The CEDIA Podcast

"The lighting in Victoria's Secret is perfectly focused so that you'll spend $85 on a small piece of fabric." Matt Scott, OMEGA Audio Video Something of a two-parter here: Matt Scott talks about serving on the CEDIA Board (and the importance of voting, nominating, and volunteering), and then dives into his experiences as an integrator with a focus on lighting design and making those projects look spectacular. For more info on CEDIA, check out cedia.net.

"Innovate or vegetate." -- Mario Leone (Electronic Solutions Company) quoting the founder of Rowan University Mario Leone is a CEDIA volunteer who also works at Rowan University in New Jersey. One of the projects he worked on with the students? MemSat, a four-inch cube satellite launched in May as part of a NASA project. He talks about this and other projects that inform the knowledge he brings to his integration projects. Find more info here. Here's the class Mr. Leone will be teaching at CEDIA Expo 2018. (Also, remember Heathkit? We do!)

Mike Heiss (M Heiss Consulting), Rich Green (Rich Green Design), and Eddie Shapiro (SmartTouch) share their takeaways from InfoComm 2018 — and how those trends will impact the CEDIA industry.

CEDIA's Dave Pedigo, Walt Zerbe, and Ed Wenck are joined by Ian Bryant (ZenArray) to talk about all the goodies that are going into CEDIA's new HQ and training facility in Fishers, Indiana. ALSO: DO NOT forget to take the CEDIA Size and Scope survey! It only takes a few minutes, the info helps us help YOU, and there's free stuff involved. Here's the link.

A lot of new technologies directly impact the CEDIA universe, and this podcast covers literally EVERYTHING the Tech Council has been mulling over in the last few months. It's a free-wheeling discussion that covers topics ranging from AI to AR to the latest developments in the labs at Amazon and Boston Dynamics. A ton of links are mentioned in this one (they all make sense after a listen): The CEDIA Size and Scope Survey: http://v2.decipherinc.com/survey/selfserve/20ec/180504?list=0&[email protected]#? "Uninvited Guests" https://vimeo.com/128873380 "What's Next for Humanity: Automation, New Morality and a Global Useless Class" https://mobile.nytimes.com/2018/03/19/world/europe/yuval-noah-harari-future-tech.html?referer= "The Future of Jobs" http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Future_of_Jobs.pdf Amazon Skills https://blueprints.amazon.com/ GoFundMe for Ella Whistler https://www.gofundme.com/ella-whistler Also, here's the text of that DVR issue Walt mentioned: "An Argentinian security researcher names Ezequiel Fernandez has published a powerful new tool that can easily extract plain text credentials for various DVR brands and grant attackers access to those systems, and inherently the video feeds they're supposed to record. The tool named getDVR_credentials is proof of concept for CVE-2018-9995, a vulnerability discovered by Fernandez at the start of April."

"We have a moral and ethical responsibility to deliver great music to people." -- Rich Green, Rich Green Design As we move towards renting and streaming our music and combining that with files we own, how can one best manage all of this? What formats should we embrace and what's going to handle the aspects switching between them? CEDIA's Ed Wenck and Walt Zerbe are joined by Green, Christiaan Beukes (Sphere Custom Design), and Wayne Hyde (CAVD).

This preview of CEDIA Expo 2018 includes education previews from CEDIA's Dave Pedigo, a dive into an "Architectural Cinema" class taught by John Bishop, a look at the additions Emerald Expositions is bringing to the table with Brain Pagel, and a rundown of content provided by CE Pro with Jason Knott. Register here for CEDIA Expo 2018.

Day Two of the CEDIA 2018 Business Xchange included incredible epiphanies -- we uncover the "human-centric" products and processes with John Buchanan (Meridian), Nick Berry (Origin Acoustics), Ryan Thompson (Portal).

This recap of the 2018 Business Xchange takes the emerging trends developed by the Tech Council -- and asks groups of integrators and manufacturers (including Lutron, Sonos and Dish) which trends are most important, most likely to have impact, and how to address those trends with concrete action plans.

"5G will help the arrival of self-driving cars – and it'll be part of the answer as to how we help people age economically, comfortably, and in place." – Brian Markwalter, Senior Vice President, Research and Standards, Consumer Technology Association Brian Markwalter speaks with CEDIA's Dave Pedigo, Walt Zerbe, and Ed Wenck about the development and deployment of 5G.

