Our Blog
Goodbye and Thank YOU from CES 2009!
By Mark Lukasiewicz, Jay Linden and Bill Hartnett, NBC Universal
Wow! We just spent four phenomenal days surrounded by electronics claiming to be bigger, louder, thinner, smarter and faster than last year. Of course our NBC Universal booth was bigger, louder and smarter than last year as well.
How can we sum up the sights, sounds and sensations of CES 2009?
We produced hours and hours of live NBCU broadcasts, plus the great people from Revision3 shot Tekzilla, Hak5 and HackCollege on our stage and in our booth.
We gave away 12,000 San Disk 2GB Micro SD drives and the thousands of folks who came to our booth scored over 15,000 pieces of NBC Universal content from the Mediaport-powered download kiosks.
We hosted over 100 bloggers in our new and improved Sharp NBC Universal Multimedia Lounge.
Nancy O'Dell made the cover of Vegas Magazine.
Jimmy Fallon made us laugh.
We met countless fascinating new people and got to check out some incredible new consumer electronics.
We watched thousands of people crowd around the 4 Microsoft Surface tables with Vectorform software and interact with NBCU films and TV shows.
And it all came together with the creative, dedicated talent of people across every part of NBC Universal.
Here's to next year...CES 2010!
Thank You!
NBC Universal: Entertainment You Can Touch. Content That Touches You.
What's Your iCue?
By Josh Holbreich, iCue
For the last two years, I've been working for NBC News on an education project called iCue.com, an interactive study aid for high school students, and its companion video trivia Facebook game, called "What's Your iCue?"
This trip to CES, however, is the first time I've really had the chance to see people - real people, i.e. people who are not co-workers or relatives - interact with both of these sites. And I've been blown away by the reception. I've been demonstrating both sites for the last two days. Between setting up trivia competitions where convention-goers try to beat each other's scores to win prizes and showing off the interactive learning capabilities of iCue.com, I've been doing a lot of talking and getting a lot of great reactions. We've had lines of people waiting to play the game and check out historic videos.
I don't want to be too sappy here, but the whole experience has added a third part to the NBC Universal booth's slogan (coined by our blogmaster Jon Accarrino), "Entertainment You Can Touch, Content that Touches You."
The first two parts are the sites themselves. You can dive deep into subjects that interest you - science, technology, history - by literally touching our videos, flipping the player over to see the keyword tags and sharing them with your friends.
The third part for me, the last mile of this whole process, is that I've been touched by seeing the people in the booth enjoying the entertainment and content that I've been toiling on for so long. It really has been one of the most rewarding experiences that I've had working for NBC.
Swag! Swag! Swag!
By Eliot Sakhartov, Gia Pace & Marisa Frongillo, NBC Universal
Swag! That's really what this show is about. Seriously, we've gotten almost a lifetime supply of breath mints just in the first 2 days. At the NBC Universal booth it's no different.
Our brand ambassadors are doing a lot of embassing while giving out 12,000 2GB micro SD cards, they gave away almost 5,000 the first day. Take the card over to one of the five Microsoft Surface tables, and you could win a prize like a Monk bobblehead, or a Battlestar Galactica toaster to an SNL script signed by the entire cast. Even if you don't win a signed Today Show mug, you can download free videos from the kiosks.
Our 12 brand ambassadors, dressed in all black with NBC logo shirts spend 10 hours working the crowds during the convention days. Their spirit and overall enthusiasm are quite commendable. Taryn Abrahamson, one of the brand ambassadors on loan from NBC Long Island City seems to always know exactly how to draw people in, answer their questions and lead them to all the booth hot spots. In fact, all the brand ambassadors are doing a fantastic job representing NBCU.
Taryn tells us that the smash hit of the booth is the Michael Scott "that's what she said" sound bite from The Office on the Surface DJ. Though she tells us that her favorite thing to do is add Mamma Mia to any mix.
NBCU at CES Sweepstakes Winners
1 Marvin Match
2 Stewart Wright
3 Gary Paxinos
4 Owen Anthony
5 Ethan Arberman
6 Mike Cipriano
7 Gerry Grifiths
8 Jeffrey Ye
9 Cory Houston
10 John Christy
11 Keith Thode
12 Melody Mar
13 Randy Goldsby
14 Morten Felsvang
15 Ana Valenzuela
16 Linda Curtis
17 Fatih Senel
18 Bill Hunt
19 Mike Keith
20 Vicky Landin
21 Francisco Del Rosal
22 Jared Marino
23 Serge Fidlon
24 Hao Gip
25 Christian Perreault
26 Steve Ruesch
27 Kuntal Sampat
28 Tom Flournoy
29 Mike Ferguson
30 Scott Hirleman
31 Charlotte Li
32 Carlos Sena
33 Christian Monette
34 Shant Kalanjian
35 Jumnong Sangthongkum
36 Neil Rizzo
37 Edward Chi
38 David Kuepper
39 Ronald Porter
40 Larry Brown
41 Kelly Murphy
42 Eddie Texon
43 Tom Perica
44 Cameron Greig
45 Rob Sayers
46 Eduardo Esquera
47 Larry Pennington
48 Keizo Yamamoto
49 William Rothman
50 Tristan Fuel
51 Peter Keller
52 Tony Stewart
53 Joe Bogushefsky
54 Hassane Elannan
55 Michael Boshaw
56 Steven North
57 Michelle Skiba
58 David Bailey
59 Renee Miles
60 Devin Goodwin
61 Vlad Gurovich
62 Mike Berry
63 Scott Marcus
64 Jon Clark
65 Don Bristow
66 Lester Ngia
67 Jeremy Aisenberg
68 Michael Pool
69 Lance Craig
70 Scott Pattison
71 Louis Castelli
72 Paulicos Pastacos
73 David Quick
74 Dima Sokolov
75 Nils Patel
76 Garrett Potter
77 Akiyosh Inoue
78 Mike Ueland
79 George Iwanyc
80 Juan Carlos Alvarado
81 Ehfrain Rivera
82 Chris Sang
83 Jose Rodriguez
84 Dennis Pret
85 Alan Messer
86 Maria Gabriela
87 Jeff Powers
88 Guy Edri
89 Kevin Lum
90 Daryl Lee
91 Nancy Arihara
92 Armando Mola
93 Carlos Harris
94 Emilie Delisle
95 Radicca Yee-Fong
96 Leo Baray
97 Adrian Loaiza
98 Michael Bruno
99 Scott Yee
100 Paul Naraine
101 Gerald Heater
102 Douglas Hart
103 Derrick Johnson
104 Wayne Nakano
105 Daniel Garza
106 Ingrid Yaddo
107 Leslie Cohen
108 Jaeman Kim
109 Michael Chiang
110 Craig Moon
111 Ning Xu
112 Mark Knox
113 Tara Turak
114 Mike Lutz
115 Mordechai Snlomio
116 Suzy Au
117 Jason Holt
118 Walter Curaba
119 JJ Lee
120 Garnet Gates
121 Jeremiah Cox
122 Bill Tricarico
123 Damien Tran
124 Jonathan Duncan
125 Lynn Beveridge
126 Pete Ludolph
127 Edward Bond
128 Mike Hsu
129 David Trinh
130 Maria Loera
131 Donald Sabatine
132 Mark Chouinard
133 Jim Ferguson
134 Robert Lembree
135 Kresten Sondergaard
136 Lisa Inoue
137 Shashi Sachdev
138 Janet Gutierrez
139 Andy Wheeler
140 Makiko Shimada
141 Jay Taylor
142 Ryne Nelson
143 Neal Amodio
144 Rafael Ortiz
145 Peter Henricsson
146 Philip Arnold
147 Masayuki Nakayama
148 Hannah Stillman
149 Mayumi Mizukami
150 Jeongmin Yoon
151 Mark Hoskins
152 Ashoke Mukherji
153 Francisco Quintana
154 John Chute
155 JJ Roznowski
156 Chih-Yao Hsieh
157 Winston Hu
158 Chelsey Brooks
159 Tim Hall
160 Sheila Davis
161 Carlos Vargas Jr
162 Akmal Khan
163 Sandy Fukunaga
164 Ali Raofi
165 Teresa Stanley
166 George Smith
167 Vardges Arakelyan
168 Carl Landrum
169 Chris Norris
170 Mike Acton
171 Timothy Bennett
172 Scott Berger
173 Samuel Cox
174 Brent Murray
175 Bob McVoy
176 Heidi McGilvray
177 Bob Reents
178 Felicia Manos
179 Jim Post
180 Veronica Equiarte
181 Ben Hodge
182 Azarael Arzola
183 YP Fang
184 Julian Dos Santos
185 Carla Hasse
186 Kevin McConn
187 John Flynn
188 Yuji Nishiyama
189 Felicia Bruchhagen
190 Sheena Dornan
191 Jonathan Hazan
192 Thomas Levassor
193 Tricia Bannerman
194 Curt Austin
195 Dennis Bendeck
196 William Parks
197 Bert Easley
198 Gary Bohannon
199 Martin Heine
200 Gary Sato
201 Darlene Staniszewski
202 Melissa Boland
203 Albert Yamane
204 Erkan Riza
205 Diamond Lo
206 Bob Jensen
207 Al Nolan
208 Moshe Levin
209 Nick Alexakos
210 Robert Roy
211 Gregory Poilasne
212 John Newman
213 Frances Lieu
214 John Yuen
215 Brett Escott
216 Jeffrey Rogers
217 Michael Vosse
218 Brian Gorsky
219 Alan Chen
220 David Schiavo
221 Josef Cuencin
222 Chris Rose
223 Steve Curnew
224 David Ray
225 Cesar Sanchez
226 Richard Fiesta
227 Steve Zaroukian
228 Gregory Lee
229 Cameron Woodmauree
230 Nathaniel Cox
231 Matt Snyder
232 Michael Scully
233 Tom Bundy
234 Mike Rooney
235 Lynn Morrison
236 Judy Simpson
237 Samuel Griffiths
238 Bob Malkowski
239 Allen Wong
240 Francis Arches
241 Neo Seung
242 David Gidanian
243 Matthew Mandegar
244 Patrick Chen
245 Chiayong Ly
246 Tony Tsai
247 Bob Wexler
248 Anderson Cheon
249 Darren Kammer
250 Mohammed Abdelmonem
251 Rob Huie
252 Artie Mattor
253 Teri DeCastro
254 Keith Piper
255 Mike Thompson
256 Chris Sloan
257 Bronson Blum
258 Steve Lee
259 Ryan Shin
260 Rex Wren
261 Craig Shultz
262 Corey Hertz
263 Pat Holt
