By Lisa Slayman  Proper lighting is important in so many aspects of life. We need it to stay productive and alert while working in a home office, soft and subdued as we unwind and relax in a family room, and bright and focused in a kitchen as we compile ingredients for a delicious meal. In a home theater, a similar philosophy applies. Lighting can evoke a sense of drama and excitement, enhance the overall design theme, and direct attention to the big screen when appropriate, as it downplays the appearance of other components and accouterments. Be it sleek and modern or classic and sophisticated, every aspect of a home theater can benefit tremendously from a well-designed and choreographed lighting scheme.

By Anthony Savona To me, it feels as though our industry is having a penultimate moment right now. We’ve been living with Covid for nine months, the election is over, and custom install businesses have ridden the wave of a business shutdown to hyper-increased client demand.

Security firm Sonatype has found njRAT malware in npm packages posing as legitimate tools that, when downloaded and installed, provide hackers with full remote access to the victim's computer. The two npm packages involved, jdb.js and db-json.js, have been removed from the npm repository for JavaScript libraries, and security experts say any developers who installed either package should consider their systems compromised.

Amazon Web Services has introduced software, hardware and services for industrial and manufacturing operations. These include a condition-monitoring service for identifying critical equipment failures, a machine learning service that transfers sensor data to AWS for predictive modeling and detection software that finds defects by processing thousands of images an hour.

The Libra cryptocurrency is now rebranding to Diem in an effort to assert the project's independence from Facebook as it attempts to get regulatory approvals for launch. The independent organization that runs the project, the Libra Association, will now be known as the Diem Association, and its currency will be the Diem Dollar.

On Wednesday, the Senate Commerce Committee voted to advance the nomination of Nathan Simington, a Republican in favor of greater government oversight of speech on the internet, to the Federal Communications Commission. Simington’s nomination now awaits a floor vote for final approval.
WHY THIS MATTERS: With Ajit Pai definitely on the way out, this becomes the new focus. Where Pai was controversial from a tech and access standpoint, former Brightstar exec Simington is controversial from a content standpoint. -Cynthia Wisehart

Highlights the need for using industry standard specs to better equip shoppers to make smart buying decisions.
WHY THIS MATTERS: Epson does like their lawsuits. And we like our speeds and feeds (or in this case lumens). Epson been fighting the "lux" battle for awhile, and applied new energy to it today--perhaps inspired by all the Black Friday pitches full of made-up metrics. -Cynthia Wisehart

By Steve Harvey. When Post Malone's "Circles" landed a GRAMMY nomination for 'Record of the Year' last week, it was yet another recognition of Louis Bell's work. Now the go-to producer / engineer / mixer reveals his streamlined workflow and more.

Iceland Music has announced Record in Iceland, an initiative -- including a reimbursement incentive -- to promote recording music in the island nation.

Tascam has announced its new US-HR Series of USB audio interfaces, intended for use in project studios, content creation, podcasting and more.