CES was.. well... not as exciting as it has been in the past

I was not alone in my dissapointment. I had a good time, but CES was evolutionary not revolutionary...

This was at one VERY expensive booth... and the video did not work.. at a video equipment company!

Can you think of anything else that’s actually worthwhile we’ve seen this year? I don’t consider Huawei and ZTE devices we’ll never see in the US, or Intel’s new downmarket chipset, exciting. Qualcomm unveiled some new chips at an absolutely insane keynote, and these chips do things faster and better..er.

But come on, they’re processors – if they didn’t get faster every year, something would be seriously wrong. I’m not saying they’re unimportant (they’re obviously very important), but chip announcements at CES (the CONSUMER electronics show) are low-level nerd stuff that the average person couldn’t care less about.

They aren’t products – they’re things that go in the products. Verizon announced jack squat. Sprint discovered phones have FM radio chips. AT&T wasted 2 hours of my morning talking about a smart home. Samsung took the opportunity to offload the boring-ass, almost certainly hilariously-overpriced

Verizon 4G-ified Note 10.1. LG unveiled some new Google TV that isn’t really new and really doesn’t do anything cool, and basically nothing else. Toshiba brought zero new Android products. Acer came with its already-announced $100 tablet, and it’s awful, and actually costs $130-150, which makes it exponentially worse.

And oh boy, somebody made the world’s thinnest phone for the fiftieth time. Huzzah.

http://www.androidpolice.com/2013/01/09/editorial-ces-2013-is-a-joke-and-i-honestly-dont-want-to-come-back-next-year/

Married . . . With Comics @ Comic Book Festival

The Vegas Valley Comic Book Festival is part of the annual Vegas Valley Book Festival, which runs the first week of November in various locations across Las Vegas. This year’s event was the biggest (and longest!), special guests, more panels, free films, a bevy of the city’s most popular food trucks, tons of great merchandise from local comic shops, and all sorts of other geek-tastic awesomeness!

I went on Saturday afternoon and attended the presentation, "Married with Comics." Paul Tobin writes extensively for Marvel Comics (Spider-Girl, Marvel Adventures: Spider-Man, Spider-Man & the Secret Wars, Black Widow & the Marvel Girls, Super Heroes, Models Inc., and many more) and has worked for DC Comics, Dark Horse Comics, and several other companies. He presented with his wife, illustrator Colleen Coover. Their previous work together was Banana Sunday, which placed on YALSA’s list of best graphic novels for teens. I asked him if in the digital revolution had an effect on his career. He said as a wordsmith (writer), not really. He submitted his content to the artists and they interpreted it. He developed a 13 panel plot point and one time got back the entire sequence in six panels. He works with artists around the world. He, in some cases, has not even met some of them!

I asked him what it was like the first time he got a check from Marvel. He said it was really cool... but just that. I was surprised how calm he said he took it. I would have been jumping up and down and calling everyone! He said the check it self had a Spider-Man on it with a "thwip like sound image". He said he and his Marvel buddies called the checks (they are all contract, work for hire, freelance) "Thwips.

Something to get excited about at CES: Motorola's Atrix 4g

1. Motorola claims the Atrix 4G is world's most powerful smartphone, (though yet to go on sale). Hardware specs are simply through the roof.
2. Something to get excited about at CES: Motorola's Atrix 4g ‘world’s most powerful smart-phone": dual core processor, full Firefox on AT&T
   

LAS VEGAS – CES – Jan. 5, 2011 — Motorola Mobility, Inc. (NYSE: MMI), and AT&T today unveiled Motorola ATRIX^™ 4G, the only smartphone that allows you to carry the power of mobile computing inside your pocket. Motorola’s revolutionary webtop application changes mobile computing forever by unleashing the power of the smartphone like never before. Designed to bring unprecedented computing to your smartphone, Motorola’s webtop application runs a full Mozilla Firefox 3.6 browser and supports Adobe^® Flash^® Player to open up all the rich graphics, animations and video on the web. Motorola ATRIX 4G includes a dual core processor with each core running at 1 GHz, delivering up to two GHz of processing power. Put simply, Motorola ATRIX 4G is the world’s most powerful smartphone.

http://mediacenter.motorola.com/Press-Releases/Motorola-Mobility-and-AT-T-Announce-ATRIX-4G-the-Future-of-Mobile-Computing-353c.aspx

Give up folks. No one cares about 3D TV

Give up folks. No one cares about 3D TV. Trust me, it's the Buttoneer (http://www.as-seen-on-tv-reviews.net/detail.asp?prodid=2327) of 2011

Originally from the 1970's, the Buttoneer is a marketing disaster legend.

Claims to be "invisible!" but the thick "clear" plastic is so fat that it shows white and is extremely obviously and tacky on any dark colored items when hemming.

As for buttons, the button stays on... so long as it isn't used. Once I tried using the actual button as, well, a button, the "secure" hold of the plastic broke through. I now have little piece of white plastic sticking out of my pants where I tried to get it to work and where it snapped.

You can still buy it, but it is a novelty, not a real product.

Just like 3D TV for the home.. as long as you have to use glasses!

