Issue link: http://osercommunicationsgroup.uberflip.com/i/620712
C o n s u m e r E l e c t r o n i c s D a i l y N e w s S a t u r d a y, J a n u a r y 9 , 2 0 1 6 7 4 create something better – a better brand, a better product coupled with serious profit margins backed by rock solid prod- uct performance and customer service without all the red tape many corpora- tions get caught up in. Having grown up in the 12-volt industry, it was about having fun, being passionate about music and pushing the boundaries of installation and sonic capa- bilities in high-end audio as well as SPL, competitions, car shows and meet and greet events. Somewhere along the way, having fun was forgotten and mobile audio went corporate. Bottom line prof- its, shirts and ties along with skimping on product quality to reduce costs became a balance sheet standard practice. Not to mention the absence of why we in the audio business even exist. Music! Music is our heart and soul, evok- ing unlimited emotions from tragedy to triumphs, expressing one's individual uniqueness to join the conversation without ever speaking a single word. Without music we cease to exist. XFIRE AUDIO takes great pride deliv- ering stellar audio products, giving everyone the ability to live their pas- sion loud and proud. XFIRE AUDIO represents relentless pride, passion and integrity combined XFIRE AUDIO (Cont'd. from p. 1) with 30 plus years of experience in the 12-volt industry, and we are proud to blaze new trails of exquisite sound, strength and style in all that we do. We at XFIRE AUDIO consist of audiophiles and gear junkies, true audio enthusiasts passionate about sound, performance and style, not cor- porate accountants holding the design team hostage to hit a specific price point by cutting corners in product quality. If it costs more to build a better product, we spend the money to build the better product because our cus- tomers deserve better. Far too long cus- tomers have settled for "what is" rather than what could be. We follow simple core principles: Mission, Vision, Passion – or "MVP." Mission: quality, commitment, serv- ice. Vision: dare to be different. Passion: build it, brand it, live it. We invite you to become part of XFIRE AUDIO and rediscover the excitement and intense passion music provides, inspiring us to design and build audio products through which your musi- cal nirvana comes to life. It's your music, it's your style, it's your life, amplified by XFIRE AUDIO. For more information, visit www.xfire audio.com or stop by booth #700, North Hall. FORD GT OFFICIAL VEHICLE OF CES Ford is returning to CES in January with even more news on the company's holis- tic approach to create products and serv- ices that make people's lives better. "Ford was the first automaker to have a significant presence at CES nine years ago, and we are proud to continue that legacy of innovation in 2016," said Mark Fields, President and CEO, Ford Motor Company. "As we move forward with our Ford Smart Mobility plan, CES is the perfect venue for sharing news on our efforts to change the way the world moves and provide new solutions in the areas of connectivity, mobility, autonomous vehicles, the customer expe- rience and data and analytics." Additionally, CTA has named the Ford GT – an ultra-high-performance supercar that serves as a technology showcase for top EcoBoost ® perform- ance, aerodynamics and lightweight car- bon fiber construction – the official vehi- cle of CES 2016. The all-new supercar represents Ford's commitment to innovation through performance. Its advanced, light- weight carbon fiber composites as well as other technologies will help serve the company's entire product lineup, and will be on display at the show. A next-generation, 600-plus-horse- power twin-turbocharged EcoBoost V6 engine demonstrates remarkable efficien- cy – a key attribute of its endurance rac- ing-derived powertrain. The engine is mated to a seven-speed dual-clutch transaxle that provides for near-instanta- neous gear changes and exceptional driv- er control. Aerodynamic efficiency is at the heart of the design of the Ford GT, with every slope and shape designed to mini- mize drag. An active rear spoiler is keyed to both speed and driver input, deploying and adjusting its height and/or pitch angle depending on conditions. An F1-style steering wheel inte- grates all necessary driver controls, creat- ing a stalkless steering column that allows uncluttered access to the transmis- sion paddle-shift controls. A fully digital and configurable instrument cluster pro- vides a wealth of driver-focused data. The display is configurable for multiple driving environments and different driv- ing modes. Beginning production in 2016, Ford GT arrives in select global markets to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Ford GT race cars placing 1-2-3 at the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans. HARMAN HONORED WITH 13 CES INNOVATION AWARDS HARMAN International Industries, Incorporated has won the CES 2016 Innovation award for 13 products intro- duced during this season. Over the course of the past three years, the company has won 167 awards for 100 unique products. Products entered in the CES Innovation program are judged by an esteemed panel of independent industrial designers, engi- neers, and members of the media to honor outstanding design