Category Archives: conference

One makes millions, millions make $1. CES 2012 and the decline of Journalism

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Here at CES Las Vegas you can feel the energy of the thousands of bloggers, all of whom hope to spawn their own success stories.    I like bloggers and blogging a lot, but I think much of the early promise of blogger as citizen journalist is getting co-opted by commercialization – the need to eat creates a challenging relationship with sponsors and content.   Not a huge surprise, but I think the era of “citizen journalist” is probably going to be short lived as we transition to more of a combination of commercial and/or groupthink models of journalism.

Very few will be able to make it big online doing their own thing, or even make a living here. That’s OK – capitalism and journalism are a game of survival of the fittest, and most people aren’t fit to write quality stuff, even by sometimes  pathetic blogging standards.  Even those who ARE good writers are unlikely to make much money online, and then only when they work for large well capitalized sites.

Many silly articles  suggest otherwise:

guardiantech Guardian Tech …The writer who made millions by self-publishing online bit.ly/wdgj0J

A more relevant story would be how millions make very little rather than how one makes millions, but that story is not as interesting….which brings us to the challenge of journalism in general, especially commercial journalism.

Here at CES there are about 6000 “press”, many in young blogging teams writing for medium to large websites covering the show.     That’s great in one sense but in another it reminds me of pro sports, where millions with *some* talent are filtered to a few thousand who actually make it to the big time and a few hundred who actually make it big.    Again, that’s a virtuous cycle in one sense, though I will smack you if you suggest that the success comes from quality writing or true innovation.   There’s some of that online, but in terms of online journalism its mostly a race to the bottom where gimmicks and garbage will triumph.   Again, that’s OK and inevitable but its somewhat unfortunate that we’ll see seasoned good thinking journalist folks replaced by ditzy kook celebrity gossip.

… end rant …  Gotta go find Justin Beiber here at CES and get an invite to the SOUL Headphone party by Ludacris !

CES 2012 please … wait … for …. me!

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Well I should be reporting live from CES 2012 right now rather than the Medford Oregon Airport where fog kept me from leaving yesterday for CES Las Vegas, the world’s premier consumer electronics show held every January.

I was supposed to be reporting live over at our Retirement blog from this morning’s keynote at the Silvers Summit, the CES Venue for the intersection of retirement and technology.

If I DO ever manage to get out – we’re not going to make our new 9:15am departure – I’ll have a lot of new pictures and technology content a several of the blogs:

CES 2012 at Technology Report will be the main tech reporting from the conference.

CES 2012 at the Retire USA Retirement Blog will feature some of the technology of special interest to those over 50.   Over 50 is hardly a “senior” in my view, but that’s the cutoff for AARP and the Silvers Summit.   In fact I think we need a new name for those of us over 50 and I don’t think “seniors” or even “silvers” is really the right angle here.    What’s next, the “Ripe” generation?

I’ll also be posting a bit at Las Vegas Blog, LasVegas1.   I’m staying downtown at the Golden Gate Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas’ oldest venue at One Fremont Street.   Looking forward to the history as well as the relaxed feel of the downtown area, which has undergone a fair amount of rennovation and remodelling over the past decade in an effort by the downtown hotels to capture some of the shiny luster of the strip, which has been  “the” Las Vegas for most tourists for some time now.

CES 2011 Party List … Begins!

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CES 2011 Party UPDATES HERE

 

 

CES Party List for Technology Report’s
***   CES 2011 Coverage ***

IMPORTANT:   Almost all the parties at CES are “Invitation Only” and the procedure varies from party to party.    Bloggers and Press folks can often score invitations by contacting the party sponsors, but don’t just show up and expect to get in.

Some of the best parties are announced at the last minute or somewhat secretly to those attending press conferences or other sponsor events.    Those probably won’t make it to any of the party lists.

CES Parties on Tuesday Jan 4th

5 – 8pm CES Unveiled at the Venetian Ballroom

7 – 10 pm Start-Up Debut at the House of Blues Foundation Room, Mandalay Bay Casino.   For Registered Media   startupdebut@gmail.com.


