General – Page 19 – LIVEdigitally

Where's LD@CES?

Posted on January 11, 2007 by Jeremy Toeman

After 5 exhausting days we’re back in San Francisco, with buckets full of content to upload. Originally the plan was to do regular updates from the road, but the grand sum of time spent in front of the laptop was less than an hour, all week! Every day was totally full of press conferences, booth visits and demos, interviews, corporate parties, keynotes, and other industry functions (I never even made it to the Bloghaus!). It was both very fun and very draining at the same time.

I’ll start posting content tomorrow, will probably go for up to another week before it’s all online. The “LD Exclusive” interviews with people such as Fatal1ty (he’s a really really really good gamer) and Peter Rojas/Ryan Block (while we debated it at length, I finally conceded that up to this point their show coverage was slightly more in-depth than mine) were a lot of fun!

33 Year-Old Virgin

Posted on January 8, 2007 by ron

It’s the end of my first day of my first ever CES and I’m left, well, “whelmed.” Our friend Rob Goldberg prepared me by saying, “You’ve never been? Prepare to be both under-whelmed and overwhelmed.” He was right and I’m left totally “whelmed.”

I met up with Jeremy at the Venetian at 10:00AM on Sunday when he returned from the Netgear announcements and we spent the day cruising the press conferences and basically securing decent seats for the Bill Gates keynote.

The sheer scale of CES is overwhelming. For those that haven’t been, there are over 140,000 attendees from around the world and 2700 presenters. Because of the size, this means that the presentations, parties and events are spread around the strip. You have to be ready to do a ton of walking. I wanted to be Jobe from AD. I’m glad I read Jeremy’s CES tips, because they don’t allow Segways on the Ceaser’s people-mover.

So, I’m pretty sure I spent most of yesterday walking to or from somewhere, but can’t really remember much of value, including the Gates keynote, from these places. Hanging with Dave Winer, seeing Bill Gates were highlights as well as the HP party and running into Bob Morgan at Shozu. Getting into the Bill Gates conference meant dealing with the chaos, that could have been avoided by the CEA team, of picking up your press tickets in a mad scramble around 3:00. Standing in a separate line at 5:00. To go upstairs and stand in another line at 5:30. People go mad for this and I’m not sure I totally get it. After all the waiting and walking, you get to see Microsoft present OS X. Except for the gaming stuff, nothing really seemed fresh or interesting.

After the keynote, we went to Pepcom and HP Pure party. Again, flat screens a little wider; cameras a little smaller, and meat on stick. Okay. Whelmed again. Oo

And then, if Lorie’s reading this, we went right to bed at 11:00 so we could be up bright and early for the floor’s opening and today’s press conferences. ‘Cause that’s what you do in Vegas, right?

I’m looking forward to cruising the floor and will be demo’ing Canon’s new A640 10 mega-pixel camera. Look for the review coming soon.

Day 1: Off to the show (south/central halls)

Posted on January 8, 2007 by Jeremy Toeman

Haven’t had a chance to put up my Bill Gates keynote coverage, but everybody else has so far, so I trust you’ve found it by now. I was hanging with Ron Hirson, who is covering the show with me, and Dave Winer, who hasn’t been to CES in quite a few years. Had some very interesting conversations which I’ll unfortunately have to delay posting about for a little while. I’m in a rush because I want to see my friend Rick Rosner’s latest achievement at the 10am DirecTV press conference.

One of the hardest things about blogging at CES is making the time for the posts. I have content all ready to go, but yet I want to go consume and generate even more! I’ve decided to bring my laptop, ick, just to try to get a post or two in during the day. Yes, dear reader, 6 pounds (including charger) on my back all day just for you. If it doesn’t work, I most definitely will not repeat tomorrow.

BTW, in addition to Engadget’s great coverage, this “river of CES news” from podtech is another good way to get info on the show in near-real-time.

ps – I won’t have email access during the day, so if you want to find me, give a call.

CES day -1: CES Unveiled

Posted on January 7, 2007 by Jeremy Toeman

It’s technically day -1 since the show starts Monday, which of course makes tomorrow day 0. This might seem a bit odd right now, but if I start with day 1 now, my monday posts will reference day 3, and that’ll be even weirder.

