I am sure that there has never been a release of a piece of electronics that has sparked as much interest and controversy as the recent iPad release from Apple. On the whole the consumer reaction has been positive, but it continues to receive critical comments from many within the industry. I have yet to have the opportunity to play with an iPad, but have watched the emergence of the concept closely.
To be honest I have been fascinated by many of the comments and the criticism aimed at this product. Yes, it appears that the iPad has some obvious failings, but given what I believe this product is all about, these failings are certainly not critical. It also appears that most people passing comment on the iPad expected it to be either an iPhone on steroids or a stripped down version MacBook. My expectation has always been that this would be a stand alone product. Because of its design (and heritage) it would always share features of the two other product categories, but I don’t believe that Apple ever intended it to ‘be’ either category.

We cannot ignore Apple’s ability to create both market categories and demand. While the success of the iPod has been phenomenal many people have forgotten that MP3 players had been around for years before Apple took an interest, and it was a struggling category. In only a few years the iPhone not only reached market dominance, but changed the entire philosophy of mobile phoning. They immediately raised the bar to an exceedingly high level (which consequently spawned challengers such as HTC), and they have created an industry where the ‘phone’ is now only one of the attractions of the mobile phone industry. When was the last time you read a critique on a ‘smart phone’ which made reference to its ability as a phone in the traditional sense? Have no doubt, what Apple has done with the iPod and the iPhone they will do with the iPad.

The potential for the iPad, and the product category that Apple will create, is enormous. Obviously Len Wallis Audio views it in relation to the services that we offer, but its usefulness will go way beyond what LWA can do with it. For us it will have an immediate application for multi-room audio/visual distribution and for Home Automation. The success and consumer acceptance of both of these concepts depends on convenience, interface and price. The iPad potentially come up trumps on all counts.
(The Crestron app has already been released, click here for more information.)

The one criticism that I do have issue with is price – many critics have commented that the iPad is overpriced. Give me a break please! One of the first companies to jump on board with an app for the iPad was the Home Automation company Crestron. They are arguably the best Home Automation company in the world, and are priced accordingly. Their app will turn the 9.7” iPad into a Crestron touch screen controller for way less than $1,000. The 8.4” Crestron equivalent will cost you a cool $6,600. In fact the iPad will sell for around the same price as a Sonos remote, gives you much, much more real estate, and still do all the other cool things that the iPad does. The ability of the iPad to control anything from a simple Olive multi-room audio distribution system to remotely controlling your entire Home Automation system, including security, will make it one of the most valuable, yet least expensive, products that we offer.

Possibly the best and most balanced critique of the iPad I have seen has come from Michael Greeson of the Diffusion Group, a consumer technology research company based in the US. I was alerted to this review by David Richards of SmartHouse magazine, and following is the article as it appeared in SmartHouse.

‘Michael Greeson, a founding partner of Diffusion Group research claims that “What the iPhone is to the Mobile Web, the iPad will be to the Home Web” and that the new Apple device will have a major impact in the home.

He says “Yes, the iPad is relatively expensive. Yes, it is closed. Yes, it further extends Apple’s tightly-controlled ecosystem onto an ever-broadening array of usage domains. Yes, Wi Fi receptivity is an issue, as is the “walled garden” of sanctioned applications, the lack of support for Flash video, etc. And, yes, all of these shortcomings piss me off”. He said.

“All the same, I do not regret deciding to purchase a $699 64-GB Wi-Fi-only iPad, not in the slightest. It is sleek, fast, and highly functional, and consistent with my expectations of the first-generation of Apple tablets. And just as the iPhone was a huge step forward for mobile computing, the introduction of the iPad is a huge step forward for tablet computing. What the iPhone is to the Mobile Web, the iPad will be to the Home Web” he added.
He said that, just as the iPhone spurred the advance of mobile computing and made mobile web use a daily activity for many consumers, the iPad will spur the advance of tablet computing and alter the way in which the Internet is engaged in the home.
“No, tablets will not replace the PC, be it a desktop or notebook. It will, however, change the way in which consumers use the web, and in a good way. In terms of the applications and usage scenarios most likely to be advanced, I offer the following (admittedly incomplete) list. The reader is encouraged to think beyond the gen-one iPad. Again, this is less about the iPad specifically than it is about the platform in general. I am certain this list will encourage discussion (if not outright fistfights).
The tablet is a shared platform for whole-home computing. As I described to a group of Intel executives some five years ago, the digital home of the future will likely have a single server and a variety of multi-purpose thin tablets that will be used by household members to access local and web-based applications and content.
Imagine a rack that charges and holds two or three of these tablets (much like gaming terminals used in your favourite pub), and an easy-to-use widget-based interface that enables a wide variety of applications. The iPad represents a meaningful step in this direction.