264 Tom Albers
265 Harpal Sandhu
266 Rich Barbre
267 David Hargreaves
268 Louis Aviha
269 Ryan Oster
270 Michael Berg
271 Tom Moran
272 Charles Kokinos
273 Ben Lai
274 John Capizzi
275 Ian Slotin
276 Gabe White
277 John Boezinger
278 Arthur Crecca
279 Bill Cassidy
280 Karsten Hoppe
281 Ron Poblete
282 John Gee
283 Brian Freedman
284 Kevin Schlabach
285 Mike Roberts
286 James Field
287 Adam Martin
288 Roger Reynolds
289 Anthony Jarvis
290 Terry Behm
291 Jim Belcher
292 Tuan Tien
293 Mike Gustafson
294 Christine English
295 Peter Liapis
296 Julie Cripe
297 Nicholas DeTrogoff
298 Mattan Griffel
299 Charles Shestack
300 Stepan Staunuk
301 Ali Karim
302 Joe Thompson
303 Brandon Kaplan
304 Rahul Bhanot
305 Steve Vickers
306 Josh Levin
307 Andrew Wilding
308 Mike Gong
309 Feng Jiang
310 Jim Fruit
311 Jordan Rost
312 Ernst Ginkel
313 Beau Oyler
314 Marri Lunquist
315 Ngniem Pham
316 Ben Gonzalez
317 Manish Khushani
318 Leonard Palmer
319 John Reynolds
320 Anna Cheney
321 Ron Rubin
322 Brian Verenkoff
323 Steve Short
324 Quinn Li
325 Carson May
326 Terry Anne Romero
327 Tanapon Chandavasu
328 Pete Donovan
329 Jhon Brandstetter
330 David Los
331 Donna Lum
332 Mark Heisey
333 Andy Clipsham
334 Patrick Poon
335 Joe Valcik
336 Ryan Anieiete
337 Jim Castler
338 Ryan Kell
339 Eric Lee
340 Steve Harvey
341 Crystal Hill
342 Frank McCabe
343 Bruce Toney
344 Yee Tso
345 Shekhar Parmar
346 Simon Fisher
347 Bruce Boelkens
348 Adam Goldman
349 Kara Peterson
350 Aubrey Beck
351 Tsuyoshi Souma
352 Gregory Barnes
353 Dennis Boddreau
354 Mary Leonard
355 Bruce Kaufman
356 Jules Comeyne
357 Maude Marois-Dumoulin
358 Ethan Shields
359 Kent Rippey
360 Roni Daz
361 Daniel Ahdout
362 David Matney
363 Behzad Ilchi
364 Steven Cohen
365 Bill Haight
366 Ashad Nazari
367 Doris Sohn
368 Roy Calvert
369 Steve Recobs
370 Dan Preciado
371 Robert Dominix
372 Marissa Rafuse
373 Jane Clough
374 Ken Eltinge
375 George Scriban
376 Cheryl Tuckman
377 Jonathan Lozano
378 Manar Mahayuri
379 Frank Chang
380 Sangyul Ryu
381 Ji Hyun Park
382 Roger Fang
383 Jorge Pi
384 Usha Upadhyayula
385 Seth Needleman
386 David Krak
387 Jose Sool Tan
388 Dustin Huang
389 Danielle Van Lier
390 Michael Hidrosiollo
391 Daniel Ruder
392 Mark Austin
393 Kent Ferre
394 Dale Krendell
395 Richard Sisco
396 Julie Yong
397 John Vigil
398 Aaron Higley
399 Marci Zemen
400 Joe Rana
401 Gerard Gary
402 Michael Solgonick
403 John Kot
404 Scott Burger
405 Michael Austin
406 Gerrit Schoonhoven
407 Alan Hogan
408 Jeff Williamson
409 Isaias Delgado
410 Sarah Manganiello
411 Richard Boyce
412 John Silver
413 Amy Randall
414 Ron Cocanour
415 Dale Cheung
416 Michael Wu
417 Stew King
418 Karl Lewis-Lieber
419 Marty Shindler
420 Viriya Upatising
421 Robert Wong
422 Juli Black
423 Fred Hartson
424 Earnest DePass
425 Ronnie Kuchler
426 Sarah Boling
427 Carlos Curaca
428 Diana Ely
429 Tina Cipriano
430 David Kirsch
431 Soo Jang
432 Santiago Marquez
433 Pablo Salguero
434 Ozziel Loera
435 Esteban Jimenez
436 Max Corotts
437 Seema Sirivara
438 Elizabeth Riddington
439 Donald Conner
440 Jan Johnson
441 Samantha Ashhadi
442 Justin Massongill
443 Terri Brock
444 Jeffrey Ye
445 Vincent Contreras
446 Steven Baskin
447 Alex Schulga
448 Reggie Anderson
449 Idolina Walker
450 David Balsdon
451 Elinda Lubo Ariza
452 Kent Walker
453 Matt Boddreau
454 Shawn Shuter
455 Eddie Or
456 Zach Krapfl
457 Shehab Aly
458 Chantal Bolduc
459 Lance Revenaugh
460 Heather Studer
461 Emily Yagudin
462 Mike Vandemore
463 Vikas Moolchandani
464 Juan Janna
465 Darren Richer
466 Paulette Hernandez
467 Eduardo Sanguino
468 Craig Besnoy
469 Alex Nevelson
470 Joe Hayashi
471 Alan Mildwurm
472 Robert Delmonte
473 Shaine Grieshaber
474 Scott Taylor
475 Manual Mansour
476 Edward Demelo
477 Bob Robinson
478 Sean Quinonez
479 Ray Bacher
480 Bud Ente
481 Jeff Hoffman
482 Jet Shum
483 Norman Javier
484 Dan Curcio
485 Rolando Nakamire
486 Bud Korottin
487 Amaury Monsalve
488 Tanadet Itsarapakdetam
489 Melody Mandegar
490 Rob Winchell
491 Jeff Buettner
492 Victor Ward
493 Steve Yamamiya
494 Robern Guerin
495 Adam Glass
496 Victor Pizarro
497 Geoff Matthews
498 Greg Roberts
499 Barry Goodolf
500 Morten Haahr
501 Mike Conway
502 George Oms
503 Christian Kimberly-Bowen
504 Dan Fisher
505 Nicholas Kohut
506 Jesse Kissee
507 Alan Brill
508 Nicholas Lin
509 Alan Melvin
510 Chan Nguyen
511 David Gilmore
512 Feras Bakr
513 Ed Reardon
514 Robert Johnson
515 Hussein Abdallah
516 Clark Heiser
517 Shawn Rattai
518 Andrei Neimanis
519 Jianchun Zhang
520 Brian Crenshaw
521 Gino Gaudio
522 Sherry Wuthrich
523 Ray Seakan
524 Dalene Tharp
525 Bin Huang
526 Charles Roque
527 Dan Sternberg
528 Andrew Winne
529 Teresa Whitmore
530 Irene Fang
Official rules of the NBCU at CES Sweepstakes.
A Day in the Life of an NBCU Brand Ambassador
by Lynne Wisnefski, NBC UniversalI am TIRED, man. My feet HURT. I mean these dogs are BAR-KING. Why is this carpet so squishy? I feel like I've been walking around a house of bounce for the past 8 hours. But I should know that this comes with the territory. Such ailments are the repercussions of ambassadoring the HECK out of NBC Universal at CES '09. I'm an NBCU brand ambassador. And foot blisters and lower back pain aside, I'm stoked to be here.
What does a "brand ambassador" do, you ask? Well! I am one of 12 trained NBCU professionals that were asked to be representatives on the floor of the NBCU booth to tell the CES attendees about NBCU's many many many many many sources of content and even show them how they can take some of that content home for themselves and check it out. Try as I might I don't think I will ever be able to Identify all of NBCU's brands and even if I could, it all seems to be growing so rapidly that I'd have to study every day to keep up. (And if my boss is reading this, clearly I DO do that everyday...I was just being dramatic.) But, I still think I was able to field the numerous questions directed at me relatively well. I mean, visitors to the booth asked me everything from "Can you tell me about the DRM encoded on these WMV files I've downloaded from the kiosk into this Micro SD chip inside the USB adapter?" to "Where can we see Jeopardy? (Just in case you didn't know... We are NOT filming Jeopardy in our booth.) to "What do I do with myself?". That one was a toughie.
While I wasn't exactly sure what the gentlemen asking the last question should do, I think the coolest thing WE do (and the thing of most interest to CES attendees) is that we give away the free 2GB drives that people can load content to as well as show everyone how to use the Microsoft Surfaces located throughout the booth. All and all people have been very receptive. Sometimes they have been very very receptive to the point of around 20 - 30 people surrounding me and reaching out open hands to get free drives. People's excitement about NBCU content is so great!
When I haven't been handing out drives, showing Microsoft Surface technology, or helping people find direction in their lives, I've gotten to take in all the neat stuff going on around the booth. I was FREAKED OUT big time by the super spooky Unborn and The Last House on the Left trailers in the Universal screening area. I hope I'm never ever possessed by my identical twin that unexpectedly died in utero or that I never have to deal with a band of homicidal maniacs on a rampage in my family's guest house because, clearly, that would be scary. Thankfully, the Duplicity trailer ran right after and a trim looking Clive Owen turned my thoughts to other things.
Other things, like the USA Character Arcade! How great are those games? I have a special love in my heart for "Find Bunny". Man, that bunny is good at hiding in tricky places like the noodle shop of Manhattan's Chinatown. Vice Cream and Character Sudoku are other favorites. I could spend hours of life on characterarcade.com. Hours that are outside of the office, of course.
Most of all, the TV and podcast production has been amazing. It's so cool to see Live TV happening before your eyes. I love to see the monitors show what is happening in real life just a few feet away from me. I'm not gonna lie, the thought of what would happen if I ran in front of a camera and waved has crossed my mind...I mean, I could be broadcast across the country! That and I could be tackled by security guards.
The so called "fish bowl" that shows how the directors and production crew are making the TV magic happen is great too. It's basically a Plexiglass room housing the switcher and production computers. I'm not sure how much the crew enjoys the animal inside the zoo feeling that comes with people pressing their faces up against the glass to stare at them but I have enjoyed the staring. Only a few poor souls have actually face planted into the glass thinking it was open space. I was ready to bust out the Windex to clear up face grease when needed.