I caught up with Steven Jones and Ron Repking, from Capable Networks (the company whose technology powers my old haunting grounds at SlingCommunity.com). Ron was sporting his new Canon HV10 high definition (1080i widescreen) video camera. I like to tease Ron (and Jones) a bit from time to time about their gadgetry, but I must say, I was jealous! Way to go Ron!

Next up I went to pick up my badge, and walked around the Sands Expo center a bit. It’s nice and peaceful. For now…

CES Unveiled is basically a “pre-show” where several dozen vendors had small tables set up with their wares and demonstrations. The nice part about events like this (and Showstoppers, which is coming Monday night) is that the playing field is even. No huge booths. No light shows. No overwhelming dance routines. Just a table, 3 people, and your products. I always enjoyed these events from behind the table, but it was great to spend the evening roaming the floor. I didn’t take a ridiculous number of photos, since I figured (correctly) the guys at Engadget would have the coverage nailed.

There weren’t too many new products floating around CES Unveiled this year, which was a bit of a disappointment as the event is often such a good showcase. Looks like some companies are waiting until tomorrow’s Digital Experience or Monday’s Showstoppers before unveiling their kimonos. From the buzz around the floor, I’d have to say WowWee’s Elvis was probably the most warmly received product by the attendees. I think it’s possibly a huge winner actually, it’s like a Big Mouth Billy Bass 2.0, only it features Elvis, a beloved icon, as opposed to, well, a fish. For proper disclosure, I will say I am working on a project with WowWee, although it’s completely unrelated to all animatronic singing country stars.

I personally liked LG’s new flip phone, although it’s a bit long, and runs Brew operating system, which completely limits it to Verizon’s service. Not a problem for me, but I don’t see how it can be massively successful with a single carrier. Hopefully they’ll do well with it, being a Verizon customer often means I’m out in the cold for new phones!

One trend that I think will continue to grow in 2007 is digital picture frames. At least 3 vendors were showing them at Unveiled, and I suspect there’ll be many more on the floor. According to one demonstrator, analysts predict as many as 5 million units will ship in ’07. Sounds a bit high, but I really like the concept. To me, the big winner would be a “FlickrFrame” that I could send to someone else (like my parents or grandparents) and designate shared pictures on my Flickr account that automatically appear on the frame. That’s the big winner in my book.

I listened to some HD Radio (wow), checked out the latest Shure headphones (review coming, but wow again), and took a peek at the new SideShow laptop from ASUS. I think someone needs to make a laptop with a full second screen, specifically used by people who do a lot of presentations. Throw in a tablet too, and I believe it’s a winner.

I also saw some old and new friends at the show, including Gary Krakow, Ross Rubin, Dave Graveline, Ed Kohler, and… Madonna. Okay, okay, not really, but not bad either!

Some more fun highlights are below, or check out the rest of the set on Flickr. Lots more pictures should start coming tomorrow as Ron shows up – he’ll be using a new Canon Powershot A640, graciously provided by Canon. Thanks!

CES 2007 starts in the Airports

Posted on January 6, 2007 by Jeremy Toeman

I thought I’d be the first post on CES ’07, but Gizmodo beat me to it (some may call it cheating, others ingenuity… seeing the show floor during construction is definitely fun).

First up, over in SFO I saw a little cluster of laptops and saw none other than Peter Rojas and Ryan Block from Engadget, Veronica Belmont from CNet, and friend (sorry, I forgot your name!!).

Next I arrived in Vegas and the first thing I saw after going down the escalator was a mini-booth to pick up your CES badge. Neat idea now, but there was already a line forming.

Last up was Intel, who sponsored… baggage claim.

More to come later today after I check out CES Unveiled. In the meantime, read this article in the NY Times that outlines some of the costs relating to putting on the show.

I’ll be uploading all my CES 2007 photos to Flickr here.