The tablet as an entertainment remote control
There is no doubt that, properly equipped, an iPad-like web tablet would be the perfect multi-source, multi-function remote control. Demand is already there, the challenge is to make it happen, and there is no doubt several vendors will soon address this need. Companies like OpenPeak are already supplying telecom operators with the “OpenTablet,” a platform that looks very much like the first-gen iPad and features a variety of entertainment and home controls. These tablets will be able to interface with, access, and shift all sorts of content and applications to other connected devices.

The tablet as a home management and control platform.
 While the iPad is hardly an open platform (all apps must be vetted by Apple), application developers from across the home control spectrum will enable a variety of apps that exploit this platform, thus reducing the need for dedicated, brand-specific home control interfaces such as those offered by Crestron.
Why pay an extra $500 or more for this type of “touchpanel” when this same functionality can be downloaded to an iPad? You wouldn’t, and that’s why Crestron, unlike OpenPeak whose business depends on hardware sales, has already launched an iPad app for just this purpose.

A secondary TV that can be used in any part of the residence. Homeowners will no longer need to buy a second stand-alone TV for each room, instead having a couple web tablets that can access TV and online video customized to the specific user. This is an especially useful application given the fact that younger consumers watch so much online video on their PCs and, as TDG predicts, much of the video viewed on home TVs will soon come from online sources.
As the price of the iPad comes down (and it will, by several hundred dollars for Christmas 2010), these platforms will become an inexpensive way to extend video viewing (and Internet access, in general) to every room of the home.
A “coffee table” platform for immediate access to relevant news and weather. The simple widget-based interface of the iPad foretells of a day when consumers will not have to hassle with booting-up a PC or typing URLs in order to access content. For example, The Weather Channel widget pulls up real-time weather for your specific locale, all on-demand. No need to enter a URL or wait for a TV broadcast to get around to such details.
An easy-on-the-eye platform for reading all sorts of online newspapers and magazines. 
iPad like tablets offer a much simpler way to enjoy online text, offering a wide variety of widgets by which to access your favourite periodicals. Again, the consumer no longer needs to haul out and boot-up a laptop in order to read online text.
 A platform your grandmother could use (yes, the expression is overused but this time it really applies). Using the iPad is sinfully simple for basic applications like email communications and viewing online photos and video, the stuff that most appeals to those older consumers that have yet to buy into the PC culture. I intend to sneak an iPad into my mom’s home as a digital picture frame, and then teach her how to use it for the stuff that matters most to her. Yes, this is the same woman for whom I purchased an Apple iMac and who, though properly configured for easy use, could not bring herself to engage it. I swear this time will be different!

Ultimately, Apple’s iPad will advance the tablet PC market in the same way the iPhone advanced the mobile phone market: both in terms of functionality and mainstream appeal. Thanks to Apple’s entry into this market space, the value proposition for web tablets will rapidly become less about the hardware and more about the applications it enables – precisely as it should be.
As I have said on several occasions, vendors and service providers must cease talking to consumers about “the technology” and show them what it will do…as individual human beings. After that, consumers will be much more likely to buy into the vision espoused by tech leviathans.
Yes, it will take several years before mainstream consumers buy into this vision, but let there be no doubt that the introduction of Apple’s iPad—an easy-to-use, app-driven platform with loads of useful home applications—will be the first step toward a revolution in in-home computing.’

If you have any interest in Home Automation you would know the name Creston. This brand is the market leader in this field. However you may not be aware that they also manufacture some of the world’s finest Home Theatre electronics under the name of Adagio.
Crestron have one huge advantage over most of its competitors when it comes to Home Theatre. Because they are first and foremost an automation company they have approached the Home Theatre offering in a round-about fashion, by adding a stunning and versatile A/V receiver to their existing multi-room package. If you are looking for two things in your entertainment system:
1) a very high quality theatre, and
2) a very high quality multi-room audio, it is difficult to dismiss the Crestron Adagio offering.
The other advantage of being a Home Automation manufacturer is that Crestron, by necessity, are accustomed to manufacturing product which is bulletproof. Their Home Theatre systems are beautifully engineered.
Like any product considered as being one of the best in its field Crestron is not inexpensive. However there is now another reason to consider Crestron Adagio, they have just reduced the price on their two packages by almost 40%.

