Hardware
ISE Theatres a resounding success
AMSTERDAM: New for ISE 2014, the Residential Solutions Theatre and Commercial Solutions Theatre have proven to be a big draw for visitors. Covering a range of topics, including audio connectivity, collaborative technology and home automation, the free-to-attend sessions have been well received throughout the show.
Lighting design was a hot topic in the Residential Solutions Theatre with independent lighting designer Tad Trylski declaring: “There is a lighting design-shaped hole in current AV systems training.
“There is a lot of expertise in controlling the light, but the gap exists in the lighting design skills themselves and/or how to work with lighting designers,” he added, during ‘The Science of Lighting Designers’.
Trylski is currently working with CEDIA on potential courses, and advises that to best use light, and make huge efficiency gains: “The qualitative design must come first. Where and when do you want the light, and what do you want to use it for?”
The biggest mistake engineers make is to work to the plan (rather than a section), and simply place lots of downlighters lighting the floor. Instead, they should light the walls (giving more perceived light with fewer lights) and specific tasks.
He gave an example of a typical developers one-bedroom apartment, where using lots of 50W downlighters used 1,200W (with other lights adding more than 600W), whereas a using a lot of linear LEDs, floor mounted wall washers, and by putting lighting close to the task, cut the total energy use to just 632W. “It’s slightly more difficult to install, but the savings are phenomenal and it looks a lot better,” he told visitors.
Over in the Commercial Solutions Theatre, InfoComm sustainability officer Allen Weidman stated that Smart Buildings are a market waiting to happen. They will be a great opportunity for integrators “to add value and claim the space. It’s there for the taking” as no one else has made it their own, he added.
The biggest problem is the lack of standards or best practice for Smart Buildings Technology (SBT). “We don’t even have an accepted definition for SBT,” he said. “We really need open source in this area,” pointing to the Raspberry Pi-based Ninja Blocks project for home automation.
The market could be huge. China has just started replacing 76 million analogue electricity meters with smart meters, while the US already has 46 million smart meters (40% of households) installed, and it is calculated that SBT could save $20-25 billion in the US alone each year.
Google just spent $3.2 billion on Nest, which makes smart thermostats, smoke detectors and door openers, showing that “data will be the business driver,” he said. “Sensors are the key to the future for everything, to which smartphones will be connected.”
Sessions continue in the theatres today, opening at 11:00 with Keith Yates discussing ‘Using science to solve the low frequency problem in media rooms and home theatres’ in the Residential Solutions Theatre, and ‘DreamHack: the technology behind a major eSports tournament’ with Jonas Bengston of DreamHack in the Commercial Solutions Theatre.
Hardware
Specs Inc. partners with Qualcomm for next-generation smart glasses
Snap subsidiary to power future Specs with Snapdragon XR platforms.
MUMBAI: Snap’s Specs are about to get a serious upgrade and this time, they’re teaming up with Qualcomm to make sure the future looks crystal clear. Specs Inc., a Snap subsidiary, has announced a multi-year strategic agreement with Qualcomm Technologies to power future generations of its advanced smart eyewear with Snapdragon system-on-a-chip (SoC) technology.
This marks the first flagship engagement for Specs Inc., which is preparing to launch its standalone, see-through smart glasses for consumers later this year. The Specs are designed to seamlessly blend digital experiences into the physical world, allowing users to see, hear, and interact with digital content as if it were part of their real surroundings.
By integrating Snapdragon XR platforms, the glasses will benefit from edge AI and high-performance, low-power computing. This combination enables intelligent, context-aware experiences to run directly on the device, delivering faster and more private interactions.
The partnership builds on more than five years of collaboration between Snap and Qualcomm, during which Snapdragon platforms have powered multiple generations of Snap’s Spectacles.
Snap Inc., co-founder and CEO Evan Spiegel said, “We believe the future of computing will be more human and grounded in the real world. Our work with Qualcomm provides a strong foundation for the future of Specs, bringing advanced technology and performance that pushes the boundaries of what’s possible.”
Qualcomm Incorporated president and CEO Cristiano Amon added, “The next era of computing will be defined by devices that understand what you see, hear and say, and respond instantly to the world around you. Our collaboration on Specs will enable power-efficient interactive AR devices that feel natural and intuitive.”
The agreement establishes a scalable foundation for developers and partners building experiences for Specs, supporting a predictable product roadmap and increasingly sophisticated digital interactions over time.
In a world racing toward augmented reality, Specs Inc. and Qualcomm are ensuring that the next pair of smart glasses doesn’t just look good on paper, they perform brilliantly in real life. The future of wearable computing just got a powerful new lens.
