Quirky Shinola, the scrappy Detroit, MI-based manufacturer of an eclectic collection of disconnected product lines, including watches, bicycles, leather goods, jewelry and, now, audio, has introduced a line of headphones, including over-ear, on-ear, and in-ear models. The company, which is owned by Bedrock Manufacturing Company, LLC, is as much an experiment in bringing manufacturing back to bankrupt Detroit, as it is a power brand.
Gibson Brands: Putting Its Assets On the Line
Sells Warehouse & Property for $6 Million
Gibson Brands, Inc. has reached an agreement to sell its property on a half-acre in the North Gulch area of Nashville, TN to a private equity group for $6.38 million, according to a report by the Tennessean. The property includes an unused Gibson warehouse. The purchase was by Somera Road Inc., who worked in partnership with Tricera Capital, a Miami, FL private equity company.
See more on this Gibson Brands deal, which may not be done yet…
[Read more…] about Gibson Brands: Putting Its Assets On the Line
Amazon and Alexa Invades Japan via Echo, Echo Plus and Echo Dot
Amazon announced on Wednesday that its Alexa AI with Echo, Echo Plus and Echo Dot are all now available in Japan. The move, which the company says took a full year of development, is seen as further boosting its dominance in the Smart Speaker market globally.
See more on this exporting of Alexa to Japan… [Read more…] about Amazon and Alexa Invades Japan via Echo, Echo Plus and Echo Dot
Elan Reveals Opening of First Training Center in Dallas
Elan revealed Wednesday that it has opened a training facility in Dallas, TX as of January of this year. The company says the facility is operating at 95% capacity and has already trained more than 200 dealers from around the United States.
See more on this new initiative from Elan… [Read more…] about Elan Reveals Opening of First Training Center in Dallas
CEDIA’s Big Dig in Fishers, IN Begins
Association Breaks Ground on $14 Million HQ Building
CEDIA announced today it has broken ground on its previously revealed new $13.7 million headquarters building being built in Fishers, Indiana. The project is expected to take about a year to complete, with the organization taking residence in November 2018.
See more on this move by CEDIA… [Read more…] about CEDIA’s Big Dig in Fishers, IN Begins
Nearly 60% of Prime Users Say No to Amazon Key
Consumer’s Front Door an Impenetrable Barrier to Online Delivery People
Gifted visionaries like Jeff Bezos can image amazing products and convenient services. For example, like designing the world’s easiest online shopping site…and, dreaming of having consumers purchase goods online to be delivered IN their home. Today, in 37 cities across the United States, Amazon is launching its new delivery service where deliveries are placed past your temporarily unlocked front door and placed into your home…thanks to a special $250 door lock and cloud camera packaged solution that can be temporarily opened for the delivery person, called Amazon Key.
See what Amazon Prime subscribers think of Key in a survey by Recode… [Read more…] about Nearly 60% of Prime Users Say No to Amazon Key
CEDIA Elects New Board Members; Is Change at Hand?
CEDIA has wrapped up the election process for three open board seats that we first told you about here in a post from September. There were a total of seven candidates vying for three open slots. The election is over and ladies and gentlemen we have a winner, er, three winners.
See who joins the Board for 2018… [Read more…] about CEDIA Elects New Board Members; Is Change at Hand?
Lawyer Warns: Alexa is ‘Betraying You’
Smart Devices Put 1st Amendment Rights at Risk, Lawyer Says
Stahl Criminal Defense Lawyers
As we perused the newswire services Monday, one release, from a New Jersey criminal defense law firm, caught our eye. Titled, “Are Your Smart Devices Betraying You?” the release was written more like a poison warning label than a news release. Your smart device, Westfield, NJ-based Stahl Criminal Defense Lawyers said, are “always on and potentially recording or transmitting.”
You should be concerned Stahl says, as your First Amendment rights are at risk… [Read more…] about Lawyer Warns: Alexa is ‘Betraying You’
Control4 Builds Out Their Triad Line
It was just months ago in February, when we learned the improbable news that Control4 Corp. had acquired Triad Speakers, Inc. The news both surprised and confused us, as it did not seem to be an obvious acquisition choice for one of the industry’s leading control and smart home solutions companies. Analog speakers? Who would want to get into that business??
But Control4 jumped in with both feet, rolling out new Triad models at CEDIA, and now post-CEDIA.
See the new Triad R Series models being introduced by Control4… [Read more…] about Control4 Builds Out Their Triad Line
Gibson Brands Continues to Show Signs of Strain
Downsizing Factory & Dilution of Onkyo Ownership
Recent developments have thrust Gibson Brands back into the spotlight once again – a spot that CEO Henry Juszkiewicz doesn’t particularly enjoy, unless he’s there on his own terms. But this time, two tidbits of news have conspired to bring Gibson, and their financial challenges to the fore. And as we try to digest all of this, it’s clear that Gibson is continuing to show signs of strain due to sluggish results from its aggressive diversification into consumer electronics jeopardizing its ability to deal with looming huge debt payments on the loans used to acquire CE brands.
