Thursday marked the third of the SYNNEX COLLABSolv LAVNCH Days (if you need reference material as to what those are, find some previous coverage here), and this event in particular promised to cover a topic at the forefront of all our minds: hybrid connections. What are they? What do they look like in our homes? […]
THIS IS A PROMOTED POST Times are changing, and today’s hybrid working world — with some people at home and some in the office — means team collaboration is more necessary than ever. We’ve got a great story to share with you today, and we hope you’ll read it in full, but let’s be realistic; […]
I’m at the point where I’m genuinely tired of dealing with the impact of COVID-19 on business, and I’m definitely tired of talking about it. But, as they say, we play the hand of cards we have dealt. There are a lot of complications that we have to face today as a result of COVID. […]
What’s old is new again, at least as it relates to interactive digital signage at retail. Years ago, when touch screen interactivity approached mainstream adoption in retail, customers were adapting to a new workflow. The progression of customers understanding, trusting and ultimately using touch-interactive signage took time. After all, retailers were resetting shopping behavior that […]
THIS IS A PROMOTED POST Have you ever been to an NFL stadium or a Major League Baseball park, seen an NHL game live on the ice, or sat in an NBA arena to watch a game? If you have, you’ve seen Daktronics. In fact, more than half of all of those sites in and […]
Hey, everybody! Long time, no talk (unless you read the rAVe [PUBS] newsletters — then you hear from me a lot). I am coming to you with the latest news on our LAVNCH event coming to you live on Oct. 8! If you have been spending a lot of time thinking about how to move […]
Dear Zoom, We began using Zoom three years ago as a corporate replacement for Skype. The technical staff and our faculty and staff absolutely loved it. Slowly, we acquired more and more licenses. Then in March of 2020, COVID hit, and Zoom went from an essential tool to a business-critical application. And that is when […]
By Michael Boreham Futuresource Consulting Make no mistake: COVID-19 has caused incredible disruption to higher education. As campus living is stripped from the usual buzz of freshers’ week, students are understandably concerned about how university is set to become a not-so-memorable experience. With physical lectures restricted, a 10 p.m. curfew on nightlife, and all sporting […]
From “Hey, Cortana” to cloud-enabled interactive sound for HoloLens to Windows Sonic (Windows 10 comes with support for virtual surround sound), Microsoft invests heavily in research on audio. And the company is convinced the ProAV market fails to recognize this. They have a point here. Did you know speaker detection technology developed by Microsoft researchers […]
By Chris Bull Futuresource Consulting Throughout 2020, esports has been one of the most notable champions amid stay-at-home orders and social distancing policies. The industry has thrived, but it has certainly changed course from its pre-COVID trajectory, and even more so for its application in K-12 and higher education. When we talk about esports and […]
Earlier this week, DSE show organizers confirmed what many of us had suspected for months — that DSE would not happen as planned in 2020. What came as a bit of a surprise was Exponation’s entry into Chapter 7 bankruptcy — such an abrupt and terminal move by the organization that lifted up our industry […]
In my biweekly blog series, I am highlighting some of the incredible people who work for the Audio Video Industry. In this post, we are profiling Amelia Vrabel. Here is a brief introduction. Amelia Vrabel is VP Channels at Mersive Technologies. 1. Describe your journey in the AV industry? How did it start? Some would […]
On Tuesday, I attended the first-ever virtual iteration of NSCA’s Pivot to Profit event — P2Pv. The National Systems Contractors Association (or NSCA, as I mentioned earlier) puts on Pivot to Profit every year, but this time around the show looked a little different. In a great way. My recap from Tuesday’s event is here, […]
There’s no doubt that Microsoft Teams has been playing catch-up with Zoom for months; some would argue years. But, this week, Microsoft upped its game by adding a host of features that even Zoom power-users will love. Here’s a summary look at each one: Together Mode: Together mode re-imagines meeting experiences to help participants feel […]
This week, I was excited to cover my first virtual event on the first official day of fall (Yes! Fall officially began Sept. 22!) on what’s finally a beautiful (not deathly hot) North Carolina day. This show was one that I’d never attended, and one that would be all-brand-new to me — designed specifically for […]
How an “AVSM” mindset can supercharge growth in the AV industry. In the last few articles, I talked (ranted) about the gap between the AV world and our customers. This gap has been the source of misunderstanding, poor experiences and lack of relevance at the big kids’ table. I recently saw an article discussing how […]
