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Consumer Reports Picks Top Ten Electronics of 2012; Their Choices May Surprise You

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Consumer Reports LogoConsumer Reports, that venerable organization known for torture testing products, ranking their results, and offering advice to consumers on how to pick the right product for them, announced on Thursday their picks for the Top Ten Electronics products for 2012. The list of their picks will appear in the December issue which is its Annual Electronics Issue.

The company said it tested over 600 products for their December issue, but “only ten standout products made the short list for performance and innovation.”

What electronics did they pick? See more below… [Read more…] about Consumer Reports Picks Top Ten Electronics of 2012; Their Choices May Surprise You

Consumer Confidence Rises Again; Now at 4-Year High

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Photo of consumer shoppingLooking for more “green shoots” of economic recovery? The Conference Board released the latest data from their Consumer Confidence Index showing another monthly increase (it increased in September as well) in the overall level of confidence that consumers have in the economy. The Index’s reading for October was 72.2, a significant uptick from September’s level of 68.4, which was up over August.

Still not sure this is a positive indicator? See more below… [Read more…] about Consumer Confidence Rises Again; Now at 4-Year High

New Research Quantifies Impact of ‘Showrooming’

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Harris Interactive LogoNew research released today from Harris Interactive, conducted on behalf of CouponCabin.com, provides a sobering look at how prevalent the practice of showrooming is among smartphone- and tablet-owning retail shoppers. Showrooming is where retail shoppers use their smartphone or tablet to look up lower prices on items they see in the retail showroom to purchase later from an online merchant.

According to the survey, more than 43% of smartphone and tablet owning consumers admit to showrooming. This figure, alarmingly close to 50%, is likely to be much higher than many industry observers would have expected.

But the survey didn’t stop there… [Read more…] about New Research Quantifies Impact of ‘Showrooming’

Japan Moves to Set Worldwide Standard for Residential Energy Storage

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Photo of Joe Piccirilli of Rosewater Energy Group
Joe Piccirilli, Rosewater Energy Group

At last month’s CEDIA Expo in Indianapolis, we learned about – and reported on – a new venture by industry stalwart Joe Piccirilli to sell a residential energy storage hub under the Rosewater Energy Group brand. Their hub uses rechargeable batteries to store energy from the power grid, or from renewable sources (i.e. solar panels, wind turbines), or even from a back-up generator to condition the energy and power your home.

Now news comes out of Asia that Japanese industry, in conjunction with the Japanese government, is preparing a proposal for the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) to set international standards for the fledgling residential storage industry.

Why is Japan focusing on residential energy storage? Read below to see why… [Read more…] about Japan Moves to Set Worldwide Standard for Residential Energy Storage

NEC & Partners Launch Program to Drive Adoption of Residential Energy Storage

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Photo of NEC's residential storage unit.
NEC’s residential storage unit

It seems that a great green wave is sweeping over Japan as the government and several businesses partner to drive adoption of, and set standards for, the residential energy storage (RES) system business. In a separate post, we reported on a story out of Japan of an effort by Toshiba, Hitachi, and the Japanese government to persuade the IEC, an international standards setting commission, to set an international standard for RES systems based on their proposal.

And on the same day that this was reported, separately the NEC Corp. announced that they have partnered with Orix Corp. to roll-out a national program (in the domestic Japan market) to lease NEC residential energy storage systems to consumers. Although these systems are not new, they have struggled to grow their share of the market – largely because the systems tend to be expensive.

But that’s all about to change… [Read more…] about NEC & Partners Launch Program to Drive Adoption of Residential Energy Storage

Expo Keynote: TV Personality Delivers a View That’s Fun, Futurisitic and Funny

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Photo of Dr. Michio KakuThis year’s Keynote Presentation at the CEDIA Expo earlier this month was given by well-known physicist and television personality, Dr. Michio Kaku. Kaku is undeniably well-qualified to talk about technology…and the future. And although the official title of this keynote presentation was “The Intuitive Home of 2016,” – like all great keynote speakers, Kaku ignored that topic and spoke on one closer to his heart – the physics of the future.

And what a wild future he envisions… [Read more…] about Expo Keynote: TV Personality Delivers a View That’s Fun, Futurisitic and Funny

Question: How Many ‘Connected’ Devices are in Your Home?

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Graphic of Connected Device StudyNew research released today from marketing consultant Chetan Sharma says that the typical American home has on average a total of five connected devices. A connected device is any device which is connected to the Internet via Wi-Fi, wired, or cellular networks.

Think that’s a lot? You won’t believe what else they discovered… [Read more…] about Question: How Many ‘Connected’ Devices are in Your Home?

7 Lessons on Marketing Strategy from My Day with the Cake Boss

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Photo of front of Carlo's Bake ShopTwo weekends ago, we celebrated my wife’s birthday. For the last few years, one of the things she most wanted for her birthday was a birthday cake. Not just any cake, mind you, but a cake made by Buddy Valastro – TLC’s Cake Boss. This is not as simple of a request as it sounds and for the last couple of years, I couldn’t fit it into my schedule to make it happen.

This year, I made it happen – and learned something about marketing strategy from the Cake Boss… [Read more…] about 7 Lessons on Marketing Strategy from My Day with the Cake Boss

J.D. Power & Assocs. Survey Proves What We’ve Said All Along: 3D is Dead as a Sales Motivator

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J.D. Power and Associates LogoI know not everyone who reads this post agrees with us, and we’ve taken a fair share of criticism for our viewpoint, but we’ve been consistently skeptical of the power of 3D to drive HDTV sales. And now, after the industry spent millions (billions?) of dollars in promotion and advertising , as well as several years of intense sales effort, and probably billions of dollars in research & development – a new survey of HDTV-purchasing consumers from reputable researcher J.D. Power and Associates shows that 3D was ranked a distant last as the reason they purchased their set.

The survey held some other surprises as well… [Read more…] about J.D. Power & Assocs. Survey Proves What We’ve Said All Along: 3D is Dead as a Sales Motivator

SpeakerCraft Crafts a New Kind of Speaker

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SpeakerCraft Protege LogoAt the CEA Line Show last month, we saw a whole spectrum of exhibitors, including: 1) Unknown brands vying to get the attention of the tech press; 2) Well-known brands showing products again that have already been announced and shown; 3) And then there were a couple of surprises – well-known companies showing entirely new products or product categories. SpeakerCraft, a well-known predominantly custom integration supplier, surprised us with a new product in a new category for them…they call it Protegé.

Call it Protegé…but don’t call it a soundbar… [Read more…] about SpeakerCraft Crafts a New Kind of Speaker