I Wish I Was At CES

Between the reading tweets and news coverage I’ve become disappointed I’m not at CES, the Consumer Electronics Show. Las Vegas is nearby. CES has all the toys.

Technology is constantly changing. The big deal at this show is how much processing power can be put in how small a space, like Intel’s Edison Development Board.

It’s the same size as an SD card, commonly used in point and shoot cameras. It has a two core processor, with WiFi and Bluetooth already integrated.

Intel says, wear Edison. Here’s their suggestion for a baby monitor.

Start with a computer that really is the size of an SD card.
Attach it to a regular onesie and sensors that monitor the baby’s temperature, breathing, and motion.
Then, set the Intel Edison board to trigger actions on other connected devices, like this automatic bottle warmer or this coffee cup.
Each one of these has the Intel Edison board inside, communicating with the others to deliver amazing solutions to age-old problems.

Helicopter parents, your prayers have been answered.

This baby surveillance system is just a demo. It’s a taste of what the device can do so other developers create more products using it.

There’s lot of talk of 4k video at CES. It’s a new, higher standard for video. 4k video is sharper and more lifelike than HDTV.

I’ve seen 4k. Spectacular. The improvement is immediately noticeable.

Unfortunately, in 2014 having 4k capability is like having a car that can do 160 mph. So? Where can you use it?

Cable, satellite and Internet delivered video are all compressed mercilessly before we see it at home. Modern TVs are capable of much better images than what we see. I’d rather get less compressed HDTV (and hold onto my current hardware) than compressed 4k.

Marissa Mayer of Yahoo! spoke today. Her arrival has been widely applauded among the Technorati. Whether Yahoo! becomes a bigger player, as they once were, is another story. Their stock’s doing well.

1,700 were at the Hilton to see her. Katie Couric talked about her involvement with Yahoo News. David Pogue’s Yahoo! tech site was shown off.

It’s still more smoke than substance. They seem to be moving in the right direction. It’s a company full of smart people who should be able to figure things out.

This is the nerd prom. I need to attend. Maybe next year?

I Cried Watching 60 Minutes

He is now the sitcom dad he (and I) watched growing up in the fifties and sixties. He is the straight shooter. He is the role model.

I don’t often cry at 60 Minutes. I did tonight. This was the night of the Flight 1549 story as reported by the glasses wearing Katie Couric.

“I think, in many ways, as it turned out, my entire life up to that moment had been a preparation to handle that particular moment,”

Sorry crew members, it’s the Sully story now. You were just along for the ride.

“I made the brace for impact announcement in the cabin and immediately, through the hardened cockpit door, I heard the flight attendants begin shouting their commands in response to my command to brace. ‘Heads down. Stay down.’ I could hear them clearly. They were chanting it in unison over and over again to the passengers, to warn them and instruct them. And I felt very comforted by that. I knew immediately that they were on the same page. That if I could land the airplane, that they could get them out safely,” he remembered.

“But there was still a big if,” Couric pointed out.

“I was sure I could do it,” he replied.

Yes he was. No hyperbole here. Even when Katie asked him the obligatory prayer question Sullenberger didn’t bite.

“My focus at that point was so intensely on the landing,” he said. “I thought of nothing else.”

I watched the story upstairs before rejoining Helaine in the family room. We talked about the pre-1549 Sully. It wasn’t as cool to be him then.

sully.jpgIs he the nerdy dad? Pre-1549 did his girls cringe at his lack of style and modernity? Yes to both, right?

He is the sitcom dad he (and I) watched growing up in the fifties and sixties. He is the straight shooter. He is the role model.

Had I landed the plane and Sully was the one watching 60 Minutes I suspect he wouldn’t have been bawling. He is the opposite of effusively emotional.

When the plane came to a halt and the passengers had been safely evacuated it was he who walked the aisle, twice, to make sure everyone was really off-the-plane. We can’t even get school bus drivers to do that in Connecticut!

“Did you give yourself even a few seconds though to acknowledge that you had averted disaster?” Couric asked.

“No, because I hadn’t quite yet,” he replied. “And I had business to attend to. I had a job to do.”

Who plays him in the movie?

I Work In The Ego Business

It’s possible there’s a business where the employees have larger egos than we do in TV, but I haven’t found it. By the way, I’m not excluding myself. I have a room sized ego – and a large room at that.

That’s one reason why Roger Friedman’s revelation (and Gail Shister’s this past weekend) of trouble in Katie Couric’s paradise is not a big surprise to me.

Katie Couric’s barrage of bad publicity is coming not from the outside, but from the inside of CBS, sources tell me.

Indeed, one of Couric’s frequently mentioned enemies is Bob Schieffer, the lovable, durable veteran journalist who filled in as anchor of the “CBS Evening News” between Dan Rather’s departure and Couric’s arrival.

But sources say that Schieffer has been unhappy lately, mainly because his airtime, which was prominent when Couric first started, has dwindled in recent weeks.

Avuncular Bob Schieffer – really? Again, no surprise.

Once you’ve make the decision to be ‘on’ TV, you really should give up all pretenses of not being interested in the superficial aspects broadcasting brings. They are intoxicating. They can be kept under control… no, they should be kept under control, though that’s more difficult done than said.

I’ve heard stories of news anchors who had their spouses time the ‘reads’ each anchor had! Don’t shortchange my hubby, you hussy!

