Tag: bar

Easco to Showcase Ireland’s First Mobile Phone Brand at IFA Berlin 2025 with New Android Model

Easco, Ireland’s first homegrown mobile phone brand, will debut its latest product lineup at IFA Berlin 2025 this September. The company will reveal a brand-new Android smartphone, alongside its previously announced feature phone range, including a modern flip phone and  bar device, both designed with accessibility, safety, and simplicity in mind.

Easco’s mission is to provide mobile devices that promote Ease of Communication while addressing the overexposure of children and vulnerable individuals to smartphones and social media. The phones are engineered specifically for young teens, elderly users, and those with special needs, making up over 20% of Ireland’s population.

Key features include:

  • Distinctive Irish design (green, black, and gold) inspired by heritage brands
  • 4G calling and SMS without internet browsing or app stores (on feature phones)
  • Ultra-Wideband (UWB) tracking for safety—first in a global feature phone
  • Simplified UI, large tactile buttons, and an external display
  • New Android smartphone, offering parents and users more control with smart functions

“As the first mobile phone brand to be born in Ireland, we’re proud to build devices that reflect the Irish culture and meet the real communication needs of underserved users,” said Hao Lee, founder of Easco.

IFA Berlin 2025 runs from 5-9th of September, and Easco will be exhibiting in the MicFlip booth.

Video

Intelligent Video Bar Is An ISE Showstopper For Boom Collaboration

A new intelligent video bar with expandable audio was the star of the show for Boom Collaboration at the ISE 2024 trade show in Barcelona.

The Boom HALO features a 4K UHD camera, six microphone array and high fidelity speakers for a seamless all-in-one collaboration experience. In addition up to eight extra speakers can be connected to maximise audio and voice pick-up in larger or more flexible rooms.

Available in white and black colours, the HALO boasts many advanced features such as facial recognition, speaker tracking, intelligent noise reduction and AI auto-framing.

Visitors to the international AV and systems integration event witnessed all of Boom’s latest innovations, such as high performance cameras and audio devices as well as convenient all-in-one systems. Its new MAGNA Pro powerful camera, GOJO camera controller and forthcoming ZYGO user-friendly connectivity hub attracted lots of attention. All products are available from distributor Westcoast.

Boom Collaboration at ISE 2024

Boom also ‘teased’ a new PTZ camera with 25x optical zoom and NDI video over IP support. Another variant boasts highly responsive ‘intelligence’, including voice tracking. Furthermore a new wireless sharing dongle was also demonstrated alongside an innovative connectivity station – that allows instant switching between in-room PC or Bring Your Own Device deployments, across up to a 100 metre installation range.

Launchpad

The fast-growing video conferencing manufacturer, hailed the four-day show – which attracted over 73,000 attendees – a perfect launchpad to accelerate further forward this year.

Co-founder Holli Hulett emphasised: “Boom is based on delivering better meetings, simply. This was our third consecutive year at ISE and each time it gets bigger and better for us. The HALO video bar was one of many stand-out innovations.”

Fellow founder Fredrik Hörnkvist added: “We have exciting growth plans for 2024 and ISE provided a perfect platform to help us accelerate much further forward and really begin to boom. We are determined to remain the friendly face of video conferencing, based on a personal touch and a passion for long lasting partnerships through the distribution channel. ISE 2024 inspired lots of interest and future success from the tens of thousands of visitors.”

Boom Fuels The Video Bar Fire With Flagship 2024 Arrival

Conferencing manufacturer Boom Collaboration has expanded its video bar portfolio with the arrival of an intelligent all-one-one solution which is ideally suited for larger rooms. 

The flagship Boom HALO features a 4K UHD camera, six microphone array and high fidelity speakers to provide a seamless collaboration experience.

Available from distributor Westcoast, it boasts many advanced features such as facial recognition, speaker tracking, intelligent noise reduction and AI auto-framing. Additional ports allow for audio expansion for flexible rooms and growing teams.

Boom Collaboration was born in 2020 by founders Fredrik Hörnkvist and Holli Hulett. The Texas-based business has quickly developed an extensive conferencing portfolio and operates in over 30 countries after a successful expansion programme during 2023.

“There’s little doubt the popularity of video bars will continue to grow this year and the Boom HALO will add more fuel to the fire,” says Hulett.

