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UK - For the fourth consecutive year, large-format projection specialist ETC London projected a series of giant sporting images and related inspirational messages onto London's 352ft (107m) high Shell Tower as the metropolis rocked in to 2008. As in previous years ETC was appointed by event producers Jack Morton Worldwide.

The spectacular, which included the projections, was organised by the Mayor of London in conjunction with Visit London. The images were part of a pyrotechnic, lighting and visual extravaganza designed to capture the spirit and inclusiveness of 2008 the Olympic year, and also looking forward to London's own hosting of the 2012 Olympic Games.

The New Year event took place along the Thames, encompassing the South Bank between Jubilee and Westminster Bridges, incl

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Macau - Eight giant Lighthouse 16mm LED screens featured at the recent annual Macau Grand Prix.

"There is a long history of Lighthouse screens being used for motor racing events at all levels," says Mark Chan, Lighthouse's managing director. "The superb picture quality and colour reproduction of our products assure the corporate images of the advertisers and the racing teams being accurately featured, which is extremely important. Additionally, the unrivalled reliability has made our 16mm panels the best choice of rental companies worldwide for this type of application."

Boasting a thriving tourist industry, one of Macau's annual highlights is the Grand Prix, an event that sees four days of frantic car and motorcycle racing round a 3.8-mile circuit through the city streets, culminating in the Polytec Formula 3 Macau Grand Prix.

November 2007 saw the runni

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UK - Media Powerhouse has appointed Howard Jenkins, formerly of Blitz Vision, as account and project manager where his priorities will be "to ensure that the company delivers the highest quality of services to Media Powerhouse's rapidly developing AV project rental business, catering for small and medium sized production companies".

Jenkins has over 30 years' industry experience. He was employed by Blitz for 17 years and prior to this he worked at Hammond AV for 13 years. Jenkins joins forces with Alan Macdonald and Kevin Orwin who are already installed in the new enterprise.

(Jim Evans)

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Indochine X PixMob Fan Immersion

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's - 40 thousand LED pixels on a ceiling!!! Indochine's whirlwind tour transports fans to another level of the live experience - immersing them from floor to ceiling with PixMob's X4 wristbands, and an LED ceiling made entirely of its NOVA Minis! With the vision of Indochine's creative team, PixMob used its LED fan-technology to turn attendees and venues into an ocean of effects, and a starry sky of LED magic. Très très cool!

Read more about the Indochine tour in the latest issue of LSi

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Australia - Entech 2008, the Australasian entertainment technology trade event is a sell-out, say the company. "The support from the industry has been overwhelming," says Louise Brooks, event organiser for Exhibitions and Trade Fairs. "For the first time in its 14 year history, the event is a sell-out."

From 11-13 February, two halls of the Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre will be packed with 90 stands, four fully-equipped Demo Rooms and over 500 brands from Australia and overseas. "I'm delighted to welcome back our key supporters to Entech 2008, along with many new faces. This year we've got even more for visitors to see," continues Brooks.

"In 2006, we had over 3,000 visitors to Entech. This year, with even more for visitors, we're expecting a record number. Over 1,000 people have pre-registered for fast-tracked entry, and the seminar

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Asia / Middle East - Creative Technology reports expansion into Asia, plus continued growth within its established office in Dubai. Both locations work closely with the UK and are the responsibility of managing director, Charlie Whittock, who has overseen the development and continued growth of the Creative Technology operations in the UK, Dubai and China.

The new CT office in Shanghai, China joins the company's well-established offices in UK, USA, Germany and Dubai. "CT Shanghai will enhance our already excellent global coverage to further support existing and new CT clients," the company says.

General Manager Tom Hui heads up the day-to-day operations of the Shanghai office and warehouse. Hui has been in the industry for over 25 years, having managed a large, full service AV company in Shanghai and brings invaluable knowledge and experience of the market and requir

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UK - As Kings of Leon stepped up to their first UK arena tour, creative director Paul Normandale, video director Phil Woodhead and lighting designer Ali Bale pooled synergies to create a provocative and memorable show.

XL Video supplied all the video equipment and crew for the tour, including cameras, Barco MiTrix screen, projection and PPU. The account is project managed for XL by Des Fallon, who says: "Ivan has pulled together a great team again, it's always a pleasure to work on one of his tours, working with Paul, Phil and Judy is cool, we all clicked from the off."

The cameras were all mini cams, dotted about the stage in odd and apparently random places. Four of them were Sony robotic fixtures with a series of preset positions, operated live by engineer Gerard Corey during the show.

All the cameras were fed to a pair of 14 10ft projection screens either side

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Denmark - The new smartMAC from Martin, first seen at PLASA 07 in London last September, is billed as "an extremely bright, fanless 150W profile luminaire offering a number of unique performance and economic benefits, not least the ability to reduce operating costs".

Suited for lounges, bars and restaurants, and appropriately silent for noise sensitive environments, smartMAC will liven up any space while saving money on power bills and service and maintenance checks, says the company.

The smartMAC features new fanless thermal management. With no dust and pollutants forced into the fixture, lamp life is optimised, service intervals extended (up to two years with 9000 hour lamp), maintenance kept to a minimum and operation costs reduced.