By Kane McKenna Futuresource Consulting The rate of growth in the office based headset market has been steadily increasing in recent years. A key driver of this has been the rising importance of video conferencing, explored in Futuresource’s 2020 Video Conferencing report. Many end users have been looking to improve their videoconferencing experience, leading to […]
By Bob Snyder It’s an image so large it would take 378 4K ultra-high-definition TV screens to display. The resolution is so high you could see the dimples’ texture on a golf ball even if it was 24 kilometers away. This month, a lab at Stanford University, operating on behalf of the U.S. Department of […]
By Chris Evans Futuresource Consulting The challenge for many businesses to facilitate home working at scale has proven to be a major catalyst in making video an everyday business tool. This has been one of the most significant operational and cultural changes businesses have faced in decades and has proven to be a fast-track education […]
As human beings we have a positive association with memory. We view those with good memories as intelligent and reinforce the idea that remembering mistakes of the past assures we won’t repeat them in the future. I don’t discount the value of memory on the whole. However — is there an advantage to being forgetful? […]
As technology people, we in the AV world are not immune to being drawn to new, fancy, shiny objects. We know we need to ask the right questions, make sure it fits our needs (or our customers’ needs), but wow, that new tech can be exciting. On occasion, we are also drawn in the opposite […]
By Jack Wetherill Futuresource Consulting Smart speakers continue to capture the hearts and wallets of consumers, driving demand for wireless speakers and establishing a wider acceptance of voice assistants. By the end of 2019, 21 million smart speakers were in use in Western European homes, on track to exceed 32 million by the end of […]
By James Manning Smith Futuresource Consulting The video gaming industry has risen to new heights in 2020, with prevailing market conditions stimulating consumer demand and console lifecycles coming together to create an environment of opportunity. According to Futuresource research, by the end of this year the gaming software market will be worth U.S. $154 billion, […]
In my biweekly blog series, I am highlighting some of the incredible people who work for the Audio Video Industry. In this post, we are profiling Dotan Shoval. Here is a brief introduction. Dotan Shoval is the founder of AVMaster and The Machine. 1.Describe your journey in the AV industry? How did it start? Actually […]
Way, way before COVID-19, UCC saw explosive growth. Because of it, “collaboration” was not only the buzzword of InfoComm 2019 but also completely dominated ISE 2020 — the last great AV event of 2020. But, UCC doesn’t mean meeting room or huddle room, by the way. If you read the spec sheets of the plethora […]
World Wrestling Entertainment is a sport that relies on fan engagement and interaction more than any other. A big reason for that is the fact that it is staged. Yes, there is a substantial degree of physicality that goes into it, along with choreography and excellent timing. Yet, in the end, we know it is […]
Throughout the world, organizations of all sorts are grappling with the challenge of safely operating against the backdrop of COVID-19. Retail establishments, restaurants, professional offices, public spaces – they’re all looking for ways to resume operations while mitigating pathogen spread. A basic but all-important precaution of doing so is to screen temperatures upon entry. It’s […]
I’d never heard the term “double join” until a few months ago on a call with one of our board members, John Case, who is a great resource to talk with if you’re researching the world of video conferencing. John spent a long time at Microsoft building the Office 365 product family and now puts […]
Suppose you’re active in social media at all. In that case, you may have noticed that quite a few strong opinions are resurfacing about AV’s “Experience” movement that has been happening since InfoComm became AVIXA. I believe the sudden rise of cloud-based conferencing, AV-over-IP and the retraction of hospitality, live and experiential events due to […]
So I had a particularly notable and unsatisfying customer service experience this year. I say “this year” because it’s been slowly unfolding like a slow-motion train wreck throughout almost all of 2020. Bear with me here, because it’s kind of a convoluted tale. There’s a brand of outdoor apparel that I’ve been loyal to for […]
In my biweekly blog series, I am highlighting some of the incredible people who work for the Audio Video Industry. In this post, we are profiling Jay Kowalsky. Here is a brief introduction. Jay Kowalsky,CTS-I is the Director of Operations for Red Thread. 1. Describe your journey in the AV industry? How did it start? […]
The other day, my dad asked me to call him and give him some advice. Family friends of his were going to celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary virtually via Zoom. A 60th wedding anniversary is a remarkable milestone and deserves to be celebrated. But obviously, all people involved have concerns about gathering in large groups […]
