Monthly Archives: November 2013

Experience a Brain Orgasm

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The topic of experiencing a brain orgasm has been all over the Internet again. An online community has blossomed around a phenomenon called Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response where a subset of people experience a euphoric feeling in their brains that science has yet to explain.

Even several trade tech sites have covered it recently, so I thought I would share the information. After all, folks over 50 need all the help they can get. Okay, at least a few of us do.

Seriously, ASMR is something I may have felt for years but didn’t know how to explain. It all started when I was a pre-teen. I would be playing “beauty parlor” with friends. One of my pals would be brushing my hair when all of a sudden I would start to feel faint. Then I got an overwhelming sensation like I was losing my equilibrium. This same feeling would happen to me over the years, most recently when I was getting a massage the same time I was receiving a manicure. I had to ask the masseuse to stop because I didn’t want to pass out.

I could be confusing my own feelings with ASMR, but having never found any other explanation for what I felt, I’ve decided I must have experienced ASMR. Be sure to watch the video because some people believe ASMR is good for headaches, insomnia, and panic attacks.

Special Invitation for Art Basel

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I want to invite all DigiDame readers to a very special event during Art Basel at 110 Washington Avenue, CU-3, Miami Beach, Florida, on Saturday night, Dec. 7th, 6pm to 9pm. The exhibit will be open from Dec. 3rd to the 29th.

Our good friends, Gail Williams and Dawn McCall, of the Williams McCall Gallery South of Fifth, along with Gary Marotta Fine Art G-1 Gallery of Provincetown, are presenting the extraordinary late paintings and drawings of New York City artist Manuel Pardo (1952-2012).

Pardo became well known when Marcia Tucker, founder and director of the New Museum in NY, included his work for the groundbreaking exhibition in the 80s, The Other Man: Alternative Representation of Masculinity. Pardo went on to exhibit internationally in solo exhibitions in New York, Paris, Mexico City, Cologne, Havana, and Milan. Corporate commissions and events include The Motherland Series; Murals by Manuel Pardo at the British Airways terminal and JFK International Airport; and Hérmes & Visa for Masaryk: Arte Moda & Visa, curated by Justo Sierra, in México City, México.

Pardo was born on July 4th in Cardenas, Cuba. He died in November 2012 after a short illness while enjoying the success of his show entitled Stardust at California State University Fullerton. The artist’s obituary, written by David Frankel, Senior Editor, Publications Department, Museum Of Modern Art, New York appeared in The Huffington Post on May 16, 2013.

Pardo’s work tells his life story of a ten year old boy emigrating, against his will, to the United States from Cuba on Operaciòn Pedro Pan. In his best known series, Mother And I, the artist pays homage to his mother. Pardo depicts his mother Gladys adorned in couture clothing in lavish surroundings with elaborate patterns, colors, and details often referencing popular culture in the context of the work. Other works like Motherland represent a boy’s last memory of Cuba with a lone palm tree standing in front of a highly stylized mountain range.

Collectors and supporters include Sondra Gilman and Celso Gonzalez-Falla, Henry Luce III, Joan Sonnabend, Mike McGee, and Andrea Harris.

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Caught in Automation Hell

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There are days when I don’t think I will ever talk to a real person again. I go from automated voice to automated voice. I often think, “If I could only talk to a real person, I could get this done so much faster.” Dream on, Lois.

Then today I learned there are ways to reach a live person when you are caught in automation hell. You just have to be willing to play games.

Here are some tips.

1) Hit zero. Some older phone systems will transfer you automatically to an operator. If zero doesn’t work, try the # symbol.

2) Speak softly. This is a surprise. Some phone systems are programmed to connect you to a person if the computer program does not understand you. The same thing will happen if you speak gibberish.

3) Select “Cancel Service.” Operators are instructed to instantly jump on the phone.

4) Say “Get human.” Then just patiently wait.

5) Don’t push any buttons or say anything. Operators may sense the caller is calling from a rotary phone.

6) Curse. My favorite technique! Telephone systems are programmed to detect angry cursing, which often puts you next in line.

Do you have any tips or experiences you can share?

