I’m sure you’re all pretty sick of hearing about convergence. It’s been the buzzword from InfoComm, NSCA and most of our major publications for, oh, the last decade. IT is coming! Convergence is upon us! Adapt or die! The clarion call has been shouted from rooftops, proclaimed in industry classes and discussed endlessly — in roundtables and keynotes and blog upon blog. To an average integrator, this tintinnabulation has echoed falsely in our everyday work life. Sure, we meet with more IT guys than general facilities guys these days, and yeah, once in a while an IT firm shows up at an AV project pre-bid, but the wholesale takeover of our industry as predicted has simply not come to pass. It’s not that big a deal. Okay, business has slowed some places for integrators, but it’s the economy, right? Things are down all over! Read more
Archive for News
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RIP to an AV Pioneer
I just learned that Eugene Polley passed away on Sunday at age 96. Most of you are now saying, “Who?” Eugene Polley is widely credited as the inventor of the television remote control. In the 1950s, Polley was the Zenith engineer who developed the Flash-Matic television control unit, along with many other innovations. In his nearly 50-year career, he earned 18 US patents and was influential in the development of many features and products we all take for granted. And, he invented the remote… which in his day resembled a ray-gun and sounds infinitely cooler than the button-laden brick we all lose in our couches. Thanks, Eugene, for all your great ideas and innovations. Rest thee well.
Read more about Eugene Polley: http://www.marinij.com/business/ci_20680677/eugene-polley-inventor-tv-remote-dies-at-96
A WAVE of Good Cheer in DC
This Friday past, the Women in AV (WAVE) held their first ‘international’
tweet-up, with live events held simultaneously in 10 cities around the US and via Twitter, worldwide. For a first-effort, I’d say this event was a rousing success. Thanks to the BlogSquad’s own Jennifer Willard for working so hard to put this event together!
In Washington, DC, I ended up with the task of organizing a venue for the party. Since there was no way to really know who and how many would show up for this inaugural event, I decided to throw the local party at a joint where I’d enjoy hanging out. Thus, Fado Irish Pub in DC’s Chinatown became our tweet-up home. Fantastic, authentic Irish food and lots of great beer and cider on tap, plus open WiFi. Not a bad place to spend an evening for a tweet-up! Read more
Post Infocomm Wrap-Up
A Busy Spring…
Twitter’s Top 5 Badass AV Women
The other day, I read a blog by Diana Adams (@adamsconsulting) called “Twitter’s Top 75 Badass Women.” This wonderful article – which can be read at http://tinyurl.com/Top75Women – detailed 75 great ladies on Twitter who have a passion for their jobs and share it well. As Ms. Adams wrote: Read more
A Contrarian’s View of the 3-D Craze
Bah-Humbug!
The $3 Billion Elephant in the Room
Is this the end of the VTC world as we know it? *shrug* I feel fine…
A Crazy, Catch-Up Blog… Edu-rama!
Too much content! GAH!
So, it’s been a million years since I posted last… or at least, it seems that way. In truth, things have been crazy-busy in the life of AVDawn since last we met. Despite the recession, things are hopping at Advanced Video Systems. Every day for the past two weeks, I’ve either been on a site visit, working on proposals or starting the purchasing process for new projects we’ve won. And since our installers have been on job sites non-stop, I’m feeling pretty confident about weathering this downturn… well, at least through July or so. Then again, part of my job is making sure that the streak continues, so – busy, busy bee for me! bzzzzzzzz. ^_^ Read more
An Edifying Blast from the Past
An 8-Year-Old Article For Your Amusement and Amazement
October, 2001: A more innocent time. Our country had just been rocked by the 9/11 attacks, yet we still had a sense of naive optimism, hope and positivity. The dot-com bubble had not yet fully burst, new net technologies were just being introduced and markets were still flying high. The A/V industry was “on the grow” and many of today’s big names were just little sprogs. Gary Kayye, noted consultant, speaker and mind behind the rAVe family of industry newsletters was, at the time, writing a little email precursor to rAVe called KNews. Read more