a major new incentive to its basket of wireless lures. Beginning next Tuesday (Sept. 12), the carrier will pick up the...
CES
CES 2018 Registration Opens
Registration for CES 2018 has begun. The show, to be held Jan. 9-12, 2018, in Las Vegas, is produced annually by the Consumer Technology...
news
Millennials Skipping Live TV In Favor Of On Demand: CTA
Millennials are eschewing live TV in favor of self-recorded and on-demand content, according to a new study from the Consumer Technology Association (CTA). Fifty-five...
news
Kohl’s Testing Amazon-Staffed Smart-Home Sections
Kohl’s, the discount junior department store chain, will begin testing interactive smart-home display areas next month featuring Amazon devices, accessories, services and personnel. The...
news
CEDIA 2017 Is This Week. Here Are 5 Things To Watch
Market and technology changes are creating new opportunities for custom integrators at a time when the business is strong and, for most integrators, getting...
news
Video & Audio Center Aims To Redefine Technology Retailing
For decades, the Westside of Los Angeles was the epicenter of American entertainment as the home of 20th Century Fox studios. This fall it...
news
Growing 4K UHD Libraries Driving TV Demand
4K Ultra HD TVs are taking off and, fortunately, the native content available to support them — and even newer premium content with high...
news
What ‘Stream the Studio’ Means to Custom Integration
The Stream the Studio initiative began about three years ago when music companies began realizing that the digital music market was rapidly changing, with...
Buying Groups
Buying Groups Stage Summertime Hat Trick
The worm has clearly turned for independent CE and appliance dealers. Although written off amid the growth of big-box chains and later Amazon, it...
news
Best Buy’s Shiny Q2
Taking everybody by surprise, Best Buy’s second-quarter earnings and sales topped analysts’ expectations as revenue approached $9 billion, up almost 5 percent, and same-store...
news
Home Technology Association Looks to Certify Top Integrators
The Home Technology Association is a new, independent organization created to educate and empower homeowners in their technology purchases, recognize exceptional businesses, and elevate...
Accessories
Capitol Going All-In On IoT At CEDIA 2017
Capitol, the distribution source for residential systems and light commercial contractors, as well as CE dealers, is featuring its latest smarthome line at CEDIA....
news
2017: The Year 4K Ultra HD Entered The Mainstream
2017 has proven to be the year of the Ultra HD 4K TV as high dynamic range (HDR) and wide color gamut (WCG) models...
news
Debunking The Retail Apocalypse
U.S. retailers are opening 4,080 more stores in 2017 than they are closing, and plan to open over 5,500 more in 2018, according to...
Appliances
Get Smart: Bosch, Sharp Forge New Kitchen Connections
As the appliance industry revs up for home automation dominance, two leading lights in kitchen majaps have brought in app partners to help get...
Buying Groups
AVB Taking Business With Aggressive Digital Push
Thousands of dealers, vendors and suppliers converged on Caesars Palace last week for AVB/BrandSource’s late summer convention and buy show. The message from the...
news
Mega Group Stresses Member Strengths
Mega Group USA broke all attendance records with its Fall National Convention, held mid-August at the Omni Hotel & Music City Convention Center in...
news
Nationwide Presses Its Market Share Advantage
More than 3,000 dealers from 750 businesses, along with over 200 vendors, convened at the Nationwide Marketing Group’s bi-annual PrimeTime convention in Las Vegas...
news
Not To Be Outdone, Sony Debuts Its Own Smart Speaker
Sony broke both size and sound barriers with a slew of new products unveiled at IFA 2017, including a palm-sized premium compact camera and...
news
TCL Bringing AI To Its TVs
TCL unveiled three new TVs in three distinct series at IFA this morning, along with an impressive conversational AI capability that allows natural voice...
news
Global CE Sales Will Rise 4% In 2017: GfK
After a flat 2016, the value of global CE product sales are projected to rise 4 percent this year, according to GfK forecasts presented...
news
Learn, Baby, Learn
My sons are, for the first time, both in middle school at the same time. And because of that our household is the proud...
news
Consumers See The Light
Consumer awareness of home automation has never been greater. Earlier this summer, on Amazon Prime Day, the retailer prominently offered a bundle deal consisting...
news
7 Reasons Your Installer Life is Easier Today Than 15 Years Ago
Recently, I had to look up my actual start day back in 2002. Here I am 15 years later. It had me thinking of...
news
The Network Backbone Is Key
As incredible as it may seem, it has only been 10 years since the release of the original Apple iPhone, and to say that...
news
What’s In Store For Consumer Tech’s Holiday 2017 Season
Each year around the holidays, NPD provides what we have come to call the Baker’s Dozen — a list of 13 predictions for the...
news
Same-Day Delivery Is A Go For Best Buy
Best Buy is growing its same-day delivery program. Not only is the retailer adding cities where consumers can order products from BestBuy.com and...
Accessories
Beats Adds Studio Wireless3 Headphones With Apple W1 Chip
Beats by Dr. Dre has updated its top-of-the-line Studio Wireless headphones, adding the Apple W1 chip and upgrading the components. It also trimmed a...
Industry
More Than 300 Business Leaders Speak Out In Support Of DACA
A group of more than 300 business leaders and CEOs have sent an open letter to President Trump and congressional leaders urging them to preserve...
Accessories
Sphero, LittleBits & Propel Mark Force Friday II With Cool Smart Toys
The connected-toy industry ushered in Force Friday II with a warm welcome. In honor of the marketing event, intended to generate excitement for the...
news
IFA 2017: LG Adds Technicolor Expert Mode To All 2017 OLED TVs
LG and Technicolor have teamed up to demonstrate 2017 OLED TVs at IFA 2017 featuring Technicolor Expert Mode, which displays colors optimized by Technicolor’s...
CE Financial Strategies
What to do When Higher CE Sales Result in Lower or Slower Collections
Overcoming doubts about outsourcing and taking a deep dive into operational processes and efficiencies can reap benefits and lead to greater growth and profitability...
news
IFA 2017: TCL Bringing AI To Its TVs
TCL unveiled three new TVs in three distinct series at IFA this morning, along with an impressive conversational AI capability that allows natural voice...
Home Automation
IFA 2017: Not To Be Outdone, Sony Debuts Its Own Smart Speaker
Sony broke both size and sound barriers with a slew of new products unveiled at IFA 2017, including a palm-sized premium compact camera and...