CES Parties on Wednesday January 5

7 – 10pm Pepcom Digital Experience! Caesar’s Palace, Las Vegas

7:30pm  Audi at the Palms  Ghost Bar

7:30  – 11 p.m GigaByte Room Marco Polo 707, Venetian Hotel

CES Parties on Thursday January 6

6 – 8pm   NPD Reception – Bellagio (Client Invitation Only)

6 – 10pm  Showstoppers – Wynn, Lafitte Ballroom (Invite only)

7 – 9pm   Wired Party

7 – 10pm:   Mashable Awards – New York, New York Hotel and Cirque du Soleil Zumanity
(Open to all, tickets $32 and up)

Friday January 7, 2011

4 – 7pm   Official 2011 CES Tweet Up.  Las Vegas Hilton  Space Quest Lounge

6:00 PM – 8:00 PM:  FashionWare Show/KAPi Awards – Fashion Show Mall (Invite Only)

5:30 – 8:30 pm It Won’t Stay in Vegas Blogger Party – Atomic Museum, 755 E. Flamingo.

6:30  – 9:30 pm NetShelter CES Mixer – LAVO Nightclub at The Palazzo.
Register here

CES Parties on Saturday, January 8

5 p.m – midnight Xtremesystems Party – Pole Position Raceway, 4175 S. Arville Road.

Sources for this list include Party Sponsor Contacts + CESPartyList.com +  Karen Thomas PR Party List.   BE SURE to confirm your invitations as many parties won’t allow people to “drop in” without an invitation.  Yep, that includes you!

Press Release Primer for CES Exhibitors

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The 2011 CES Party List will be live soon at Technology Report

As we gear up to cover the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas next week over at Technology Report my email box is simply flooded with PR pitches from hundreds of the thousands of companies that will be exhibiting at the show.

The pitches vary in size and scope but most share a pretty common and I think a very uninspired format along the lines of   “You will want to check out our products”    “We have extraordinary innovation in …  iPOD accessories (!) ”  “Would you like to interview our product manager?”

Here are my three PR tips for the firms that … well … maybe ought to be doing something else:

1.  Personalization Matters.   I’d guess the response to personalized emails is at least twice that of a simple canned message, even when it’s just a name from the Press database but ideally where you’ve bothered to figure out where the person is writing.  This is one of the best PR opportunities of the year, so it seems you should at least target a handful of bloggers who write specifically about your stuff.     Challenge them a bit to critique the product.   Consider going for several “smaller” blogs rather than trying to get lucky with a feature in Engadget or Gizmodo, where the whim of an angry review alone could hurt your products reputation.    If your product is great they’ll get around to it eventually, and if the smaller guys don’t like it you probably need improvements before the big time anyway.

2.  Parties matter.  It’s not fair but neither is the world.   Certainly business in general isn’t fair.   So if you want some attention and you’ve already invested tens of thousands in staff and exhibits you probably should follow the lead of the big CES *playaas* and at least throw a small party.    What would be a clever  time for this party?  Monday night before CES, when a lot of folks have come into town but generally there are *no* parties yet.     Tuesday after CES Unveiled (the big press event) and Wednesday night are also generally pretty open for many press attendees who tend to get into town a few days early for the Press events.   The *bad* night is Friday, when your little party will have to compete with  the big ticket gigs like the Monster concert and several other parties thrown that night that attract most of the bloggers and press.   I think my favorite event at all of CES was a small poker party at Hard Rock Casino, thrown by SONY to launch the game “Pirates of the Burning Sea”.  I’m sure it wasn’t cheap –  probably ran them perhaps  $100+ per person for perhaps 100 people who attended, but it was a superb venue to generate the positive buzz they needed for the game.   $10,000 is chump change by SONY standards yet they captured attention of a lot of media for the entire evening.

Getting attention early gets you pre-CES buzz in the search rankings to boot, because by Saturday your product announcement – no matter how big – is going to be drowned out by the 1000 other announcements coming out of the show.