Don’t Miss Google’s Holiday Popup Stores

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Google is finally showing up at retail, even if it is just holiday popup stores. It will be fun to see a little competition for Apple.

The only problem is that “little” is the operative word. Google is only planning a few stores and not one of them is in Miami where I will be spending the holidays. Now I know what it feels like to live in a so-called “Second City.”

Google has earmarked New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Sacramento, Washington, D.C., and Paramus, NJ. Paramus? What was Google thinking? One of the founders must have been born there or is currently dating someone from there.

In any case, Google stores are going to be a big attraction. Called “Winter Wonderlabs,” the stores look like huge snow globes, snow included. Potential customers step inside with their friends and create slow-mo videos to keep and share.

The holiday stores will showcase the Nexus 7, Chromecast, had the latest Chromebooks. Google wanted to feature Google Glasses as a major marvel, but the company decided they wanted to focus on the other products. The popup stores are designed to be adult playgrounds because of all of the interactive demos. If you go, let me know what the experience was like.

Update on Digital Magazines

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Next Issue has become the Netflix of the magazine business. For $14.99 a month, a subscriber can access about 112 digital magazine titles. That means instead of carrying around 15 pounds of magazines that are next on my to-read list, I have them all neatly organized in my Next Issue app on my iPad.

Quite frankly, I am not sure why anyone buys print anymore. Eventually, no one will. Next Issue includes titles from Conde Nast, Hearst, Meredith, and Time Inc. The company is hoping to have 75,000 to 100,000 subscribers over the next few months. Next Issue’s biggest challenge is the same one most apps have. There are 900.000 apps in the Apple store. Too much competition, too much noise.

For that reason, Next Issue is launching a TV campaign in order to rise above the crowd. Two 30-second spots, one geared toward women and the other aimed at men, are running on Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, Lifetime, Bravo, Food Network, and AMC.

The big revelation from Next Issue this week is that it plans to start letting users search magazines for specific topics and to introduce a recommendation engine based on a subscriber’s interests.

That’s something you can’t do in print.

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Vanity Fair on Audio

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My doctor friend Howard Stark said that I have a condition that is known as hypomania. It means that I see everything large. If we both like the same restaurant or movie, I personally view and experience it in a much more exaggerated state. I get emotionally enthusiastic and will relay my feelings to everyone who will listen. He shared this information with me a few years ago. I just want to ask everyone if they are feeling the same thing I do when something good happens.

Today is one of those days I am euphoric because I learned that for the first time I can hear one of my favorite magazines on audio. That means that when my eyes are tired from all the work I do during the day, I can just sit back and listen to editor-in-chief Graydon Carter and all the contributors to Vanity Fair read their editorials and stories into my ready-to-be-entertained ear drums. I am flipping out. I can’t believe that this is happening. I have dreamt about this for so long. I feel like the folks at Vanity Fair heard my plea for this over the years.

I am not going to give up my printed subscriptions, but I do want the option of just listening when I am pooped. By the way, I like to be one of the first to read Vanity Fair among my friends. I just love when someone mentions a story to me and I quickly answer, “read it.” Reading Vanity Fair first is like being a member of the “in” crowd without the social BS effort.

You can buy the audio version of Vanity Fair on Amazon, Audible, or anywhere audio books are sold. Then it is just one click away to download the magazine. I just did it. The first audio issue is free, but if you don’t like the experience, be sure to cancel, otherwise you will be billed handsomely every month. It is starting out at $14.95 each edition, but I believe that price will go down as the audio subscriptions go up.

Tonight I plan to plop down on the couch, cross my legs, put on my headphones, and listen away. Because I am hypomanic, I will be knitting away on my second project of the season. My eyes are not too tired for that.

Real Estate Voyeurism

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My mother used to tell me stories about how she used to look into rich people’s apartments in New York City by riding the elevated train to and from work. She said she loved imagining what it was like to live there and who the people were that led those lives.

Obviously my mother came from very modest means, as did her friends and other family members. The likelihood of her visiting someone who lived a lavish lifestyle was highly unlikely, so being a peeping Tom was very entertaining.

I wish I could tell my mother about the new real estate app that lets you become a house snoop. HomeSnap allows you to explore information about any home nationwide just by taking a photo of it. HomeSnap can tell you everything about a home, including how many square feet it has, the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, and the estimated price. The app will also tell you if the house is on the market or not.