The main features of the Adagio Home Theatre systems include:
· 7.1 surround sound processing. Rated at 100 watts per channel x 7. These are genuine watts, measured with all channels driven at the same time (I have just looked at a site where the Dynamic Power of a well known A/V receiver was rated at 400watts. In small print it is revealed that this is one channel driven only, and at 3 Ohms!! Don’t be fooled by specifications.)
· Audyssey MultEQ® XT surround sound equalization. This will adjust the system acoustics to be at an optimum for a number of seating positions in your room – most A/V receivers adjust acoustics only for the primary seating position (yours?)
· High-definition analog and HDMI/DVI digital video switching
· Professional video scaling and de-interlacing.
· Audio distribution for 4 to 6 rooms, expandable up to 24. Listeners in each room can enjoy their own choice of radio, CD’s, MP3’s or even a stereo downmix of the surround sound output. Each room has control over volume plus bass & treble. The multi-room amplifiers are rated at 45watts each. Control in these rooms can be by a 12 button wall mounted key-pad, a wall mounted LCD controller or a hand-help touch screen controller. These control options are at an additional cost.
· Accepts up to 3 dual tuner cards for AM/FM. This allows household members to listen to different radio stations in the home simultaneously.
· Plug-and-play connectivity with Apple® iPod® via CEN-IDOC
· Powerful Crestron control system.

The new prices on the Adagio systems are:
· AMS1 $7,999 (initially $12,700)
· AMS1-AIP (the same as the model above but with advanced image processing) $9,999 (initially $16,100)

There is no doubt that the Adagio system is one of the best sounding and most versatile Home Theatre receivers on the market. Crestron are also universally recognised as the manufacturers of the finest multi-room audio systems available. Put them together, at these prices and you have a bargain.

If you would like to learn more on this product you can access their brochure at http://www.crestron.com/downloads/pdf/product_brochures/adagio.pdf

The five technologies mentioned are:

1) The evolution of content: covering the obvious trend towards downloading and streaming music and moves onto the digitization of print, both newprint and books. It also covers the ideas behind the trend to ‘give away’ information and talks about the different demographics that this trend appeals to.

2) Growing the connected home: Touching on automation, remote monitoring of the home, wireless technology, entertainment and the future role of the internet.

3) The future of TV. This is a particularly interesting topic covering 3D, broadcast methods, the role of the TV as a portal to the internet, and vice-versa.  One issue we tend to overlook is once we do acheive true convergence of TV and the internet how do we search for and store such a vast choice of entertainment and information. According to this article Cisco have estimated that ‘by the year 2013 it would take more than half a million years to watch all of the online video that comes across the network on a monthly basis.’

4) Connected cars: You would be excused for believing that this relates only to in-car entertainment, but no. It covers safety, security, anti-collision platforms, remote diagnostics, internet access, traffic control etc.

5) Smart grids: Once again covering diverse items such as electric cars, smart meters etc.

This is then followed by a peek at some of the more interesting stand alone technologies in the pipeline. Great stuff.

We have also noticed a tendency to back away from this inclusion over the last few months as worried developers try to cut costs, and eventual asking prices, for their properties in light of the recent economic turmoil. While this is understandable, many are cutting far too deep – limiting the potential for the future installation of technology in these buildings.

The danger is that when the property is sold it will be too late for the new owner to incorporate any of their desired technology into the premises. Already our reliance on residential technology is high, and this will continue to escalate at a rapid rate. Multi-room audio and video is now a given for many people. Networking, automation, remote security access, music and video streaming and content shifting are all high priorities for many people, and the greater the value of the property, the higher the priority. While the promise of wireless technology leaves many to hope that this can be achieved without a cabled backbone, the demands made by increasingly larger files that need to be shifted make this technology unreliable.

The inclusion of a structured cable network into any development is both a simple and inexpensive process. This means designing for the future technological needs in the building, and then the installation the necessary cable at the time of construction. In terms of cost it is almost negligible compared to the overall building cost, yet it will allow for the future implementation of technology, which can be done at any time.

Experience has shown us that the installation of even simple technologies such as multi-room audio or video is impossible in many new buildings. In most cases where it can be implemented it is at a considerable cost, and with a great deal of disturbance. The last thing that anyone wants to see is someone grinding channels into the walls of their newly purchased premises in order to run conduit and cables.

A final footnote:

The design of a structured wiring network is a specialist field. Unless you have absolute confidence in your current subcontractors, employ the services of a specialist. The words ‘its OK, the house has been pre-wired by my builder’ sends any a shiver down our spine. Len Wallis Audio is specialists in this field.