The Chord Company adds to the Shawline cable line-- a digital audio interconnect featuring an all-new design and the promise to "preserve digital music streams."

Shawline cables borrow design cues and construction techniques from the flagship ChordMusic and high-end Signature Super ARAY streaming cables, only within a more affordable package. The interconnect consists of four pairs of high-speed silver-plated copper conductors in conjunction with low-loss FEP insulation. Each conductor pair is individually screened with a Mylar foil and a further foil-and-braid outer shielding system to add protection from the RF interference generated by household devices.

D-Tools releases Mobile Quote 2.0-- a native iPad companion app for the D-Tools System Integrator (SI) platform providing easy means to seamlessly generate project scopes or pricing estimates for client review or approval.

Users can instantly transfer collected data to D-Tools SI for further design development and project management, eliminating the need to transfer handwritten notes into instructions for system designers just to have the same data re-entered into a D-Tools proposals.

Mobile Quote 2.0 allows salespeople to be either general or specific-- if the objective is a ballpark price for devices in a specific set of rooms, the app can simply pull a price allowance from the item list in the product catalog based on a global or item-specific good/better/best selection. If a more precise design and pricing is required, Mobile Quote 2.0 leverages product templates and packages from the D-Tools product catalog to complete an accurate system design and price by room and by system.

The Covid category cable product lineup gets HDBaseT-certified bulk cables, with plenum and non-plenum versions available in lengths reaching up to 305m.

The cables are pre-packaged inside convenient Reelex boxes offering easy pulling that's free from messy tangles. The plenum cables come in a choice of black or blue jacket colours.

CEDIA 2017 sees Metra Home Theater launch Velox Active-- HDMI cables reaching lengths of up to 30m, allowing installers to transmit bandwidth-intensive signals for longer distances.

The copper-based Velox Active HDMI cables are HDMI 2.0 compliant and verified to deliver the full 18Gbps bandwidth required to support UHD, 4K,HDR, 60Hz refresh rates and various chroma subsampling rates, including 4:4:4, 4:4:2 and 4:2:0.

To achieve such performance the cables use a new version of the Metra symmetrical HDCP and EDID rise time accelerator for both data and clock lines on the on the 12C bus (the display data channel). This eliminates EDID errors and, since the repair is bidirectional, ensures HDCP handshaking occurs reliably.

Wireless charging is set to truly hit the mainstream with the iPhone 8, but a startup named Pi wants to further extend the reach of the technology-- specifically by 30cm, through the imaginatively named Pi Charger.

As debuted at the TechCrunch Disrupt Battlefield event, the Pi Charger is a conical device able to charge multiple devices within around 30cm in any direction. It is not a full-room wireless charging offering, the the maker promises it actually works, and does so without need to put devices on a charging pad.

The technology behind the Pi Charger is resonant induction, the same used by the Qi standard found in the new iPhones. It is paired with a special beam forming algorithm allowing Pi to shape and direct the magnetic fields around the device. This allows users to charge a smartphone by putting it next to the charger, as opposed to directly on it.

Covid announces a pair of HDMI 2.0 cables-- the P-HDFH-DC2 Active Optical cable and the premium HDPR, both offering HDMI HDR support up to 18Gbps together with 4K@60Hz resolution and colour.

The P-HDFH-DC2 Active Optical cable is a plenum-rated, flexible cable with a 5mm bend radius. It is constructed using fibre optics, and as such can be offered in much longer lengths than standard copper HDMI cables. It also has detachable connectors, allowing installers to easily pull in the cable in tight spaces or through conduits.