I can't believe how quickly the show has gone. I mean here we are heading into the final day already! Time flies when you're ambassing a great brand. Looking forward to day 4 tomorrow. I'm sure I'll discover something new and yet to be explored in the booth. For instance, how GREAT is this Sharp NBC Universal blogger lounge? I love the "sitting down" aspect of it. That and the dashing young blogger lounge host. Thank you, Mr. Accarrino!
A Handful of CES Musings....
By Jason Bergsman, NBC Universal Digital Media Strategy and Business Development
I could write for days about what I saw at CES 2009 and the implications of it all, but with the benefit of a healthy separation from Vegas, here are a few reasonably quick musings.....
Special thanks to Glenn Reitmeier and Peter Rosenberg of NBC Universal, whose illuminating tours of the CES exhibition floors were most helpful in separating the wheat from the chaff...
1. Internet connections pervade new TVs, with embedded chipsets to enable an application environment...
Though simplistic news/information widgets have for years been touted at CES, they've offered limited functionality and appeal. Now, however, OEMs are establishing relationships with key providers of high quality IP-delivered content, such as Amazon and Netflix, enabling far more expansive and desirable use cases to exploit the burgeoning TV-internet connectivity.
Look for OEMs to aggressively forge partnerships with IP-delivered content providers (especially in film video on demand), which the OEMs will promote heavily to encourage consumer adoption--and stimulate more upgrades to internet-enabled TVs. Arguably imperceptible picture quality improvements, or ever-bigger and ever-thinner screens won't be sufficient to spur upgrades for mainstream existing LCD/plasma owners for some time to come. The manufacturers must perfect the user interface, however, and ultimately must allow for a more open platform to allow consumer choice among applications.
The direct connection model, especially if Tru2Way enabled, may ultimately place pressure on set-top box manufacturers and renters (i.e., MSOs), which may increase the likelihood that MSOs and telco television providers will charge consumers for internet access based on variable data use volume. As for Roku/Vudu and other box-based providers of similar services, as innovative as their products may now be, it seems unlikely that they will prove to be an enduring presence on the consumer products landscape, unless their platforms are integrated into set-top boxes or televisions--as TiVO has come to do.
2. Internet connectivity and streaming content everywhere on every device...
Whether in televisions, picture frames, netbooks, etc., native wireless broadband/WiFi enabled devices could be seen at every turn. Though connectivity issues may constrain or frustrate any device conducive to use on the go or in varied locations, the default net connectivity will allow devices to transcend rather more limited use cases.
A digital picture frame is not just a picture frame; it's soon to be yet another screen onto which content of all types--including video--can be beamed and streamed. A digital camera is not just a receptacle for static images; it's soon to be a dynamic, continual broadcaster of geo-tagged user-generated content. A Blu-ray DVD is not just a mode for the physical storage of content; rather, in Sony's vision, it will be a key to access supplemental, dynamic, and interactive materials on the internet, when played on a BD Live device. It will take time, but consumer definitions of devices based on their primary historical functionality will become more expansive and flexible.
Effortless internet access on netbooks will create even more demand for high-quality streaming content, consumed to consumers' delight on high-quality (perhaps super-thin HD-quality organic LED), reasonably sized, portable screens.
In a parallel but distinctive development, the introduction of the broadcast industry's mobile television broadcast standard ATSC should figure to markedly hasten the adoption of mobile television, both on phones and smartphones and for the first time, on notebooks/netbooks. ATSC allows for the broadcast of television signals to mobile phones using existing broadcast spectrum delivered to devices equipped with an ATSC compatible chip with conditional access capabilities that could enable premium subscription services. Working with wireless carriers, the broadcasters that constitute the ATSC consortium could create robust unicast on-demand services to supplement over the air ATSC broadcast video.
The entertainment industry motto of content "anywhere, anytime" will become no less hackneyed, but all the more accurate.
3. Albeit perhaps reluctantly, manufacturers have embraced low-end disruptive devices following evolving consumer behavior/preferences--and consumers win...
Economic circumstances will compel consumers to perhaps 'trade down' for their next purchase, which over time will no doubt cannibalize higher-end, higher margin products. In the amateur video production realm, consumers' demonstrated behavior of tolerating--and enjoying--low quality (relative to professional content, at least, created/delivered at professional standards) video (on YouTube, etc.) has in part laid the foundation for mounting demand for 'low end' camcorders that was kicked of by Pure Digital's innovative and highly successful Flip video series--which now comes in HD. Sony and other 'high-end' OEMs unveiled ~$200 competitors, which we can expect will continue to move upmarket in image quality and storage as relevant input costs continue to decline.
In the computing realm, consumers' now-established behavior of comfortably using their cellphones/smartphones for far more than just telephony and for basic data services, though with device-imposed tradeoffs, sets the stage for adoption of small, low-cost, and lightweight (both literally and in terms of the product attributes) netbook computers. Though the form factor will not allow for integrated peripherals like DVD players/burners, the processor won't allow for sophisticated graphics processing, and the screen size may not be conducive for all purposes, for most mainstream uses, the netbooks will prove to be more than sufficient for many consumers.
We've already seen screen sizes increase to the level of smaller notebooks, so it's certainly conceivable that consumers who need no more than word processing and presentation software (Microsoft-based or otherwise), web browsing, and email will look to netbooks as laptop replacements. The magnitude of this cannibalistic behavior perhaps has not been fully anticipated by computer manufacturers. For other individuals, netbooks will serve as supplemental mobile devices so long as connectivity is assured, battery life is reasonable, and startup is quick.
With ready internet access, the netbooks will continue to propel the propagation of cloud-based computing, through which the aforementioned applications--and the files they create--will need not reside locally, but rather will be stored centrally.
With good screens, streaming video, ATSC chips, and shrinking SD cards and USB storage devices that hold up to 64GB of data today and terabytes in the future, these low-cost portable devices will serve as powerful consoles for the consumption of stored and streaming video content on demand, and via terrestrial broadcast.
4. Though OEMs are pushing consumer 3D, adoption will remain limited regardless of the volume of 3D enabled programming delivered...
Early adopters and gamers may embrace the 3D TVs, but the need for glasses in most cases and the somewhat unsettling and uncomfortable nature of the viewing experience will most likely not spur the purchase of a dedicated 3D device. However, the ability to turn on/off the 3D functionality may increase adoption by cinephiles or by big sports fans in the home, or at the least by establishments that cater to such crowds (e.g., sports bars.)
In the chicken and egg conundrum, however, the need to have a dedicated production effort for such events will further confine 3D to the periphery for some time to come. Most consumers will dismiss it as a frivolous gimmick, especially in these market circumstances, which may turn the industry off of the notion altogether based on broadband volume. 3D will have more of an allure for occasion-based viewing in theaters however, primarily for blockbuster films. Home adoption may follow, but don't hold your breath.
5. Simplicity arrives. . .
The consumer electronics industry seems to have finally acknowledged that complexity in setting up, connecting, and navigating the controls of advanced devices has constrained their adoption and resonance.
Many manufacturers unveiled wireless-enabled products that can readily network with each other, making the prospect of the digital home ever more achievable--Samsung unveiled full wireless HD video transfer technology between living room devices that will be governed by a common user interface across all the networked devices. The user interface of the Palm Pre elegantly embodies the notion of intuitive simplicity, which was a focus of Steve Ballmer's keynote remarks about Windows 7. Toshiba demoed a television programming guide that groups content visually and spatially on an axis according to relevance of title, genre, person, and keyword. It's a ways away from a rollout, but represented advanced, experimental thinking around the organization of metadata relevant to consumer choice and preferences.
Simplicity was manifest in form factors as well, with Panasonic displaying a touch-based remote control that seeks to resist the button-based oppression of the complicated home entertainment center remote control. Apple has no doubt served as an inspiration to device designers and it shouldn't be long until a remote control emerges that's directly akin to the touch and motion-dependent controls of the iPhone/iPod touch itself.
Tekzilla and NBC Universal Hanging Out at CES
By Jon Accarrino, NBC Universal
Melissa Kondak from NBC Universal In Focus sat down with Patrick Norton and Veronica Belmont from Tekzilla to talk technology, television and podcasting.
HackCollege Live 3pm PST
By Kelly Sutton, HackCollegeHak5 just finished doing their show on the main stage here in the NBC Universal CES booth. HackCollege is up next. We're busy preparing for our show in the Sharp NBC Universal Multimedia Lounge.
If you are unfamiliar with HackCollege, it's a lifehacking show for and by college students. Every week, Chris and I hack anything from beer opening methods to study techniques. HackCollege is educating the students of the world about effective, open source software, putting techno-political arguments in everyday language, and creating a cult of "Students 2.0."
Please tune in and check us out! You can watch us at any of these links:
http://ces.revision3.com
http://ustream.tv/channel/hackcollege
We're on at 3 pm PST!
Hak5 Live from NBCU's Stage #1
By Jon Accarrino, NBC Universal
Right now Hak5 is doing a live streaming show on Stage #1 here in the NBC Universal CES booth. I'm trapped coordinating all the bloggers here in the Sharp NBC Universal Multimedia Lounge, but I'm watching Hak5's live show online and spying on them using our network camera in the lighting truss. But why should I have all the fun? If you want to get in queue to take control of the camera, just click here.
Why CES is Still Overwhelming for Me
By Aaron Broder, Scholastic
Every single year I've reported on CES for Scholastic, I seem to try a different method of preparation. The first year, I did very little preparation, intending to wander the halls, not realizing exactly how big the show floor was. That was... not ideal. The second year, I had almost every minute planned of where I was going to be and when. That also didn't work. So this year, I tried yet another approach - schedule a few big meetings, and then make a list of everything else I was interested in seeing.
One big problem. I'm still at the show for another day, and my list is empty. I'm sure that there are all sorts of interesting things around, but I have no idea where to start. Help!
Alright, I'm going to change the subject, before this turns into the same "CES is overwhelming" rant I had last year.
It may sound like a shameless plug, but I have to give major props to NBCU for the new booth. This is a lot cooler than last year's booth (which was already pretty awesome). I particularly love the Microsoft Surface tables spread around the booth - I'm a huge fan of the Surface, largely for the concept. Although I can't imagine a practical reason to have one in my house, I can't help but thinking of how awesome it would be to have one to play with.
Microsoft, by the way, was one of the big meetings that I scheduled. The most exciting was my interview with Steve Ballmer, the CEO of Microsoft! I had a spectacularly long list of questions for him, but I ended up decided to cut it down to about seven, because I thought that I had too many questions for the fifteen-minute interview I had.