"The smartMAC is a unique product and a significant step for Martin," states Martin product manager for moving heads, Pet

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USA - Technomad Associates has announced that new versions of its Vienna 16 and Paris 616 weatherproof outdoor loudspeakers are now available and shipping. The Version8 models include upgrades that maximise the loudspeaker output while retaining broad dispersion and clear audio, says the company.

Technomad Vienna 16 and Paris 616 loudspeakers are part of the company's MP Series, a range of weatherproof loudspeakers designed for permanent installation, indoors and outdoors. Popular applications include city walkways, public spaces, tourist attractions, hockey and ice skating rinks, cruise ships, municipal swimming pools, and outdoor community amphitheaters.

The Version8 models add compression drivers that provide an added 3dB of maximum continuous SPL and an added 10dB of dynamic range, ensuring voice intelligibility and musical output at all volume levels.

"These upgrad

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USA - American DJ has debuted the latest 250W moving head in its popular Accu Spot series. The new Accu Spot Pro is "loaded with exciting professional features that provide clubs and establishments with the electrifying effects of a much larger, more expensive DMX moving head, all in an affordable, compact fixture that installs in a cinch".

Among the new features given to Accu Spot Pro are many that are typically found only on 575W or larger units. These include: a second gobo wheel, a separate prism wheel with trapezoid prism and three-facet prism, auto focus, shutter with pulse effect and random strobe, and 0-100% dimming.

"The Accu Spot Pro is great for clubs who may be on a budget but still want an intelligent moving head with premium features," said Scott Davies, general manager of the American DJ Group. "It will also appeal to more moderate-sized

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UK - A Greenpeace exhibition stand aimed at highlighting the controllability and versatility of energy saving lighting has been designed by Jason Bruges Studio with the help of iLight. The interactive display was a front of house feature at the recent 100% Design exhibition in London.

The installation was part of Greenpeace's campaign to champion efficient lighting and encourage the phasing out of incandescent light bulbs. Greenpeace commissioned Jason Bruges to create an electronic, animated interactive garden of raised flowerbeds made up of hundreds of energy efficient compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs).

iLight worked closely with Jason Bruges in providing the lighting control system to show that the CFLs could be efficiently dimmed. The newly developed Varilight lamps used are the first 'dimmer dimmable' CFLs on the European market and, unlike earlier designs, can be used wit

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USA - Stage Research will hold two one-day training sessions in London to introduce UK-based sound designers to SFX 6, the new version of the company's live entertainment sound playback software. The training sessions will take place 29 and 30 January at the Central School of Speech and Drama located in central London.

"UK sound designers have adopted SFX, and we're headed to London to support their transition over to SFX 6," says Carlton Guc who is partnered with Brad Rembielak in Stage Research. "Central has been a valued institutional customer since 2002 and it is the pre-eminent theatre sound design training institution in the UK. They have an advanced theatre and sound system into which SFX fits very well. It is the perfect place to introduce SFX 6 to the marketplace."

Gregg Fisher, sound designer and senior lecturer in theatre sound design at Central,

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USA - Students interested in the commercial electronic systems industry will have another tool to finance the education they need. The NSCA Education Foundation will award five $1,000 scholarships in 2008. The money will be available to students for tuition in a college or technical school programme.

Students interested in the following fields are encouraged to apply for the scholarship: acoustics, audio, automation and control systems, AV, communications, data networks, digital signage, information technology, interactive display, life safety, lighting, telephony or video.

"NSCA Education Foundation scholarships provide people interested in the commercial electronics industry with the means to get started with a broad-based, practical and theoretical education," said Tom Frericks, president of the Foundation Board. "Students participating in the NSCA Education

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USA - American Audio's new WM-16, WM-64 and WM-700 Wireless Microphone Systems feature selectable frequencies in multiples (16, 64 and 700, respectively) that make it possible to find a clear channel that's free of interference in any environment, says the company.

The WM Series systems come as complete packages that include a uni-directional electret condenser unit wireless mic, a receiver and 12-volt DC power supply. The systems are available in both handheld or lavalier (with bodypack) versions, making a total of six models in the series. All WM systems have a wide wireless range of up to 150 feet - making them an suitable for DJs, bands, singers, emcees, presenters and entertainers of all kinds, says the company.

The WM-64 and WM-700 systems boast an Auto Scan Receiver, which automatically searches for channels not in use. This ensures that the signal will always be strong

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Australia - State Automation first arrived at Sydney Opera House in the mid 1980s, where it made its first lighting dimmer installation in the Concert Hall, Opera Theatre, Drama Theatre and Playhouse venues. Since then, the company has been the on-site contractor providing support for the stage lighting and automation systems as well as managing the external lighting.

Recently, the company was awarded a 5-10 year contract for the maintenance of stage automation, lighting and stage machinery effective from August 2007. A service team of12 personnel and technicians headed up by the service director, Stuart Cornell, has been put in place to work full time at Sydney Opera House.