CES or Bust(ed)

Posted on January 5, 2007 by Jeremy Toeman

CES logo Well, that’s enough planning, I fly out tomorrow morning. For anyone who’d like to try to meet up who I wasn’t able to contact in person, here is my rough schedule, which is obviously subject to change! You’ll notice I’ve left a lot of ‘tbd’ time toward the end of the show, in anticipation of being thrown off track within 3 hours of arrival (although I do have plans for those times, I am not sure it’s all going to go as planned).

1.6.7
Morning/early pm: Fly in, go to hotel, check in, discover room isn’t ready yet, complain, sulk, pout, have overpriced lunch, bump into someone I know, exchange numbers, return to hotel lobby, get room key, arrive in room, discover room is actually a smoking room, complain further, get new room that seems great until 2am when I learn it’s next to “the party room”.

Late afternoon/evening: Go to CES Unveiled, see cool stuff, take pics and blog about it, go for dinner with some colleagues, chat about what we think is coming at Macworld since we all suspect CES won’t have too many revolutionary gadgets this year, have a few drinks, play a little Blackjack, wander over to the Bellagio only to find out the Bloghaus opens Sunday, return sheepishly to my room.

1.7.7
Daytime: Attend a variety of press conferences, attempt to get into the Billy G keynote, stop by the Bloghaus for real (saying hi to Robert, Dave, Tom, and Gabe -all of whom I hope remember to stop blogging and enjoy the show for a few hours, right guys?). Enjoy last few minutes of non-artificial daylight before Thursday.

Evening/night: Dinner, attend a couple of parties, blog a little, but mostly spend time with some industry folks as we ponder what is the best place to hang out and inevitably go somewhere that was cool a few years ago and long past its prime today, cuz that’s how we roll.

1.8.7
Daytime: Spending the day at the South and Central Halls, maybe some North Hall time, but doubtful. I’ve considered swapping my schedule to do the Sands on the first day, since it’ll be much calmer, but I haven’t gotten to take in that CES Day 1 energy in a long time, so I’ll probably brave the crowds.

Evening: Go to the Showstoppers media event (always a favorite), drop by a couple of parties, eventually eat something, then play Blackjack with drunk consumer electronics people a little too late into the night, topped off with a cigar that I taste long through the end of the next day.

1.9.7
Daytime: North Hall and see anything I forgot to see in South/Central. Also, there are some sessions I’d like to check out.

Evening: tbd, but most likely very similar to the previous night, just at different venues.

1.10.7
Sands Expo, the rest is tbd

1.11.7
Tbd, then go home. Finally get some sleep on plane.

That’s the plan – there is a lot going on this year, really excited to check it out. I will hopefully have mobile email, but may be stuck with cell/SMS for the trip. Ugh.

By the way, just for kicks I put a schedule together that only reflects Press Events, Keynotes, and Company Parties, just to see what it looks like (I’ve grayed things out since some are private). Now pretend you also have to schedule a lot of meetings with individuals during the same time!

I’ll blog from the show, but for “non-stop action” I’d probably recommend heading off to Engadget!

Mediabolic Memories 1999-2004

Posted on January 4, 2007 by Jeremy Toeman

While this certainly doesn’t capture all the company memories, it reflects many of mine (or at least the ones I took pictures of, with my old Kodak DC210 single-megapixel digital camera)…

2000-2001: the early years
Sure the company was founded in 1999, but it was in a different office and we were really beyond tiny back then (and were called even channelDOT for a few weeks). We established worldwide HQ at 1525 Union Street, a convenient block from my apartment at the time.

Back in these days, while we were pitching the vision of the “connected home” we were really up against a lot of negativity. We had to explain why consumers would likely network their homes in the next few years (we were right) and why they would, in turn, have networked media devices in the same timeframe (not so right). I remember listening to a major consumer electronics manufacturer share their vision of the future: embed SD cards into every device instead of a network port. Wow.

Also at the time we developed on a “ready to go” embedded Linux platform using chips from National Semiconductor (ah, the trusty Geode). At the time, virtually every company seeking to bring new products, features, or services to the TV were using the exact same box. I have a hunch more were used by developers and demos than were ever brought to market (although Pioneer sure came close!).