Murphy's Law decided to rear its ugly head, however. I ran out of prepared questions fairly early on in the interview, and I had to wing it. Thankfully, I managed to hold my own for the remainder of the interview, but there is a lesson here: always make a list of questions much longer than the interview is going to be.
Besides that, I've also gotten to see a lot of cool (and some weird) products. Mattel, for example, has this "Mindflex" thing where you where a headband that measures how much you are concentrating, and converts it to a fan that moves a ball up and down. And in the Gaming TechZone, there are some companies trying to cash in on Guitar Hero and Rock Band's success (some effectively and some... not, as in the picture below).
Well, I don't want to take too much of your time. I guess I'll be going now. If anyone has a good organization technique for CES, I would love to hear it.
Bye!
P.S. Oh, man! Patrick Norton and Veronica Belmont from Revision3's Tekzilla are right in front of me on the NBC Universal main stage! No way!
The Last Gadget Standing
By Bonnie Optekman, NBC NewsOk - I'm crawling to the finish line! Last day for me!
I went to The Last Gadget Standing - always a crowd pleaser - this morning. After 150 submissions, 25 semi-finalists and 10 finalists, winners were chosen. The winner from on-line voters was the emWave PSR (personal stress reliever - a bio-feedback device). After demos from the 10 finalists in the room, the winner from applause metering was, for the second year in a row, Eye-Fi Video which is a wireless memory card that has Wi-Fi in it allowing you to upload video as well as photos to your computer or the web. They partnered with YouTube. They gave a great presentation and I loved the phrase they used. They said it was meant to free videos and photos from "photo prison."
I talked about Panasonic's 3D show yesterday. Well - today I went to the one at Intel as well as Sony. And it looks like I've got some time to build my dream home theater. The folks at Intel, who are partnering with Dreamworks for 3D which explains why they were showing their coming movie "Monsters vs Aliens," told me there are roughly eight or nine different 3D formats out there for different TVs. So it's Blu-ray vs HD-DVD all over again. This could take years.. And as far as I can discern, all three were amazing.
There were lots of other amazing things at SONY. In fact it was the second busiest booth I've been to. (Next to NBC Universal of course. Listen, I know who issues my paycheck.) People were gathered around the Sony Flexible OLED.
It is literally made of a material that folds and rolls. They're still thinking of applications in addition to a folding laptop and a bracelet mpeg3 player. And people gathered around the 11" Sony OLED TV - the only OLED currently on the market - as much as they did last year.This year they also have one that's one third the depth - 3mm - called the XEL-1. Displayed is a 27" prototype and they said they're committed to going larger but that they didn't have any announcements yet as to when that would be. I got a little lesson in OLED (the O stands for organic, not the Cirque du Soleil show). The headlines for me were that they use 40% less power because they have no backlight - you're looking right at the pixels - and because they're so thin. They look so darn great - one million to one contrast - brighter brights and darker darks (I just felt like I typed a slogan for detergent). Samsung, by the way, is showing "Full HD" which is what is referred to as 1080p as well as something they call Ultra HD which has even higher resolution (3840 x 2160) but what content is out there that would take advantage of it?
Back to Sony, I held their latest camcorder in my hand - HDR XR 520V - which does geotagging, but I have to say I really liked the Canon AVCHD. It feels really good in the hand and is nice and light and they have some great features like a quick video snap and the ability to do photo capture from a video.
I also stopped by Microsoft and confirmed for myself that I'll wait for Windows 7 and skip Vista.
BTW, according to my very unoffcial, anecdotal experiences and questions of the locals like the wonderful Vegas taxi drivers, this year was definitely less well attended. One driver told me that on Thursday he did 21 trips and during the same time frame last year, he did 30.
Finally, I must show you something I saw called the Crayola Digital Camcorder from Sakar International. My niece and nephew Ben and Abby will love it. Then again, they may just want to use the new Canon.
Blu-ray is Here to Stay
By Liz Savery, Sharp
It's hard to believe that just a year ago, we were all still waiting to see where the chips would fall in terms of high definition optical discs. Blu-ray is so ingrained in our lexicon now - already - and judging from the range of products available here at CES, it's here to stay.
It's true that there's a huge range of choices available for movie-watching in other formats, like Netflix's deal with TiVo, but you still want to have your favorite movies in your home, so you know they're there when you need them. Last Saturday night, I was all set to watch "Gone Baby Gone" via my Netflix account, and my home network went down. No more Netflix. I nearly went out that very night to buy the movie, because I was so disappointed. I may not have as large a Blu-ray collection as, say, my VHS collection used to be, but I still want my movies at hand. I'm pretty sure there are a lot of folks in my camp on this issue - I've heard from a number of sources that the Blu-ray version of "The Dark Knight" flew out of stores to the tune of 600,000 copies in one day!
U.S. viewers own about 10 million Blu-ray players, from a wide variety of manufacturers. Sharp was an early proponent of Blu-ray and has upped the ante here with an AQUOS series of LCD TVs that boast built-in Blu-ray players. No muss, no fuss, everything you need for movie night in one gorgeous package. All you have to do is load a disc - the TV will turn itself on and start playing your movie. They come in a range of sizes from the 32-inch class up to the 52-inch class, to give you home theater options for the living room, bedroom or home office.
Stop by the Sharp booth in the Central Hall and check them out!
Back to the Future
By Bonnie Optekman, NBC News
The talk of mainstreaming the 3D experience has been around for such a long time. Well, I'm here to tell you that if you're here in Vegas land, do NOT miss the Panasonic 3D full HD 1080p show on a 103" plasma screen playing off a Blu-ray player. Easily outshines any Imax theater I've ever been to. Worth wearing the goofy glasses for. This is NOT your father's 3D. Rain falls on you, basketballs get thrown at you, cars come at you. At least in your imagination. I'm definitely getting it for my imaginary home theater in my imaginary huge new apartment. NBC colleague Andrew Turner just came by and told me that Intel also has a 3D theater. Gotta check that one out too. And a shout out to the really nice folks at Panasonic. They spotted me a cable for my Lumix camera since I left mine at home.
What else from the past? Well - the Polaroid camera PoGo that prints immediate pictures for sure. Fits in the palm of your hand. I vaguely remember having a Polaroid "swinger" that not only printed the pix but had "Yes" and "No" lights that were red and green. Sort of an early version of pressing the button halfway down to focus. I'm embarrassed to say I even remember the jingle. I'll spare you.
And, number three in yesterday's hit parade - the LG "Dick Tracy" watch phone. (They're not calling it that.) Touch screen that feels heat of fingers but works through gloves (i don't get that); water resistant; tempered glass to avoid scratches; quad band; voice activated dialing; customizable watch faces; text messaging; text to speech (it reads you your messages); mpeg3 player; blue tooth enabled or hold it to your ear like Mr. Tracy; and get this -- it has a tiny camera for video conferencing. I could only look at it behind the case and the rep said he'll eventually have one on his wrist but it will have to stay on his wrist (read-you can't touch). Due Q2 in Europe. Date up in the air in the US. And since this is all about me - I remember my mother buying me a tiny transistor radio that fit on my wrist like a watch. Gotta find that. You remember radio. That thing you can get on your iPod with a special attachment.
Let's keep talking phones for a minute. I saw a really impressive one at the Sands where the CES Innovation award winners are as well as a host of new technology vendors. The Icephone acts not just as a phone, texting device and gaming controller but unfolds into three pieces. It was developed for the military such that a dogtag can be inserted in order to send pertinent information about a wounded soldier to the nearest hospital who will then be ready.
I'm sure the people at the MediaFlo booth are happy with me today (read sarcastically). I made them switch the channels on all their LIVE TV phones to show NBC2GO. I've actually been doing that at a lot of wireless vendor booths. My work here is done.
As for my next phone, I need easier texting than with a numeric keypad as well as simple phone functions and, of course, VCast videos and VCast TV (MediaFlo). I believe, ladies & gentleman, I have a winner. The Motorola KRAVE. The keyboard is virtual and that takes some getting used to just as it does on the iPhone/iPod Touch but it beats pressing a key four times to get the right letter. It does everything I need and it's really classy looking AND it's a clamshell with a clear cover. Clamshells have been on the way out as texting has become more prevalent and people have wanted qwerty keyboards.
By the way, did you know that according to the CTIA (wireless association), the volume of text messaging in the US has grown tenfold in the past three years? As of December 26th, Randall Stross said in the NY Times that about 2.5 trillion messages will have been sent from cellphones worldwide this year. We got into it big time this year at NBC News, adding to our sub services by doing election based surveys on MSNBC with record turnout.
This is for my colleague, NBC Nightly News director Brett Holey. Several manufacturers are making the portable Pico projectors - Samsung, 3M, WowWee, Vuzix. Size of image projected can be 50" as long as it's a dimly lit room. Focus not an issue. But it won't replace a room projector. Nor is it likely to give off enough light to act as a backdrop for a shoot. Here's a tip. You can leave light on in the back of room - just not on the surface you're projecting onto. I also couldn't resist trying the my.vu personal media viewer.
Takes output video from iPod for example and you see it larger on your "personal" screen. There are several companies making these. My.Vu's has their electronics on the side pieces to make it more comfortable but it still felt a little heavy on my nose. But then again, I should have adjusted it more completely.
Here's a factoid for today - which I have not confirmed with a second source. 10% of American women carry a tape measure with them say the folks at Toolcode. And many men as well as women get measurements wrong or forget as they measure. So they invented one that gives a digital readout. Good idea but as I honestly told them, a little too heavy in current form for carrying around. Despite this, they quote MSN.com listing it as the number 1 stocking stuffer this year. Who knew?
See you tomorrow.
Blogging at CES 2009
By Christopher Loncto, Sharp
Even amidst the doom and gloom of today's economy, it's amazing to me how much opportunity is out there. This morning I had two meetings that really energized me about the future of business, and the potential of Sharp, the company I work for.
First, a meeting with a well known company on the forefront of communication and while, I can't say what was proposed, or if anything would ever come out of it, I was excited about the opportunity.
Then, sitting down here at the Sharp NBC Universal Multimedia Lounge, I struck up a conversation with Rohit Bhargava, the SVP of Digital Strategy and Marketing at Ogilvy. I'm very intrigued with digital marketing and social media, and Rohit hit me right off the bat with some interesting concepts. He's written a book called Personality Not Included, which is all about creating and maintaining conversations with your customers. Should be great airplane reading for me tomorrow - if I'm not sleeping. Why I scheduled myself on an 8:20AM flight I cannot say. But I will get to see my wife and boys a little earlier, so that's a benefit.
