| 1. Crestron opens China office |
| Via The Wire@SVConline |
| Crestron has announced the opening of ‘Crestron China’, its dedicated, physical brand presence in China to enhance the company’s service and support to customers in the region. More» |
| Why This Matters: On the heels of India and Hong Kong. –Cynthia Wisehart |
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| 2. Essential Home is an Amazon Echo competitor that puts security first |
| By Thomas Ricker, Circuit Breaker |
| It's like Google Home or Amazon’s Echo series of assistants, only without the "boxes, tubes, or strange lights." It's like Nest, but it doesn't try to make your home smart by anticipating your needs — it suggests certain behaviors instead. "In the end people decide," says Essential. More» |
| Why This Matters: This is a new entrant onto the playing field from Andy Rubin, the Father of Android. Details: sketchy. There’s also an Essential Phone and a miniature 360-degree camera to go on said phone to go on said phone. This is all over the news today. –Cynthia Wisehart |
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| 3. Disney’s most advanced animatronic ever is the highlight of the Avatar river ride |
| By Bryan Bishop, The Verge |
| When Disney aired an Oscars commercial promoting Pandora: The World of Avatar, attention turned toward the Na’vi that appeared at the end of the spot. I originally assumed it was a bit of uncanny valley computer-generated effects work, and then I learned that the creature was actually real — a next-generation audio-animatronic made by the team at Walt Disney Imagineering. More» |
| Why This Matters: Old school beats new school for once. But I’m biased from my history and memories of traveling back and forth from Tokyo to Vermont to watch my animatronics being built at Advanced Animations, one of the longest-standing manufacturers of these particular theme park puppets. –Cynthia Wisehart |