"NAB" stands for the National Association of Broadcasters — and "The NAB Show" is an annual event that now showcases everything and everyone creating and distributing content. Michael Heiss (M. Heiss Consulting) attends each year, and 2018 was no different.

Sam Woodward from Lutron, Peter Aylett from Archimedia, and Iain Shaw of Brilliant Lighting join the CEDIA podcast crew to parse the difference between lighting design and lighting control design — and reveal a ton of new info in the offing.

"No matter what size the firm, no matter what you do in that business, micromanagement leads to turnover." – Courtney Berg, CourtSide Consulting http://www.courtsidehr.com/ Our guest for this podcast, Courtney Berg, has been consulting small businesses on HR issues for years, and she's volunteered as an instructor at numerous CEDIA Expos. She's hosting three small-business HR webinars for CEDIA this year: The first, titled "Employees 101, The Employee Life Cycle," was presented on April 5, 2018. https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/5937867855081432067 The next webinar, called "5 Keys to Teamwork and Trust," will be presented May 3. On June 7, Berg tackles "Discipline to Termination – 5 Steps to Doing it Right." http://cedia.net/events/event-detail-page/2018/05/03/default-calendar/webinar-the-5-keys-to-teamwork-and-trust http://cedia.net/events/event-detail-page/2018/06/07/default-calendar/webinar-discipline-to-termination-5-steps-to-doing-it-right Brought to you by DISH -- check out dish.com/cedia for the latest news.

"Once you get that it's not about you, it's about somebody else, and how to enhance THEIR lives, then you can apply the process to anything: Your relationship with your customers, your sales staff, your installation staff, your marketing staff." -- Rich Green, Rich Green Design Rich Green and Peter Aylett tell us about the incredibly broad applications of Design Thinking, and preview how they and Stanford Professor Michael Shanks will present the concept at the next CEDIA Business Xchange. (There's also a coupon code in this cast that'll save you $100.) Register for the event at cedia.net/business-xchange.

Sam Woodward of Lutron and Mark Warburton of Ivory Egg both attended "L&B" in Frankfurt, Germany, and they've got info on the latest lighting tech. Peter Aylett (Archimedia) also joins in. "Going back over the past 14 years, and you'd be hard-pressed to find much in the way of LED. Now it's dominant; it's everywhere." – Sam Woodward

Mitchell Klein (Z-Wave Alliance), Rich Green (Rich Green Design), and Gordon van Zuiden (cyberManor) were all at this year's TecHomeX event — as presenters. What did they learn from the design and build pros in attendance? What new ideas did they encounter? Give a listen. "TecHomeX unites residential design/build and tech integration/contracting companies in the nation's most lucrative regional markets to catalyze powerful sell-through of home technology." —techomex.com

"Are we inducing 'gadget fatigue' amongst our clients?" -- Michael Heiss, M Heiss Consulting From big-picture cultural questions to the latest video tech (HDR, 8K), it was all covered at the HPA Tech Retreat (and no, the "end of projection" is not upon us). Here's an overview. Brought to you by DISH -- check out dish.com/cedia for the latest news.

"Cloud computing can have latency … when you're local you don't have access to a lot of devices and processing … and fog is that in-between." -Alex Capecelatro Cloud, mist, fog — nope, this isn't about the weather, it's about these terms as they apply to computing. Alex Capecelatro (Josh.ai) and Mike Maniscalco join CEDIA's Dave Pedigo, Walt Zerbe and Ed Wenck to discuss the concepts. Plus, CEDIA's David Meyer calls in from Down Under to clue us in on the White Papers on HDMI he's just finished for our members.

"Go listen to live music. I think it will really help you when you're installing and calibrating your systems." – Geoff Meads CEDIA companies seem to include a pretty high percentage of people who've been involved in music and/or live sound. How does this inform one's career as an integrator? What perspectives do those experiences bring to the gig? Our guests include accomplished guitarist/recording engineer and ESPA Executive Director Jeff Gardner, and Geoff Meads, who's a singer/songwriter/gigging guitarist and web developer (Presto AV) who's extremely active in the CEDIA universe. (NOTE: We want to hear from YOU about this one, so please take our super-quick survey HERE.) Brought to you by Streem.pro

Simply put, blockchain technology is going to be a major disruptor -- but the possibilities for its use in the home tech universe are incredible. Our guest this week is at the leading edge of this development: John Fitch from Animal Ventures.

