General Topics

Memorial Day, a day that is generally considered the kick-off of the summer, is here again. Families will gather, picnics will commence, and outside fun & games are sure to ensue. That is as it should be. But please don’t forget…

What to remember on Memorial Day 2022

As we rapidly approach the end of the holiday season, it’s time to close out 2021 and celebrate the launch of another new year. And while 2021 might not quite have measured up to what some had hoped it would be, there is always hope for a better tomorrow. New year = new opportunity!

See my thoughts on 2021 and my Happy New Year wish for you in 2022

Savant Entering DIY? GE Lighting to Bring High-End Home Automation to Lowes?? Read On…

Recently I heard some concerning information on just what Savant was planning to do with their recently acquired GE Lighting division. Concepts like Savant entering the DIY market…and GE Lighting bringing high-end home automation to the Home Depot/Lowes channel…were confusing and not the typical Savant marketing strategy. So I reached out to the company for clarification. In a Zoom interview with Savant President J.C. Murphy, I learned much more about the strategy behind the company’s acquisition of GE Lighting, and how they intend to integrate – and cross-pollinate – the technologies, engineering, and capabilities between the two companies.

Murphy cleared up the confusion and revealed their smart, smart home strategy – with the GE Lighting and Savant brands well-positioned.

Learn what’s going on here…

Talk about your contradiction of contradictions! Is the internet the greatest invention to emerge over the last ten or twenty years…or the worst? I guess, depending on the context, it is both. But lately, there have been some troubling cyberattack developments coming out of the hacker world that have caused the associated risks to have risen to a scary level.

I found some useful commonsense tactics you can employ to help protect yourself from a damaging cyberattack. No one can give you a 100% guarantee that they have a foolproof system that is undefeatable. But, as one security expert once told me about home security, you can only hope to fortify your defenses such that the hackers choose to move on to an easier target.

See how to level up your cyberattack protection…

Late in the day on Tuesday, Sonos held an investor event – their first such event – and kicked it off by announcing the new Roam portable speaker. While the $169 MSRP Roam speaker was interesting, I was more interested in trying to figure out the thinking behind why they wanted this small and relatively inexpensive portable as their next big thing.

Learn more on the latest speaker from Sonos…

Vizio Holding Corp. (Vizio) filed an S-1 registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for an initial public offering (IPO) of its stock on the public market. Their offering is being handled by J.P. Morgan and BoA, both of whom will act as lead book runners for the offering. The company hopes to use the symbol VZIO on the New York Stock Exchange.

But this isn’t their first try at going public.

See more on the Vizio IPO filing…

See Totals & Category Breakdowns

On the first day of the virtual CES 2021 earlier this month, the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) released their latest forecast for the total retail sales of technology in the United States. After a record year in 2020, the tech industry association says, collective retail sales are forecast to increase a robust 4.3% for a total of $461 billion in 2021.

See more on the CTA 2021 tech sales forecast…