Audio News for June 24, 2008

Growing Support for Universal Wall-Wart – A new start-up company, Green Plug, has developed a smart power technology aiming to let people use a single universal adapter to furnish the correct DC power to their laptops, cell phones, iPod docks, and other electronic gear. The new technology allows each device to communicate its own special power requirements to the adapter, thus making it possible for several different devices to share one adapter, functioning as a hub.

The Green part of the name is not a gimmick. Environmental stakes are high, since more than three billion power adapters will be shipped worldwide this year, and 434 million consumer electronic devices are “retired” each year – including their chargers and power adapters.  The Chinese government has regulated that the chargers for all cell phones (500 million of them manufactured there last year) must have a standard USB interface and output voltage so that users don’t require a new one with every phone. If the U.S. industry doesn’t get its act together, our government might intervene.  Westinghouse Digital Electronics has already committed to using the Green Plug with its products. Green Plug offers its firmware free to electronics manufacturers, hoping to profit from licensing the technology to chipmakers.

First Nationwide, Next-Day Installer of Home Electronics – Zip Express, started by a husband and wife in Minneapolis and financed on their credit card, is now first in the U.S. with next-day installation appointment options for flat-screen TVs, home theater and audio systems, computers and other home electronics.  They operate anywhere in the country from their web site, with a starting flat fee of $129.  The founders aim to be the UPS or FedEx of consumer electronics installation. Zip Express is already an affiliate of Target and Amazon and has a nationwide network of 16,000 certified installers with which it has contracted. They go thru a seven-year background check and are covered by a $10 million insurance policy.

Wadia Introduces iPod Dock With Optical Digital Audio Out – Super-high-end digital audio manufacturer Wadia Digital offers their 170iTransport – a docking station for Apple’s iPod – for $379.  It has SPDIF digital audio output as well as component video, for hooking up to a high-end home theater/audio system. Most other iPod docks have just had analog outputs.  Wadia is known for their money-no-object digital players, so in spite of its high price this is an entry-level product for them, and is an example of the interest high-end firms now have in the iPod and mobile audio in general.