CES 2011 Venetian Hotel - As this is written, I'm sitting on the carpet outside the just completed OnStar Press Conference, or better known as the "2001 Room" because with all of the minimalist decor and track lights, it looked like it could have worked for the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Instead it presented OnStar's new aftermarket rear-view mirror replacement, which contains its famous emergency response system, and push-button calling, all built it to it. But the best news is that you don't have to buy a GM car to have OnStar, hence the term "aftermarket."
But that wasn't even the coolest product this blogger's seen so far. While there's a lot of show left, Muve Music, Bodymedia, and House Of Marley were product that, in my view, hit the cool bell.
I just edited the video on the products, and it's to come Wednesday, but to note, Muve Music is billed as the first unlimited talk, text, web, and music service. For $55 a month you can, in one touch, get unlimited music on your smartphone, regardless of platform and over its 3G Network. I think the pricing is a bit high for its 18-to-30 target market, but Cricket, the company behind Muve Music, thinks it's going to move. Time will tell.
Bodymedia.com is a kind of biofeedback mobile app that is a "all in one calorie counter, activity tracking Armband, and sleep monitoring system that makes losing weight easy," they contend. Given it's apparent ease of use, I can see where their claims just may be the case. I can see doctors, personal trainers, and wellness specialists incorporating Bodymedia into their plans for clients.
Finally, House Of Marley is a specially designed family of music listening products created by the family of the legendary Bob Marley. The products are eco-friendly, and Rohan Marley, Mr. Marley's son, explained that a percentage of the revenue goes to their foundation One Love. House Of Marley is an effort to bring the music and ideas and culture of Mr. Marley to a generation that's not so familiar with him.
My Butt Hurts
Ok, now, my butt hurts after sitting on this floor, so I'm going to get up. Hey, I've been on two prop planes and a long layover in Fresno before I got here. Then I got into the hotel, and got out to CES. I'm hungry.
Stay tuned for more from CES Las Vegas - follow me on Twitter.
Tuesday, January 04, 2011
Brett Favre: Facing Sexual Harassment Law Suit
Brett Favre is facing a lawsuit for the sexual harassment of Christina Scavo and Shannon O'Toole. Christina Scavo and Shannon O'Tool both worked as Massage Therapists, for the New York, Jets.
Christina Scavo stated that she received texts from Bret Favre saying “Kinda lonely tonight, I guess I have bad intentions." and “Brett here, you and Crissy want to get together, I’m all alone.”
After reporting the incident Christina Scavo and Shannon O'Toole weren't offered work with the Jets again.
Earlier this week Brett Favre was fined 50,000 dollars by the NFL for not cooperating in the sexual harassment case involving Jenn Sterger where he allegedly sent pictures of his penis to the sideline reporter for the Jets.
John Bobst aka The Force of Nature
Check out my blog at www.theforceofnature.net
CES 2011 Las Vegas: Qik and Zennie62
If you've never heard of Qik, it allows you to send a near-realtime mobile video to your channel. It's not a live stream like USTREAM.Tv, but so close in its real-action to video-action upload time gap, it's almost as effective.
What's neat about Qik on the Samsung Galaxy Android Smartphone I use, is that a special app allows for one-touch mobile video making. It's quite an addictive process; the full power of which I've not tested until this trip.
My Qik videos will go to Zennie62.com, and Zennie62 YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter accounts. So, follow it all at Zennie62.com.
Oh, why not use YouTube mobile? Good question.
The video quality is much better, but some larger videos just don't upload to YouTube from my Samsung phone. They sit in the que and then sit. Some are still there. At least the ones I did not delete. I have to keep any video made in that way below 20 seconds long.
By contrast, the Qik-first, then-to-YouTube posting process is much faster - what you'd expect.
San Francisco News: Public Defender Jeff Adachi To Be Sworn In Wednesday
San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi will be sworn in to his third term as public defender on Wednesday at 8:15 AM, according to a press release.
Mr. Adachi will be "made official," if you will, by San Francisco Superior Court Judge Don Mitchell. Jeff has served the City and County of San Francisco since 2001.
