Monthly Archives: February 2017

From Beyond The Grave  

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David Pogue of Yahoo Tech recently promised, in a series of social media posts, that he would show us how the dead can become alive again.  Watch the video from CBS’s This Morning last Sunday to see how computers can recreate a dead person.

Pogue interviewed Paul Debevec of the Institute for Creative Technologies, at the University of Southern California, who invented the Light Stage, a machine that he says “produces a series of high-resolution photos from different angles to reconstruct a 3-D model of a dead subject’s face.”

Pogue explains that “once someone has been scanned into the Light Stage, engineers can digitally recreate him or her with about 50 different facial expressions.”

This new technology may not allow dead people to stay dead. Now that’s a scary thought. People you know from the past can now show up in your future. Pogue explains in the video. Don’t miss it.

Your Own Personal Scanner 

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Every once in a while, a friend or neighbor, asks to use my scanner. For those of you who don’t know what a scanner is, here is an easy explanation.

Wikipedia says, “A scanner is a device that analyzes the surface of an image, printed text or an object and converts it into a two-dimensional digital image. Scanners come in different shapes and sizes depending on the intended use. The most common scanner for home and offices today is the flatbed scanner.”

I don’t mind them using my scanner when they have to email a digital file to someone.  What bothers me, is that I have to get dressed,  and/or straighten up, before they enter my apartment. I don’t want them to see how messy I can be.

Those days may be gone forever once the Pup becomes available. It’s currently on Indiegogo, a crowd-funding site. It should be ready for retail in a few weeks. It’s a tiny hand-held scanner that is capable of accomplishing all kinds of jobs. I can let neighbors take the Pup home with them, scan all they want, and then return it to me.

For $169, I get to keep my privacy. 

Read about all the features below and watch the video for a fun explanation. 

Foggy Photos 

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It doesn’t happen too often, but there are days in Miami that we wake up to complete fog. I mean compete fog. We see nothing. I’m used to it now, but at first it was very eerie. 

The fog usually burns off by 9am. You start to see the tops of buildings and the outlines of ships and boats. Eliot captured the sights, so I decided to share them with you. 

Coincidentally, New York City experienced fog yesterday morning too. Our daughter Whitney posted an aerial view of the fog from her apartment as well. I included it because it is quite beautiful.

The west side of Manhattan. Photo by: Whitney Hess

Miami sunset a few days ago. Photo by: Eliot Hess.

Drones U

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I don’t think many DigiDame readers own their own drones, yet. I do believe that there is a strong possibility, that if we live long enough, we all will own one. 

There is one young gal, Abby Speicher, CEO of DARTdrones, that wants to prepare all of us to be expert pilots. She appeared on Shark Tank last night looking for funding for her drone training and consulting business. 

Speicher wants to make sure “that Unmanned Aerial Systems are safely integrated into the national airspace.” Mark Cuban became her investor. The company is located in Scranton, PA. offering training courses throughout the United States. Speicher is a serial entrepreneur who founded her first company at 17.


I was so happy to hear about this new venture because too many untrained people are flying drones. I’m not trying to encourage the use of UAS but I would like to see more people who know what they are doing at the controls. 

In the meantime, duck.

An Internet Radio Star Is Born 

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Less then two years ago, Katerina Cozias, a former client who became a good friend, announced to Eliot and I that she was leaving Miami to move to Los Angeles in order to pursue a career as a talk show host. Today, she has one of the hottest radio shows on the Internet called LA40. 

We met with Kati last Thanksgiving at the Mondrian in LA to discuss her career strategy.

Kati started her radio show last November.

Kati reinvented herself at 38 and there is no turning back.


We can’t believe the progress Kati has made in such a short period of time. One of the main reasons is that she lives the life she preaches on her show. Unlike many folks, Kati is not afraid of change. 

She believes that you are the happiest when you are challenging yourself. It doesn’t matter how old you are. It’s never too late. 

Kati recently interviewed three actors on why they never give up.

Click here to watch this episode of LA40.

Kati has become so popular that TV talk shows are asking her to make live appearances to share her knowledge on life changes.


To watch Kati’s appearance on a San Diego TV show click here. 

The Apple Is Ripe 

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I wanted you to know about two big tech stories this week. 

It definitely looks like a spaceship has landed in Cupertino, CA. After many years of being under construction, Apple’s new headquarters is opening in April on 175-acres. Twelve thousand employees will eventually work there. CNET has the whole story. Click here. 
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UPS Tests Drone Deliveries 

Many of us, over the years, have questioned the use of dones to deliver our packages from various retail sources. While it still may seem implausible, you have to watch this video which shows how UPS tested a residential delivery service this week on a farm just outside of Tampa, Florida. The part I found fascinating is how the roof opened on a UPS truck, a package got inserted in the drone and how it took off and returned to the vehicle that moved to a new location. Pretty fascinating. Check it out on Tech Crunch.