Things have been busy here at the big show. Even though the overall attendance seems down the media presence seems to be just as large as last year's, and that has kept us busy. I was pleased to see some of our key press at our party last night at XS in the Wynn. I was even told we held the best press conference of all manufacturers, which was very flattering, considering the source.
Speaking of our party, we had a blast. As the official HDTV of Major League Baseball, some MLB stars like David Ortiz, John Maine, Joba Chamberlain and Hanley Ramirez stopped by to talk and take pictures with our guests. Very cool. NBC's Jimmy Fallon also stopped by, but unfortunately I didn't get to meet him.
I still haven't had a chance to check out the competition and the wireless things I've been meaning to. With a show this big I probably will get to see about 1% of what I want to see. I better go now.
Thanks for reading. This has been a lot of fun.
Maria Bartiromo Packs The House!
The first two days here in Vegas were FREEZING cold and dry. The past few days have finally been warm and sunny and visitors from around the world can now kick back, relax and enjoy looking at the cool, new gadgets that the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show has to offer.
Well now the CNBC crew is finishing up their CES 2009 appearance and just about to pack-up and go home after a few long days and hard work. Until next year.
Jimmy Fallon's Zilla
By Jon Accarrino & Ramona Schindelheim
Jimmy Fallon is roaming around the NBC Universal CES booth with a wild multi-cam backpack called the "Zilla." It kind of looks like Robocop exploded and someone attached a bunch of cameras to the pieces. As you can see in the video below, Jimmy sarcastically calls this confangled contraption a "Top Secret Spy Cam" because it's so small and undetectable that no one will notice it.
This top secret Manned Mobile Studio Halo (MMSH) was unveiled by NBC Universal Field and Satellite Operations at CES today.
The visionaries behind Zilla, Stacy Brady and John Kautz, had to give the MMSH a new nickname today, "JimZilla," as Jimmy Fallon took it for a test drive (see video attached).
Zilla is a COFDM microwave with on board switcher and 3 cameras; one operator POV and two robotic cameras controlled by the operator. Zilla weighs less than 20 lbs and adds to the creative content gathering arsenal of NBC Universal.
The Hak5 crew definitely noticed it. They were in the middle of a production meeting for their show later today in the NBCU booth when Jimmy brought a horde of fans by the Sharp NBC Universal Multimedia Lounge.
Swag the Bloggers
By Mark Miano, NBC News/NBC Learn
One of the bonuses of attending a trade show like CES is the free stuff we all get - more commonly known as SWAG. It seems like everybody here is handing out something and the NBC Universal booth is certainly no exception.
NBC's Melissa Kondak posted earlier this week about one of our big giveaways: thousands of 2 GB micro SanDisk cards that visitors can use to download free NBC Universal content and even win prizes such as signed scripts, photos and other cool props. If you're at CES, stop by while these micro sd cards last!
Ah, but the NBC swag doesn't stop there. Our booth also has a special blogging station in the Sharp NBC Universal Multimedia Lounge (where I'm writing this) and scheduled bloggers are getting this free blogger goodie bag.
The bag has an assortment of blogging tools, USB adapters, flash drives, a mini mouse, minty snacks, a water bottle and other blogger essentials.
There's even this strange but somehow mesmerizing glowing orb that comes from my unit, NBC Learn.
NBC Learn is showcasing two websites at CES, iCue and What's Your iCue. iCue is an educational website built with thousands of historic videos from the NBC News archives. It's an amazing site that won the 2008 WebAward for "Best Newsite."
We also recently launched What's Your iCue, Facebook's first and only video trivia quiz game. You'll lose hours playing this app, which has multiple quiz categories, hundreds of videos from the NBC News archives, and thousands of trivia questions. We've already found several top notch sponsors for the game, including University of Phoenix, Lexus and Intel. Consider these NBC Learn websites some CES swag for you folks who can't be here - the free gifts of a little knowledge and lots of fun.
Take the NBC News Video Trivia Challenge!
By Josh Holbreich and Mark Miano, NBC Learn
Day 2 in Las Vegas and it's time to raise the stakes.
If you're feeling lucky, come over to the NBC Universal booth and take the WHAT'S YOUR iCUE? Video Trivia Challenge. Bring a friend and play against each other for a chance to win a prize!
WHAT'S YOUR iCUE? is a fun, fast paced game with multiple categories and thousands of questions based on clips pulled from over 80 years worth of NBC News film and television -- put your i.q.s to the icue test and win!
NBCU at CES Spy Cam
By Jon Accarrino, NBC Universal
The NBC Long Island City guys just setup a "spy cam" in the lighting truss ring above Stage #1 in the NBC Universal CES booth. Each user can take full control the camera for 30 seconds. Pan, tilt, zoom. Give it a try below.
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NBCU Booth Setup
By Eliot Sakhartov and Marisa Frongillo
It's amazing to see how quickly things come together. I was here at CES last year, and saw the booth go from boxes in the middle of a warehouse to a full broadcast media stage in three days.
This year, the NBC Universal booth is more than twice the size and with even more attractions (including this fancy new Sharp NBC Universal Multimedia Lounge). There are 104 Sharp TV's, 53 engineers, and $3.8 million dollars worth of camera and communications equipment setup and ready to broadcast in HD in the same amount of time.
If you turn on CNBC, Access Hollywood, MSNBC, Telemundo or watch Jimmy Fallon, or check out the booth webcam you'll see them broadcasting from CES 2009. With all these moving parts things, there's far less chaos than you'd expect.
Jimmy Fallon CES Interview
Melissa Kondak, of NBC Universal In Focus, sits down with Jimmy Fallon at #CES09 to talk about his new show, stand up comedy, and robots??!
OMG - I just met Jimmy Fallon
By Bonnie Optekman, NBC News
OMG - I just met Jimmy Fallon! He may be the NICEST person on the PLANET. I don't get too star struck being in this business but he is an exception. And he is exceptional.
Ok - on to why I'm here.
"But Cap'n, there isn't enough power!" Remember Scotty from Star Trek saying that to Captain Kirk whenever he was asked to make the Enterprise do more? Well, that came to me during all three of the sessions I went to today.
Wait, I'm way ahead of myself. Let me briefly bring you up to date on my travels thus far. Wed, my 10am flight from JFK to Vegas was delayed by FIVE hours. There was, as the pilot described, a "ding" in the aircraft that had to be repaired before they'd let him fly. So 12 hours later I arrived in a "dingless" plane, checked into Caesar's Palace, dragged myself to my room to find it wasn't ready yet. But a gorgeous room it was so I put down my bags (carry-on! i was so proud of myself), changed my blouse, let the housekeeper get back to work and wandered down to the lobby. Deciding to carpe diem, I walked over to the Bette Midler theatre and they had tix for the show starting in 10 minutes. How spontaneous of me! Expensive but better spent than left on the tables. One magarita and a quesadilla later at Mesa Grill, I finally called it a day/night. This morning told me I should've skipped the former.
General impressions - only slightly less crowded this year but the exhibits just as overwhelming. Haven't had time to do much exploring but I did pass Motorola where they were showing off their Moto bluetooth earpiece and since there's about a 10 minute window when I actually own something before it's obsolete I couldn't resist. They had some other cool stuff like portable music speakers, interactive TVs and 4G devices but no handouts, pamphlets or literature of any kind. Interesting. Wonder if they're just not here yet or that's a cost saving measure. LG has a really cool "skycharger" powered by the sun and wind outside where you can put your cellphone in a locker and pick it up fully charged. Box lunch in the press room not bad. Vegetable quesadilla, chips, apple, Oreos.
But back to where I started. Went to 3 "super sessions" What Will They Think of Next? Consumer Technology in 2025 first. And, by the way, that's way too long to forecast. All the predictions focused on 3 to 5 years if not sooner. Everyone on the panel agreed on the following -- simplicity, power, bringing the Third World up to speed. Simplicity - think iPod, Wii, Flip. And no tangle of wires. And easy interactivity. Power - people are going to want all functions available on all devices and choose the one they want to use based on what they're doing and where they're going - form as well as function. So even the handhelds will need reliable and long lasting power. Next came Wireless Meets Consumer Electronics: The Fundamental Shift to Mobility - interestingly, the first wireless supersession at a CES. The entire panel agreed that 2008 was the year of wireless and now companies have to deliver the goods and that within 3-5 years all consumer devices will have at least part of their designs be wireless. Wireless was defined as freedom - and here comes that power discussion again - from wires as well as location. And that leads to the other theme I'm hearing - the cloud, which was the subject of my favorite session - CNET's Next Big Thing-Living in the Cloud-Devices, Services & Bandwidth.
Ok, my time is coming to a close. More later. I haven't plugged yet! Follow me on Twitter @boptekman. And sign up for some of our text alerts. Text to 622639 one or more of the following: NN (for Nightly), MTP (Meet The Press), FIRST (First Read), JOE (Morning Joe), HB (Hardball). Or BUZZ to 46833 for entertainment.
Read More >>Building the NBC Universal CES Booth
By Eliot Sakhartov and Marisa Frongillo
It's amazing to see how quickly things come together. I was at CES last year, and saw the NBC Universal booth go from boxes in the middle of a warehouse to a full broadcast media stage in 3 days.
This year, the booth is more than twice the size and with even more attractions (including this fancy new bloggers lounge). There are 104 Sharp TVs, 53 engineers, and $3.8million dollars worth of camera and communications equipment setup and ready to broadcast in HD in the same amount of time.
Want to see what's going on in the booth right now? Check out this live webcam.
Free Giveaways in the NBCU CES Booth
Are you a winner? Come to the NBC Universal booth at CES and you may win a prize in the NBCU at CES Sweepstakes.While supplies last, guests will receive a free NBCU microSD card with sweepstakes entry when they visit Central #12133. Placing the entry on any Microsoft Surface in the booth will reveal whether "we have a winner!" Prizes include "Battlestar Galactica" DVD's, "Monk" Bobbleheads, NBC Olympics polo shirts and more. One lucky winner will receive an original script from "Saturday Night Live" signed by the entire cast.
You can read the official sweepstakes rules here. Entries and supplies are limited, so come to the NBCU booth to find out if you are a winner!
Obsessed @ CES
By Jennifer Kavanagh, Oxygen
Before I tell you the three things I am Obsessed with this year, I must first confess that this is my first, official blog of any kind (so go easy). Have to admit the cushy digs offered up by the blogger lounge have taken the edge off. That and Jon Accarrino's BlackBerry smarts. He helped me get these photos off my phone.
