Greetings from CES 2011 and after this blogger had a late night out with a college friend after a surprise meeting at The Cosmopolitan Hotel, then a walk to Bellagio, where we visited The Bank Nightclub. After getting in at 4 AM, some breakfast, and some rest, I'm ready to tell you about my first impressions of CES Las Vegas 2011 in brief.
First, this is just overwhelming. You need two weeks to see all that's here. Plus, as you can see from the video below, the place is teaming with people from all countries. You commonly hear three or four languages spoken around you.
Second, even though Apple's not here, Apple is here. There are iPads all over the place, and consumer electronics makers like BlackBerry, Samsung, and Motorola are rolling out their versions here at CES. I'm not sure all of these tablet, some with operating systems that are a cross between the maker's smartphones, and computer operating systems, will succeed. They may do just enough to blunt the iPad's sales, but I can't see them overtaking the iPad.
It's the size thing. The tablets are smaller than the movie-viewing-ready iPad. I can't see kids wanting a tablet smaller than the iPad. Time will tell, but I'm willing to bet the iPad remains the leader here by a wide margin.
Tablets aside, there's 3D all over the place, in televisions, movies, tv shows, and even for your smartphone:
But is the public really ready for all of this 3D, or is it being pushed on us. There are three views: one is that the tech push gets the next generation ready for 3D. The other is there's too much and some companies involved are going to take a bath. The last is that this is the next wave, and the data shows there're money to be made. My view is a mix of the three.
Finally Walking Dead and Terminator producer Gale Anne Hurd says CES 2011 is a split between "digital natives" and "digital immigrants," which folks like her as the immigrants, and people like, say, Robert Scoble or Caly Lewis, as digital natives. The natives know this digital stuff; the immigrants feel like they have to know this digital stuff.
Well, I've got to jam. I've uploaded a ton of videos at YouTube.com/zennie62. I'm headed down to the floor, and then, eventually, to something called the CES Tweetup, where I'm going to drink nothing but cranberry juice.
Also, live feeds are at Qik.com/zennie62.
Friday, January 07, 2011
CES 2011: Sony 3D Bloggie Preview
CES 2011 has a surprise that was briefly mentioned yesterday: the Sony 3D Bloggie. That's right, 3D. That means you can make a true 3D video. The product is so new, it's not out yet. But the Sony representative says it will be available for purchase in April.
I've been a critic of the old Sony Bloggie design, the one with the swivel head. The reason for my dislike of that feature was it prevents what I call "eye-level vlogging" where you hold the camcorder at eye level, thus causing the production of a steadier video image.
With the old Sony Bloggie design, a one millimeter offset of the head throws off the ability to directly aim at an image and keep the video steady. I know this because I purchased a Sony Bloggie from Sears in Oakland, then took it back the next day. The new Sony Bloggie, and the 3D version, has a fixed lens. No swivel.
Also, the 3D Sony Bloggie is both PC and Mac compatible. Can you adjust the interocular levels of the 3D Bloggie? No. In other words, you can't adjust the, to put it simply, "intensity" of the 3D experience. Moreover, it's not a good idea to try if you don't know what you're doing and most consumers don't.
But I digress.
I fell in love with the Sony 3D Bloggie. It's the perfect camcorder for YouTubers who want to get into making 3D video blogs.
Stay tuned.
Teen Mom Sex Addict
InTouch Weekly's cover story about Teen Mom Amber being a sex addict had no interview with Amber - the only celebrity interview included was one with Angelina Jolie. The interviews of this magazine include "inside sources" and "close friends." Lack of credibility. The big deal cover story should definitely include an interview with the person, and feel sympathy for any guy who ever dates her from here on out: they are going to be in the public eye.Jersey Shore Season 3 Premiere
Snooki comes on the screen looking orange as ever. She brings a surprise new member to the house, her friend Deena. Deena is a skinnier version of Snooki, and is three times as annoying. Most would expect Snooki to bring her best friend Ryder, but as Snooki explains later Ryder and Vinny had sex two weeks ago and she walked in on it.
Sammi and Ronnie are the first to get there, and they decide to take the upstairs bedroom with three beds. JWOWW arrives next and makes sure to take the other three bedroom to share with Deena and Snooki. Vinny and Pauly room together - which leaves The Situation to room with Sammi and Ronnie. Vinny brings a shower caddy - which brings lots of laughs.Deena tries to get to know Sammi, but for some reason Sammi is rude for no reason and doesn't even want to tell her what part of Jersey she is from.