Tablet computers = hot news?

Samsung Galaxy Tab = locked up twice +wouldn't download +confusing interface +demo did not own one +priced equal or higher than iPad = BORE

CES: What to Do, Where to Go? Congratulations, and welcome to the world's largest consumer technology trade-show.

CES: What to Do, Where to Go? Congratulations, and welcome to the world's largest consumer technology trade-show.

CineVegas Cafe Series

I went to the CineVegas Café Series over the weekend. The featured speaker was Trevor Groth. I’ve known him for about seven years, although I am not sure he knew my name for the first few. As a long-term volunteer for the festival, I have seen many changes. I think Trevor was one of the best. He has been involved with the Sundance Film Festival for many years: first as a volunteer, then as staff, then programming and he was recently promoted to Head of Programming for Sundance. I told him that he was the first person that I had seen interview on the Sundance Channel that I actually know.

As Artistic Director for CineVegas, he discussed the upcoming festival and opened the conversation to questions. I asked him what he thought of the article in the WSJ about the tightening of funding for independent films.

According to the article “Indie Films Suffer Drop-Off in Rights Sales” from the WSJ April 20, 2009, “In the latest challenge to the American movie business, a crucial source of funding for independent films -- sales of foreign-distribution rights -- is rapidly drying up… But today, due to factors ranging from the credit crunch to burgeoning online piracy, even the biggest names aren't always enough to sell an American film abroad.”

Trevor said, “ With the challenges of the domestic economy combined with the paradigm changes brought on by digital media and downloading, the industry is trying to figure out how to monetize films and filmmaking. While this is going on, the festival circuit may offer an opportunity to get your product out and be seen by the marketplace.”

Once upon a time, records (now cd’s) were the focus of the recording industry. Artist toured to promote their record sales. Now it is just the opposite. Recording and downloads help promote the touring and concert industries.

Again, from the WSJ article, says Mr. [Graham] King [a Hollywood film producer who won an Oscar in 2007 for "The Departed]. “With credit drying up across the globe, many foreign distributors simply don't have the capital to buy… At some point these buyers have to find some product for 2010 and 2011, so Cannes and Venice will be interesting,"

Certainly, the conversation on Saturday supported this contention. Trevor said that the submissions for both Sundance and CineVegas have never been higher.

You need to do things like this. Nearly naked women, alcohol and networking

Networking Events

Official All-Access Monday Night Party Monday, April 20 | 6 - 8 p.m. Located on the Mezzanine at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino. Come and meet the glamour girls of "Peepshow"! Also featuring former NBA legends in the interactive "HHX: The Hoop Hall Experience". Enjoy a welcome drink and toast with Robin Leach, host of the Content Theater!Admission to the party and live performance is complimentary with NAB Show badge. Discounted cash bar and food stations will also be available.

Get involved! NAB and CES in Las Vegas

Not being involved in the industyr is a big mistake for any student. You need to make sure you take advantage of evey opportunity to meet and mix with ther decision makers when they come to Las Vegas. Depending on your interst and degree, you need to be on the list. What is the list? I don’t know for you, but many studetns need to take advantqge of the conferences that come to Las Vegas. Going to them will eventuaqlly get you on the “list”. For starters, try:

http://www.cesweb.org/

CEA is the Consumer Electronics Association, the producer of the International CES. CEA represents more than 2,500 corporate members involved in the design, development, manufacturing, distribution and integration of audio, video, mobile electronics, wireless and landline communications, information technology, home networking, multimedia and accessory products, as well as related services that are sold through consumer channels. CEA's resources are available online at http://www.CE.org/, the definitive source for information about the consumer electronics industry.

http://www.nabshow.com/

Imagine a gathering of global professionals and solutions providers from every stage of the content lifecycle, from creation to consumption.The NAB Show invites you to be part of the IMAGINation.Join a virtual worldwide community of digital media, film, entertainment and communications professionals who may be connected only by their passion for creating great content and delivering it across multiple platforms. But together, you represent the IMAGINation. For one week in April, the IMAGINation becomes a real place. A meet-up of 100,000+ citizens, and a market made of 1,600 companies. This is a living, breathing city unlike no other in the world where imagination meets technology. A place where content comes to life – the NAB Show.

http://www.lafcpug.org/

Los Angeles Final Cut Pro Users Group: This year, the 7th Annual NAB FCPUG SuperMeet which was held at the MGM Grand Hotel, April 16, 2008 in Las Vegas. Included presentations from Apple, Blackmagic Design, JVC, Adobe, Red, Apple Color, Phantom Camera, Wounded Marines Careers Foundation and The Assistant Editor. Becoming a member is easy. Just click HERE, tell us who you are, and boom, you're a member. Make sure MEMBERSHIP is in the subject field. You will immediately be put on the lafcpug mailing list and have first opportunity to learn of the next meeting, receive weekly e-mail updates, as well as receive other benefits, which as of now include 10% off all Final Cut Pro training classes in the Los Angeles area, one stop shopping at the lafcpug Store, and Discounts for your digital film making needs. Can you join if you don't live in Southern California? Sure! We have members from all over the world, and we welcome you with open arms.