Rebecca Day

Lenbrook Industries agreed to a multiyear licensing deal with Sonos, they said Thursday. Lenbrook will pay royalties for a license to Sonos’ patents for all BluOS enabled devices.

Imax plans to have 1,400 screens in 70 markets open by end of August for Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster Tenet, said CEO Rich Gelfond Tuesday on a Q2 earnings call after regular U.S. trading. After three delays due to COVID-19, Warner Bros. said Tuesday the movie will release in Canada, Europe and Asia on Aug. 26 and in limited U.S. theaters Sept. 3.

Spotify monthly active users grew 29% year on year to 299 million, at the top end of MAU guidance, said management in a Wednesday shareholder letter. Ad revenue fell to $154 million from $194 million. Revenue rose to $2.22 billion vs. $2.17 billion. Quarter to date through May, ad sales fell 25% vs. 2019, said CEO Daniel Ek on a Wednesday earnings call. “Big declines” were due to the COVID-19 pandemic but improved to 12% lower in June.

High-profile shopping events, like most of the business world, are being reshaped by COVID-19 in 2020. Target and Walmart -- among the highest profile retailers associated with Black Friday doorbusters -- will be closed on Thanksgiving this year, leaving back in the pre-social distancing age images of crowds storming store entrances to score the best deals.

As demand increases for IoT sensors and wearables, so does the need for efficient, practical power solutions, AirFuel Alliance President Sanjay Gupta emailed us Friday. IoT sensors and wearables such as smart glasses and hearables are typically powered by batteries that need to be replaced or charged frequently, a “significant pain point” for consumers the alliance hopes to address with an RF-based wireless power standard, Gupta said. RF-based wireless power delivers power “in a 3D volume, can charge multiple devices safely and simultaneously, and can be readily integrated into small devices with no flat surfaces,” he said. The concept of 3D charging “has always been exciting” but has only overcome regulatory and safety hurdles in the past couple of years, he said. The first products to incorporate the technology are now coming to market; “maturity of the market" and the regulatory environment make the timing right "to define a global standard,” said Gupta. AirFuel members will participate in the standard initiative, he said. Among the 30 AirFuel Alliance members listed on the website Friday were Samsung, STMicroelectronics, Huawei, Energous, TDK, WiTricity, the EPA’s Energy Star program, Omron and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

Theater closings because of the pandemic created a “real problem” for the movie industry’s formula for blockbuster releases and “how we consume video” overall, said Brett Sappington, Interpret vice president, on a Brightcove webinar Thursday. Citing studios’ long-term schedules, Sappington said “they plan years in advance for the exact weekend whenever they’re going to release something" to ensure the schedule doesn’t hit another studio’s blockbuster release. March-July since lockdowns “really screwed up calendars for not just now, but on into the future.”

Amazon’s Alexa Live 2020 voice developer event kicked off virtually Wednesday with announcements of new experiences involving conversational artificial intelligence, graphics and multimedia, on-the-go interaction and skills discovery. Alexa engagements have quadrupled over the past two years, said Aaron Rubenson, vice president-Alexa Voice Service and skills. He said customers interact with Alexa “billions of times each week.”

Logitech rode the COVID-19 stay-at-home wave in fiscal Q1, ended June 30, posting a 25% year-on-year sales hike to $792 million, it said Monday. Sales of video conferencing equipment soared 70% to $130 million; webcam revenue jumped 116% to $60.9 million, it said.

Retail consumer tech sales this year will fall 2.2% from 2019, the first revenue decline since 2009, said CTA’s biannual industry forecast Monday. Tech industry sales revenue is projected to be $406.8 billion in 2020 “as consumers struggle with economic uncertainty from the COVID-19 pandemic,” said the trade association.

Target will require customers to wear masks or face coverings beginning Aug. 1, it said Thursday. The new policy is in keeping with "guidance" from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention "on the role masks play in preventing the spread of the coronavirus," emailed a spokesperson. Target will exempt young children and customers with underlying medical conditions. This "builds on the more than 80% of our stores that already require guests to wear face coverings due to local and state regulations," said the spokesperson. Store employees already wear store-provided masks. Target will provide disposable masks at store entrances. It will add signage and overhead audio messages and station team members at entrances to remind customers to wear masks. The retailer will steer shoppers to its "no-contact fulfillment options, including Drive Up, Target.com and Shipt, if they’d prefer," she said. Walmart and Best Buy announced customer such requirements this week (see report, July 16).