3.  Products matter.    For some of you some product humility is more likely to win supporters than product hype.   It’s laughable when an overzealous PR person waxes poetically, capturing your attention for a moment until you realize they’ve penned an ode to a cheap plastic cartoon  iPhone case or the equivalent.   Nothing wrong with those products – they represent an extraordinarily large market –  but your time is probably better spent targeting buzzworthy folks and sending them samples or … throwing a party … rather than trying to explain why bloggers should be scrambling to do a feature about your plastic cartoon iPod case.

Louis Vuitton iPod Case:  $280

OMG I’m writing about iPod Cases!

See you at CES!

Developing World Statistics – are probably not what you thought.

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This fast paced presentation presents a cleverly graphed view of several important global development statistics. Dr. Hans Rosling is working to teach us all to work more with the data and less with our preconceptions about the ways of the world, especially with respect to approaches to health and poverty reduction. His site / project is www.GapMinder.org

Changing the world, one PR firm at a time

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The CES 2010 pitches are coming in strong now as John and I get ready to cover the year’s biggest technology event over at  Technology Report.

I was so happy today to see one of them signing off saying they were a proud supporter of the Room to Read Project, which is a major effort to work towards world wide literacy and education.   Readers of this blog know I’m a huge fan of that kind of project, and one of the reasons I’m very optimistic about the world’s future is that for I think the first time in history it’s become very, very “fashionable” to support global poverty reduction efforts in even the strongest bastions of capitalism (e.g. big time PR firms).

Now, cynics will suggest – correctly to some extent – that part of the motivation when capitalists support charity is to benefit from the positive buzz.    However I’m fine with that, and furthermore I’m *glad*  to see potential win-win economic relationships develop around charities like this.

CES 2009 – Palm Pre bumps stock 34%

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Here at CES 2009 Palm debuted the Pre, their new iPhone rival device with a snazzy slider keyboard and large touchscreen. The reviews were overwhelmingly positive and this sent Palm’s stock soaring yesterday 34% as the company’s sagging prospects were revived as fast as the tech blogs started raving. I’m anxious to look at the price movement intra day – eg how soon after the launch did the stock rise? Efficient market theory suggests that new information is incorporated almost immediately into stock pricing and this is an interesting test of that hypothesis.

More CES Coverage at Technology Report

Live from CES Las Vegas CES09 CES 2009

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I’m live from the very comfortable Press Lounge at CES Las Vegas where journalists from all over the world are streaming in to cover the world’s largest and most influential Technology Show as well as the largest event of the year here in Las Vegas.   At 4pm at “CES Unveiled” several companies will be exhibiting and discussing their technology plans for 2009.

Most of my tech coverage will be over at Technology-Report.com where John will also be writing about CES and new gadgets though he won’t be here until Friday.

Artificial Intuition

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Convergence08 was a great conference with many interesting people and ideas. Thankfully the number of crackpots was very low, and even the “new age” mysticism stuff was at a minimum. Instead I found hundreds of authors, doctors, biologists, programmers, engineers, physicists, and more clear thinking folks all interested in how the new technologies will shape our world in ways more profound than we have ever experienced before.

My favorite insights came from Monica Anderson’s presentation on her approach to AI programming, which she called “Artificial Intuition“. Unlike all other approaches to AI I’m familiar with Anderson uses biological evolution as her main analogs for conceptualizing human intelligence. I see this approach as almost a *given* if you have a good understanding of human thought, but it’s actually not a popular conceptual framework at all.

It has always surprised me how poorly many computer programmers understand even rudimentary biological concepts such as the underlying simplicity of the human neocortex and the basic principles of evolution which I’d argue emphatically have defined *every single aspect* of our human intelligence over a slow and clumsy, hit and miss process operating over millions of years. I think programmers tend to focus on mathematics and rule systems which are great modelling systems but probably a very poor analog for intelligence. This focus has in many ways poisoned the well of understanding about what humans and other animals do when they … think… which I continue to maintain is “not all that special”.

….. more on this later over at Technology Report …..