In 1996 I was working for Performance Electric in Pleasanton and was using Visio 4 (Rich Fregosa is the person who told me to try Visio, BTW) to draw rack elevations for my projects. One of Performance Electric's previous homes was resold and the new owner contacted us to give him a proposal for installing new electronics. I met with the owner the next week and took a lot of notes as to the type of system he wanted. He didn't have any real opinions except he wanted a Faroudja Line Quadrupler (remember those?). I told him I would get back to him with a quote.

A week or two later I was in front of him again and I noticed that he had two quotes from other companies “casually” arranged on his desk. I handed him my proposal and he did what every client does with a proposal, goes right to the last page and evaluates all of your hard work putting together the proposal on the just the bottom line price. He seemed distinctly nonplussed with my proposal. In fact, he asked how is this different that these other proposals.

At that point I broke out my 11x17” rendering of his new theater and equipment rack. He grabbed the paper out of my hands and said "the other guys didn't do this." Called to his wife who was in the next room and said, “honey, come and look at our new theater.” He asked a couple more questions, the most important one was “when can you start”?

It was a six figure job and I left with a 50K deposit after a 30 second meeting. I realized I was on to something at that point because my sales cycle was usually many months and many meetings before I closed a job. I started doing elevations on all of my proposals, and closing deals on the second meeting became the rule, not the exception.

SIX doesn't come out until next month in Indianapolis at CEDIA, however I'm going to help you streamline the process of accessing my favorite feature now to help you close deals faster and get more work for your business.

So now that you know the story and have a viable solution to "close more deals sooner," are you ready to excel your business to that next level yet?  

Email me directly: johnnymota3@gmail.com

XBOX 360 users can now access all the movies they've purchased on the most popular gaming console in America. The only things you'll need are Amazon Prime and XBOX Live accounts (make sure you're connected to the internet, seriously, some people forget the basics).

 "If you're an Amazon Prime member, you'll also find the entire Prime Instant Video library waiting for you. You can start watching thousands movies and TV episodes today at no additional cost with your Amazon Prime Membership."

• Amazon Prime: Xbox LIVE Gold subscribers who are also Amazon Prime members get unlimited access to over 17,000 Prime Instant Videos at no additional cost.

• Your Video Library: Anything you buy from Amazon Instant Video will be available in Your Video Library on your Xbox 360. Just visit the Amazon Instant Video store online, and shop from a library of over 120,000 movies and TV episodes.

• Your Watchlist: From your Xbox or from the web, you can organize your viewing with Your Watchlist. Add any title to Your Watchlist, and enjoy when you're ready.

• Xbox Kinect: With Kinect, you can also find and play your videos with the wave of your hand or the sound of your voice.

Currently Xbox Gold members and Amazon prime members can access a selection of more than 17,000 TV shows and films with many more on the way. And, there has to be at least a few good movies within the stream now that Amazon has a Paramount movies catalog at hand.

 It's just my opinion, but it seems rather inconvenient to need one paid service to access another. But again, its just my personal opinion.

 This seems like another attempt from Amazon to takedown Netflix (already available from the above mentioned gaming console). It's nice to have options, I mean it's not like this is Highlander, there can be more than one, right?

 Leave a comment below and let me know your thoughts on all this. Will you use the service from the XBOX 360, do you already have the service? Are you already trying it on other streaming media devices?

Smart TVs are all the rage these days, and we constantly rAVe (<---see what I did there?) about them to our friends. Unfortunately, pricing on said HDTVs aren't as "Smart" or convenient. So, I'm guessing you're like me and haven't found a reason to buy a new TV (if it ain't broke, don't fix it) just yet. Well, LG has announced their "Smart TV Upgrader" generation 2 (the very same that was announced at CES earlier this year).

 Don't have an LG branded HDTV? Not to worry potential Smart TV user, all you need is any TV with an open HDMI port ready and willing ;) And all for the low price of $169.00.

 Does this sound like something that might interest you, or are you cool with the ever popular streaming media devices like AppleTV, Roku, GoogleTV, a Western Digital set top box etc....?

So there I was, cruising the market of the Android apps (as I often do), when I happened upon yet another cool free control application. This one was just released by Western Digital, specifically for the use of its WD TV® Live Hub™ media center or WD TV Live™ streaming media players.

