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Marking the 25th anniversary of the introduction of the world’s first digital loudspeaker, Meridian will demonstrate its Special Edition DSP Digital Active Loudspeakers at live events in Torrance, CA and Memphis, TN. The details are as follows:

When I reviewed the original Charge last year, I wrote, “Long playback time, decent sound quality, compact size, and last but not least – the ability to keep your phone charged - the Charge does it all. Amid a sea of small speakers, this one merits a look and a listen.” Apparently millions of people, well, thousands, or perhaps hundreds, or at least more than a handful, agreed. That prompted JBL to capitalize on the success of the original to bring out a successor, the Charge 2. JBL is of the opinion that it is new and improved. I agree that it is new, but is it improved?

Lutron’s President, Michael Pessina, began the company’s CEDIA EXPO 2014 press conference by noting that this was Lutron’s 21st CEDIA attendance. Twenty years ago, lighting control mostly consisted of “lot of products hand-wired together.” Today, of course, the overwhelming trend in lighting control and home automation is to use digital, wireless products. To maintain the company’s prominence in the lighting control industry, Pessina said that Lutron spends approximately ten-percent of its sales on research and development. Almost all of that R&D, Pessina added, was in the areas of digital control and wireless connectivity. It’s one reason why there will be a Lutron Caseta Wireless lighting control app available for the Apple Watch when it becomes available in early 2015. (Lutron was even part of the Apple Watch announcement during the Keynote.)

Moving on to...

At Crestron’s CEDIA press conference, the company spent time explaining how Crestron Pyng is going to save time for integrators when programming Crestron both small and large home automation systems. According to Crestron, home automation apps have traditionally been “add-ons to control systems that are programmed using computers.” With Crestron Pyng, on the other hand, “you are not adding an app to your automation system. The app is your automation system.” Pyng uses a compact hub to connect accessories - such as Crestron’s wireless lighting controls, various window treatments, thermostats, Yale wireless door locks, and security systems - and runs scenes and events with or without the presence of a smart device. It also continuously backs up all the home settings to a cloud server, which provides a way to restore the system to a previous configuration if the homeowner makes changes to the system that need to be reversed.

Crestron also introduced...