Connected Design

  In celebration of Almo Corporation’s 75 years in business, this year at InfoComm 2021, Almo Professional A/V (InfoComm Booth #3328) the Pro A/V industry’s most dynamic distributor, is focusing on 75 ways of giving back. During InfoComm, Almo is making a $4,075 donation to the AVIXA Michael Vergauwen Scholarship to invest in future AV professionals, and donating thousands of dollars-worth of private-label brand furniture featured in the Almo booth to the West Orange Habitat for Humanity ReStore. “As a company, giving back to our industries and communities is the most productive and rewarding way to celebrate our 75th anniversary milestone,” explained Sam Taylor, executive vice president and COO for Almo Professional A/V. “We’ve carefully selected 75 different organizations representing causes that are important to us, both professionally and personally. AVIXA’s Michael Vergauwen Scholarship is especially significant as we are passionate about mentoring and supporting those who wil...

Swedish digital audio pioneer Dirac announced that the new ARCAM AVR5 receiver is “Dirac Ready” to run Dirac Live Room Correction, the company’s state-of-the-art solution to ensure home audio systems deliver the maximum sound performance across all entertainment experiences.  Cambridge, U.K.-based ARCAM created the AVR5 to be a high-performance, affordable home theater receiver. Its built-in support for Dirac Live Room Correction means even more consumers can easily achieve dramatically enhanced sound experiences that otherwise not achievable: a larger sweet spot, more accurate staging, enhanced clarity and voice intelligibility, and a deeper, tighter bass. The AVR5 also includes support for Dirac Live Bass Control, Dirac Live’s latest feature for managing subwoofers to deliver a spatially consistent bass across the entire listening area. “Consumers continue to demand ever-higher quality audio, and not just people we might traditionally consider enthusiasts. M...

  The Wyckoff, N.J.-based  Restrepo Innovations  installation team was the expert of choice for this home theater design, executed for a professional sports executive. It was the crowning achievement in a home that Restrepo Owner Mike Restrepo said his company had outfitted with a full roster of tech gear. The firm was originally brought in to fix an issue with the pool system not connecting online with the Wi-Fi setup — but the home theater project morphed into much more than that. Tech upgrades were effected in other areas, including control systems, audio and video distribution, HVAC and lighting, as well in the fully tricked-out pool and bar areas.  “The client was very open to suggestions,” Restrepo told  Connected Design.  “I’d say, ‘How about we take this wall down?’ and he was OK with it. He told the contractors, ‘Do whatever Mike says.’ We had free rein in the tech design of the room. He said his ...

Nice , a global manufacturer of Smart Home, Security, and Home & Building Automation solutions, announced today it has acquired  Nortek Security & Control , LLC from Melrose Industries. Nortek Security & Control is a leading developer of technology for security, home automation, control, power, AV and entertainment, access control, health, and artificial intelligence (AI) systems for residential and commercial markets.  With this acquisition and addition of strategic award-winning brands, Nice expands its portfolio to provide a full suite of integrated solutions for residential, commercial, industrial, and government customers, from consumer DIY to custom and professionally-installed specialized products and high-security applications. The move substantially strengthens the presence of Nice in the North American market and doubles its R&D capacity to further accelerate innovation and expansion of platform-based integrated solutions, considerably enlarging the N...

We’re keeping up the pace with this fast-moving industry by announcing our very own podcast. Launching on Wednesday, the Connected Design Podcast will make it easy for busy designers and custom integrators to get their fill on the latest trends and news, who’s who in the integration and design network, reflections on where we’ve been and where we’re going and much more. Tune in on October 6 for our pilot episode, where we’re talking all things  InfoComm : what to expect, what’s brand new and the groundbreaking conference happening this year. Guest speakers will include Annette Sandler, director of live content development for Avixa; Laura Davis-Taylor, founder of Branded Ground; and Wayne Rasor, director of digital & exterior technology, Propelled Brands. For this much anticipated event, host and Connected Design chief editor Erinn Loucks led the discussion on hot topics like the D=SIGN Conference on digital signage. Future trends, what’s happening at the event...

  In what was positioned almost like a very high end commercial, Dave Limp talks about solving problems during times of uncertainty during Amazon’s new product and services announcements today. Apparently while in these times of uncertainty, Amazon has been building and inventing, well everything. Devices fading into the background, security and privacy, AI, robots (yes robots), health, living in place and so much more were talked about in what I think was probably one of the best online presentations I’ve ever seen. All these things are the things integrators like myself have dreamed of seeing, albeit not from our typical industry partners. The only thing missing from this presentation was Captain Kirk (William Shatner) himself talking about Amazon technology, since he will be the oldest person to go to space on Amazon’s same day delivery rocket.  This whole show started off with an ear-catching term from the beginning. Limp tells us about “ambient intelligence.” Yes, t...