Ok, confession out of the way I'll move on to my Obsessions. I realize I'm biased to a degree as an NBCU employee but seriously, the media lounge this year is unreal. It was amazing last year but this year is bigger and better than ever. After my thorough tour of the Sharp NBC Universal Multimedia Lounge in its entirety, I've selected the 3 things I'm obsessed with. Here we go...
1. How Far We've Come... Oxygen That Is
I've been working for Oxygen for a little over 2 years now. One year pre-NBCU and one year post. It's hard to put into words how cool it is to see shows like Tori & Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood and Bad Girls Club on display with 30 Rock, The Office and House to name a few. There is no doubt that this network has been re-imagined under NBCU and is "Living Out Loud" like never before - go Oxygen, it's your birthday....
2. Lester Holt!
I ran into one of my favorite NBCU personalities while mutually checking out a sexy wall of flat screens reeling content from all the NBCU nets. I couldn't resist, I am a huge fan and who says only women can "Live Out Loud?" Did you know Lester is not only strikingly handsome, totes personable AND a successful anchor and journalist but plays the Bass guitar?! Yep, he and a group of NBCU talent even produced a House soundtrack together (thanks to Bill Hartnett for that factoid).
3. "Gettin' on the Inside"
One of the most amazing features at the NBCU exhibit is the fully functioning set. It's fascinating to see the "inside" of what goes into producing shows like "Closing Bell" with host Maria Bartiromo (who is shooting as I write this). She's defnitely drawn the largest crowd that I've seen so far today and has the most amazing shoes! I'm probably the only one more focused on her wardrobe that how the markets did today. Just being honest.
Anyway, the Sharp NBC Universal Multimedia Lounge, Oxygen's journey, Lester's musical proclivity and Maria's shoes are "Living Out Loud" at CES 2009.
Cheers!
Palm Pre - The Hottest Phone at CES
By Ramona Schindelheim, CNBC
"Wow!!" People who saw the Palm Pre in action couldn't stop saying "Wow". The Pre is the first phone based on Palm's revolutionary webOS mobile platform and is easily one of the most-talked-about new products at CES. webOS allows you to be constantly connected to the web. That means your calendar and contacts travel wherever you do. Your calendar isn't tied to one phone or other device. And it has a keyboard. It is definitely a very cool phone!
Roger MacNamee, co-founder of Elevation Partners and Palm investor, showed CNBC's Maria Bartiromo how it worked before co-anchoring Closing Bell from the NBCU booth.
CES is Sounding Better all the Time
By Liz Savery, Sharp
Anyone who attends CES knows that the major visual here is the TVs. From the moment you walk in to the convention center, you're assaulted with all kinds of TVs, representing all kinds of technologies and projection methods. Small ones, huge ones, thin ones, backlighting, sidelighting - anything you can think of! The experience of watching TV at home just keeps getting better. Another area that's changing is television sound - walking through CES ten years ago meant a barrage of straight-line sounds from TVs on display. Now, though, it's a surround-sound assault as you move from booth to booth. I hardly know where to stop and listen! Even though today is the first day and I don't really have a good grasp of the whole show yet, I've noticed that a number of manufacturers are paying more attention to sound. It's the next logical step, after all - we have amazing picture technology, so pairing that with amazing sound creates a home-theater experience that can't be beat.
Sharp has a great product that really enhances home viewing, without a lot of cost or set-up hassle. The HT-SB300 and HT-SB200 2.1 Channel Sound Bars are lightweight and powerful, and they'll make you look like you're a whole lot smarter about home theater choices than you really may be. I actually have one of these devices in my home, from another manufacturer (now I'm sorry I didn't wait for the Sharp) and I can honestly say that it makes a big difference, whether I'm watching a football game or a movie. They incorporate left and right speakers and a subwoofer in one nifty low-profile package. The Sharp units are also not at all painful to look at, either - they're sleek and shiny and add a nice dash of tasteful high-tech to your living room, no matter what your décor.
There's another logical tie-in with this product. We may all be talking about technology at CES, but the other thing we're all talking about is the economy. Last night, at the CES keynote, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said, "No matter what happens with the economy, our digital lives will only get richer."
And how. For not a whole lot of money at all (about $250) you can bump your TV's sound from fair to fabulous. Better sound just makes for a better experience.
A Very Busy CNBC Afternoon
By Ramona Schindelheim, CNBC
A very busy afternoon for CNBC in the NBCU booth. Lots of noise and excitement when Jerry Yang and Susan Decker of Yahoo stopped by. They just wanted to see what NBCU was up to.
Our media correspondent Julia Boorstin pulled Decker aside and snagged an on-camera interview. Julia then sat down for a live one-on-one interview with Anne Sweeny of Disney. A little later, during the live broadcast of CNBC's Closing Bell, Maria Bartiromo had a parade of big tech names... David Katzenberg, Dreamworks Co-founder; Roger MacNamee, Elevation Partners Co-Founder; Sharp CEO Doug Koshima; and Tony Perkins, Founder of Always On Network and Red Herring.
There was a huge crowd throughout the show, especially when Maria sat down with pro baseball players Joba Chamberlain of the Yankees and David Ortiz of the Red Sox. They had popped over from our neighboring booth, Sharp. Seems like an unlikely pair, but no punches were thrown.
Revision3 Covers CES from NBC Universal's Booth
By Jim Louderback, Revision3
When you count 'em up, Revision3's CES coverage team has something like 59 combined years of CES experience. But this one's going to be the best of all, because we've been invited by NBC Universal to visit their mega-stage, smack dab in the middle of CES's main hall, with our unique blend of entertainment and insight. .
While Al Roker, MSNBC, CNBC, Access Hollywood and all of NBC Universal's properties cover the show and the industry from every angle, we'll continue to bring you our take on the details behind all the new gadgets, gear and gizmos on the show floor. And thanks to our friends at NBC Universal, we'll be bringing you live shows every day, right from the NBC Universal booth (#12133, Central Hall).
That's right, where Al Roker sat, Patrick Norton will sit. Where Maria Bartiromo sat, Veronica Belmont will sit. Is that cool or what?
Seriously, we're excited. Revision3's authentic, independent and insightful look at the gear and gadgets of CES offers a natural complement to NBC Universal. We share the same vision for internet video, and for how important CES is to the world. So from everyone at Revision3, a big thanks to all of NBC Universal for inviting us in, and letting us play with your toys. We promise to put them back when we're done.
Read More >>CNBC and the Global Media Awards
By Steve Fastook, CNBC
Something really cool happening at the CES show this year is the first ever Global Media Awards ceremony. It is tonight. The Global Media Awards was created by NATAS, the National Television Academy, yes the Emmys! CNBC is nominated for a product we launched a little more than a year ago called CNBC HD+. It's a service for investors that uses HD screen space in a new way. Many broadcasters have copied it and we are flattered. Rather than use a wide screen for our studio, we add in-depth financial information, charts, and even a second "Picture in Picture". We used it the other day when the Senate began hearings and discussions on the Madoff scandal. If you want to hear the sound, all you need to do is press SAP on your remote. Here is a sample of the product:
Anyway, the point of the story is that the Academy has created this fantastic new award for non-traditional program providers. I have received a few Emmys before, but I am most excited about this one. We have a very special and talented group of folks at CNBC and this project really brought out the best in them! Our designers, animators and engineers really shone. The team is at home waiting for the envelope. The competition is tough so cross your fingers for us.
I would like to shout out thanks to our team, but also the satellite, cable, and broadband subscribers who had the faith to give us an HD channel. If you think about it, a year ago there weren't too many channels out there, and with all the sports and entertainment content available it was a big leap of faith to give one of those precious spots up to a business news channel.
Thanks for reading, and be sure to watch CNBC HD+!
Cool Things at CES
By Chris Loncto, Sharp
NBCU certainly is doing some cool things at CES. Flat screens everywhere. Looks like they have two working studios right in their booth. It was cool to see Al Roker do the weather on one of our 108" LCD's yesterday. Our CEO is going to be interviewed by Maria Bartiromo live on CNBC a little later this afternoon. I hope she takes it easy on him!
Just met Jim Louderback here. Jim's been a respected tech journalist for as long as I've been in PR. He's got a new venture called Revision3 that's exclusively internet video. Was great to meet him and I'll definitely be checking out the site.
Chris Loncto (Sharp), Jim Louderback and Ron Richards (Revision3)
There's been a lot made of the fact that CES attendance is down this year. I must say, cab lines are shorter, hotels and restaurants seem less crowded, and here at the show, it does seem the crowd is considerably thinner than in recent years.
Still, there's lots to see. I'm excited to check out the new LCD's with LED backlighting technology. I'm also a wireless geek so I'm looking forward to heading over to the booths from the key wireless players like RIMM and Verizon to see their latest technologies. Despite some doubts about its prospects for success, Blu-ray seems to be all over the place.
At Sharp, we're excited to be showing off our Limited Edition XS1 TV. It has gotten rave reviews since we introduced it in September. It uses RGB LED backlight and advanced color filter technology to produce an awesome picture. We've also unveiled a line of AQUOS LCD TV's with an integrated Blu-ray player. Of course, even though we introduced it two years ago (at CES 2007), the 108'LCD still stops people in their tracks.
But it's about more than just LCD TV for us this year. We're taking Blu-ray into new places, like HTiB and offering a total home theater experience. My colleague Liz Savery will write more about that later.
I'll also write back later with more thoughts on what's standing out at the show this year.
The Big Vegas Chill
By Mark Lukasiewicz
Las Vegas - Can you say c-c-c-c-cold?? The Las Vegas Convention Center was a giant icebox this morning as TODAY's Al Roker broadcast live from the NBCU booth and media center. Unseasonably cold weather has had everyone inside Central Hall bundling up in multiple layers while the finishing touches are put on all the exhibits -- and as long as those big loading doors are wide open, the temperature inside is pretty frosty. It's the first time I can remember Al Roker being colder at an inside location than his co-hosts in New York standing outside -- in January, yet!
Our NBCU booth is already seeing plenty of action, with Al's live shots plus segments on CNBC. The whole space looks dramatically different this year compared with 2008 -- a bigger, open-concept design and more than 110 Sharp Aquos screens displaying our full range of content make for a great experience - especially on the giant 108's. I wish I had a room big enough for one of those.
