Residential Tech Talks

On this week’s podcast, Josh Willits joins us from Mechanicsburg, PA, where he is COO of Portal, the proposal software and product/pricing database for integrators. Although you’ve seen him wearing the Portal orange pants at trade shows going on 11 years now, Josh’s career has also included a tenure in the custom integration trade, as well as several years with a well-respected Crestron programming company. You may even remember his Covid-era side hustle as a gentleman coffee roaster.

Today we’ll touch on a bit of that career arc, but mostly we’ll focus on Portal’s latest innovation: the AI Proposal Builder. Released in beta to the industry on November 12, the new tool promises AV and security dealers the ability to create complete project proposals in just seconds, transforming often-tedious process and making it easier for integrators to sell projects and get paid.

On this week’s podcast, Bert Herrero joins us from Pompano Beach, FL, to discuss his career in custom integration, including his new role as a franchise owner with Daisy, the national smart space installation and services company. Our guest today founded First Priority Audio in Pompano Beach back in 2001 and led that CI firm until a few months ago when it was acquired by Daisy. Then, just a few weeks ago, Daisy announced that Herrero would be launching the seventh Daisy franchise, choosing red-hot Ocala, FL, for its location. This is the second time in Daisy’s first year that an independent owner who was acquired has turned around and launched an entirely new Daisy franchise location. Building from his track record of running a best-in-class operation for more than 20 years at FPA, Herrero is looking to leverage Daisy’s robust branch support systems to establish a strong presence in Ocala.

Special thanks this week’s sponsor: the Sonos Era 100 Pro.

On this week’s podcast, Modern Atomics co-founder Michael Braithwaite joins us from Austin, TX, to discuss his 30-plus-year career as an innovator and inventor of smart home and commercial AV technology. Mike and Jeremy recently re-connected, prior to his new company’s launch at CEDIA Expo last month in Denver, and that chat was so insightful, that Jeremy wished afterwards that he’d recorded it for this podcast. In this episode they re-capture some of that magic as they discuss Modern Atomics’ first product, called Reaktor, which is a power distribution unit designed specifically to save energy while powering motorized shades. We also learn how the company plans to use its innovations in other applications going forward and look back on Mike’s impressive career leading Crestron’s residential systems group in the early 2000s, co-founding NetStreams, and helping bring more innovation to Screen Innovations.

Special thanks this week’s sponsor: the Sonos Era 100 Pro.

On this week’s podcast, our contributing editor Michael Heiss joins us from his home in Los Angeles to talk about his experience at last month’s CEDIA Expo, including the biggest trends, biggest surprises, and most over-hyped and most-under-the-radar introductions. This is our third podcast this month featuring a CEDIA Expo focus, but without the perspective of today’s guest (Jeremy’s fellow CEDIA Fellow who is also a CEDIA Lifetime Achievement Award recipient) do you really know the full story for our most important annual convention?

Special thanks this week’s sponsor: The Sonos Era 100 Pro

On this week’s podcast, John Sciacca joins us from Myrtle Beach, SC, where he co-owner of Custom Theater and Audio. Whenever John is on the podcast, the conversation is sure to drift away from smart home tech topics toward he and Jeremy’s other favorite topics such as Taylor Swift, the latest movies, and pickleball. Our host and today’s guest connected in person last month at CEDIA Expo in Denver, where John organized and led the very successful, first-ever CEDIA Pickleball tournament, which was inspired by a much smaller John and Jeremy outing at CEDIA last year. On the podcast, John and Jeremy revisit their challenging Uber rides in Denver and discuss their respective CEDIA new product summaries, comparing notes on what they saw at the show and experienced in booth demos. Special thanks to 2N for sponsoring this episode.

On this week’s podcast Kyle Steele joins us from Burbank, CA, where he is president of Global Wave Integration and founder and CEO of FutureCare Solutions Group. Kyle and Jeremy connected recently during John Sciacca’s pickleball tournament at CEDIA Expo 2024 in Denver. CEDIA was a busy time for Kyle, as he participated on a panel about his company FutureCare’s aging in place tech solution, toured Expo with Denver-area high school tech charter school kids, and even one a prestigious CEDIA award for best media room. We are excited to have him on the podcast to share his latest insights and to talk about how he got into this industry and some of his keys to success so far.

On this week’s podcast Hagan Kappler joins us from Costa Mesa, CA, where she is co-founder and CEO of Daisy, the national smart home integration brand. With a career spanning service brands like Starbucks, Carrier, Trane, Club Car, Terminix, Merry Maids, and ServiceMaster, our guest today has navigated corporate life, solving, challenges, building teams, and seizing opportunities. Her goal since launching Daisy into the CEDIA channel this past January is to be the strongest national brand in technical support… offering clear, simple solutions. By partnering with the best home automation companies and top entrepreneurs, Daisy strives to provide “wildly simple solutions and unwavering support to our customers.”

On this week’s podcast Richard Charschan joins us from Long Island, New York, where he is president of AcousticSmart Home Theater Interiors. Richard founded AcousticSmart for more than 25 years ago and has worked on some of the world's finest custom theaters and developed his own home theater seating and star ceiling products, as well. But just as interesting as that, he also helped create a new coffee table book called “Home Theater-ology” that will debut next month at CEDIA Expo in Denver. With insights from experts like Joel Silver on video calibration and Tony Grimani on acoustics, “Home Theaterology” provides valuable knowledge to inspire designers and architects to embrace the resurgent trend of home theaters.

The book is cosponsored by prominent industry-leading brands, such as Kaleidescape, Barco Residential, Screen Research, CEDIA, CEDIA Expo (Emerald), Storm Audio, Meridian, JBL Synthesis, D-Tools, TPI, 360 Power Quality, and MadVR, among others.

Visit hometheaterology.net to preorder.

On this week’s podcast Arnaud Laborie joins us from Paris, France, where he is CEO of Trinnov Audio. Over the past 20 years, Trinnov has earned a reputation for developing advanced sound processing technologies, including proprietary loudspeaker and room optimization, four-element 3D mapping technology, and, most recently, WaveForming Technology. WaveForming promises to improve low-frequency reproduction in home theaters by actively shaping room acoustics rather than just treating them. This approach optimizes subwoofer interactions within any space, delivering consistent, detailed bass across all seating areas. Laborie tells us more about these innovations and other new developments from the company in the months leading up to CEDIA Expo in Denver.

On this week’s podcast Mike Jordan joins us from Charlotte, North Carolina, where he is chief product officer at RTI. With more than 12 years of industry experience, our guest today is known for leading productive, successful product teams. Prior to joining RTI this past December he spent the previous five years as senior VP of products at Snap One, which included leadership of the Control4 product line. Prior to Snap One he held a similar role at Core Brands, where he worked with current RTI CEO Joe Roberts, who was president of Core Brands at that time.

RTI has been busy building a new team with new products on a singular platform designed for success in any channel — resi, office, hospitality, and beyond. As we start looking toward CEDIA Expo in September, we thought it was a great time to catch up with one of the veteran control system brands in the custom integration channel and see how things are going for their new chief product officer so far.