European Custom Installer

Vision has a pair of flat-panel wall arm mounts both promising to be stronger, more maneuverable and lower cost than the products they replace. Available in a white colour, they help the brackets disappear against white walls.

Both mounts are built out of 2.5mm cold-rolled steel, allowing for increased tensile strength and finer surface tolerance. The VFM-WA2X2v2 takes VESA sizes up to 200x200, and the WA4X4v2 takes sizes up to 400x400. Both have a 402mm reach, -2-12° tilt and 90° swivel adjustment. To help with installations, the mounts have 6° of rotation in case the wall bracket is not fixed plumb.

Stewart Filmscreen debuts the Director's Choice continuous four-way masking screen system at CEDIA Expo-- as redesigned to create a larger image size while retaining the same finishes and screen material choices.

The new Director's Choices promises a viewing area increase of up to 30%, thanks to a frame reduced by 75%. The result is a more streamlined look, with four-way variable system masking eliminating vertical and horizontal black bars around the image. Since content comes in all shapes and sizes, Director's Choice accommodates all by automatically adjusting aspect ratios, providing limitless flexibility as well custom craftsmanship, robust sizes and 16K+ capabilities.

Forber Klipsch president of global sales and board member David P Kelley brings back KLH-- the famed audio brand co-founded by Henry Kloss back in 1957, which was acquired by Kelley around a year ago.

“KLH is one of the most storied and revered audio brands in the world, founded by one of the most iconic engineers in the history of consumer electronics,” Kelley. says “I am taking the brand back to its roots, to Henry’s original mission, to build world-class loudspeakers and radios at affordable prices. I am proud to be the new owner of KLH and will honor Henry and his many contributions to the audio industry through the introduction of our extraordinary new KLH products.”

The KLH of 2018 plans to bring back at least some designs from the past-- such as the Model Eight radio and Model Nine electrostatic loudspeaker-- together with new products, including "disruptive solutions that will turn things upside down." One of such new products is the VX-1, a voice-enabled keypad the company describes as a world first.

The Ikea smart home device lineup is set for further additions, Swedish tech blog Teknikveckan reports-- the furniture maker might add a range of smart plugs to the Trådfri smart lighting line.

The smart plugs should allow customers to control any offline product via app or remote control. Teknikveckan reports Ikea has two such plugs in the works, a "control outlet kit" with an on/off remote and a "wireless control outlet." The remote has around 10m range, and can be magnetically attached to metal surfaces, while the plug is compatible with Apple HomeKit, Google Assistant and Alexa.

Google plans to rival the likes of Amazon and Alibaba further with a smart speaker equipped with display, Nikkei Asian Review reports-- a product "likely to be similar" to the Amazon Echo Show with a planned holiday release.

"Google targets to ship some 3 million units for the first batch of the new model of smart speaker that comes with a screen," an industry source tells Nikkei. "It's an aggressive plan."

The search giant turned CE maker launched the Smart Display platorm earlier this year. A number of companies already have Echo Show-style products based on the system, including Lenovo, JBL, LG and Sony, but so far Google is still sticking with the Home line of regular smart speakers. Like these speakers, the model with the display should accept voice commands via Google Assistant, but would also be able to show YouTube videos, calendars and maps.