Even people I’ve sat next to on the news set have looked at me as if I’d dropped in from another planet. They were poised to blame me personally for any lack of success that might follow.

The truth is, any time there’s any ratings falloff people go searching for a scapegoat. If you work at a car dealership, people might not like your cars. If you work on TV, the product is often you!

I once worked with an anchor team that couldn’t stand each other. He was quiet and studious. She was brash and abrasive. One night she let him have it with a horrific tongue lashing, which she ended by telling him he was a “no talent.”

She timed her diatribe to finish just as the theme ended and the mikes went live. He was left without the ability to respond. I can’t imagine how that must have felt.

The CBS Evening News ratings are off. But, what you mainly hear is, Katie’s ratings are off. It’s tough when so much of the product is considered to be you. It’s also an insult to the other people reporting, producing and executing the show… but they’re not the ‘face.’

When you make $15,000,000 per year there’s a huge bullseye on your back. Lots of people are anxious to point out, they told you so.

I’m not sure if Katie will make it through her contract, but if she doesn’t, I’d bet the pressure will come from inside, not outside.

Less Of Katie On CBS

This is a news story that has to be ‘delicious’ to any editor or producer. Katie Couric’s photo has been published as part of the publicity campaign to launch her reign as anchor of the CBS Evening News. TVNewser&#185 discovered the photo had been doctored.

The photo on the right is a slimmer Katie!

Colors were adjusted too, but I see that as much less troublesome. Often photos need to be properly white balanced after the fact. I can’t tell you which, left or right, is closer to the ‘real’ color look. Does it matter?

On retouching in general – mea culpa. Helaine has complained when I’ve doctored vacation shots to remove power lines or other schmutz. The temptation to improve on reality is great, especially when it’s so easily done.

I’ve also removed dozens of pounds in photos of friends and relatives. Not one has ever seen the finished product, realized I’d slimmed them, and complained!

Professional photogs like Greg Apodaca do this all the time, and even brag about it by showing examples on their website.

I shouldn’t have any problem ‘glamming’ Katie in publicity shots. Can a guy who wears makeup every night really complain about the vanity of others?

However, since Katie represents the entire CBS news organization, maybe this would have been better left undone. This photo might be OK for publicity, but has to violate the news policies of CBS. That’s a standard even more important to keep after the revelation of doctored and staged photos from the Israeli/Lebanese conflict.

The need for a doctored photo implies our hearts may be in the wrong place, valuing physicality above content. That’s a message I don’t want to send.

&#185 – I am a daily reader of Brian Stelter’s blog, and once had a comment published. After watching Fox News follow a particularly heart pounding car chase for much of the afternoon, coverage stopped at 8:00 PM. That’s when O’Reilly (pre-taped, I believe) goes on. Here’s what I wrote at the time:

If they continued the chase, it would have been an acknowledgment it was news. By stopping at 8 p.m., they instead signaled it was news porn.

Unfortunately, news coverage based on the compelling nature of video, as opposed to the story’s impact or content, is a constant worry – and it’s certainly not limited to FNC, who happened to be the guilty party this particular time.

On Being Katie Couric

Is it the same in your world as mine? I read a lot of ‘trade’ reports, so the Katie Couric story has been front and center for a while.

There was lots of speculation – much of it I thought was posturing. I was wrong.

So, it’s $15,000,000.00 per year. Wow! That’s a lot of money.

Is she worth it? As strange as it might seem, it’s possible she is. And, obviously, for me – or anyone else on TV, that’s a good thing.

Television networks and stations all make money the same way – by selling commercials. The larger the audience, the more they can charge. And, if that audience if coveted by advertisers, they can charge even more.

In the world of TV, my daughter (age 18) is often more valuable than me (age 55). That, in spite of the fact that I make and spend significantly more than my college student child. But, for the same reason, Regis Philbin or John Madden, neither kids, are more valuable than an equally talented neophyte.

By the way, that’s especially true of John Madden.

If you’re on-air ‘talent,’ your value is being able to bring viewers to your station. And, though bosses don’t like to admit this when it’s contract time, people are often drawn to television programs by people they are comfortable with.

As a weatherman, you might think I’m minimizing the impact of my forecasting accumen and accuracy. No – because someone who lets the viewers down time-after-time will be unwelcome, no matter how well known or previously liked he was.

This draw is often synergistic, so the same person in a different setting might not be as effective. Is Katie as good without Matt and Al?

If I could put myself in Les Moonves seat for a second, I’d be thinking anyone can match the technology CBS buys, but there’s only one Katie Couric. If she can increase the audience a few percent just by being there, the $15,000,000.00 is a good investment.

Of course if this goes bust, Moonves looks like a fool and only Katie gets to laugh all the way to the bank.

There’s a second reason I like this move. It would be so easy to say Katie Couric is a morning show host and shouldn’t be considered for a hard news show. To a large extent, we’re all typecast. If Katie is successful in this switch, that will open the door for others.

Andy Rooney said, “I’m not enthusiastic about it. I think everybody likes Katie Couric, I mean how can you not like Katie Couric. But, I don’t know anybody at CBS News who is pleased that she’s coming here.”

How can he not say that? The reason Katie’s being hired flies in the face of everything in journalism he holds dear.

All this being said, I don’t think it’s going to work. I hope it does, but I just can’t picture the personality I know as Katie Couric being the right personality for this show.

Katie – please prove me wrong, because in this case, a rising tide will lift all boats.