Sony Corp., the troubled Japanese giant consumer electronics company, has launched an internal early retirement program in a bid to cut overhead in its headquarters. The company has already announced major worldwide staff cutbacks, but it hopes this new incentive for headquarters staff will cut administrative costs by about 30%.
Manufacturers
Core Brands Awards The Bulk of Its Brands to Atlantic Integrated For NY Metro
Core Brands, LLC, a division of Nortek, Inc., announced Tuesday that Atlantic Integrated, a Rockleigh, NJ-based sales representative company, has been awarded most of its brands for representation in the New York Metropolitan region and Fairfield County, CT. This appointment is effective immediately and represents a realignment of the brands under one rep firm.
See more on this major announcement for the NY metro market… [Read more…] about Core Brands Awards The Bulk of Its Brands to Atlantic Integrated For NY Metro
Atmos Attacks at CE Week 2014
One of the big themes at CE Week 2014 was the unofficial official rollout of Dolby’s latest surround sound technology – Atmos. Both Onkyo and Pioneer intro’d, displayed, and demo’d Atmos systems. However, since both companies showed prototypes, what we heard was only an approximation of what the final production units should sound like.
We participated in demos of, and closely listened to, BOTH the Onkyo and the Pioneer Atmos systems.
What did we think of our first Atmos demos? See more below… [Read more…] about Atmos Attacks at CE Week 2014
Velodyne President Calls Strata-gee to Set the Record Straight
Regular readers of Strata-gee know that we have recently covered news of layoffs and distribution changes by Velodyne – a long-time specialty industry player. Although we had made many attempts to get the company to comment prior to our posting of these stories, we were told that no company executives were available at that time.
However, the day after our second story appeared, we heard from Velodyne’s press representative who said the company’s President was now available to speak with us about what is going on at Velodyne.
See what Velodyne’s President told us about these recent events… [Read more…] about Velodyne President Calls Strata-gee to Set the Record Straight
Pioneer Sells AV Business to Private Equity Company & Onkyo
BREAKING NEWS
We first told you about Pioneer’s plans to sell off their struggling AV division just last month in a SYNCH Breaking News exclusive. Now word comes out of Japan as to the identity of the buyer for this business – a group that includes a private equity company and Onkyo.
See some very interesting details on this announcement… [Read more…] about Pioneer Sells AV Business to Private Equity Company & Onkyo
HDBaseT Alliance Announces Sony Will Join Group
The HDBaseT Alliance, an organization formed to promote the HDBaseT technology and grow its market, announced today that Sony Corporation will join the group as a Contributor member. One of their biggest “gets” yet, Sony is said to be introducing new energy-efficient HD projectors with the HDBaseT functionality.
See more on this significant announcement from the ever-growing alliance… [Read more…] about HDBaseT Alliance Announces Sony Will Join Group
Core Brands Director of CI Leaves to Join SurgeX
Power protection manufacturer SurgeX announced today that Jimmy Paschke, former Core Brands Director of CI, has joined the company as its new Southern Regional Sales Manager. The appointment is effective immediately.
See more on this interesting move by Paschke… [Read more…] about Core Brands Director of CI Leaves to Join SurgeX
Harman Acquires Headphone Maker Yurbuds
Harman International Industries, Inc. announced today that is has acquired St. Louis-based Yurbuds, LLC., a manufacturer of headphones. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The acquisition seems surprising, given the fact that Harman already owns brands such as JBL and AKG that already offer headphones.
Why would a company that already offers headphones, acquire a headphone company? See more… [Read more…] about Harman Acquires Headphone Maker Yurbuds
Velodyne Authorizes Powerhouse Alliance as National Distribution Partner for Subwoofers
Just one day after we reported on layoffs at Velodyne’s audio division, we received word from the company that it is authorizing the Powerhouse Alliance, a national group of distributors, for its line of subwoofers. The agreement will make Velodyne subwoofers available to Powerhouse Alliances’ nationwide network of retailers and installers.
See more on this new announcement from Velodyne… [Read more…] about Velodyne Authorizes Powerhouse Alliance as National Distribution Partner for Subwoofers
Screen Research Names Grace Motif as Exclusive U.S. Distributor
Screen Research, a line of high-performance projection screens owned by the Adeo Group of Italy, announced that it has selected specialty products distributor Grace Motif, Inc. as its exclusive distributor for the U.S. custom installation market, effective this month. Grace Motif has been the Screen Research distributor for the commercial market since the beginning of this year, so this announcement represents a significant expansion of the relationship.
