Blog articles from 02/2013

By Brett Sappington  U.S. cable operator Suddenlink announced that it would offer the TiVo Mini to its subscribers in several locations in advance of the product's retail release later this spring. The Mini is a small, IP-based set-top box that provides a variety of features for second and third TVs in the home, including whole home DVR and the ability to pause in one room and play in another. Importantly, the Mini can only be used in homes that have a TiVo Premiere...

CEDIA Region 1 appointed Parks Associates to conduct extensive industry research on the residential custom installation market within the UK. This comprehensive project was carried out from July to September 2012, with approximately a quarter of the industry taking part. If you would like to purchase a copy of this report click the following link .

By Kurt Scherf, Contributor Although I covered the major trends that I read about at CES, there are far too many subjects to cover in one blog. Other themes that were present at CES included: The continuing evolution of personal storage devices (flash drives and network-attached storage). Autonomous (self-driving) cars on display from major manufacturers. 3D printers may not today be positioned as must-have devices for every consumer, but they are...

By Kurt Scherf, Contributor One final category to reference are technologies that are changing the way in which the relationship among retailers, consumer electronics manufacturers, and consumers are changing. There has been much written about how “showcasing” is cutting into brick-and-mortar retail sales because consumers may go to a store like Best Buy and look at the latest technology, but actually purchase the product online, where the price is cheaper and where sales tax...

By Kurt Scherf, Contributor Although there was much derisive press focused on the “smart fork” (the HAPIfork that can tell you if you’re eating too fast), there were many health and fitness applications that received very popular attention at the show. Companies such as AliveCor , FitBit , and iHealth continued the theme of how smartphones are impacting all facets of the digital lifestyle, as they showcased monitoring and tracking solutions for heart health,...

By Jim O'Neill, Research Analyst Over the course of the post several months, Amazon.com has become increasingly aggressive in acquiring exclusive content for its Prime Instant Video Service. Amazon today announced a new deal with CBS that is likely to spread a minor shudder of angst amid its biggest competitors, Netflix and Hulu. The two have struck an exclusive content licensing deal that gives Amazon rights to the new CBS television series “Under the Dome,”...

By Kurt Scherf, Contributor I am lumping home technologies for home security, remote control of lights, energy management, and personal safety into a broad category here, and the few paragraphs I’ve contributed don’t do justice to the development in this space. Home controls solutions have been around for decades, but one question that industry observers have been asking for years is “When is this market going to take off?” In the past couple of years, we have seen some...

Kurt Scherf, Contributor Tablets are seriously denting the sale of personal computers, and 2012 may have been the first time in 11 years that sales actually decreased . Shortly after CES, Intel reported its 4Q 2011 earnings , and its profit dropped 27% . The company cited slowing PC demand among other factors contributing to this drop. PC makers are putting their hopes in the recently-launched Windows 8 operating system with its focus on touchscreen capabilities and...