"We have a connected toothbrush that tells you how long you've been brushing your teeth. To quote one of our comedians here in the UK: 'I know! I was there!'" -- David Mudd, BSI Group David Mudd of the BSI Group joins CEDIA's Dave Pedigo, Ed Wenck and Walt Zerbe to speak on the Internet of Things -- namely, the risks and rewards of the IoT. Brought you you by Streem.pro.

"What do I look for in an integrator? I look for people that will take care of my client, that will communicate well, that will understand we're all working toward the same goal and none of us is the most important person at the table." – Christopher Wright, WrightWorks LLC (building and remodeling) In this episode, we chat with builder/remodeler Christopher Wright and designer Adam Gibson (a kitchen/bath specialist) about working with integrators – and the importance of technology to their clients. Brought to you by Streem.pro.

The roundtable from Integrated Systems Europe speaks on the importance of experience over equipment, and the aesthetics of control interfaces — especially "retro" ones. ("Did you know the global market for candle wax was 8.5 billion dollars last year?" – Sam Woodward) CEDIA's Walt Zerbe and Dave Pedigo are joined by Sam Woodward (Lutron), Peter Aylett (Archimedia), Ken Erdmann (Erdmann Electric) Michael Heiss (M Heiss Consulting), and Rich Green (Rich Green Design). Brought to you by Torus Power.

Today's topics in this podcast from Integrated Systems Europe include: Design Thinking (what we'll be covering at CEDIA Business Xchange), GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) Compliance, and the challenges of digital marketing ("Stop speaking in Klingon." – Geoff Meads). Walt Zerbe's guests include Geoff Meads (Presto AV Ltd), Julie Jacobson (CE Pro), Michael Heiss (M Heiss Consulting), Mike Maniscalco (Ihiji), and Rich Green (Rich Green Design). Brought to you by Torus Power.

DC micro grids. The maturation of voice control. The future of video content. POWER VAMPIRES. All of that's covered in this podcast from Integrated Systems Europe. Walt Zerbe hosts a great roundtable in this one: CEDIA's Dave Pedigo, David Weinstein and Sam Woodward from Lutron, and Ken Erdmann of Erdmann Electric who all attended Day Two of ISE. Brought to you by Torus Power.

Walt Zerbe hosts from Day One of ISE (Integrated Systems Europe) with guests Geoff Meads (Presto AV LTD) and Sam Woodward (Lutron) with a check-in from Michael Heiss (M Heiss Consulting). There's an incredible dive into the technology behind Blockchain — and how it WILL affect your business.

"Physical media can still provide the best viewing experience ... and add to that the uncertainty that the end of net neutrality will have on streaming services." -- Michael Heiss Heiss tells CEDIA's Ed Wenck and Walt Zerbe all about what's hot -- and not -- for 2018 in the realm of video tech.

"We're getting closer to having enterprise-grade security available for every home." -- Mike Maniscaclo The co-founder of Ihiji joins CEDIA's Walt Zerbe and Ed Wenck to talk about the connected home of 2018 from a network guru's perspective. Brought to you by Streem.pro.

"Don't automate things people like to do." The paradox of choice. Devices making us dumber. These are all dangers noted when one walks the CES floor, but there's good news here, too -- especially when technology helps the disabled or monitors one's health. Geoff Meads joins CEDIA's Dave Pedigo, Walt Zerbe, and Ed Wenck for this one, brought to you by Streem.pro.

"Just because you can, doesn't mean you should." Walt Zerbe wraps up CES 2018 with Gordon van Zuiden, Mike Maniscalco, Geoff Meads, and Rich Green.

CES saw a power outage on Wednesday, but that didn't keep CEDIA's Walt Zerbe from taping with Geoff Meads, Guy Singleton, Rich Green and Peter Aylett. (Spoiler alert: High-end audio geeks will love this episode.)

Is the end user getting overwhelmed with smart stuff? CEDIA's Walt Zerbe is joined by Geoff Meads, Rich Green, and Peter Aylett to recap Day Two of CES.

Rich Green and Peter Aylett join CEDIA's Walt Zerbe to review Day One at CES, including the Intel keynote address.

CEDIA's headed to Orlando for Design and Construction Week. CEDIA's Senior Director of Industry Relations Dave Chic fills us in on the association's outreach to builders, architects, and interior designers there and elsewhere.