This one (just like every other I can think of) allows you to control said boxes of the streaming variety to be controlled over WiFi via your network (assuming you have the WD set top box hard wired. And, I’m sure you do, because otherwise you wouldn’t have any of the cool online features, like Spotify and such to stream . No? Go do that, it’s cool I’ll wait…) at the press of a button, and I’m not going to lie, it’s pretty sweet.

Key Features:  

• Control your WD TV from anywhere in your house using your wireless network

• Get one-touch access to launch any online service available on your WD TV

• Enter text using your Android Smartphone or tablet keyboard

• Use the gesture pad for quick and easy navigation

• Connect multiple Android mobile devices with the WD Remote app and conveniently play multiplayer games

Minimum Requirements: 

• Android device running mobile operating system version 2.1 or higher

• WD TV Live Hub media center or WD TV Live streaming media player (Gen 3, released October 2011)

• Wireless access to your WD TV media player on your network (Your media player may be connected to your network via Ethernet port or wirelessly)

Overall, I like this app because one, its way cooler and has more buttons than the simple and easy to lose remote that the WD boxes comes with, two, it has gesture control and a few cool swipe features, and Three, ITS FREE!!!

So, if you have one of the above mentioned boxes and an Android enabled device running 2.1 (FROYO) or higher, what are you waiting for? Head over to the Android Market and download “ WD TV Remote ”, then report back here with your comment below so we can compare notes, go ahead, I’ll be here streaming a little stream …

To all the people that bought the Logitech Revue when I said to because of its price drop a while back; you can expect to be getting a sweet update to Android 3.1 (Honeycomb)! If you haven’t already (but, you should because it’s a streaming media set-top box that requires it), connect your Revue to the tubes and hopefully by this time the update is live to you. When prompted, you’re going to want to accept the permissions that pop up and just wait for awesome-ness to change your stream.

Finally, you will have access to the Android market, better search and browsing, and minor improvements to the Logitech media player from your TV. Now, with access to the market, you are able to get cool services like some of my personal favorites, Google Music (non Beta), Pandora , and Netflix or Qwikster, or whatever they call themselves these days .

When this update does finally launch, you can expect 50 apps geared towards HDTV’s so you don’t get bored with the arsenal of apps that are just for fun.  Unfortunately, Logitech has openly admitted to it’s Revue as a failure, and has decided to end project Revue. Google TV will live on through other devices and I’m pretty sure there is a physical TV of the clan Google in the works. Only time will tell, and right now, as it stands most broadcasting studios are blocking the search giant from access to their content, and that makes me sad. I really like the idea of a keyboard for a “Web TV”.

Basically, the new update allows better functionality to your viewing process and adds a few new goodies to enhance your overall experience.  And now, “with Logitech’s media player software on your Revue, you can unlock your computer’s library of music, movies and photos to enjoy on your HDTV”.

Here’s a little fun fact: If you get or already have the optional Logitech TV cam , you can do some video conferencing and maybe soon (in the future) we can expect some “ Code Space ” integration for real time collaboration from across the world!!??!!

Last night the new dashboard update went live to all users and, well, it’s awesome.

Last month I talked about gesture and voice controls, and now, aside from the Kinect hacks already out there, Microsoft has done their own tweaks and incorporated a lot of that into its new dashboard.

Last night I was at a friend’s house, turned on the old box, and behold a new update was ready. So, naturally without reading of course, update we did. I remember hearing about the update earlier during my morning caffeination session (where I tend to read and research) and I was wondering why it didn't happen earlier in the AM. For whatever reason it was delayed.

Anyway, first thing I did was ask it to make me a sandwich, sadly, no sandwich was had. Then, my buddy told me to shut up as he waved his hand towards the Kinect motion bar. It recognized him, and after he activated the voice controls, he was able to dig down into the menus via voice and change pages with a flick of the wrist and a swipe of the hand. As I sat there in awe, I wondered how long until we will be controlling other devices in the home with motion and voice.

Recently Microsoft announced what they are referring to as Code Space, “a system that contributes touch + air gesture hybrid interactions to support co-located, small group developer meetings by democratizing access, control, and sharing of information across multiple personal devices and public displays.”

After reading about this new awesome tech, I figured that it’s still pretty far out and away from ever becoming a reality. The latest rumors about Microsoft’s newest XBOX in the works will have a new Kinect that will be able to read lips and track fingers. Well if you just watched the video, you have already seen it in action. The future is here, now. Let’s get this b*%$! up to 88MPH and go back to the, um, you know.

