How to create an acoustic “slice of paradise” on the high seas.

Noise is a subjective experience: It has distinctive effects on individuals based on their sensitivities to sound. The physiological effects of noise vary from person to person.  For example, a hearing-impaired person may be susceptible to further harm when exposed to excessive noise levels. 

Recently, a SoundSense client with a hearing problem asked if the noise from his yacht could potentially harm his hearing.  After a quick reading with a spectrum analyzer and an interview, we realized that the noise levels were, indeed, hazardous to his existing condition.

4Store is a new online marketplace created by Control4, where users can access applications that give homeowners customization options, as well as maximize home efficiency.

No specific date has been announced yet, as to when the store will be available online. The only thing that has been confirmed is that it will be up by the first half of 2010. In the meantime, dealers are creating applications for 4Store using a software developers kit that was released in late 2009.

Few things were more a-buzz than some of the 3D demonstrations being conducted at CEDIA. Panasonic, Mitsubishi, JVC, Digital Projection Inc. (DPI), and others were all touting their flavors of three-dimensional viewing for the home. Many of these demos have been seen before, but this year there is actually promise of delivery, some as early as this fall. Now the trick will be selling it to the consumer.

Home theater companies looking to expand their profit centers were running into a problem when it came to star ceilings. Such products can be fantastic, but the installation time required installing a star ceiling cost valuable man-hours and left companies with a small profit.

Sometimes the dealer knows best. Being in the field means you know the challenges and solutions needed better than anyone else. To get what they need a dealers must either pressure vendors for better solutions or come up with their own. Invostar, a systems integrator based in West Palm Beach, Florida, did the latter, but in a move not often seen, is offering one of these solutions to other dealers as well. 

Sanus Systems has jumped on the mobile application bandwagon by launching Sanus Mobile. The company says that the app is part of their effort to make available more support and better customer service to both their dealers and the general public. “We hope the ability to have instant, wireless access to our website will be highly valuable for retail professionals in helping them secure sales and save time for custom installers in the field,” says Jim Wohlford, general manager at Sanus Systems.

 OLED (organic light-emitting diode) gets a lot of press for some very interesting and very flat TVs, but we pretty much know that technology is very far off from being a major competitor in the television market. But there are other ares in which the technology may also make a mark.

Last year, a brand new home in Palo Alto, Calif. was outfitted with new technology from a little-known company called Agilewaves. Day by day the devices installed within this home collected data on the energy consumption of the major utilities—water, gas and electric—and how it was being used in the home. The homeowner was able get real-time reports on where, when and how energy was being used and whether it was being wasted or saved.