The ceremony will be held at the Third Floor Conference Room, San Francisco Public Defender’s Office, 555 Seventh Street, San Francisco, Ca.
Remember, that's at 8:15 AM, not PM.
Congratulations, Jeff!
Bill Erwin from 'Seinfeld' Dies
The Los Angeles Times reports that Bill Erwin, actor from 'Seinfeld,' 'Growing Pains,' 'Who's the Boss?,' 'The Twilight Zone' and 'Golden Girls,' died last Wednesday; however the news was not made public until today, January 4, 2011.
He will be remembered for his many roles as an actor as well as his Emmy nomination in 1993 for his role on 'Seinfeld' playing a grumpy old man named Sid Fields.
Erwin was 96 when he died.
Chevron Ecuador: NY Times Buries Case Bias
Lawyer Steve Donziger and other plaintiff's who filed the so-called environmental damage lawsuit against Chevron appear to have help from some in the print media. According to Julia A. Seymour of the Business and Media Institute, the New York Times joined Crude movie director Joe Berlinger in his effort to be excused from giving over 500 hours of outtakes from the film to Chevron lawyers.
In an article on the Chevron Ecuador issue, the NY Times John Schwartz and Dave Itzkoff wrote "Floyd Abrams, an expert in First Amendment law who wrote a brief fighting the demand for the outtakes by Chevron on behalf of journalism organizations, including The New York Times, said that regardless of how revealing the clips were, the court's broad order was mistaken."
That sentence appears in a paragraph 24 levels down in the article. Buried.
And, as Seymour points out, and has been noted here, the tapes were more than revealing. The tapes were damaging to Steve Donziger's case, and effectively call his motives into question, as well as revealing the case itself to be a fraud.
The main stream American media has not looked into the strength of the evidence Donziger has presented (none), or the efforts Ecuador has made to nationalize its oil production, kicking out American firms from Ecuador in the process.
Stay tuned.
In an article on the Chevron Ecuador issue, the NY Times John Schwartz and Dave Itzkoff wrote "Floyd Abrams, an expert in First Amendment law who wrote a brief fighting the demand for the outtakes by Chevron on behalf of journalism organizations, including The New York Times, said that regardless of how revealing the clips were, the court's broad order was mistaken."
That sentence appears in a paragraph 24 levels down in the article. Buried.
And, as Seymour points out, and has been noted here, the tapes were more than revealing. The tapes were damaging to Steve Donziger's case, and effectively call his motives into question, as well as revealing the case itself to be a fraud.
The main stream American media has not looked into the strength of the evidence Donziger has presented (none), or the efforts Ecuador has made to nationalize its oil production, kicking out American firms from Ecuador in the process.
Stay tuned.
2011 New Years Resolutions - Have Sex, Gain I.Q. Points, Lose Weight
At the Balboa Cafe in San Francisco's Marina District on New Year's Eve, a number of patrons shared their new year's resolutions. Some of them interesting and serious.
Others.
Well, there was this one couple where the guy wanted me to record his resolution on video: to have sex with "this girl" before he returned to New York. Her New Year's Resolution? To gain I.Q. points.
In fact, that segment was so funny, I created a separate video from it:
Finally, at the Brickyard, Ashley shares her New Year's best wishes and a kiss for everyone. Hey, she grabbed the camcorder from me and went for it.
Not bad:
Pixar's Kim Donovan Finds, Returns Zennie's Flip Video Camcorder
I lost my Flip Video Camcorder over the weekend, and a person emailed me to report they found it. The person who did so was Kim Donovan, who just happens to manage Pixar's exhibits around the World. (Pixar is the producer of excellent movies like Toy Story 3, and the Toy Story movie series.)
Oh. Yes, her work does includes the exhibit at The Oakland Museum, and you'd better hurry up and see it because this Saturday's it's last day there!
But this is a huge thank you to Kim, who not only found it and called me, but cleaned it up as I'd dropped it out of my jacket pocket, and put new batteries in it. Pixar certainly knows how to pick the right people to represent it.
Oh, and I gave her a good bottle of wine and my SF Giants 2010 NLCS Hat. I figured it would be worth something now and down the road!
Thanks Kim!!
Well, off to CES. Follow me at Twitter.com.
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