I can see Code Space being a big deal on the commercial side of AV and automation and then eventually in residential, but not anytime soon (by the time we get this in homes, we will all be like the humans in WALL-E, floating around aimlessly, with snorkels on so we can breathe as we are molar deep in are double wide popcorns at the 5D Theater). I mean, really, how many of you are going to take the class just so you can get this week’s fix of Dr. Oz? Although, in his defense, he is a genius (pretty sure Dr. House would beat him down, emotionally and physically). Boardrooms and educational facilities are where Code Space is going to thrive. The ability to share content from around the room and being able to multitask with others on a collaboration level is extremely useful, not to mention cool beans and the cat’s meow.

Side note: I would take that class (Just so I could see a Dr. Oz/House showdown).

Honestly though, I don’t think it would be that tough to learn how to use Kinect (yourself) as the “Universal Remote,” just using the gesture and voice controls last night were easy and required no thought at all to navigate to my desired functions. But that was only one specific device, not several devices working together to create a seamless user experience. I for one am excited to see where we’re going.

OK, now think, when was the last time you saw a TV without a remote? When was the last time you had to actually get up and turn everything on manually? When you find yourself changing channels with voice commands and gestures controls as you accidently break a lamp and slap your buddy on the couch next to you because you were too lazy to get off the sofa and do it yourself, go outside and hug a tree. Then, carry on living back in the future. I’ll be there waiting.

Well, maybe it just feels like you’re stealing for roughly 10 Ninja Lincoln’s ($47.99).  Yeah, that’s right, this weekend only ROKU decided to give us all more reason to score one of the most popular set-top boxes on the market right now, their ROKU 2 HD! Here’s the deal, if you have been considering joining the rest of the world who watches their content these days, you’ve no doubt heard the term “streaming media”.  

ROKU currently has four models for you to choose from, and is feeling generous enough to give you an extra 20% (this weekend only) on the ROKU 2 HD. I am considering buying a few of these now as easy holiday shopping ideas before it’s too late.

This is a great deal for anyone looking to take their home entertainment to the next level. Roku 2 HD has it all from popular video services such as Netflix, Hulu plus, and HBO Go to extremely fun and super addictive angry birds. So, if you’re looking catch up on Breaking Bad, watch some Muppets on the Disney station, or just shoot some birds at those dumb pigs, ROKU 2 HD is the best way to achieve it all, and continues to be a great buy when it goes back to full price ($60.00) on Monday. 

Over the weekend I was able to chime in with my commentary on the newish podcast, AV WEEK . Hosted by Tim Albright , and usually recorded Friday morning (my time). However, Episode 14 , was recorded on a Saturday, huzzah! One of the topics was, patents being filed by Apple and Microsoft for gesture control. Microsoft has Kinect, Apple is filling for gesture control on their tablets, and there’s talk of Apple, of course making an “iTV” (I only say iTV, because if they made a robot, it would be called iRobot, and then they would sue Roomba makers , Fox, and Will smith for being in that movie).

So, it’s a race to see who gets there first, who will get said patent, sue the other, and be tied up in lawsuits for the next two years? Does it even matter? What this really means is, that very soon here, you will be doing the wave, the robot (he he) and other silly motion sequences to control your TV.

A few months back, Intel put a commercial out , very similar to what I am talking about. This was more on the grander scale, silly looking none the less. But, don’t be surprised when this is the norm. It’s clearly already acceptable to talk to your phone and have it do all the work for you . That being said (think back to that iTV I mentioned earlier), do you really think that this technology wouldn’t be a part of Apple’s new invention, SIRI-ously?

Some of the movies that you can compare this too (minus SIRI), and were mentioned on the podcast, are Minority Report and Iron Man . 

From what I can gather, Apple envisions a system to be able to send content to and from devices, while Microsoft is more along the lines of the minority report and Iron man computer styled gestures. Either way, I’m kind of excited for something like this. Although, I can see a lot of things being broken, people getting “accidently” slapped, and or punched while trying to turn on the TV. George Tucker points out, now, our kids our going to have to take classes just to figure out how to do any basic functions in the home.

While George is correct about the classes, if Apple is the one who wins, no one would argue about the learning curve. If anyone else gets there first, people will complain. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter who gets there first, just be prepared for some SIRI-ous changes to our daily lives.