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Tools of the Trade
We may be unable to launch a massive public relations campaign to raise the world’s or even the industry’s perception of our specialty, but...
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Success in Triplicate
For a retired couple with homes in Colorado and north of Dallas, a new residence in Austin is a wonderful retreat.
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Trust But Verify
During the last year, you’ve installed super-high-impact, allegedly reliable home theaters for your favorite clients.
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Tool Troves
It takes a lot of effort to make an AV installation a success without letting the client see you sweat.
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Doing More with Less
You’ve probably heard of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software before, but you may not know what it is or what it really does for...
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Respecting Retrofit
As a business sector that thrived in partnership with the building boom that made the 1990s and early 2000s so prosperous, systems integration’s new...
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Nature Meets Home AV
After years as an architectural and building design researcher, Orfield Laboratories’ Steve Orfield knew that the media room he had planned for his own...
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Who Controls Your Company?
My friend Tim is a pioneer in our business and one of the very first custom integrators I ever met. In the early 1980s,...
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The Network is the Home
In the late 1980’s, Scott McNealy– cofounder of Sun Microsystems– infamously proclaimed that the “Network is the Computer.”
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Disney Magic
Although I always thought that Disney’s Magic Kingdom was the quintessential theme park for kids, I could never quite comprehend why adults that...
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Integrating Tablets
Web tablets are a category that barely existed 18 months ago, and yet they have now become an 800-pound gorilla casting their shadow over...
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The Download Upgrade
Recent reports that Apple is in talks to bring 24-bit downloads to the masses may have been met with a resounding “meh,” but don’t...
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Media Room Renaissance
I am detecting a trend of late; people are increasingly choosing to move their big flat-screen TVs and associated technology into areas that are...
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More Value to Add-On
Have you noticed that wealthy clients are asking you to do more for less?
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What Resi ESCs Need to Know Before Tackling Commercial Projects
Facing a housing market that remains sluggish, residential electronic systems contractors have been casting their nets further, and in some cases expanding into commercial...
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Adding Mini Cell Towers
As a custom integrator of digital solutions in homes, we are always looking for ways to leverage our clients’ broadband connection.
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Effective Selling
Paradise Theater has had the privilege to work with integrators from many regions, who have provided lot of diverse feedback.
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No More Ruined Roasts
Of all the cool new technology on display at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) this past January, the last thing I expected to...
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Framing Lost Opportunities
You can probably tell from my picture accompanying this column that my impressionable years growing up were the early 1960s.
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A Cure for the Winter Blues
This year’s especially harsh winter has forced many of us around the country to spend extended periods of time cocooned inside our homes, drawing...
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Recognizing Your Craft
After sitting on the sidelines watching other electronic systems contractors receive their accolades at CEDIA’s annual Electronic Lifestyles Awards, Integration Controls’ systems sales and...
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A Custom Commitment
After last month’s International CES, it was clear to me that true convergence had finally arrived in the form of internet-connected TVs and mobile...
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Embracing Videoconferencing
The start of my company, cyberManor, just over a decade ago was based on the premise that data networks in the home would become...
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Double Coverage
In the world of professional football, most players use the off-season to rest up and recuperate after a rigorous season.
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Range Extenders
For the custom installation professional, a perfect world would probably be one where all jobs were started from scratch, offering full access to all...
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Will You Design or Build?
Often the best way to appreciate an industry is to compare it to others.
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Change is Gonna Come
It was about 4:00 p.m. on a Friday afternoon when I got a call from my human resources director requesting my presence in her...
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Getting Out of the Demo Rut
Finding great demo material for your showroom without getting stuck in a rut or resorting to the obvious is no easy task.
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Cool Homes For Projectors
The home theater projector is one of the most difficult components to integrate into a private theater room design.
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Not Gaga Over Google
I’m completely opposed to the goal of world domination by anyone, except maybe the New York Yankees.
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Delivering App Experiences
Our clients now expect that they can enjoy a Netflix movie streaming download to each of the main TVs in their home, and they...
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A Reason To Calibrate
The process of debugging, configuring, and tuning the audio and video is all-tooften misunderstood, under-appreciated, or simply ignored in our industry.
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Logo Design On a Budget
My friend Elena is starting a small consulting business based on her skills operating the spreadsheet program Excel.
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A Tipping Point
There’s never been a more challenging time to be a residential electronic systems contractor.