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Microsoft dropping CES – part of Steve Jobs’ legacy?

December 22, 2011 / Jeff Morgan

Earlier this morning, Microsoft made waves by announcing that it would be pulling out of the Consumer Electronics Show. The announcement was made by Frank Shaw, Microsoft’s head of communications, on the company blog. CEA, the organization that runs CES, claims the opposite, that they chose to give Microsoft the boot. In any case, this is a pretty serious blow to the trade show, and it points to the growing sentiment that trade shows have lost their relevance. As I’m sure some of you remember, Apple did essentially the same thing when it backed out of MacWorld in 2008.

Really, it doesn’t much matter who dropped whom; the end result is the same. CES just took a huge hit, and it’s a hit the CEA should have seen coming. For my part, I’m willing to bet Microsoft backed out. As the company stated, their product releases haven’t lined up with CES keynotes, which is certainly true. There was this other company that held its own keynotes for major product releases, where it would show off finalized versions of products that were ready to ship the same day. You know, that company with the second largest market cap in the world. I’m sure you know who I’m talking about.

Also, as the CEA, why kick Microsoft off the keynote? Who will take their place? Remember, this is the CES. This isn’t a developer’s conference. There won’t be major web properties making keynotes for CES. So who fills Microsoft’s space? More importantly, who forks over the cash to do so knowing the CEA may give them the boot next year? No one. That’s who.

If anything, Microsoft is trying to take control of its hype cycle, in exactly the same way Steve Jobs took control of Apple’s. There is one key difference – the products. Microsoft hasn’t gotten into the hardware game, which makes a product keynote much duller than the Apple counterpart. So much of Apple’s product launch success is tied into showing off a complete product. Microsoft can’t do that, at least not without the help of manufacturers, and manufacturer issues remain a huge source of complaint against Microsoft products. Still, I think moving to Microsoft-sponsored events gives the company a chance to more closely connect with its own fanbase, which Microsoft could really use.

The idea that the CEA would kick Microsoft just makes no sense. Trade shows have been losing traction for years. The last thing the CES needs is a disappearing act from one of the biggest draws for the show.

Gadgets

Apple apple keynote ces CES drops microsoft ces keynote microsoft microsoft drops CES Steve Jobs trade shows

The Light from the TV Shows: 11 Series (give or take) That Should’ve Survived 2011

December 21, 2011 / Will Harris

As 2011 rapidly winds to a close, it’s easy to fall back on lists as a way to fill columns – indeed, as a TV critic, it’s my God-given right – but HBO’s announcement this week that it was cleaning house and cancelling “Hung,” “Bored to Death,” and “How to Make It in America” served to convince me that I needed to discuss a number of now-defunct series that lost their bid for continued existence during the course of this year. I’m not talking about shows like “Friday Night Lights,” which had an end-game in sight and wrapped on their own terms. I’m talking about series that effectively had the rug ripped out from under their feet. Believe me, there were a bunch…and I’m still kind of pissed about quite a few of them.

11. Medium (CBS)

After seven seasons on the air and surviving a switch between networks (from NBC to CBS), it’s hard to say that “Medium” didn’t live a good, long life. With that said, however, the show had continued to find new ways to keep things interesting, and with the trio of DuBois daughters growing up and getting their own storylines almost as often as their mom. As such, Allison, Joe, and the gang could’ve easily kept going for another few seasons without any complaints from me.

10. Outsourced (NBC)

Am I going to try to defend my enjoyment of this show? No, I am not, because there’s no point in wasting your time or mine. You may not have thought it was very funny, and if you didn’t, that would be your right. I, however, did. And I still miss it.

9. Law & Order: Los Angeles (NBC)

There’s nothing I dislike more than a series that doesn’t know when to leave good enough alone, and for my part, I don’t know why they felt the need to change the formula and kick Skeet Ulrich‘s character to the curb. Sorry, did I say “curb”? I meant “grave,” of course. Not that there’s anything wrong with giving an actor of Alfred Molina’s caliber a more substantial role, but to do so in midseason can’t have pleased the existing viewership very much. Truth be told, I’d rather they’d just kept the original “Law & Order” around, but in its absence, this was a nice substitute, and it sucks that it never had a chance to really spread its wings.

8. The Event (NBC) / V (ABC)

When it comes to casualties in the alien-invasion field, I can accept the cancellation of “V” a bit more than that of “The Event,” if only because it was a minor surprise that it made it to a second season in the first place. And if I’m to be honest, I’m not really surprised that NBC couldn’t be bothered to give “The Event” a shot at a sophomore year, since they probably figured it’d only let them down the way “Heroes” did. But whereas “Heroes” really dropped the ball in its second year, I felt like “The Event” had a better chance of upping the ante. Guess I’ll never know for sure.

Entertainment, News, Television

2 Broke Girls ABC ABC Family Alfred Molina Andre Braugher Beth Behrs Bill Irwin Blue Bloods Bored to Death Buffy the Vampire Slayer CBS Detroit 1-8-7 Fox Friday Night Lights FX HBO Heroes Holt McCallany How to Make It in America Hung James McDaniel Jason Biggs Judy Greer Kat Dennings Law & Order: Los Angeles Lennie James Lights Out Mad Love Medium Men of a Certain Age Michael Imperioli NBC Norm MacDonald Outsourced Ray Romano Sarah Chalke Scott Bakula Skeet Ulrich Sports Night with Norm MacDonald Stacey Keach The Chicago Code The Event The Nine Lives of Chloe King TNT Traffic Light Tyler Labine V

DVD Review: The Love We Make

December 21, 2011 / Will Harris

Although described on its cover as “a chronicle of Paul McCartney’s cathartic journey through New York City in the aftermath of 9/11,” one doesn’t necessarily see a great deal of catharsis going on in “The Love We Make,” which originally aired on Showtime earlier this year. Granted, it’s easily arguable that the effects are internal, but the truth of the matter is that the majority of what we see can best be classified in two ways: the bits where McCartney hangs out with famous people, and the bits where average Americans are beside themselves about the fact that they’ve just had a close encounter with an actual, honest to God Beatle.