“With 120° wide angle field of view, 10x zoom and smart mic array, the HALO detects both participants and speakers in real time locking in on attendees and allowing for hands-free operation. Six array MEMS microphones and a superior 4K lens with an eight megapixel CMOS sensor ensure an exceptional meeting experience for a variety of spaces.”

Excellent audio

Hörnkvist highlighted the HALO’s excellent audio quality. “High-fidelity audio with a 48kHz sampling rate and dual 10W speakers provide lossless audio and full spectrum sound for meeting participants. Acoustic Echo Cancellation and Automatic Gain Control further enhance the meeting experience and work to ensure full duplex quality at a distance of six metres.”

He pointed out how Bluetooth 5.0 allows for easy pairing with mobile phones and other

devices while expansion ports for additional microphones and speakers ensure optimal coverage for any space.

He added: “Plug & Play simplicity is created from USB 3.0. Users can simply connect and enjoy their favourite video conferencing platform. Furthermore an automatic privacy shutter is combined with the ability to disengage wireless connectivity for added security.”

Boom’s video bar portfolio also includes the high performance AURA and compact UNO for smaller and personal use. All are backed by a three-year warranty. The HALO is available in black or white colour options.

Jabra announce updates to its PanaCast 50 video bar solution

First announced at InfoComm in June but now available as a product update, Jabra’s video bar solutions have just become smarter.  

Intelligent Meeting Space 

We made our Jaba PanaCast 50 professional video bar a little too good at picking up every face. So particularly in glass-walled meeting rooms but also for open-plan spaces, there’s a chance people outside your meeting could find themselves on screen for remote participants. 

Our new Intelligent Meeting Space feature has it handled, enabling you to customise your meeting space so that only people inside your specified area are included in the meeting. The Jabra PanaCast 50 and PanaCast 50 Room System simply allows for definition of room boundaries of the virtual meeting space, so only people within this area are included, whereas bystanders and people walking by are excluded.  

Intelligent Speaker 

Jabra PanaCast 50 and Jabra PanaCast 50 Room System are the first front-of-room devices to be certified for Microsoft’s new Intelligent Speaker functionality, which identifies who said what in a Microsoft Teams Room meeting and allows each person to have their spoken words accurately attributed to them in the transcript Using intelligent speech recognition identifies up to 10 individual speakers’ voices, adding names of in-room participants to the live transcription so you know exactly who’s said what. Voice recognition functionality – upon individual enrollment – enables in-room participants to maintain their identity in the meeting transcript, enabling more precise intelligent recaps for users with a Teams Premium license. 

Intelligent Speaker is proprietary Microsoft technology to uniquely identify a person’s voice to have accurate speaker attribution. When multiple people are speaking in a conference room, and the transcription feature in Microsoft Teams is enabled, it makes sure the sentences and words of each attendee be attributed to them as opposed to being generically attributed to the meeting space. 

Jabra PanaCast 50 is the first and only Microsoft Teams Rooms video bar that supports Intelligent Speaker right in the bar, without having to purchase a secondary device just to enable this capability.  

As explained by Microsoft, announcing the general availability, Intelligent Speaker will bring people identification in live transcription in a shared environment enabling clear voice capture of participants in the meeting room. Allowing everyone in the meeting to spend less time taking notes and easily follow along who said what in the room. Intelligent speakers include a 7-microphone array to identify voices, so whether you are working remotely or in the conference room, you can effectively see who said what during and after the meeting. 

Josh Blalock, Microsoft MVP and Chief Video Evangelist at Jabra said: ”No-one likes taking minutes – and now, no-one has to. We are proud to be the first to bring Intelligent Speaker for Microsoft Teams directly to a video collaboration bar, expanding the ROI for our PanaCast 50 customers, and eliminating the need for them to further complicate their meeting room deployments. At Jabra, we are always looking for ways to harness the power of cutting-edge AI technologies to revolutionise hybrid and remote meetings, and this is a major step.”  

Tech Review – Quntis Monitor Light bar with RGB Backlight

Quntis is a brand who have simple affordable lighting solutions for your home or office inside and out, we have tested several over the years and their latest edition is one for gamers and those who just use their pc/laptop at home or in the office, this is a well built product and simple to use which is great. It is a slender bar that just sits on top of your pc/laptop and you are in full control of what way to use it so if you are a gamer or just a casual user or even both this is ideal for you to get your work done.

