Real Outdoor Living, 21st Century Style

We’re emerging from the winter, although in some areas of the continent you’d be hard pressed to know it. Rest assured though, you will soon be spending more time in your outdoor living spaces. Thanks to the proliferation of permanently installed, radiant heating many folks have been putting their outdoor living spaces to more use than others.

Why are they spending time in outdoor living spaces? Well, putting the whole “back to nature” thing aside, many outdoor spaces sport cooking, eating and outdoor entertainment areas that rival anything you’d find with 4 walls and a roof. If yours doesn’t…..

While we can’t help you cook the perfect steak, we can make sure you don’t miss a second of the game while you’re cooking or eating that sirloin! Honest to goodness outdoor TVs have come a heck of a long way in the past few years. They’re more sleek looking, deliver far better picture quality, and prices have dropped significantly. They’re made to be outside, so they’re immune to the occasional cold snap, hose down, or rain squall.

Sounds Great There, Too..

If there’s no game, you’re just enjoying the outdoors with good conversation and a glass of fine wine, you’ll appreciate the ambiance great music adds to your experience. If you want to take it a bit past ambiance, all the way to “11”, well, we can help you there too!

Outdoor audio has eclipsed the simple box speaker most are familiar with. For good reason, too. Those boxes don’t blend so well into your finely tuned landscape architecture. Also, to have satisfying music everywhere means blasting the ears out on those poor souls closest to the speakers.

For larger spaces there are several ways we can ensure your music has all its highs and lows, no matter where in the yard you goes…..

Recent materials advances mean small speakers deliver big sound, but you still can’t fool mother nature. We have some tricks up our sleeve to bring the bass back to tiny speakers. That’s a tall order in the wide open outdoors, but it’s just the start.

We do all that and keep everything virtually out of sight. No, really, you experience every airy musical detail, yet you’ll be hard pressed to see a thing. If speakers in the yard are out of the question, new designs actually project music a hundred feet or more from the speaker with virtually no volume change. In the past the music close to the speakers was too loud, and at the space’s far reaches it was too soft. Now it’s pure Goldilocks everywhere!

Oh, My Aching Data Plan….

It’s no secret most people would sooner lose their TV provider than their Internet (or right arm) these days. As you sit on your deck, dock, or pool, there’s no reason to suffer through slow Internet or suck your expensive cellular data plan dry.

One more thing; some of the “unlimited” data plans are anything but. Their dirty little secret? Throttling; they slow your data to a crawl after you’ve used your monthly allotment. Why worry? When you’re outside you can still enjoy all the buffer-free performance you get inside. What? You’re not getting that inside either? We really have to talk! Contact us now and we’ll help you enjoy the same 21st century everywhere around your home.

Speaking of Glorious Data….

Something that uses data like almost nothing else is 4K (or UHD, or whatever you call it) video streaming. As content providers like Amazon and Netflix steadily add to their 4K libraries, the whole “there’s nothing to watch in 4K” argument just falls apart. Uh, that is if your network and Internet connection is up to snuff.

While you’re likely not streaming 4K to your mobile devices, your game console, Roku, Amazon Fire, or TV is another story. Keep that giant 4K bandwidth suck off your wireless network and free those magical waves for devices you hold in your hand. Plug TVs and streaming media boxes into a good, old fashioned wired network.

Less wireless traffic also helps if you’re streaming from your mobile devices to your house audio system, such as with Apple Airplay. Trust us, you’ll be rewarded by better performance on all your devices. Yes, we can help you there, too.

Even Better 4K, No It’s probably NOT Broken, and YES We Can Fix It

If you’re enjoying a 4K disc player, you may have noticed that some of your movies have a giant “HDR” emblazoned across the front. Those 3 letters can bring all manner of magic to your video…. or make it go completely blank.

Chances are if your TV or projector chokes on one of these discs, something in your system isn’t up for the whole HDR thing yet. It may be as simple as a cable change or firmware update.

Yes, it’s more complicated than you’d think. It’s also something we can help you fix, stat! Yes, you can just turn off HDR, but you’ll be missing some really fantastic video quality. Why not just let us take a look at it for you?

Contact us now to bring your network or video up to snuff. We’ll take a quick look and let you know what’s up.

It’s Just Madness
….and it’s about time!

Only a Thousand – The original bracket attack was only 8 teams and played in a 1,000 seat gym in Evanston, IL. It was a far cry from the 64 team, plus play-in affair we’ve got today that’s viewed by millions. Of course, it was back in 1939!

The Mostest – Much of the furor over March Madness today stems from the 1979 NCAA Basketball Championship, featuring 2 guys you may have heard of; Larry Bird and Magic Johnson (who just took over basketball operations for the Lakers). That game, between Indiana State and Michigan State was the highest rated game in tournament history, capturing 38% of all TVs in the U.S. Yes, there weren’t 2,477 channels competing with it back in those days, but one would still expect it to be a ratings bonanza.

Get Ready for March Madness at Your House

We get swamped right about now, so if you’re planning to watch the NCAA Basketball Tournament on something bigger and better, or just have a few issues you’d love solved, contact us now to get scheduled.

Please share this and forward it to anyone you think would enjoy it.

Don’t forget Steve, we’re always here to make technology easier, and life more fun for you. Drop us a line…

Until next time,
Jason Stevenson And the Automated Living Team
PO Box 464
[email protected]
(502) 643-1194