Leaving Las Vegas
What is it with bathroom technology, Jerry?
Belly Dancing with 8×8’s Tango
It’s late in the day on Day 3, and CES attendees practically need a Tasering to notice an exhibitor at this point. Enter belly dancers.
The Other, Sexier Tech Expo
Attracting plenty of curiosity among CES-goers (and disappointment at the strict admission policies) is AVN’s Adult Entertainment Expo, which started today just down the corridor from one of the main CES exhibit halls.
Amazon.com Inc.’s new e-book reader, Kindle, has only been on sale for a few hours, but the blogosphere already has a lot to say about it.
Gadget blogs like Engadget and Gizmodo are buzzing about the device’s free wireless capability and odd design. Media and publishing bloggers, some responding to Newsweek’s nearly 5,000-word advance look, are discussing what Kindle means for the e-books industry and reading itself. Other tech bloggers are hashing out its price tag ($399) and the notion of having to pay for blog feeds.
And everyone has an opinion, mostly negative, about how it looks. A sample description: “like a prop from an old sci-fi horror flick.”
Amazon customers have weighed in, too, with more than 100 reviews already online. Kindle, so far, is rated 2.5 stars out of 5.
In the 1996 blockbuster “Mission: Impossible,” the secret agent played by Tom Cruise uses email to set a trap for one of his adversaries – a shadowy, Bible-quoting figure he knows only as “Max.”
Mr. Cruise’s character uses a laptop to compose an email message addressed to “Max@Job 3:14.” Once he clicks the “send” button, the email is carried away in an oversized on-screen envelope, complete with postage stamp. In the real world, such a message would set the stage for a bounce-back error message, not an action/adventure thriller.
Ten years after “Mission: Impossible,” Hollywood still has a spotty track record when it comes to portraying computers and the Internet. Some portrayals are so absurd as to leave viewers wondering if the film’s producers use the same Internet they do.
“The thing that always gets me is watching people send emails,” said Harry Knowles, a self-described tech geek and online film critic who runs Ain’t It Cool News, a popular movie-industry site. “You click ’send’ and the entire document begins to fold into an envelope and disappear into the screen. I tend to send around 300 to 400 emails a day, and that would drive me insane.”
It appears on every PlayStation and Xbox video screen sooner or later: the dreaded “Game Over.” But activewear brands like Nike, Adidas, Reebok and Puma are just beginning to play in the video game arena.
In “Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2005,” Woods wears the Nike swoosh logo on his polo shirt, baseball cap and even golf club. In “NBA Live 2004,” players can choose the Nike shoes their basketball player wears, from Air Foamposite Pro Colorway 3s to LeBron James’ choice, Air Zoom Generations. And in “NFL Street 2,” receivers are wearing Reebok’s NFL line of apparel.
Sportswear product placement in video games is increasing fast, and with good reason. According to a 2004 report by the Entertainment Software Association, video and computer game sales in the U.S. reached $7 billion in 2003 and continue to grow. That makes gaming almost as big as the U.S. movie industry. (Domestic box-office returns have hovered around $9.5 billion for the past three years, according to the Motion Picture Association.) The average gamer is 29 and expects to be playing as much or more 10 years from now. And girls and young women now account for about 39 percent of game players, a figure that is steadily growing.