If you are here, be sure to check out the Mediaport download stations (free content and a free SanDisk micro SD chip!) scattered throughout the booth, and take a spin through dozens of clips on any of the four Microsoft Surface units. The Surface units also feature a great little app called "DJ" (thanks to our friends at Vectorform) which allows you to create your own mix of NBC Universal themes, rhythms and sounds. Al had some fun with it this morning:
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
As CES's official broadcast partners, we're in a unique position to report on everything happening at CES and to tell our own story. Our theme -- "entertainment you can touch, content that touches you" -- means that more than ever before, entertainment and information are becoming deeply interactive. It's a two-way street between creators and consumers, enabled by all the technology you see here at CES. And at the NBCU booth (Central #12133), you can see exactly how the best content combines with the latest technology to produce entertainment experiences that no-one even dreamed about a few years ago !!
With less than 24 hours until the doors of CES officially open, our entire team is hard at work on all the usual last-minute adjustments.
Like the stickers we're putting on the full length Plexiglas wall of our "fishbowl" control room.
Apparently goldfish have better eyesight than middle-aged TV producers, as I discovered when I walked into the glass this morning.
We hope to see you at Central #12133
Video Tour of the NBCU CES Booth
By Kelly McEvoy
For a guided video tour around the NBC Universal booth at CES, just look below!
Behind the Scenes at CES with Al Roker
By Kelly McEvoy, NBC Universal
NBC Universal's Melissa Kondak went behind the scenes during a live broadcast of the TODAY SHOW and talked to Al Roker about CES, the NBC Universal booth, and free swag. Check it out.
NBCU at CES 2009 - Jeff Zucker
By Jeff Zucker, NBC Universal
We were thrilled to be at CES last year as the first-ever official broadcast partner of one of the biggest trade shows in the world.
In fact, we were so thrilled that we decided then and there to book our return trip.
So here we are again, eager to highlight our incredible range of content while surrounded by the technology that continues to transform how our audiences view and interact with our programming.
That's what CES is all about: the marriage of content and technology. Without our content, the latest cutting-edge television or hand-held device is, literally, an empty vessel. And without the creativity and innovation of the thousands of technology companies here at CES, our viewers would still be watching grainy pictures in black-and-white.
Our participation is an acknowledgment that today, more than ever, content creators and technology companies need to be true collaborators. Because what we can accomplish together is nothing short of amazing. And CES is the best place in the world to get a glimpse at this remarkable future.
Like last year, the NBC Universal Media Center is an interactive space that will showcase the content and capabilities of our entire company. From there we will originate live and taped programming for many of our broadcast, cable and digital properties, including NBC News, MSNBC, CNBC, "Access Hollywood," NBC Sports and others.
I encourage you to stop by.
Nancy. Nancy. Nancy!
By Jon Accarrino, NBC Universal
If you are one of the thousands of people attending #CES09 in January, the Vegas odds are in your favor for catching a glimpse of Nancy O'Dell.
Not only will O'Dell be in and around town for CES, but she will also be taping segments for Access Hollywood from inside the NBC Universal booth. And if you don't see her in person, just take a look at the nearest news stand. O'Dell is on the cover of the January 2009 issue of Vegas Magazine.
In her Vegas Magazine interview, O'Dell talks about her connection with the city of Lost Wages Las Vegas. Here's an excerpt:
"I love Vegas. I have to go to Vegas a lot for work. We do a lot of interviews with celebrities there, or if they're performing, we cover that. I make sure my hubby comes with me and we do it up, go to a nice dinner, hit a show. That's where some of the perks of Access Hollywood come in because I can get tickets to most of those shows. It makes a great date night."
In addition to Access Hollywood, several other NBC Universal shows will originate segments or entire episodes from our CES booth including: NBC Nightly News, TODAY, CNBC's Closing Bell, CNBC's Power Lunch, and MSNBC's Your Business.
Sharp/NBC Universal Multimedia Lounge
By Jon Accarrino, NBC Universal
The Sharp/NBC Universal Multimedia Lounge is a new addition to NBCU's booth at #CES09. Working together with Sharp, our friends and CES-booth-neighbors at CES, we've created an area filled with high-quality experiences on Sharp AQUOS LCD televisions, in addition to gaming stations and a Blu-ray movie area. The Sharp/NBC Universal Multimedia Lounge will also feature a unique blogger stage, where we will host top bloggers from NBC News, SciFi's "DVice," iVillage and other NBCU properties, as well as gadget, tech, business and entertainment industry bloggers and reporters.
The Sharp lounge is a comfortable and relaxing area that's almost a cross between a café and a TV stage. Bloggers can use their scheduled time in the lounge to not only blog, but recharge their laptops, plug-in to our high-speed Internet access, mingle with other bloggers, conduct an interview or even record some video for a podcast/webcast.
Each blogging station will be equipped with the latest Sharp AQUOS LCD televisions, and if you look carefully at the mockups above, you might notice that the blogger stage is behind our TV studio, at the heart of the NBC Universal booth. NBC Universal TV broadcasts and press events will be happening live in the booth throughout CES.
5 amazing tech toys you'll see at #CES09
By Charlie White, DVICE.com
The Consumer Electronics Show is just a month away, but the pre-show buzz is in full swing. Our parent company NBC Universal will be at CES 2009 with a huge interactive TV exhibit from the show floor that befits the role of "Official Broadcast Partner." You might even catch a glimpse of NBC Nightly News weekend anchor Lester Holt or Al Roker from the Today Show at the NBCU booth in the LVCC (Central Hall, Booth #12133). And of course, DVICE will be there too, bringing you only the best gadgetry to be found.
In advance of the big show we've been sniffing around, trying to get wind of the true groundbreaking items that will be at CES 2009. While details are few, some tidbits have leaked out. Peer along with us into our virtual crystal ball, and catch a glimpse of what we're seeing so far:
1. Samsung 50-inch OLED Display
There's a chance that this super-thin, ultra-sharp Samsung OLED screen screen won't be ready in time for the show, but just knowing that a home theater-sized OLED screen is just about to see the light of day is exciting enough.
2. Netgear Digital Entertainer Elite network media streamer
Netgear has an Apple TV killer it'll show first at CES. When the company put its Digital Entertainer Elite network media streamer into the FCC ringer for approval, word slipped out that the video-playing polyglot will debut at CES 2009.
3. Toshiba and Schwinn's Tailwind Hybrid Bicycle
The more practical $3,200 electric wonder means easy electric biking for the lazy among us is about to hit the mainstream. Its new lithium-ion batteries let you charge it up in a half hour, lots faster than any other electro-bike, and it'll ride 30 miles on a charge -- even farther if you help with the pedaling.
4. Minoru 3D Webcam
Touted as the world's first of its kind, the Minoru 3D Webcam was voted a fan favorite at the pre-CES "i-stage" event for smaller companies that are often overlooked. Just when we were getting used to the idea of HD webcams, this odd-looking scarlet goblin shows up atop our monitors? This we gotta see -- we'll even don those silly 3D glasses to enjoy Minoru's full effect.
5. Bigger, Thinner TVs
Expect Panasonic's 150-inch plasma display record to be broken, some company to roll out a super-high-res screen to beat Samsung's 4,096 x 2,160-pixel Ultra Fine Definition plasma panel, and even thinner LCD screens. For example, LG's LED-backlit 24-millimeter-thin 55-inch HDTV has already won a CES 2009 innovation award -- expect that to be eclipsed by the time CES doors open on January 8th.
See you at CES!
Behind the Scenes of NBCU at #CES09
By Tausha Cowan, NBC Universal
On January 8th, 2009 the International Consumer Electronics Show returns to Las Vegas and NBC Universal's presence will be bigger than ever. For the second year in a row, NBCU will be the official broadcast partner of CES, showcasing a wide variety of content across digital platforms.
CES features more than 2,700 exhibitors showing their latest products and services to more than 130,000 attendees. NBC Universal will broadcast live from CES with a range of broadcast and cable properties, including the Today Show, reports for Nightly News with Brian Williams, Access Hollywood, and CNBC with Maria Bartiromo.
Please see our online schedule for the most up-to-date listing of our booth broadcasts.
NBCU at CES Sweepstakes Rules
PRELIMINARY INFORMATION: No purchase necessary. A purchase will not improve your chances of winning. Void where prohibited. NBCUatCES Sweepstakes ("Sweepstakes") begins on January 8, 2009 at 10:00 A.M. and ends on January 11, 2009 at 3:00 P.M. ("Sweepstakes Period"). All times in the Sweepstakes refer to Pacific Time ("PT'). Odds of winning depend upon the number of eligible entries received. Sweepstakes is subject to all applicable federal, state and local laws.
ELIGIBILITY: Open only to permanent, legal U.S. residents of the fifty (50) United States and DC who are 2009 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) cardholders officially registered to attend, and physically in attendance at CES which is scheduled to be held January 8, 2009 through and including January 11, 2009, and who are 18 years of age or older and the age of majority in their state of residence as of the start of the Sweepstakes Period. Officers, directors, and employees of Sweepstakes Entities (as defined below), members of these persons' immediate families (spouses and/or parents, children, and siblings, and their spouses), and/or persons living in the same households as these persons (whether or not related thereto) are not eligible to enter the Sweepstakes. Sweepstakes Entities, as referenced herein, shall include NBC Universal, Inc., 30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY 10112 ("Sponsor") and its parent, subsidiary, and affiliate companies and administrative, advertising, and promotion agencies and any other entity involved in the development, administration, promotion, or implementation of the Sweepstakes.
ENTRY PERIODS/TO ENTER: The Sweepstakes consists of four (4) entry periods (each an "Entry Period"), the first entry period beginning on January 8 , 2009, at 10:00A.M. PT and ending on the same day at 6:00P.M. PT, the second entry period beginning on January 9, 2009, at 9:00A.M. PT and ending on the same day at 6:00P.M PT, the third entry period beginning on January 10, 2009, at 9:00A.M. PT and ending on the same day at 6:00P.M PT, and the fourth entry period beginning on January 11, 2009, at 9:00A.M PT and ending on the same day at 3:00P.M. PT . To enter, present your CES registration card to an NBCU Brand Ambassador at the NBCU booth during any Entry Period, to receive a free NBCU matchbook and a hole punch on your CES registration card. On the back of the matchbook you will find an OID symbol. Place the OID symbol on the Microsoft Surface in the NBCU booth to discover if you have won a prize. Limit one (1) free NBCU matchbook/OID symbol per person. Only legitimately obtained matchbooks with valid OID symbols will be accepted. You may enter only once during the Sweepstakes Period. Multiple entries any person beyond this limit by any means will void all such additional entries. Entries generated by a script, macro, or other automated means will be disqualified. Entries that are incomplete, garbled, corrupted, or unintelligible for any reason, including, but not limited to, computer or network malfunction or congestion, are void and will not be accepted. In case of a dispute over the identity of an entrant who made a potentially winning entry, Sponsor reserves the right to require proof that entrant is an officially registered holder of the 2009 CES card at the time of entry. Entry constitutes permission (except where prohibited by law) to use entrant's name, city, state, likeness, image, and/or voice for purposes of advertising, promotion, and publicity without additional compensation, permission, notification or approval.