The whole experience sounds magical, but it’s not. The app utilizes sensors to determine location and orientation as well as MLS (multiple listing service) and public records data. The company currently has MLS data for 13 of the largest metro areas across the U.S. (NY, DC, LA, Chicago, Boston). More markets are being added throughout the year.

Go have a good snoop.

Get Rid of the Sex Toys Before You Can’t Remember Where You Put Them

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John Shalam, Founder, Voxx and Gary Shapiro, CEO of CES

I went to a CES event tonight at the Metropolitan Pavilion on 18th Street. This is a preview event for the annual CES held every January in Vegas. It was good to see that writers in their 50s and 60s were still very much in attendance. Most have been in the consumer electronics business for three decades. Over the years, many of these folks have accumulated lots of gadgets because they had to bench test them or write features on them.

One of the topics a few of us talked about tonight was what we were going to do with all the devices. Some had closets and bathtubs filled with them. Being the age we are, many claimed they wanted to dispose of their inventories so they could downsize. One guy who recently moved to Arizona from New Jersey said, “One of the toughest things about my move was getting rid of all the samples I’ve kept over the years.” Most of the products were out-of-date, but he couldn’t bear to part with them. He finally boxed them up and dropped them off at a nearby church. To this day he feels like he abandoned his children.

When I got home tonight, I read a story in the Boomers section of The New York Times about a similar topic: getting rid of sex paraphernalia before your children find these embarrassing items when you are no longer around.

I am going to let you read this study on your own. Be sure to catch the part about human sense of embarrassment after death. Ouch!

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Marc Finer

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Jason Henriques with Steve Greenberg and Adam Sohmer.

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Murray Slovak and Ken Sander

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Peter Lesser .

The Sounds of Silence

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Thank you Howard Margolis for telling me about the Sono noise cancellation device. Keep the ideas coming.

Our coop is probably on the busiest street in Manhattan. I’m sure I have mentioned this before. When friends sleep over for the first time in our spare bedroom, they always remark the next morning that something terrible must have happened during the night because they heard sirens, horns, people screaming, and crashing sounds. No, those are routine city sounds.

Strange as it may seem, those city sounds are music to my ears. I love being isolated in my apartment yet knowing the world outside us is bustling. Obviously, this so-called noise pollution is not for everyone.

For people who like their peace and quiet in the city, an Austrian industrial designer, Rudolf Stefanich, has a solution that you might be willing to pay a lot of money for. The Sono is a noise cancellation device, due to launch early next year, that filters out all disruptive outside sounds. The unit sticks on the window and is a miracle worker. Please watch the video to see this unit in action. Also note that the device features sounds like birds chirping instead of the sounds of silence.

Enjoy the peace and quiet.

Burn Your Bra for a Better Fit

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I was shocked the first time I heard the owner of Linda’s Bra Salon on the Upper East Side of Manhattan announce that most women wear the wrong bra size. How can that be? Easy! Women usually buy their bras in department stores or other chains without the assistance of an expert measuring them.

For years. I counted on Linda and her team to measure me. She became so popular that you had to make an appointment a week or so in advance to buy a bra. Once you get to the store, it usually takes an hour or so to get through the buying process because of constant interruptions from other clients.

I gave up on that two years ago when Victoria’s Secret started to offer many more styles in my size. The sales women there help me, but I have no idea if they have the expertise of Linda.

My concerns in this area are finally over. There’s an app now that calculates a woman’s bra size by providing just two tank-top iPhone selfies. I know, I know, the last thing you want to do is take a sexy picture of yourself and send it to some unknown person on the Internet.

Apparently, lots of women are taking the chance because the ThirdLove app was created by Dave Spector, a former partner at Sequoia Capital, and his wife, Heidi Zak. They’ve raised $5.6 million from investors, so everyone feels it is totally safe.

The ThirdLove app features a video tutorial to help you take the photo of yourself. The iPhone is capable of accurately measuring in 3-D using a 2-D image. Get ready for this business to “bust” out. There’s lots of competition coming from True & Co. and Brayola.