This team is responsible for the smooth operation of the lighting automation and stage machinery equipment and is available for support 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

(Jim Evans)

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USA - Nexxus Lighting has signed a non-binding letter of intent to acquire Lumificient Corporation, a Maple Grove, Minnesota, manufacturer of solid-state LED products for the sign lighting, commercial/architectural and retail markets. The transaction is expected to close on or before 30 April 2008, subject to satisfactory completion of a due diligence review, approval of Nexxus' board of directors and other customary closing conditions.

"Lumificient and its founder Zdenko Grajcar bring a whole new level of intellectual property, research and development capabilities and cutting edge technology to Nexxus Lighting," stated Mike Bauer, president and CEO of Nexxus Lighting. "Zdenko is one of the most respected and knowledgeable minds working in solid-state lighting. He and his team have developed some very exciting new technology that Nexxus plans to commercialise in

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UK - Robe moving lights and an Avolites D4 control console took centre stage as the Spice Girls hit the button with Richard Branson to launch the new Virgin Atlantic check-in at Terminal 3 of London's Heathrow Airport.

Lighting equipment was supplied by Southampton-based GLS who were working for event producers Watermark Event Management. GLS brought Peter Canning and Nic Ayres of Anglo-Irish design practice High Resolution Lighting onboard to produce the creative elements needed to make the presentation fly. "They were an obvious choice as Virgin Atlantic like a rock and roll edge to their shows," says GLS's Ian Turner.

Challenges included the back wall of the venue being an 80m (262ft) wide by 20m (66ft) high glass wall, which effectively meant that the show - which took place on a 12m (39ft) deep stage built in front of this - was in daylight. No available flying

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New Zealand - Klotz Digital has appointed Amber Technology - New Zealand as its new distributor for its broadcast product range in the region.

Rodney Houston, product manager at Amber Technology NZ says, "After watching Klotz Digital build up an impressive market share in Australia, we are very happy to be representing their market leading products now here in New Zealand. I am happy to start our working relationship off with a multi console sale including routers to Radioworks and look forward to the growth of Klotz Digital in New Zealand."

Amber Technology has already received an order for two Aeon consoles with Vadis 212 routers which will be installed in one of the Radioworks' On-Air studios in Auckland in the next couple of weeks.

"I am certain that this will be a long and prosperous partnership for both of our companies. We have learned a lot during our

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USA - Aviom has announced a collaboration with Digidesign to extend Aviom's A-Net capabilities. Digidesign's D-Show 2.6 software has been upgraded with key new features including support for Aviom's Pro16 Series. Aviom's Pro16 Series will be showcased at the NAMM show, 17-20 January in Anaheim.

The Digidesign ANO A-Net output card is an option for Digidesign's Venue Stage Rack that now allows users to connect the popular Aviom Pro16 Series personal mixers and audio networking devices, including the Aviom A-16II Personal Mixer, directly to a Venue system, providing "a simple and cost-effective artist-driven monitoring solution." It integrates with Digidesign's D-Show 2.6 software, and offers features such as Auto Link, which automatically links channel pairs across all Aviom personal mixers.

"We're very excited to add Digidesign to our family of A-Net partners,&q

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USA - Allen & Heath will unveil a fifth model in the new ZED range of small format, USB-equipped mixers for live performance, recording, and production, at the forthcoming NAMM show in Anaheim.

The new ZED-24 stereo mixer provides 23 independent sources to the mix, 10 independent outputs, four aux sends (two pre and two post fade), a USB send and return (for PC or Mac recording, playback and effects), a dual stereo input capability, and advanced monitoring facilities.

In addition to 16 mono channels there are four stereo channels, each with a main stereo input on jack sockets, and with the ability to take additional stereo inputs from phono sockets or from the USB audio input, enabling the engineer to control and route any source. ZED-24 features a responsive three-band swept-mid EQ, with an optimised slope for equalising individual instruments. The ZED-24 also features the ne

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China - Large quantities of QSC amplification and control devices feature in many of the new stadia and other venues under construction for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games which begin on 8 August.

In a number of instances these will be connected to digital networks and monitored by QSC Audio Products, LLC proprietary DSP systems which will also provide full system control and loudspeaker protection.

QSC products featuring on the tenders for the building projects in the Chinese capital range from the high-powered PowerLight Series down to multi-channel and 70V line amps.

The specifications were prepared by a number of eminent consultants, design institutes and system integrators, while for the important National Stadium (and other venues at Olympic Green) the companies Boss AV System of Shanghai and Beijing Yi Mei He Audio Co were responsible.

"Throughout the whole tend

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UK - Leisuretec Distribution CEO and founder, Mike Henden, has returned to head up the company following the departure of managing director, Nick Spalding.

"As would be expected, we are in the process of re-aligning our operation; however we will not be recruiting anyone to the position of managing director," said Henden. "I am now heading up the business with the existing management team."

To further develop the logistics aspect of the company, two new recruits have joined Leisuretec - Cliff Dounting to the position of operations manager, and Bill Daniels as Logistics team leader. Brian Payne has also joined the company in the capacity of technical sales back in August and Leisuretec is now recruiting further personnel to bolster the logistics team.

Despite 2007 being another challenging year in terms of the economy, Leisuretec achieved a year-end sales

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