Opinion
UCR Grads Making Smart Home Audio a New Standard

UCR Grads Making Smart Home Audio a New Standard
By Inland Empire Business Journal staff
We live in an increasing world of connectivity, with platforms by Amazon, Google, Apple, or Microsoft. However, these platforms tend to only work within their own ecosystem, locking consumers into a certain set of products. Vanguard Dynamics’ VAIL Cast, integrates the capabilities of Artificial Intelligence to break these limitations and create a smart home audio interface that is user-friendly to everyone, regardless of what platform they use.
Imagine bringing the ambiance of an upscale restaurant home as you dine over classical music and candles with your guests. Cast your favorite music from any mobile device or laptop to any room. At the end of the day, you tell your home to draw down the shades, lock the doors, and shut off the lights while your favorite songs play in your bedroom. All this, and much more, can only be achieved with VAIL Cast.

VAIL Cast Concept
Vanguard Dynamics’ goal is to bridge this gap and develop a product that works with every major platform for your convenience. This creates even greater connectivity, allowing everyone to use their favorite products, no matter their platform preference. It acts as a WiFi booster, so the WiFi signal throughout your home improves. By using it with the platform of your choice, it gives you a smart home experience catered to your liking and still allows you to utilize all the capabilities of any smart assistant. Connect VAIL Cast to a TV and any pair of speakers and enhance the sound of your favorite movies, shows, or video games.
Born and raised in the Inland Empire, Alex Chiou is on a mission to make smart home audio a new standard. Chiou founded Vanguard Dynamics in 2011 and has made a profound impact on the audio industry with award-winning and innovative smart home audio products. His current project, VAIL Cast, is a stereo amplifier that amplifies the sound of a smart assistant throughout your home. It connects with all of today’s most popular smart home digital assistants with Chromecast built-in, works with Alexa, Apple Airplay 2, and Microsoft DLNA and it is the only amplifier that works with all platforms simultaneously.
“We’ve been working with home builders around the world for over a decade and VAIL Cast is a game-changer for them because we’re providing an entertainment system that gives their homes high fidelity sound and strong WiFi coverage in every room that is fully universal and future-proof, controllable by any smart device.”
Chiou thought this would be a great opportunity to reconnect with the community of the Inland Empire and has been utilizing resources available by the City of Riverside, such as EPIC, the UCR A. Gary Anderson Graduate School of Management, Riverside ExCITE, and the Economic Development Department to help his company raise awareness for VAIL Cast. He reached out to both Dr. Ashish Sood, AGSM Associate Professor of Marketing, and the Career Development Center to gather a team of bright and driven UCR MBA students to help commercialize the new product.
Vanguard Dynamics is now working with an entire team of MBA students, including Alex Waskul, Eduardo Tellez, Jamie Linares, Lily Luu, and Randy Pimentel. The team meets regularly to strategize and brings cutting edge ideas they learn in various classes to the company. Each member contributes to the company through their unique skill sets. Lily and Randy help with the creative side of marketing the product, utilizing their superb writing and videographic capabilities to bring the vision of the VAIL Cast to life. Eddie, an audio enthusiast, utilizes his customer experience and public relations skills to increase awareness and facilitate interactions with their brand. Alex W. and Jamie combine their product management experience to ensure the team properly implements strategies, efficiently meets goals, and ensures effective brand management
The team has received continual support and guidance from Dr. Ashish Sood, AGSM Associate Professor of Marketing; the AGSM Career Center; Mai Temraz, Blackstone LaunchPad Entrepreneur-in-Residence; and Steve Massa, City of Riverside Economic Development, to ensure the team has all the insight and expertise needed to become successful.
They are now in the early stages of creating a Kickstarter campaign by generating content, designing reward-tiers for backers, and gaining support from their fellow UCR family in order to spread the word of this new innovative amplifier to become the new standard.