CES 2001 was the first year we demonstrated at a trade show. We had a suite at the Venetian and spent about 48 hours prior to the beginning of the show transforming it into our demo home. We wired a network (under the carpets mind you), took over the TV sets, and hung our own posterboards instead of the hotel’s artwork. The bathroom became the storage “cluster” and the whole thing was topped off with a bowl of blue M&M’s. For the branding, of course.

While CES was the first show for the year, it was Comdex 2001 (you remember Comdex, right?) where we got out into the public eye (a little bit). As partners with National Semiconductor, we had a kiosk in their booth. Both Woody Deguchi (the VP of Asian Sales – also the Asian VP of Sales, but that’s a bit of an inside joke for Woody and myself) and myself had TV appearances, and I even demoed to Paul Allen and his gang (no joke, he was surrouded by about 12-15 people at all times).

2002-2003: real products

It’s one thing to demonstrate a vision of the future. It’s another thing to showcase products that are en route to the consumer marketplace. Pioneer worked with us on the Digital Library, a “media server for the living room” along with it’s companion “media client” for other rooms of the house. At CES 2003 I actually got on stage with Pioneer’s hired talent (yes, I was invited) to help explain the product, as it was so new to both the company and the consumers.

We also had deals with HP, Fujitsu, and Creative Labs (and a few others to boot), all interested in the networked home and networked entertainment products. In fact, there was such interest in our platform, we ended up hosting an Interoperability Forum in Japan, and had over 15 different manufacturers send senior engineers to come listen and learn from us. We were concerned that UPnP, the de facto standard for device-to-device interoperability simply wasn’t strong enough to provide a useful value proposition for consumers. We were right on that one, but the “M1 standard” wasn’t really the right strategy for the company to pursue either, and was eventually shelved.

During this phase we achieved partnerships with other technology and infrastructure companies, including Intel (a relationship that blossomed for several years). We attended trade shows around the world (I was unfortunately introduced to CeBIT) and it was my first year as a United 1K member. Again, a blessing and a curse.

2004: best of show
I’ll never forget CES 2004. We were in development of a series of products with Denon Electronics, including the flagship NS-S100. This device was a networked DVR with dual tuners and a removable hard drive. It could do just about anything you’d ever want a DVR to do. Best of all, you could very easily start watching a show (or live TV) in one room and pick it up in another room. It did everything. And it did it all really really well.

A team of judges from TechTV (read: two guys slightly less geeky than me) came by to see the product. They liked it (heck, most people liked it). They came back with a film crew, took a bunch of footage and told us when they’d announce finalists, which we were in the “home media device” category. They returned for more footage. After asking me three times if I was sure we’d have someone there, I had a little bit of a good feeling about things. It also helped that, at the time, there weren’t any other major new or exciting products in the same space. Brad Dietrich (cofounder and CTO and coworker of mine since we both went to CMU in Pittsburgh!) and I went to the award ceremonies. When we won in our category, I was thrilled. When, less than 10 minutes later, we won the Best Overall for CES award, well, there were no words for the joy I felt. I was practically in tears and called my then-girlfriend (now wife) then my parents. I’ll never forget the moment, and once I find which backup drive it’s on, I’ll put up a little video on YouTube.

I left Mediabolic in June of 2004 to join Sling Media as VP of Product Management. It was a difficult decision at many levels, but was the right one for me. The experiences learned and connections made at Mediabolic helped prepare me for my next career move, and are really the foundations of much of what I do professionally. Needless to say, they carried the torch quite well in my absence, hired some great talent, and now, with the Macrovision acquisition have the opportunity to bring excellence in networked entertainment to the masses.

Thanks Dan & co for all the great times and great memories, and congratulations once more.

Macrovision acquires Mediabolic for $43 Million

Posted on January 3, 2007 by Jeremy Toeman

Mediabolic logo For the most diligent of my readers, you may recall Mediabolic, the company I cofounded back in 1999 with Dan Putterman and Brad Dietrich (the CEO and CTO, respectively). It’s a very exciting day as they were just acquired by Macrovision for $43 million US (official press release, SVSJ mention, reuters, SJ Merc, or find more at Google News). Congratulations to everyone at Mediabolic!