The housemates enjoy their first night getting drunk, playing flip cup and chilling in the hot tub - all except for Ronnie and Sammi who decide to just stay in their bedroom. Ronnie tells Sammi that he's madly in love with her.
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| Image courtesy of MTV.com |
Vinny and Snooki have a lover's quarrel in the hot tub, and then in my notes I wrote the following:
"Aww Vinny cares about Snooki too much to hook up with her. aww, that's so sweet. Snooki is all heartbroken and everything. Snooki wants to be with Vinny - he won't hook up with her because he cares about her too much and knows that if he hooks up with her and then hooks up with another girl the next day she'll be sad. hooking up with her is more than just hooking up. but snooki says she's over it and it's over."
Deena is flirting with The Situation and has him follow her into her bedroom so she can find her hat. As she looks for her hat she gets butt naked and The Situation turns her down, because that is not something to do the first night. The Situation tells this story to JWOWW who says, "If I see your penis rise I'm going to sleep."
 |
| Image courtesy of MTV.com |
All of a sudden all hell breaks loose and Snooki is telling Sammi how much of a bitch she is and saying that she's a slut and just all sorts of crazy stuff. All because Deena was laughed at by Sammi. Ronnie gets involved and it's just a mess. Sammi confesses that she is staying in the house and that Snooki is a fake bitch.
There is a preview of Sammi and JWOWW getting into a fist fight. All of this is happening the first night at the Jersey Shore. The end of the episode there are previews for the rest of the season which include an image that suggests that Sammi will be going home and Ronnie will become friends with JWOWW. Deena is definitely crazy and extremely annoying.
Tune in next week for episode two re-cap of season three - which will pick up from the first night and show the fight of fists between Sammi and JWOWW.
Thursday, January 06, 2011
Paladinette’s Jobless Talk to Returns with a Vengeance in 2011
Paladinette’s Jobless Talk will return with a vengeance Friday January 7, 2011. The weekly shows have now been expanded up to 2 hours in length. Jobless Talk is a BlogTalk Radio show which airs via live stream by computer every Friday at Noon Pacific time or by podcast.
Tomorrow’s show is subtitled “GET OUT THERE” and was inspired by recent events surrounding Ted Williams, a homeless man from Ohio. I will let the video speak for itself, but this man got out there and made things happen (with the help of Almighty God - in his words). It did not hurt his meteoric overnight change in circumstances to have been blessed with a GOLDEN voice - but the 99er Nation is full of equally talented individuals as well.
Ted may not be a 99er (and is now fully employed) but he overcame the ravages of self induced life circumstances related to addictions to drugs and alcohol and now his life is turning around. Kudos to the reporter who gave him a TracPhone (for job offers and media requests to be fielded by Mr. Williams) and put his story and GOLDEN VOICE on YouTube. (now with over 11 million hits)
From Homeless:
To Salvation:
[The donation button below is for me, Paladinette. If you like what I write please donate so I can keep on fighting for the 99ers! Thank You!]
CES 2011: Qik, Sony 3D Bloggie, Gale Anne Hurd, Dancing With The Stars
CES 2011 is overwhelming. As I write this, I'm in the giant press / blogger "lounge" in the small city that is the Las Vegas Convention Center. A friend of mine here observed that there seemed to be more media people than attendees!
But this blog is a bit late coming as the day started with a quick cab ride from my hotel to the Las Vegas Convention Center. The massive Exhibit Hall had not opened until 10 AM and I planned to attend the Variety-sponsored session called "Media Money Makers" and featuring Walking Dead and Terminator producer Gale Anne Hurd (in photo), Heroes creator Tim Kring, Jeff Ross Executive Producer of Conan, Conrad Green, Dancing With The Stars Producer Conrad Green, and Bonnie Arnold, Producer of How To Train Your Dragon.
Afterward, I asked Hurd if she planned to produce Terminator Five. She remarked that, while she's been quoted as feeling the movie series that gave us Arnold Schwarzenegger as android had lost it's way, there was nothing she could do to reboot it. "I don't own the rights," she said.
Meanwhile, Conan's Jeff Ross explained the show's wildly high popularity has generated 60,000 views online per day (yes, I know it's an offline TV show, but the online data was interesting to me). He explained he didn't know if that was "good or bad," and I explained that really considering his TV views, the rate should be about double that.
Thanks to Qik.com, I was able to stream the entire 53 minutes of the meeting, and you can see it here:
More on this later.