Here’s how you can help:
Like and share our Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/vailaudio/
Follow us and share our Instagram: @vailaudio
Support us and subscribe: www.vailaudio.com/kickstarter
Career & Workplace
California’s Population Decline Continues to Hammer Labor Supply

State’s Workforce Contracts Again In Latest Numbers; Unemployment Rate Ticks Up
California’s labor market grew modestly in the latest numbers. Total nonfarm employment in the state expanded by 8,700 positions in September, according to an analysis released today by Beacon Economics. August’s gains were also revised down to 8,900, a 19,000 decrease from the preliminary estimate of 27,900.
As of September 2023, California has recovered all of the jobs that were lost in March and April 2020 (the beginning of the pandemic), and there are now 436,400 more people employed in the state compared to pre-pandemic February 2020. Since that time, total nonfarm employment in California has grown 2.5% compared to a 3.0% increase nationally. On an annual basis, California increased payrolls by 1.7% from September 2022 to September 2023, trailing the 2.1% increase at the national level over the same period.
California’s unemployment rate rose slightly to 4.7% in the latest numbers, up 0.1 percentage points from the previous month. The state’s unemployment rate remains elevated relative to the 3.8% rate in the United States overall. Moreover, California continues to struggle with its labor supply, which fell by 17,700 in September, a decrease of 0.1% on a month-over-month basis. Since February 2020, the state’s labor force has contracted by 216,300 workers, a 1.1% decline.
“Census figures released this week reveal the extent to which households continue to leave California,” said Taner Osman, Research Manager at Beacon Economics. “The state’s population has fallen by half a million people over the past three years and this is filtering through to the economy, where the labor force has shrunk and employers are struggling to find workers.”
Industry Profile
- At the industry level, job gains were mixed in the latest numbers. The Health Care sector led the way with payrolls expanding by 18,200, an increase of 0.7% on a month-over-month basis. With these gains, Health Care payrolls are now 9.6% above their pre-pandemic peak.
- Leisure and Hospitality was the next best-performing sector, adding 11,300 jobs, a month-over-month increase of 0.5%. With these gains Leisure and Hospitality payrolls are now 0.4%, or 8,500 jobs, above their pre-pandemic peak.
- Other sectors posting strong gains during the month were Retail Trade (3,100 or 0.2%), Construction (2,200 or 0.2%), Real Estate (600 or 0.2%), and Management (500 or 0.2%).
- Payrolls decreased in a handful of sectors in September. Information experienced the largest declines, with payrolls falling by 7,300, a contraction of 1.3% on a month-over-month basis. However, this decline was driven by the strikes in the Motion Picture and Sound Recording sub-sector, which has shed 30,800 positions over the last year, a 18.2% decline.
- Other sectors posting declines during the month were Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services (-5,900 or -0.4%), Administrative Support (-5,500 or -0.5%), Manufacturing (-4,600 or -0.3%), Finance and Insurance (-2,200 or -0.4%), Other Services (-1,100 or -0.2%), and Transportation, Warehousing, and Utilities (-500 or -0.1%).
Regional Profile
- Regionally, job gains were led by Southern California in September. Los Angeles (MD) experienced the largest increase, with payrolls growing by 8,700 (0.2%) during the month. The Inland Empire (5,900 or 0.4%), Orange County (5,400 or 0.3%), San Diego (1,400 or 0.1%), and Ventura (800 or 0.3%) also enjoyed job gains. Over the past year, Orange County (2.1%) has seen the fastest job growth in the region, followed by Los Angeles (MD) (2.0%), El Centro (1.8%), Ventura (1.7%), San Diego (1.5%), and the Inland Empire (0.7%).
