Residential Tech Today Aug/Sept/Oct. 2020

When the COVID-19 quarantine began back in March, one of the more mundane changes in my life was the suspension of pro basketball games. Other sports followed, of course, and thus began the complete elimination or Zoomification of once-live, televised programming such as NBC’s The Voice, award shows, and even presidential conventions. For sports fans, the void left by the lack of NBA games for the remainder of the winter, followed by Major League Baseball games in the early spring, had to be filled by an ever-growing list of binge-able Netflix shows, nostalgic movies, and even straight-to-streaming movies originally intended for commercial release. Then along came Disney Plus, which was like catnip for a family of Disney obsessives like mine. Some may recall that I struggled to cut the cord at the…

Mitchell Klein is the Z-Wave Alliance executive director, 2019 CEDIA Lifetime Award winner, and a lifelong Boston sports fan with 25 years of custom integration industry knowledge and wisdom. On page 26, Klein helps translate the Z-Wave 2020 State of the Ecosystem Report by offering his five key takeaways. A member of the CEDIA Technology Council, Access Networks’ technical trainer Nathan Holmes is not only a networking subject matter expert, but also a seasoned executive who helps drive new business development through strategic planning implementation and tactical execution. He developed his technical trainer role to be a bridge between Access Networks’ engineering and sales departments. On page 30, Holmes reveals the five worst home networking mistakes and how to avoid them. As a product and marketing executive at Harman International, Michael Heiss…

There was a time – say around 1967 – when it seemed like the post-World War II baby boom generation would be young forever. That revolutionary demographic has become the grandparents of today, but unlike their “Greatest Generation” predecessors, they’re used to making their own rules, even when it comes to healthcare. Long before the global pandemic made us reconsider how we spend our time indoors, the Boomers were already looking for new ways to avoid “the home” through home health tech. Now, Gen X and Millennials are exploring the benefits of wellness tech, too. Here are some useful stats related to a healthy home.…

“How are you selling human-centric lighting to your client base?” Full-color human-centric lighting is the first thing we discuss for all projects in conjunction with Delos Darwin solutions for air and water quality. We are typically called upon for AV, but the conversations quickly gravitate toward wellness once questions are asked of the client or architect regarding what they deem important for their new home. This has become a main focal point for our team, based on the amount of time people are spending at home and the importance of wellness as it relates to our current situation. – David Freda, Gilmore’s Sound Advice, New York, NY We believe everybody deserves a better technology experience. We present human-centric lighting as a crucial component of a comprehensive lighting design service with the goal of…

At the start of the 2020 global pandemic, video conferencing became the de facto remote communication tool, practically overnight, with the Microsoft Teams and Zoom platforms expanding beyond “enterprise” to become the platforms of choice for remote learning, family gatherings, and even Friday happy hours. Back in the pre-COVID-19 days, before home conferencing was so common, Crestron was working with enterprise business clients to make these types of experiences the best possible. Combining that expertise and its home automation know-how, the New Jersey-based manufacturer is now offering professional-grade home conferencing technology as a standalone solution, including multiple options for a dedicated home office or learning space, a living room, in front of the TV, “anywhere you Zoom,” or integrated into a Crestron smart home system. The Crestron Home Desktop solution brings enterprise…

Premium sound quality is the prime driver behind High-Definition Audio in both content and system sectors. Content creators like Capitol Records and Sony, with Super HiRez service, launched a high-definition initiative years ago to defend listeners from sound compression. Compression minimizes file sizes and results by omitting ranges and layers from audio content. High-definition audio recaptures the full sound elements and allows louder volumes and greater sound fidelity. Universal Remote Control researched audio offerings for premium home automation systems and realized an opportunity existed. Many premium audio systems were missing features and benefits from expanding audio streams and a high number of zones. This opportunity led to the creation of URC’s HDA (High-Definition Audio) portfolio. Led by the HDA 8100 Multi-Zone Amplifier, the product line features eight stereo amplified zone outputs or…