Did I Take That Pill? 

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Steve Greenberg, author of “Gadget Nation,” shows Kathie Lee Gifford and co-host Jenna Bush gadgets yesterday morning that will organize even the most scatterbrained home. From charging electronics in a neat and easy way, to quickly removing stains, these items will have everything in its proper place at home.

I take 11 different pills and supplements every night before I go to sleep. All of my pills are stored in one big plastic bag, ready to travel at a moment’s notice. 

My usual routine is to take one pill out of each vial until all the meds have been taken. That is my usual routine. Every once in a while,  I stare at one of the vials and think, “Did I already take you?” 

I swear, I sometimes don’t remember, even though I took the pill seconds ago. I usually can figure it out if I think about it long enough, but it’s disconcerting.

Yesterday, I found a cure all. Innovation insider, Steve Greenberg, showed the TimerCap on the Today Show as part of his product showcase. I never heard of it before. Yes, Steve is a friend, but I usually see all the gadgets he knows about when I see him on a TV show. The minute I saw the TimerCap, I knew it was for me. 

The TimerCap is a vial cap with a built-in LCD timer. The cap has been sized to fit most pharmacy vials. The timer helps people remember when they last took their medication. The TimerCap is available at any CVS and Rite Aid Pharmacy for $9.99 for a three-pack.

That is a small price to pay for a great safeguard. The older we get, the more we need items like this. 

A Much Easier Way To Take A Selfie

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I have been looking for a gadget like Podo for quite a few years. I just can’t seem to take a decent selfie. Now, Podo can take the selfie for me.

All I have to do, is stick the Podo on a wall or any surface, open the companion app on my cell phone, and make sure that it connects to the camera (Podo) over Bluetooth.

It’s really simple after that. I set the timer to get myself ready to pose, and then a series of LEDs around the lens let’s me know that my picture is being taken.  The photo then appears on my smartphone. 

Podo is also capable of taking videos, but it has  very limited capacity.  Podo has a two-hour battery life and 4GB of storage. That’s good enough for me. 

Price is around $50 on Amazon.

Shepard Fairey at Art Wynwood

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Click here for audio.

Shepard Fairey was recently in Miami to receive the Art Wynwood Tony Goldman Lifetime Artistic Achievement Award. Fairey is one of the world’s most admired contemporary street artists, graphic designers, activists and illustrators.

Goldman was a real estate developer who was mainly responsible for the rehabilitation of the Wynwood area of Miami, SoHo section of New York City, and 13th Street in Philadelphia. Goldman died at 69 in 2012. He actually lived in my building on South Beach. His wife still does 

Goldman was an early supporter of street art and commissioned Fairey to dress up the warehouse buildings in the cities he was developing. For a street artist, who most of the time illegally drew on abandoned buildings, this was huge. 

Fairey is also well known as the founder of OBEY Clothing, and “Andre the Giant Has a Posse” sticker campaign. Fairey really became famous when he created the “Hope” poster for Barack Obama. 

His work is included in the collections at The Smithsonian, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

Fairey was interviewed by Artnet News last week where I taped the entire encounter. The first half is on video, the balance is my audio post. Fairey was very candid about his political views, other street artists, social responsibility, and commerce working with art.

The conversation was fascinating. Don’t miss a word. The video may be a little shaky, but the content is totally solid. 

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Tatoosh Sails In Miami Beach 

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The boat show is in town (Miami) this weekend, but Eliot and I got a special bonus when Paul Allen’s $160 million yacht sailed by our condo’s window this morning. 

The 3o3-foot vessel is called Tatoosh. It was originally built for Craig McCaw, founder of McCaw Cellular (now part of AT&T Mobility) and Clearwire Corporation.

Allen is the co-founder of Microsoft and one of the richest people in the world. Tatoosh was purchased by Allen in 2001 for approximately $100 million. 

Allen now has his own private asset management company named Vulcan Inc. Allen also owns three sports teams: the Seattle Seahawks (NFL), the Portland Trail Blazers (NBA), and the Seattle Sounders FC franchise (MLS).

By the way, Allen also owns a 414-foot yacht, the “Octopus.” Price tag $200 million.

He’s worth $19 billion. 
Tatoosh’s features include:

Five decks

A master suite, a saloon and other rooms on the top deck

A saloon with a French limestone fireplace, a dining area, staterooms and a ladies’ powder room on the main deck

A shaded 6 feet (1.8 m) deep swimming pool with adjustable floor in depth, located aft on the main deck beneath a full overhang;[11]

A movie theatre

Facilities to transport two helicopters on the top of two decks

A 46 feet power boat and sailboats