- In the San Francisco Bay Area, growth was mixed. San Rafael (MD) (1,000 or 0.9%) and Santa Rosa (1,00 or 0.5%) enjoyed the largest increase during the month. Vallejo (600 or 0.4%) also saw payrolls expand. On the other hand, San Francisco (MD) (-4,100 or -0.3%), San Jose (-1,800 or -0.2%), the East Bay (-1,600 or -0.1%), and Napa (-300 or -0.4%) all experienced payroll declines during the month. Over the past 12 months, Santa Rosa (3.4%) has had the fastest job growth in the region, followed by San Rafael (MD) (3.0%), the East Bay (2.0%), Vallejo (1.9%), San Francisco (MD) (1.4%), San Jose (1.3%), and Napa (0.5%).
- In the Central Valley, Sacramento experienced the largest monthly job gains with payrolls expanding by 2,200 (0.2%) positions in September. Payrolls in Bakersfield (700 or 0.2%), Modesto (700 or 0.4%), Redding (500 or 0.7%), Visalia (400 or 0.3%), Stockton (200 or 0.1%), and Chico (100 or 0.1%) also jumped during the month. On the other hand, Madera (-300 or -0.7%) and Merced (-100 or -0.1%) had payrolls decline. Over the past year, Yuba (2.6%) has enjoyed the fastest growth, followed by Hanford (2.4%), Fresno (2.3%), Sacramento (2.1%), Visalia (1.4%), Chico (1.3%), Bakersfield (1.0%), Madera (0.7%), Stockton (0.7%), Modesto (0.2%), Redding (0.0%), and Merced (-3.6%).
- On California’s Central Coast, Santa Barbara (400 or 0.2%) added the largest number of jobs in September. Salinas (300 or 0.2%) and Santa Cruz (100 or 0.1%) also saw payrolls increase during the month. On the other hand, payrolls in San Luis Obispo declined (-300 or -0.2%). From September 2022 to September 2023, Salinas (4.2%) added jobs at the fastest rate, followed by San Luis Obispo (3.1%), Santa Barbara (2.9%), and Santa Cruz (1.7%).
Bizz Buzz
Colton Resident Receives Free College Tuition and Books Through Walmart’s Education Program

By Saul Martinez, Contributing Writer for IEBJ
#bizzbuzz
This year marks the five-year anniversary of Walmart’s Live Better U (LBU) education program. Over the past five years, the company has saved associates across the country nearly half a billion in education costs, reflecting the company’s commitment to creating a path for everyone to learn and grow. In California, we’ve seen 5,620 Walmart and Sam’s Club associates participate in Live Better U over the past five years.
One such success story is Robert Gay, who lives in Colton, CA, and earned his college degree – fully paid for by Walmart. Robert was stuck in a stagnant position at his previous company, hindered by the absence of a degree that prevented him from advancing further. However, upon discovering the Live Better U benefits offered by Walmart, he decided to take a leap of faith and join their team with the intention of completing his degree. After successfully graduating with a bachelor’s degree in October 2020, he now takes immense pride in his accomplishment of accepting a promotion to associate general manager. Throughout his journey, Robert received overwhelming support from his local team, who not only empathized with his workload challenges but also aided when needed.
Most individuals typically encounter Walmart through its retail outlets. The Inland Empire Business Journal had the opportunity to explore a consolidation center of Walmart situated in Colton, California. Our visit left us deeply impressed by the remarkable cleanliness and impeccable condition of the facility, almost reminiscent of a high-end showroom.
While on the tour, we observed the diligent measures taken by the leadership to maintain employee motivation and awareness regarding the daily, weekly, and monthly performance Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) of the facility. These KPIs were prominently displayed on digital monitors throughout the premises. The Colton leadership created a mascot and call their team the Colton Eagles.
We found ourselves deeply impressed by this aspect of Walmart, which is often hidden from public view. Walmart unquestionably stands out as a company that not only offers excellent career opportunities but also boasts a remarkable 100% tuition reimbursement program. If you are seeking a career in the Inland Empire, this proves to be an exceptional workplace choice.
Whether someone is chasing their first job or the opportunity that will define their career, Walmart is committed to creating pathways of opportunity for everyone.
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