and engineer- ing in cutting-edge consumer electronics products across categories. Harman award-winners represent the breadth of product portfolio, including headphones, smart audio, connected home and aftermarket car audio cate- gories. Awarded products include the JBL XTREME, which delivers extreme con- cert sound in portable Bluetooth speaker. Through JBL's technology and patents, the Xtreme's rugged, splashproof portable speaker is empowered with four active transducers and two bass radiators that enable listeners to feel the music with its powerful sound, while on-the-go with 15 hours playing time. The judges also recognized the JBL BOOST TV, the smallest way to get big sound from your TV. Perfect for any size TV, the JBL Boost TV is also the first speaker to let users automatically switch between TV audio to the audio from a phone or tablet with proprietary JBL SoundShift™ technology. The light- weight JBL Boost TV delivers cinematic sound quality with deep bass, virtual sur- round and Dolby ® Digital for HD movies. The JBL REFLECT AWARE™ is the world's first sport headphone with ambient aware and ANC, no batteries required. JBL REFLECT AWARE sport headphone gives the athlete the ability to mix ambient sounds with active noise cancelling performance, allowing any athlete to optimize their audio perform- ance for every workout. Concerta2 Series loudspeakers employ a 1-inch aluminum tweeter with an integral phase ring, derived from Revel's Performa3 Series, to deliver detailed and transparent high-frequency response. The tweeters are mated to a new, patented fourth-generation Acoustic Lens Waveguide that optimizes the blend between the tweeter and woofers and improves off-axis performance for smoother, more consistent performance over a wide listening area. The newly designed woofers feature aluminum cones that help keep distortion to a mini- mum by improving rigidity without increasing mass. The result is transducers that behave like ideal pistons throughout their operating range, which is funda- mental to Revel's DNA. In addition to the products listed above, several other HARMAN prod- ucts have been recognized with a 2016 CES Innovation Award, which will be announced during CES 2016. "Today's generation values constant connections not only to music, but also to friends, family and the world around them," said Dinesh C. Paliwal, HARMAN Chairman, President and CEO. "HAR- MAN continues to focus on putting the consumer first by delivering first-class, ground-breaking products across cate- gories. We are honored that the CES and industry continue to recognize our commitment to innovating brilliant solutions that truly integrate our con- nected lifestyle." DELPHI ADVANCES AUTOMATED VEHICLE PROJECT AT CES Three months after its introduction at CES 2015, Delphi's automated vehicle completed the longest automated drive in North America -- traveling from San Francisco to New York. For CES 2016, Delphi is taking active safety and auto- mated driving to the next level incorpo- rating vehicle-to-everything – V2E™ – capabilities. Using advanced software and hard- ware, Delphi's vehicle can communicate with streets, signs, traffic lights, other cars and even pedestrians. "We imagine a world with zero traf- fic accidents," said Jeff Owens, Delphi Chief Technology Officer. "To get there we will need a convergence of active safety, sensor fusion, connectivity plat- forms and advanced software. Delphi has proven we are the only company that has the right mix of all of these." During CES, Delphi's automated vehicle will demonstrate how Delphi's car can see all the cars in the immediate vicinity and can detect when an adjacent car abruptly decides to get into the same lane as the Delphi car. Leveraging a spe- cial chip in a smart phone, the vehicle is also alerted to pedestrians who are not paying attention to traffic as they use their phone. With Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC), Delphi's vehi- cle knows the status of traffic lights around Vegas and will anticipate yellow and red lights. Delphi's vehicle even manages for situations when streets inter- sect at strange angles that prevent the driver from seeing opposing traffic. While the future of truly automated driving is a long-term development, Delphi currently engineers and manufac- tures advanced systems that integrate cameras, radars, sensors and software to increase road safety. Next year, Delphi's industry-first original-equipment vehi- cle-to-vehicle technology will appear on the Super Cruise system on the 2017 Cadillac CTS. At CES, Delphi will unveil another industry-first with an aftermarket V2V unit that will enable all equipped vehicles to talk with one anoth- er – not just those built with the technol- ogy in the factory. Delphi will also use CES to demon- strate several of its latest advanced tech- nologies including a touch-free cockpit and 3D instrument cluster. Delphi's touch-free cockpit uses hidden infrared cameras to track eye movement to detect what a driver is looking at and infers what action should be carried out by the infotainment system. The company's 3D cluster uses multi-layer graphics technol- ogy to create a high-end, enhanced driv- ing experience. Delphi's technology will be on dis- play in the Gold Lot and at its booth in the North Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center.