After the session, I interviewed Conrad Green of Dancing With The Stars, who explained that they were very pleased with the overwhelming response they got by having Sarah Palin's daughter Bristol Palin on the show:
The day before, I was a press guest of the Sony people (along with oh, about 300 others) to see their new products. Frankly, Sony's presentation was breathtaking. Overall, it must have cost something like $15 million, when you consider the sets, videos, and the various models of the Black Beauty from The Green Hornet that were on display.
But, for me, the real star was Sony's 3D version of the Bloggie camcorder series. For a Flip Video lover, like me, it takes a lot to make me convert to a Sony Bloggie. Sony would have to do something really incredible.
Well, they did.
The Sony 3D Bloggie, which goes on sale this April, will allow you to make 3D videos of the kind that YouTube engineers have been working to reconfigure the YouTube site for over the last three years. Moreover Sony had tech reps on hand to ask any and all questions about the product.
Lots more to report here. I'm going to get up off this great couch and go out. Remember to follow me at Zennie62 at Twitter and also on YouTube and Qik.com and CNN iReport.
And thanks again to the Qik.com people.
Stay tuned for more.
But this blog is a bit late coming as the day started with a quick cab ride from my hotel to the Las Vegas Convention Center. The massive Exhibit Hall had not opened until 10 AM and I planned to attend the Variety-sponsored session called "Media Money Makers" and featuring Walking Dead and Terminator producer Gale Anne Hurd (in photo), Heroes creator Tim Kring, Jeff Ross Executive Producer of Conan, Conrad Green, Dancing With The Stars Producer Conrad Green, and Bonnie Arnold, Producer of How To Train Your Dragon.
Afterward, I asked Hurd if she planned to produce Terminator Five. She remarked that, while she's been quoted as feeling the movie series that gave us Arnold Schwarzenegger as android had lost it's way, there was nothing she could do to reboot it. "I don't own the rights," she said.
Meanwhile, Conan's Jeff Ross explained the show's wildly high popularity has generated 60,000 views online per day (yes, I know it's an offline TV show, but the online data was interesting to me). He explained he didn't know if that was "good or bad," and I explained that really considering his TV views, the rate should be about double that.
Thanks to Qik.com, I was able to stream the entire 53 minutes of the meeting, and you can see it here:
After the session, I interviewed Conrad Green of Dancing With The Stars, who explained that they were very pleased with the overwhelming response they got by having Sarah Palin's daughter Bristol Palin on the show:
The day before, I was a press guest of the Sony people (along with oh, about 300 others) to see their new products. Frankly, Sony's presentation was breathtaking. Overall, it must have cost something like $15 million, when you consider the sets, videos, and the various models of the Black Beauty from The Green Hornet that were on display.
But, for me, the real star was Sony's 3D version of the Bloggie camcorder series. For a Flip Video lover, like me, it takes a lot to make me convert to a Sony Bloggie. Sony would have to do something really incredible.
Well, they did.
The Sony 3D Bloggie, which goes on sale this April, will allow you to make 3D videos of the kind that YouTube engineers have been working to reconfigure the YouTube site for over the last three years. Moreover Sony had tech reps on hand to ask any and all questions about the product.
Lots more to report here. I'm going to get up off this great couch and go out. Remember to follow me at Zennie62 at Twitter and also on YouTube and Qik.com and CNN iReport.
And thanks again to the Qik.com people.
Stay tuned for more.
Paladinette’s Jobless Talk to Returns with a Vengeance in 2011
Paladinette’s Jobless Talk will return with a vengeance Friday January 7, 2011. The weekly shows have now been expanded up to 2 hours in length. Jobless Talk is a BlogTalk Radio show which airs via live stream by computer every Friday at Noon Pacific time or by podcast.
Tomorrow’s show is subtitled “GET OUT THERE” and was inspired by recent events surrounding Ted Williams, a homeless man from Ohio. I will let the video speak for itself, but this man got out there and made things happen (with the help of Almighty God - in his words). It did not hurt his meteoric overnight change in circumstances to have been blessed with a GOLDEN voice - but the 99er Nation is full of equally talented individuals as well.
Ted may not be a 99er (and is now fully employed) but he overcame the ravages of self induced life circumstances related to addictions to drugs and alcohol and now his life is turning around. Kudos to the reporter who gave him a TracPhone (for job offers and media requests to be fielded by Mr. Williams) and put his story and GOLDEN VOICE on YouTube. (now with over 11 million hits)
From Homeless:
To Salvation:
[The donation button below is for me, Paladinette. If you like what I write please donate so I can keep on fighting for the 99ers! Thank You!]