Nope, this isn't about the cult film! In this episode, CEDIA Board Chairperson (and President of the Erskine Group) Dennis Erskine and Anthony Grimani, President of PMI, Ltd (and more audio bona fides that you can list) join Walt Zerbe to talk about home theater room design. Gear is great, but in the wrong room, the experience will suffer mightily.

CEDIA stalwarts Guy Singleton and Ken Erdmann join Walt Zerbe and Ed Wenck to talk power management (and jobsite nightmares).

In this episode first broadcast in April, Dave Pedigo and Ed Wenck from CEDIA® HQ had a chat with Michael Heiss, Tech Council stalwart and one of our TV and video experts who's long been of fixture of the association. Mike dug into the intricacies of the next generation of broadcast (yep, as in over-the-air) television, ATSC 3.0. (It's gotten the FCC green light.)

Eric Bodley, President and CEO of Future Ready Solutions and Bodley and Associates, (and 2017 CEDIA Lifetime Achievement Award winner) joins CEDIA's Dave Pedigo, David Meyer, Walt Zerbe, and Ed Wenck to talk cables and HDMI.

A.I.: Two little letters -- and a universe of implications. Rich Green, Alex Capecelatro (Josh.ai), and CEDIA's Walt Zerbe and Ed Wenck discuss the opportunities – and dangers – presented by artificial intelligence (A.I.) for the home tech industry and beyond. (Spoiler alerts: Yes, machines can become paranoid, and yes, your Fitbit knows who you're being intimate with.) Some books and articles are mentioned in the discussion, including: Age of Context: Mobile, Sensors, Data and the Future of Privacy by Robert Scoble and Shel Israel Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do? by Michael J. Sandel Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence by Max Tegmark "How to Regulate Artificial Intelligence," NY Times, Sept. 1, 2017

SMPTE's held their annual conference, and we've got the info on what's next when it comes to 8K, HDR, ATSC 3.0 and more -- and how it's definitely going to impact your business.

Julie Jacobson (CEDIA Fellow and CE Pro Editor) joins Walt Zerbe and Ed Wenck for an overview of what the Council's all about: How the Council acts as an "early warning system" by identifying tech that can create both challenges and opportunities, and what's on the Council's radar right now.

The KRACK Attack. Breach insurance. The non-binary nature of cybersecurity. All of that's covered -- as well as what FIREFX's Larry Allhands experienced during the Houston floods as a member of the Texas National Guard.

Michael Heiss joins Dave, Walt, and Ed to unpack the latest gadgets and notions from Google, Amazon, and others -- and talks about selling experiences as opposed to stuff.

Seven candidates have been nominated for the CEDIA Board. We asked each candidate the same questions (with time limits on their answers) -- here are their responses. Voting for the CEDIA Board of Directors ends Oct. 16, 2017. Find more info at CEDIA.net.

Friday's Talks included Henry Clifford on "selling to the customer's pain points," Futuresource Consulting's research on the custom industry, and Jay Miller on working with architects, builders and designers. we also check in with Mike Maniscalco on the CEDIA classes he was teaching, and Walt Zerbe weighed weighed in with some big-picture thoughts.

Enjoy highlights from CEDIA's Talks at CEDIA 2017, including Laura Mitchell on aging in place, Joe Whitaker on guerrilla marketing, Rich Green on AR, VR, and MR, Sam Woodward on lighting, and Dave Pedigo on some fresh industry research.

Same Woodward of Lutron dives into lighting, new advances, all the acronyms -- and the stuff he blew up as a Hollywood special effects expert!

Peter Aylett (Archimedia) and Christiaan Beukes talk with CEDIA's Walt Zerbe and Ed Wenck about selling the "experience" of tech as margins on gear get thinner and GAFA gets bigger. (This one even has a few sales tips from Mr. Aylett himself.)

Mike Mansicalco of Ihiji digs into all the trials and opportunities presented by remote monitoring, troubleshooing, and the recurring revenue these services can provide. He's joined by hosts Ed Wenck and Walt Zerbe of CEDIA.

Nathan Holmes, Technical Trainer at Access Networks, joins CEDIA's Dave Pedigo, Ed Wenck, and Walt Zerbe to talk about the issues facing integrators as residential networks grow more complex.