This is more aimed at gamers but regular users can also use this and it is even better if your keyboard is not backlit as it can shine the right amount of light down on the keys and you can control the light temperature and it does not effect your eyes either.

If you are a gamer you are in for more of a treat as it emits RGB lights from the rear or front whichever suits you nest as it can be changed to suit your requirements. What is also notable about this the light will not take over the whole room, just your space you are in which again would suit many people and you will not be disturbing anyone else in the same room as it will not light the entire room and just your own personal space with cool lighting effects.

There is one control each end of the bar and it is simple to change the colour tones and brightness here so it is really a plug in a go solution for your lighting needs, check out the video below on what you will get.

Quntis RGB bar demos

 

Features 

  • 【Professional Eye Protection Screen Light】Quntis eye protection reading light has passed the IEC62471 light radiation safety, IEC62778, and TUV anti blue light certification standards, with LED>700Lux, CRI>95, and no flashing. The monitor light bar has a unique 45% asymmetric optical design, which illuminates the entire office area without directly shining into the eyes and avoiding glare reflected on the screen, thus protecting the eyes.
  • 【Vivid Gaming Experience】Dual light source screen light bar with monitor lamp and RGB backlight you can control 15 RGB modes through the touch button (tap：turn on/switch modes, long press：turn off) to experience immersive gaming and watching movies. After illuminating the RGB monitor backlight, it can also reduce the light difference and play a role in protecting the eyes.
  • 【Memory Function+sensitive Touch】Quntis computer light will automatically store, and when the display monitor lamp is opened, it will restore the last set brightness and RGB backlight without resetting. The screen lights are controlled by the left button. Short press to turn on and adjust the three color temperatures（warm, cold, natural）. Two short presses can adjust the brightness（25%, 50%, 100%）. Long press to turn off.
  • 【Stable Suspension】Computer monitor light bar use an exclusive patented electrostatic sticker weight increasing spherical clamp, suitable for all 1-3cm thick displays【not including curved displays and Laptops】. Flexible soft stickers do not harm the screen, easy to install and more stable than other clips.
  • 【Rest Assured Use】We use lightweight and impact resistant aluminum alloy as the material for screen lights. The integrated control IC 5050 light source is energy-saving and environmentally friendly, long life over 10000 hours. In addition, Quntis LED light bar not only has excellent eye protection effects, but it is also very suitable for entertainment. If you are a long-term computer user, office worker, game or music anchor, then this gaming light will definitely bring you surprises.

Check out Quntis for more products

BUY 

Video Review

Boom Launches AI Video Bar

Boom Collaboration has launched a powerful new ‘intelligent’ video bar, as the growing appeal of all-in-one devices continues to accelerate.

The US-based manufacturer has unveiled the Boom AURA, a stylish video bar with built-in AI functions designed to deliver superior meetings.

The Boom AURA offers 4K Ultra HD picture quality, 10x digital zoom and a wide 120 degree field of view. AI functions include highly responsive facial detection and sound source localization providing intelligent auto-framing and voice-tracking. 

Six digital array mics with six meters of pickup ensure crisp high fidelity audio and an optimal intuitive response. An 8MP CMOS sensor is combined with plug-and-play functionality and a standard three-year warranty

The all-in-one AURA delivers a smart professional user experience backed by intelligent hardware that makes for better meetings. Simply. That’s the view of Fredrik Hörnkvist who set-up Boom Collaboration with co-founder Holli Hulett in 2020.

Holy Grail

“There’s little doubt the popularity of video bars continues to rise as they provide a perfect solution especially for huddle rooms which are now an integral part of today’s hybrid work trends,” he explained.

“The AURA offers many exceptional features to create a complete conferencing solution combining stylish design with high performance and ease of use.”

The AURA joins the Boom UNO vertical video bar as part of an expanding portfolio, with further product developments in the pipeline.

However both Hörnkvist and Hulett insist video bars might not be the ‘holy grail’ of conferencing for every environment, especially very large rooms.

