Rebecca Day

As CEDIA members head to Denver for their annual Expo to view the latest products for the specialty custom electronics market, the mainstream home control world got a new player Tuesday when Staples said it will launch Staples Connect in November. Staples Connect, based on a Linksys Hub, is designed to let consumers control automated devices in the home or small office via an app. The $99 Linksys Hub enables wireless communication among devices, which at launch will include control and lighting products from Lutron, Philips and GE, a thermostat from Honeywell, and lock and safety devices from companies Yale, DoorBot and First Alert. Users will be able to control devices in their homes via laptop, smartphone or tablet, Staples said.

Five years after a collapsing housing market ransacked the fortunes of the residential custom electronics industry, AV integrators and their trade organization, CEDIA, are still correcting for a vastly different business environment as the industry arrives in Denver this week for the annual CEDIA Expo. Those who have adapted -- in some cases going under before rising from the ashes -- are pinning hopes on new technologies, a slice of the commercial market, smarter business practices and IT chops to lead them into the next chapter of custom electronics.

JBL has become the latest audio brand hoping to wrestle share of premium-priced headphones from upstart Beats Electronics, which stormed on the scene five years ago with its Beats by Dr. Dre line that now has an enviable share of the market. JBL joined Sony and Bowers & Wilkins this month as longtime audio companies hoping to reclaim what they see as their rightful share of the premium audio market they helped create.

DTS, which quietly launched the Phorus Play-Fi wireless audio solution last year on the Android platform, made far more news Thursday when it announced iOS compatibility and a licensing deal with Nortek’s custom-focused Core Brands unit. DTS CEO Jon Kirchner, on a teleconference with reporters Thursday, said with network connectivity becoming more pervasive, the industry is getting past the complexities of getting connected products to simply work together and is now able to focus on making the different ecosystems and channels “far more compelling to consumers.” Play-Fi allows consumers to enjoy lossless audio in a multiroom, multispeaker setup in ways that haven’t been done before via an “open platform,” he said.

Monster launched its first tablets this week, 7- and 10-inch models that will be sold exclusively through Walmart. On Monster’s decision to sell the tablets through Walmart only, CEO Noel Lee told us in an email, “Walmart has been a good retail partner and the M7 was a nice complement to the NCredible headphone line that they already carry.” With the new tablet line, the company is hoping to leverage its products already in the connected device market, including the brightly colored NCredible headphones, Bluetooth speakers and Monster Central devices. Monster wants to help consumers “maximize their experience with all their consumer electronics,” and provide products with “good value and performance,” Lee said. “More and more of Monster’s products are connected, and we will be able to continue to add functionality for better listening experiences as well as extending our Power Central ecosystem,” he said. The tablets pack Time Correct Bluetooth, which Lee said was developed with Monster’s technology partners to ensure synchronization of audio and video for game play and movie viewing. A Monster Central PowerControl app comes with the tablets and enables users to monitor energy usage of optional Monster Power modules over the 900-MHz band, he said. The $149 7-inch tablet began shipping this week, and a 10-inch model will be available later this fall. Distribution, price and specifications for the larger tablet weren’t available. Meanwhile, Nvidia unveiled its Tegra Note tablet platform, designed to bring features to partners’ tablets “they may not have been able to deliver on their own,” according to an Nvidia blog post. Suggested retail price of Tegra Note is $199, a price that “will help many more people experience the new technologies going into Tegra Note” and its Android OS, it said. Features of Tegra Note include a 72-core GeForce graphics processor and quad-core Cortex-A15 CPU with a fifth battery-saver core. It uses a 1280 x 800 in-plane switching display. The Camera Awesome app delivers 100 frame-per-second video with slow-motion playback, Nvidia said. For gaming, the integrated Nvidia TegraZone app provides access to games optimized for the platform, it said. The device also supports various game controllers for “console-class gaming,” the company said. Battery life is given as 10-plus hours.

Original device manufacturer Hansong Technology announced Wednesday availability of two WiSA (Wireless Speaker and Audio) product designs that it will demo next week at CEDIA Expo in Denver. The HDMI adapter transmits HD surround-sound audio via a TV’s HDMI port to WiSA-compliant speakers, and an audio hub transmits HD audio wirelessly from sources including Blu-ray players, set-top boxes, game consoles and mobile devices, it said. The adapter includes Bluetooth connectivity for wireless streaming and setup, Hansong said, and the wireless audio hub offers decoding via HDMI, S/PDIF, DLNA and Bluetooth connections. Consumers can stream content from a smartphone or tablet via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, the company said.

There’s really only one screen, said panelists in a session on content for the second screen at the Future of Television conference in New York Wednesday. Web browsing time has already surpassed the amount of time people spend watching TV, and this year app usage will jump past the amount of time consumers spend watching TV, said Craig Palmer, CEO of Wikia, a network of collaboratively published content. “So the only way you're going to create a really compelling second-screen content experience is make the second screen the first” and integrate content of the two screens from the start, he said.

MobiTV announced an HDMI dongle solution at the IBC2013 show that’s designed to give MVPDs a low-cost entry to TV Everywhere services. The dongle offers wireless, IPTV and DSL operators a way to enter the home, leverage existing customer relationships and broaden their branded offerings, the company said in a news release. With the dongle, MVPDs can take advantage of the second screen “as the tablet or smartphone becomes the remote control,” and create a better user experience in the living room, the company said.

Big-box retailers wasted no time spotlighting the upcoming arrival of the colorful, and discounted, iPhone 5c, we found in a scan of websites Monday. Target, which sent an email blast announcing the Sept. 20 arrival of the 5c, displayed 30 SKUs of the device in the full rainbow of colors, at $99 for the 16-GB version and $199 for the 32-GB model. The iPhone 5c will be available online and in stores on Friday via contracts for Sprint, Verizon and AT&T, Target said. Target is also selling 16-GB and 32-GB versions of the iPhone 5s, including the gold version, through the three carriers at $299 with two-year-contract.

NEW ORLEANS -- The big push by AT&T, Comcast and other large service providers -- combined with Control4 going public and the formation of the Via company by six integrators -- point to a new age for the custom electronics industry, participants said at the Azione Unlimited conference this week. Players see opportunities and threats and are looking at ways to adapt and survive, while Azione itself is trying to find its role as an organization in the changing market.