Trashy Tabloid Analysis: Cover Stories
It says there's an EXCLUSIVE Angelina Jolie interview, and that will be something to look forward to and analyze.
Now, Taylor Swift and Jake G. just broke up - so the story about her being jealous of his co-star may not be relevant anymore.
Then there's "Wedding Drama" about Will's exes being invited. Well, this cover seems very interesting. Thank you for only being $2.99
P.S. Tonight will be the season premiere of Jersey Shore season 3 - expect a blog entry recapping.
Wednesday, January 05, 2011
CES 2011: Social Gaming, Multiplayer Experience Panel
The focus of this CES 2011 Day Two Panel is large community gaming, social gaming, and how this involves the smartphone environment. Mike Vorhaus is the lively moderator of this afternoon panel.
The Panelists: John Cahill, President & CEO of Meez Social Entertainment, Don Daglow, Created First Graphic game for AOL, lead designer on a Facebook game, Gnu Financial Director is Mike Harris, also involved in making a game called "Corporate Bloodbath." Hany Nada, is a venture capitalist, co-founder and partner, GGV Capital, and involved with a dozen gaming companies. Chris Petrovc, GameStop Director. Don Reilley is the Interactive Ad Sales Director with Microsoft, and places ads in the games played on Xbox.
How do you see see Smartphones impacting gaming? "Increased usage will take the place of plastic," Petrovic says. Vorhaus says that Daglow says that the Wii type products discourages add on products and adda "They will have a chilling effect on other types of peripherals," for games. Harris disagrees to an extent, saying that some Wii applications with a hardware component do allow additional peripherals.
The Tablet and Older People
The panel conversation turned to how games are used and the demand for them on the part of "older people," and with respect to the tablet. The general view is that Bigger is better for the older consumer.
Tablet Over Smarphone
The general advantage of a tablet versus a smartphone is real estate. There's much more space. But Nada says there's more money to be made from the smarphone because of the size of the market for it.
Trends In Game Downloading?
Trend: not full game download, but an evolution of the utility of the disk and what's placed on it. Gamestop's Petrovic explains that this is an emerging business model for gaming. "Some studies have shown that users want a 20 to 25 percent discount if they download versus disk download. Microsoft's Reilley agrees, saying that the disk isn't going away at all. Downloads of full versions of games are not the way - for them.
Nada says the problem is the mentality of the game publisher, who wants to put it all in a game box. The way, he says, is to (and this will eventually happen) is for the game to go on a cloud, and be improved as time goes on. But for today, that's not what game developers want to do.
The Maturation Of The Gamer
Nada says that it used to be that the gamer was a kid, but not anymore: "I'm a gamer," he says, "I grew up with all the games." And now he's an adult. In other words, the new gaming demographic is the older to middle aged person, as much as it is the teenager.
Stay tuned.
CES 2011 Las Vegas Day 2: Digital Hollywood, Content & Mobile
As I blog, I'm sitting on my butt (again), this time at the Digital Hollywood track session on "Advertising Accountability: Metrics and Analytics around Video, Social Media, Broadband and Mobile." It features a number of panelists representing tech and content development, and is a really broad conversation on the future of the nexus of content and mobile devices. The fact that the talk is so much of an "overview" reflects how new this technical environment is.
For example, should a content creator make the online store to sell their content? I'd say, of course they should," but for the music industry such efforts equalled theft of artist product. But the point is, the content developer is generally a tech-savvy person - good enough to make their own website to distribute their creations, be it music, videos, etc.
Oh. And would you believe that the majority of people in this SRO audience have NEVER been to a Twitter party, by a show of hands? Wow.
More CES on Video
Yesterday, I attended the CES Press Preview and blogged about "notable" products. Here are those videos:
Stay tuned for more and follow us at Zennie62 at Twitter.
For example, should a content creator make the online store to sell their content? I'd say, of course they should," but for the music industry such efforts equalled theft of artist product. But the point is, the content developer is generally a tech-savvy person - good enough to make their own website to distribute their creations, be it music, videos, etc.
Oh. And would you believe that the majority of people in this SRO audience have NEVER been to a Twitter party, by a show of hands? Wow.
More CES on Video
Yesterday, I attended the CES Press Preview and blogged about "notable" products. Here are those videos:
Stay tuned for more and follow us at Zennie62 at Twitter.
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