There’s nothing intrinsically wrong with either of these things: it’s kind of amusing to see someone walking down the street and suddenly realize that they’re looking at Paul McCartney, and, truth be told, it’s also entertaining to be a fly on the wall when celebrities are in conversation with each other, particularly if – as is the case here – they slip into a casual familiarity that’s rarely on display when they’re being interviewed. But the film’s co-director, Albert Maysles, suggests that McCartney’s intent with “The Love You Make” was to use music to bring relief to those who were impacted by the 9/11 attacks and honor those who lost their lives in their efforts to save lives, and while that’s fair enough, the end result would be a lot more entertaining if it wasn’t presented in such a pretentious fashion. I mean, a photo of the State of Liberty on the cover? Really, Paul…? No one’s trying to suggest that you didn’t have good intentions by sticking around NYC in the wake of the attacks and trying to raise people’s spirits, but c’mon…

Although “The Love We Make” isn’t nearly as profound as its presentation tries to make you think it is, McCartney fans will still enjoy the film if they take it simply as – Beatles reference utterly intentional – a day in the life of their hero. We see him practice with his band and watch him do a few interviews, including an appearance on Howard Stern’s show. (Pre-interview, he encounters fellow Stern guest Ozzy Osbourne for what is, amazingly enough, the first meeting between the two rock icons; post-interview, McCartney seems shocked that Stern asked him if he’d ever had sex with a black woman, confirming conclusively that, although he may have been aware of Stern, he clearly hadn’t listened to him very much.) Later, we see Sir Paul dismiss a passerby who tries to get plane fare out of him and watch him get annoyed by autograph seekers who refuse to stop following his limo. There’s also a great moment when McCartney is clearly in no way as excited to hear about the Beatles cover band The Fab Faux as one of its members, Will Lee, is to tell him about it.

Is “The Love We Make” worth seeing? It is if you’re a fan of Paul McCartney. Even then, though, keep your expectations realistic. Just because the man has good intentions doesn’t mean that the end result is always going to be a career highlight…and if you don’t believe me, you need only listen to his song “Freedom,” which he offers up as the grand finale of his performance at the Concert for New York. God bless him for trying to raise everyone’s spirits, but the song’s pretty terrible.

Don’t worry, though: “The Love We Make” is better. At least a bit, anyway.

Entertainment, Movies, Music, News, Television

Albert Maysles Dan Rather Howard Stern Ozzy Osbourne Paul McCartney Showtime The Beatles The Fab Faux The Love We Make Will Lee

Munitio Billets 9mm Headphones: Press play, listen to the world disappear

December 21, 2011 / David Medsker

It’s as if they invited the dark, brooding 19-year-old versions of ourselves into the pitch room.

“So, we’re launching a new line of high-end earbuds. What should the design look like?”
“Like we have bullets in our head, ’cause death is cool.” (*puts on old, clunky headphones with broken foam covers, resumes listening to the Smiths’ Hatful of Hollow*)

The truth is, we would have loved Minutio’s Billets 9mm earphones regardless of how they sounded, because that bullet casing design is so damn cool. As it stands, these things are like listening to music in space. The noise cancellation, for starters, is uncanny. We didn’t hear the doorbell or the phone while listening to music – quietly, we might add – and each is only 15 feet away. The fullness of the sound is unlike any pair of earbuds we’ve ever tried, though to be honest nearly every pair of earbuds we’ve tried before these sounded like styrofoam. The entire package comes equipped with replacement buds as well, and in three different sizes in the event that the default size isn’t a perfect fit for your ears. There is a hard black vinyl case to store the earbuds when not in use, and they even included optional earhooks should you require them. Best of all, there is a built-in microphone, making these ideal for cell phones, web conferencing, and they are certainly killer for online gaming. (They have a sponsorship tie-in with Call of Duty, but these earphones are not made for console gaming.)

One thing to consider with these headphones is that the noise cancellation is really, really good, as in you might not hear the car horn, or the whistle, or whatever noise that would otherwise warn you that you’re about to get hit by a bus. In other words, wearing these while biking or rollerblading could be risky, and we’d definitely only use one bud when taking phone calls while behind the wheel (assuming that’s legal where you live, of course). If you have an audiophile in your life with a warped sense of humor (don’t they all?), these Billets 9mm headphones will speak to both their grown-up selves and the inner teen that still lurks beneath the surface.

Gear, Music, Stuff to Buy

Billets Munitio

Number One Crush: Cheap Girls

December 19, 2011 / David Medsker

Click here to listen to Cheap Girls on Spotify

Welcome to a new column at the Bullz-Eye Blog, where we write mash notes to a singer or band that gets us excited about music, which we admit is increasingly hard to do in this age of Auto-bots (see what we did there?), famewhores, and teen-driven dreck. Our first love letter goes to three guys from Lansing who clearly love the pop as much as the rock, and remember when both used to live together in sweet, sweet harmony.

Yes, they look like the Geek Squad staff at the nearest Best Buy, don’t judge this book by its cover – these guys bring it, dude.

The band drops their third album Giant Orange February 21. They recruited Against Me! frontman Tom Gabel to produce, and if the first single “Ruby” is any indication, Cheap Girls are primed to become the next Sugar, deftly blending the crunching guitars with the unaffected, straightforward vocal. More bands like this, please.

Ruby by CheapGirls

Music

Cheap Girls Giant Orange Lansing Ruby Sugar