“Despite their growing popularity video bars have limitations especially in larger rooms where people might be sat a long way back,” Hulett highlighted. “PTZ cameras with optical zoom offer the ultimate visual performance and when paired with our GEMINI expandable wireless audio system, for example, it’s often a better experience.

“We have also just introduced the Boom GOJO multi-camera controller which makes it easy to add a new dimension to conference meetings and live events by utilising more than just one PTZ camera.”

She concluded: “Boom Collaboration provide solutions for all room types, from home workers to the biggest boardrooms – raising the bar in performance and convenience, whether that’s all-in-one or more powerful PTZ camera technologies. The popularity of bars and cameras remain high.”

Jabra launches PanaCast 50 Video Bar System to facilitate next-level hybrid meeting experiences

Jabra, a leader in personal sound and office solutions, is unveiling the PanaCast 50 Video Bar System at ISE 2023 as part of Jabra’s PanaCast 50 solution portfolio for small-medium sized meeting rooms. The Jabra PanaCast 50 Video Bar System is an integrated solution, that includes an Android based compute unit, as well as state-of-the-art SOCs, speakers, microphones, video camera, with network and display interfaces for easy deployment. The solution comes with a 10.1” touch controller to manage the room experience. The system natively and securely runs Microsoft Teams Rooms on Android or Zoom Rooms. 

The complete portfolio delivers flexible deployment options to bring the best collaboration experience with either an integrated solution on Android, a modular on Windows through the PanaCast 50 Room Systems with Lenovo and Crestron or a BYOD solution with PanaCast 50.  

The ultimate hybrid workplace meeting experience 

The PanaCast 50 Video Bar System offers the same award-winning user experience as the two other solutions in the portfolio. It features full-room coverage with its unique 180° field of view Panoramic-4K multi-camera array, which uniquely delivers true-to-life representation of the people in the room. It also has eight professional-grade microphones with voice detection and intelligent algorithms that automatically identify and remove residual echoes and static noise, as well as an array of four powerful speakers in a zero-vibration stereo setup. Meanwhile, its Intelligent Meeting Room Experiences, which include the Virtual Director, Intelligent Zoom and Dynamic Composition, provide an engaging experience for remote participants.  

The PanaCast 50 Video Bar System is designed to adapt to the evolving UC experiences and hybrid workplace needs with its AI-powered software-defined platform. Above all, it is easy to install, manage and use with everything needed for video meetings embedded in the PanaCast Control for a one-touch start/join without requiring any additional devices, allowing simple, secure, and scalable deployment and management in any small-medium sized rooms. 

Aurangzeb Khan, SVP for Intelligent Vision Systems at Jabra said, “We have an urgent need to improve collaboration in today’s hybrid working era. Our research* found that meeting equity has a strong impact on an employee’s experience, well-being, and productivity levels. The addition of the PanaCast 50 Video Bar System as a room solution to the Jabra PanaCast portfolio – with the already-delivered BYOD and room system solutions – can vastly enhance the hybrid meeting experience. The Jabra PanaCast 50 solution portfolio addresses the spectrum of business needs for small-medium sized meeting rooms. We want to facilitate effortless discussions and encourage innovation amongst meeting attendees no matter their location.”  

 

Key features of the PanaCast 50 Video Bar System:  

  • Integrated video bar that runs Microsoft Teams Rooms on Android and supports your licensed Zoom Rooms natively without the need for external compute unit. 
  • Full-room coverage with unique 180° field of view in Panoramic-4K with three 13-megapixel cameras that preserve human scale fidelity 
  • 8 beamforming microphones and 4 powerful speakers with echo cancellation, noise suppression, Full Duplex and Super Wideband audio  
  • Cutting-edge intelligent meeting room experiences to support immersive hybrid meeting experiences  
  • Simple Start/Join meeting with just a tap on the touch controller  
  • HDMI-wired content sharing, proximity join and dual display support 
  • Fast and Easy to install with minimal cabling  
  • Environmental sensors to monitor air quality in the room in real time 
  • Ultrasonic motion sensor that detects people in the room, so the system wakes up and is always ready to go 
  • Real-time, anonymous people count data with full room coverage to monitor room usage 

 

PanaCast 50 Video Bar System: Available from June 2023, MSRP: £3229 

Find out more at www.jabra.co.uk/panacast-50-video-bar-system