Macrovision logo For more details on the acquisition, you can read this letter (PDF format) from the CEOs of both companies. This is the kind of deal that seems to make a lot of sense for both parties. Macrovision already has technology inside many consumer electronics devices (for example, all VCRs and DVD players). Mediabolic has a suite of digital home technologies (more about this topic at WSJ today) that are clearly a part of the future of consumer electronics. Win-win.

I guess this means today was the day I became a serial entrepreneur! Just kidding, I actually don’t like that term at all, but it sure does feel great to see a company that I cofounded have a nice exit. It’s not exactly a “life-changing event” but it is certainly a great event nonetheless!

I’ll put up a little photolog from the 5 years I was there later today to share a few memories.

Jeremy's Favorite Things of 2006

Posted on December 30, 2006 by Jeremy Toeman

Well, here we are at the end of 2006 and I thought I’d put together a little summary of my favorite technology of the year. Now some of this stuff launched commercially prior to 2006, but this is the year I used it the most. So check out the video, and if you want to read more about the products, the links are below (disclaimer: most links are to Amazon affiliate product listings).

Note: I did forget two things in the video, so I’m adding them here first:

Best smartphones: T-Mobile Dash and HTC MTeoR
Brilliant Image: I’ve got a whole review forthcoming, but in a nutshell, you upload a digital photo, they mail you a painting made from the photo. It might sound odd, but it’s extremely impressive. Check out the picture on the right for an idea of it.

Now for the video itself (or click here to view it on YouTube):

The items in the video:

The laptop: Vaio SZ series (you can read my review of the SZ160 here)
The wireless mouse: Gyration
The book: hackoff.com
The remote: Harmony 880 (my review here)
The camera: Canon sd800is (honorable mention for really impressive low-light pictures: Fuji F30)
The backpack: Pacific Design Ruckus
The best in convergence: Sonos (review) & Slingbox
The video games: Godfather and Battle of Middle Earth II
The inflight power adapter: Teleadapt
The GPS unit: Nuvi 350
The fabric (shmatta): Microfiber Electronics Cleaning Cloth
The phone/PDA: PPC 6700
The headphones: Shure e4c (review) and e500PTH (review)

Looking forward to the technology of 2007. I’m curious as to how many of these products I’ll be using one year from today…

How to Survive CES: 10 Practical Tips

Posted on December 28, 2006 by Jeremy Toeman

The 2007 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is less than two weeks away, and (as always), I’m pretty excited about it. This is my 7th year attending the show, and for the first time in seven years, I don’t have massive amounts of responsibilities. I’ve set up and worked booths, hotel suites, and meeting rooms. I’ve done 19-hour days, starting at 2:30am. If there is but a single word to use to describe CES it is this: exhausting.

It’s exhausting not just for those involved in making the show happen, but for those attending it as well. Hopefully, this little list will make it just a little easier for anyone going this year.