WINNER SELECTION AND NOTIFICATION: When the OID symbol on the back of the NBCU matchbook is placed on the Microsoft Surface in the NBCU booth, the Microsoft Surface will indicate if the CES cardholder is a sweepstakes winner by flashing the word "Winner" on the Microsoft Surface around the NBCU matchbook, subject to the terms and conditions of these Official Rules and winner verification. Sponsor shall determine whether or not the Microsoft Surface has chosen entrant as a winner in its sole discretion. Upon being told that he/she is a winner, the CES cardholder must present the winning NBCU matchbook to an NBCU Brand Ambassador in the NBCU booth. NBCU Brand Ambassador will verify winner by placing the OID symbol on the Microsoft Surface and direct winner to the Brand Ambassador in charge of prize distribution. All prizes will be distributed at CES at the time of winning by the Brand Ambassador in charge of prize distribution. Upon receipt of prize, winner must return the winning NBCU matchbooks to the NBCU Brand Ambassador in charge of prize distribution. Failure to follow these procedures as and when required will result in automatic disqualification of the potential winner and at Sponsor's sole discretion the applicable Prize (as defined below) may be awarded to CES attendees on a first come first served basis at the end of the Sweepstakes Period. If for any reason there are Prizes not awarded at the end of the Sweepstakes Period ("Remaining Prizes"), any such Remaining Prizes will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis at 3:00p.m. Sunday, January 11, 2009, at the NBCU booth by the NBCU Brand Ambassador in charge of Prize Distribution. A line will form at the NBCU booth Welcome desk no earlier than 3:00P.M. for receipt of remaining prizes. Limit one (1) Prize per family or household.
Winner may be required to execute and return an affidavit of eligibility, release of liability, and, except where prohibited, publicity release (collectively, "Sweepstakes Documents") at the request of Sponsor. Noncompliance with this request will result in disqualification.
PRIZES: There will be five hundred and thirty (530) prizes awarded (each a "Prize"), consisting of the following:
Three (3) Today Show Fleece Jackets (Estimated Retail Value ("ERV"): $25.00 each)
Ten (10) Sci-Fi Cylon T-Shirts (ERV $22.00 each)
Fifty (50) NBC Olympics Polo Shirts (ERV $30.00 each)
Ten (10) Telemundo T-Shirts (ERV $15.00 each)
Ten (10) Nightly News Overnight Bags (ERV $100.00each )
Twenty (20) Telemundo Sling Bags (ERV $10.00 each)
Twenty (20) Telemundo Beach Towels (ERV $10.00 each)
Twelve (12) Battlestar Galactica DVD Box Sets (ERV $40.00 each)
Three (3) Battlestar Galactica Razor Extended DVD's (ERV $11.00 each)
Two hundred and one (201) SNL DVD's (ERV $14.00 each)
Forty (40) CNBC DVD's (ERV $30.00 each)
Fifty (50) Triumph The Insult Comic Dog Key chains (ERV $8.00 each)
Three (3) Battlestar Galactica Collectible Toasters (ERV $65.00 each)
Fifteen (15) Battlestar Galactica Collectible Model Ships (ERV $10.00 each)
Forty (40) Monk Bobbleheads (ERV $25.00 each)
One (1) Autographed SNL Script (ERV $100.00 each)
One (1) Autographed Nightly News with Brian Williams Hat (ERV $25.00 each)
Three (3) Today Show portable iPod speakers (ERV $15.00 each)
Two (2) NBC musical chimes xylophone (ERV $28.00 each)
Six (6) Today Show Mugs (ERV $12.00 each)
Thirty (30) MP4 Players (ERV $300.00 each)
Prize give away is predetermined by OID symbol submitted by winner, as designated by Sponsor in its sole discretion. ERV of all Prizes is eighteen thousand nine hundred and fifteen dollars ($18,915.00). Specifics of Prizes will be determined by Sponsor in its sole discretion. Sponsor reserves the right to substitute a similar Prize (or Prize element) of comparable or greater value. All taxes and other expenses, costs, or fees associated with the acceptance and/or use of Prize are the sole responsibility of winner. Prize cannot be transferred by winner or redeemed for cash and is valid only for the items detailed above, with no substitution of Prize by winner. If Prize is unclaimed, it will be forfeited, and an alternate winner may be selected from the remaining eligible entrants. Each Prize will be awarded "as is" with no warranty or guarantee, either express or implied by Sponsors.
CONDITIONS: No more than the actual number of Prizes set forth in these Official Rules will be awarded. In the event that, due to seeding, technical, computer, or other errors, more valid winning OID symbols are received and verified by the NBCU Brand Ambassador for a particular prize than offered in these Official rules, Sponsor reserves the right to conduct a random drawing from among all valid, eligible, non-suspect claims for the prize at issue to award the correct number of prizes. By entering the Sweepstakes, each entrant agrees for entrant and for entrant's heirs, executors, and administrators (a) to release and hold harmless Sweepstakes Entities and their respective officers, directors, and employees (collectively, "Released Parties") from any liability, illness, injury, death, loss, litigation, or damage that may occur, directly or indirectly, whether caused by negligence or not, from such entrant's participation in the Sweepstakes and/or his/her acceptance, possession, use, or misuse of Prize or any portion thereof; (b) to indemnify Released Parties from any and all liability resulting or arising from the Sweepstakes and to hereby acknowledge that Released Parties have neither made nor are in any manner responsible or liable for any warranty, representation, or guarantee, express or implied, in fact or in law, relative to Prize, including express warranties provided exclusively by Prize supplier that are sent along with Prize; (c) if selected as a winner, to the posting of such entrant's name on www.NBCUatCES.com and the use by Released Parties of such name, and entrant's voice, image, and/or likeness for publicity, promotional, and advertising purposes in any and all media now or hereafter known throughout the world in perpetuity without additional compensation, permission, notification or approval, and, upon request, to the giving of consent, in writing, to such use; and (d) to be bound by these Official Rules and to waive any right to claim any ambiguity or error therein or in the Sweepstakes itself, and to be bound by all decisions of the Sponsor, which are binding and final. Failure to comply with these conditions may result in disqualification from the Sweepstakes at Sponsor's sole discretion.
ADDITIONAL TERMS: Sponsor reserves the right to permanently disqualify from any promotion any person Sponsor believes has intentionally violated these Official Rules. Any attempt to deliberately damage the Sweepstakes or the operation thereof is unlawful and subject to legal action by Sponsor, who may seek damages to the fullest extent permitted by law. The failure of Sponsor to comply with any provision of these Official Rules due to an act of God, hurricane, war, fire, riot, earthquake, terrorism, act of public enemies, actions of governmental authorities outside of the control of Sponsor (excepting compliance with applicable codes and regulations), or other "force majeure" event will not be considered a breach of these Official Rules. Released Parties assume no responsibility for any injury or damage to entrants' or to any other person's property relating to or resulting from participating in the Sweepstakes. Released Parties are not responsible for telecommunications, network, electronic, technical, or computer failures of any kind; for inaccurate transcription of entry information or OID symbol; for errors in any promotional or marketing materials or in these Official Rules; for any human or electronic error; or for matchbooks that are stolen, lost, or damaged. Sponsor reserves the right to cancel, modify, or suspend the Sweepstakes or any element thereof (including, without limitation, these Official Rules) without notice in any manner and for any reason (including, without limitation, in the event of any unanticipated occurrence that is not fully addressed in these Official Rules). In the event of cancellation, modification, or suspension, Sponsor reserves the right to distribute the available Prizes on a first come first served basis as described above. Notice of such cancellation, modification, or suspension will be posted at the NBCU booth at CES. Sponsor may prohibit any entrant or potential entrant from participating in the Sweepstakes, if such entrant or potential entrant shows a disregard for these Official Rules; acts with an intent to annoy, abuse, threaten, or harass any other entrant, Sponsor, or Sponsor's agents or representatives; or behaves in any other disruptive manner (as determined by Sponsor in its sole discretion).
DISPUTES: THE SWEEPTAKES IS GOVERNED BY, AND WILL BE CONSTRUED IN ACCORDANCE WITH, THE LAWS OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, AND THE FORUM AND VENUE FOR ANY DISPUTE SHALL BE IN NEW YORK, NEW YORK. IF THE CONTROVERSY OR CLAIM IS NOT OTHERWISE RESOLVED THROUGH DIRECT DISCUSSIONS OR MEDIATION, IT SHALL THEN BE RESOLVED BY FINAL AND BINDING ARBITRATION ADMINISTERED BY JUDICIAL ARBITRATION AND MEDIATION SERVICES, INC. ("JAMS'), IN ACCORDANCE WITH ITS STREAMLINED ARBITRATION RULES AND PROCEDURES OR SUBSEQUENT VERSIONS THEREOF ("JAMS RULES"). THE JAMS RULES FOR SELECTION OF AN ARBITRATOR SHALL BE FOLLOWED, EXCEPT THAT THE ARBITRATOR SHALL BE LICENSED TO PRACTICE LAW IN NEW YORK. ALL PROCEEDINGS BROUGHT PURSUANT TO THIS PARAGRAPH WILL BE CONDUCTED IN THE COUNTY OF NEW YORK. THE REMEDY FOR ANY CLAIM SHALL BE LIMITED TO ACTUAL DAMAGES, AND IN NO EVENT SHALL ANY PARTY BE ENTITLED TO RECOVER PUNITIVE, EXEMPLARY, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, INCLUDING ATTORNEY'S FEES OR OTHER SUCH RELATED COSTS OF BRINGING A CLAIM, OR TO RESCIND THIS AGREEMENT OR SEEK INJUNCTIVE OR ANY OTHER EQUITABLE RELIEF.
WINNER ANNOUNCEMENT: For the names of the winners, available after January 26, 2009, visit www.NBCUatCES.com.
