Driving Myself Meshuga

Posted on December 13, 2016 by loiswhitmanhess

Sometimes I think I can “will” things to happen. When I decided I didn’t want to drive anymore, I prayed for a limousine service. Puff, Uber was born. Lately, I have been hoping for some sort of mechanism that can prevent car crashes.

Many Miami Beach roads do not have traffic lights. Every time we drive down one of these streets, I am constantly checking the cross roads for oncoming cars, and I’m not even driving.

Tonight my prayers were answered. Lester Holt, of NBC Nightly News, announced that the Transportation Department is forcing all new cars and light trucks to wirelessly talk to each other, talk with traffic lights and with other roadway infrastructure. That means it will dramatically reduce traffic deaths because of constant communications. Holt said there are 600,000 accidents a year, a deadly one every 15 minutes.

The Transportation Department said future automobiles will be required to have Vehicle-to-Vehicle communications, or V2V, which enables cars to transmit their locations, speed, direction and other information 10 times per second. The Associated Press reports that new cars will be able to detect when another vehicle is about to run a red light, is braking hard, changing lanes or coming around a blind turn in time for a driver, or automated safety systems, to prevent a crash.”

This is such excellent news. Watch the video and let’s pray for safe roads and zero accidents.

The Gold Ring

Posted on December 13, 2016 by loiswhitmanhess

One of the major players in the music business just emailed me to say that finally there is an on demand music service for folks over 50.

Fred Goldring, one of the founders of Music Aficionado, recently told the Wall Street Journal, “The over-50 “ demographic is largely being ignored in the digital world even though these folks are the most passionate about music because they lived all of it the first time around.”

Music Aficionado now draws more than 800,000 monthly visitors who spend an average of 23 to 24 minutes on it at a time. The Wall Street Journal details how Music Aficionado plans to get older folks to pay for streaming music. I say, “Give us the music we love, without many interruptions, and we will pay something for it.”

I met Fred almost 40 years ago when my PR agency represented HBO Video. He was very friendly with one of the VP’s, Eric Kessler. I may have been in Fred’s company once or twice, but we corresponded over the years on different business matters. I spotted his name in the press many times and just smiled that at least I could get in touch with him.

I am including his career, as documented on LinkedIn, a networking site for business and academic professionals. Microsoft owns LinkedIn. I thought it would be more fun to read about Fred this way.

Say Hello To Cabbage Patch 2016

Posted on December 10, 2016 by loiswhitmanhess

I’m going to be very interested in your reaction. We are going from a passive, innocent doll, to a robot-type play thing that is filled with emotion.

In the next day or two, I’m going to call my pal Al Kahn, the marketing executive at Coleco who made the doll famous thirty-five years ago, to see what he thinks of the digital version.

Now manufactured by Wicked Cool Toys, the Cabbage Patch doll is highly interactive, with LCD screens that display a wide range of emotions. Retail price is $100.

The baby doll will tell you when it is hungry, when it needs to be burped, and when its diaper needs to be changed. The doll’s cheeks glow red when sick and requires a special interactive spoon with medicine.

For complete interactive features watch the video.

This is quite a different Cabbage Patch. It’s quite a different world.

Your Car Can Become Your Significant Other

Posted on December 10, 2016 by loiswhitmanhess

Some folks spend more time with their cars than anything else on earth. For those who love their automobiles, I have big news. Your cars are going to love you back.

Honda, the Japanese automaker, is working on a new type of car that is going to be filled with emotion. Honda issued a press release that said, “the emotion engine comes from a partnership between Honda and Japanese telecommunications firm SoftBank.” The two companies designed the AI technology that allows a car to gauge the mental state of the driver.

The automobile will be showcased at the CES next month. You can be sure that I won’t miss seeing this. I want to learn more about how the Honda will be capable of understanding the driver’s emotions and developing emotions of its own.

I know this sounds like a joke, but many authoritative periodicals reported the news today. Click here to see what Wired had to say and here for the Washington Post.

So far Honda is not providing too many details how the technology works. Called the NeuV, Honda says the automated elecric vehicle will “artificially generate its own emotions.”

Honda claims their car will “grow up” with the owner. This all sounds very intriguing but I’m looking forward to asking Honda one simple question. “What happens to the relationship once the owner wants to upgrade to a new car?” We all know that breaking up is hard to do.

The Biggest Success Story On Kickstarter Just Dropped Dead

Posted on December 8, 2016 by loiswhitmanhess

Image: Pebble

One year you are a major success story in the tech business, twelve months later no one wants to know your name. Unfortunately, I have seen my fair share of tech businesses come and go.

Innovative companies have a very difficult time sustaining themselves. If your company is that trendy, you have to constantly come up with new ideas in order to stay ahead of the competition and/or keep customers interested.

Such is the case with Pebble Technology Corporation, manufacturers of smart watches. The company just announced it is shutting down and selling its intellectual property to Fitbit. This is shocking, considering Pebble was the darling of the crowdfunding industry.

The company attracted $20,338,986 in Kickstarter funds with 78,471 backers. All Pebble really wanted to raise was $500,000. Pebble became a celebrity company in just a few short weeks. Every other company which needed to raise money since then wanted to model itself after Pebble.

Pebble’s popularity ran out when other manufacturers, with big brand names, entered the smart watch market. One such company is Apple. To make matters worse, the smart watch market didn’t take off as everyone expected.

The demise of Pebble was first reported in the Los Angeles Times. Read it here.

Rosa And Carlos de la Cruz

Posted on December 4, 2016 by loiswhitmanhess

Today we visited the home of Rosa and Carlos de la Cruz on Key Biscayne. They are two of the top art collectors in the U.S. Their home is one big art gallery. They also own a separate art museum to house their collections. You can read all about them here.

Fashion Parade At Red Dot and Spectrum

Posted on December 1, 2016 by loiswhitmanhess

Art Basel of Miami, one of the largest art exhibitions in the world, brings out art lovers who enjoy dressing up to show off their creativity. We visited two satellite exhibitions tonight, Red Dot and Spectrum, to check out the art and the fashion. This is what we found.

Fashion Meets Art At Art Basel

Posted on November 30, 2016 by loiswhitmanhess

The Future Of Jewelry

Posted on November 26, 2016 by loiswhitmanhess

My daughter Whitney, and her boyfriend Fredrick, presented me with a birthday present that was a perfect DigiDame gift. I’m now the proud owner of a Marchesa Amphora necklace that was made on a 3D printer.

You can read all about it below. I am thrilled that I am one of the first women to own a piece of precious metal that was manufactured on a 3D printer. I find it very exciting that they thought enough of me to make sure I was at the forefront of something that I believe in so much.

Thank you Whitney, and thank you Fredrick.

Get ready world. This is the future of jewelry making.