Crestron expanded operations to India and Northeast Asia, with CEO Stuart Craig calling Asia Pacific “an increasingly important market” in a Tuesday announcement. The wholly owned Crestron subsidiary in India is headquartered at RMZ Ecoworld in Bangalore and will be supported by regional offices. It includes a Crestron Experience Center with training facilities. A new full-service facility in Hong Kong includes a Crestron Experience Center, training facilities and technical support, said the company.

Chinese camcorder maker Showpro will launch a walkie-talkie camcorder at CES, said the company in a Tuesday announcement. Billed as an “intelligent camcorder,” the Showpro One was listed on Indiegogo Tuesday as a hybrid digital mobile radio and walkie-talkie camcorder ($279) with an estimated April delivery date. The device had seven backers Tuesday and had raised $2,984, said the Indiegogo page.

The FCC should grant Honda a 20-month waiver of accessibility requirements for the rear-seat entertainment systems in some vehicles, the automaker said in a petition in docket 12-108. “Until very recently,” Honda wasn't aware that accessibility requirements for devices that display video would have an impact on automakers, it said. The accessibility rules for devices that record and play back video programming took effect Tuesday (see 1612200050). The company is requesting the waiver for Honda Odysseys and Pilots and Acura MDXs with model years 2017, 2018 and 2019. Vehicles built after the waiver period will comply with the rules, Honda said.

ZapGo is prepping a lithium-ion battery alternative called Zap&Go for launch at CES, it said in a Monday announcement. The battery’s carbon-ion cell is said to be a nonflammable alternative to lithium-ion batteries, combining fast-charging characteristics of a supercapacitor with the performance of a lithium-ion battery. ZapGo’s strategy is to “revolutionize” charge time and battery life for various CE products, with first commercialization in cordless power tools, robot cleaners and electric bikes set for late 2017. At its CES booth (#40143), the company said it will show working products whose recharge time has been shrunk from hours to “sub-five minutes,” including a scooter, bicycle energy pack, Bluetooth speaker, 18-volt power drill and cordless cleaner.

As prices for flat-panel TVs sink lower, manufacturer BenQ dropped the entry point for its Colorific DLP HD projector line to $699. The HT1070 replaces the W1070, which was selling at Amazon Tuesday for $599, down from $999. Features include a six-segment color wheel, 2,000 lumens brightness and a short-throw lens that allows viewing up to 100 inches from eight feet away, BenQ said. It includes a 10-watt stereo sound system and a sport sound mode said to improve intelligibility. The HT1070 has dual HDMI inputs, with one doubling as an MHL port to allow users to stream video content on the big screen from mobile devices. The projector is ISF-certified by the Imaging Science Foundation, giving users the choice of two calibrated and optimized modes -- ISF Day and ISF Night. In SmartEco mode, the projector automatically adjusts lamp power to use minimal light, and a “no source detected” mode lowers brightness by 30 percent when no display source has been detected for more than three minutes, it said.

BT continues to seek a voluntary settlement with U.K. telecom regulator Ofcom, a company spokesman emailed Wednesday. Earlier this week, Ofcom said it will require the legal separation of Openreach from BT due to competitive concerns (see 1611290027). “We put forward proposals in July that we believe are fair and sustainable, and that meet Ofcom’s objectives without disproportionate costs,” the BT spokesman said. “We are implementing these proposals, and have just appointed Mike McTighe to be the first chairman of Openreach. We are in discussions with Ofcom on two outstanding issues, the reporting line of the Openreach CEO and the form of legal incorporation.”

DTS Q3 revenue jumped 59 percent to $48.7 million, said the company in a Monday news release. CEO Jon Kirchner attributed growth to the home, mobile and automotive segments, calling out expansion in the Play-Fi line with Onkyo and Pioneer and additional models incorporating DTS Headphone:X in Huawei’s mobile device line. New 2017 model year vehicles from Hyundai, Audi and Lincoln have added HD Radio, he said. Net income was $600,000 vs. a loss of $2.8 million in the year-ago quarter. Tessera announced in September (see 1609200027) it was buying DTS for $850 million. The deal is expected to close in December.

Ex-Barnes & Noble CEO Ron Boire. under a termination agreement, will receive a release payment of $4.8 million, after his ouster Aug. 16, said an SEC filing. Under the agreement, Boire forfeited 368,098 shares of restricted stock granted on Sept. 8, 2015, and 143,540 restricted stock shares and performance-based shares granted July 14, said the filing. Barnes & Noble announced in August (see 1608170018) that the former Best Buy and Sony executive “was not a good fit for the organization.” The decision to let Boire go "was in the best interests of all parties," it said. Founder and Executive Chairman Leonard Riggio, scheduled to retire after the company’s annual meeting Sept. 14, postponed his retirement.

Barnes & Noble is holding its second annual Mini Maker Faire event Saturday and Sunday at stores nationwide, it said in a Monday announcement. The “Make” workspaces are designed for customers age 3 and up to participate in content-driven sessions where booksellers and makers will demo technology including virtual reality, augmented reality, 3D printing, pen-invent technology, robotics, coding and programming, the company said. Educators and authors involved in the maker movement will visit stores and speak about related topics, it said.

Sony will split out its digital imaging businesses into a separate subsidiary when the next fiscal year starts April 1, the company said in a Wednesday SEC filing. Sony Imaging Products & Solutions will handle the camera businesses for the consumer, broadcast and professional and medical markets and is expected to name Shigeki Ishizuka, the corporate executive officer currently in charge of those businesses, as president of the subsidiary, Sony said. The move is part of Sony’s long-term strategy to sequentially split out the business units within Sony to form new subsidiary companies to promote “clearly attributable accountability and responsibility” to shareholders and to speed “decision-making processes and reinforcement of business competitiveness,” Sony said.