Wear comfortable shoes. There are over 2 million square feet of exhibit space, and that doesn’t count the halls or walkways. Your legs will get tired in a single day. The effort of walking around people alone is tiresome. Forget the Blahniks and get something from Nike or Adidas. Freebie bonus tip: while walking the show floor, try to walk on the booths as they tend to have better padding than the walkways between booths.
Make a daily plan. Go to the CES web site and pick out the attendees you want to see (same for the panels and sessions). Take a look at their locations, and plan your days based on location. You do not want to go back and forth between any two halls on the same day. It’s okay if your plans get disrupted or adjusted, but you should generally know where you want to be on a given day.
Eat and drink. Don’t forget that 6-8 hours of walking and talking uses energy, so be prepared to replenish. Bring a water bottle and refill it from the fountains as you need. The cafeterias are, well, cafeterias, so I recommend looking for (or bringing) prepackaged food. As another bonus tip: make restaurant reservations as soon as possible if you haven’t already!
Wash your hands. The second week of January is often “CES Flu Week.” I heard (rumor, not fact) a few years ago that a huge PC company lost a few hundred workers due to colf/flu symptoms after the show. People come from around the world, bringing their various microbes, and you will shake their hands. Wash your hands before you eat and when you get to the hotel at the end of the day.
Share cabs. When you get to your hotel taxi line in the morning, and it’s huge, here’s a simple trick to save yourself 30 minutes per day (or more). Walk to the front, ask if anyone’s going to the convention center, if they say yes, offer to pay for their cab. You aren’t actually “cutting” in line, because the person who was 2nd in line remains 2nd in line and you have no impact on their wait. Easy one, eh? By the way, you should be sure to tip a little extra when you do this, since you’ve taken away a full fare.
Pack lightly. My recommendation is to walk the floor with either nothing or a near-empty backpack. Forget shoulder straps, you’ll be aching by the end of the day. Bring nothing you do not need during the day. Also, try to dump your bag prior to dinner, so you can spend the night on the town without having to remember anything later. What happens in Vegas…
Discriminate on swag. Do you really want a Panasonic pen, or a Sony plastic bag, or a brochure from TiVo? Really? My wife has actually forbidden me from bringing home anything we won’t actually use, unless it’s a gift. This coincides nicely with the ‘pack lightly’ thing above…
Visit the Sands. There are lots of cool companies there, and it’s quieter than the main halls. Also, you’ll get more personalized attention due to the smaller crowd. There are other… incentives as well.
Know the resources. Open wireless at the show? Doubtful. EVDO connection? Unlikely. Outlets to charge you phone? Forget it. Charge at night, bring an extra battery if you need it, and just don’t bother trying to get online from the convention floor. Sure, it might happen, but don’t waste any time either.
Don’t forget your badge. If memory serves, last year it was $75 to get a replacement. Nuff said. And security actually can be fairly tight there, so really, don’t forget it!

That’s it, that’s my tips for making the most out of CES. I hope it helps you make it through the show!

ps – a #11 for bloggers only. Don’t forget to check out PodTech’s Bloghaus at the Bellagio Hotel, but also don’t forget you’re in Vegas and there’s tons of stuff to see and do offline as well!!!

Congratz to Zatz

Posted on December 22, 2006 by Jeremy Toeman

I posted a few weeks ago about the Netgear CES blogger contest, and wanted to congratulate Dave Zatz for being selected as their winner. Dave’s a good guy and a great blogger, especially in the digital entertainment arena.

I think it’s a creative move by a company that is in a challenging place regarding communications, disclosure, and community in general. The networking industry in general is a rough, commodity-oriented business, and opening the company up to the power of the voice of the consumer is probably a daunting measure. Hopefully it’ll have the outcomes Netgear is looking for.

Anyhow, I’m getting ready for CES myself – way too many invites, way too little time. Robert Scoble has a fun post on his ideal floor-walking-mates for the show (I put Bill Gates up on my personal list). I’ll get some thoughts up on the show in the week leading up to it. I just can’t wait to not having to get up at 3am (or earlier) or setting up a booth or a suite this year. Now there’s nothing about CES that’s relaxing, but this is most certainly a refreshing year for me.

Finally, Dave played the “blogger tag game” that seems to be going around, in which I am to name 5 things you don’t know about me, then ‘tag’ 5 other bloggers…

I went to high school in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where I actually transferred schools as a senior. Yup, I was miserable and unpopular.
I was a winner of the Atari “Gauntlet II Secret Room” game, and won a t-shirt for my mad skills.
I’ve been a member of a “balloon pulling team” at the Macy*s Thanksgiving Day parade. We had Ronald McDonald, and made it the whole way with no shrinkage.
I saw Poltergeist as a young kid and was so terrified I had nightmares and barely slept for weeks afterwards. Still hate long hallways and occasionally do a double-take when eating leftover rice.
My favorite game of all time is Boggle, and will play anytime, anywhere.

I hereby tag: Sean Alexander, Michael Gartenberg, David Cohn, Jason Dunn, and Shawn Morton.

Kirk Douglas says The World is a Mess

Posted on December 9, 2006 by Jeremy Toeman

On his 90th birthday the esteemed actor sent out an editorial cautioning the world that we’re in a sorry state. Great article, very inspiring! Best quote: “Now, we leave it to you. You have to fix it because the situation is intolerable.”

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