Amazon Everywhere

I recently read a book by James Patterson called “The Store,” which was loosely based on Amazon. The story was about how a company like Amazon can completely take over your personal life. You might as well be a robot.

Amazon will know when your groceries have to be replaced, what you like to eat, what movies you like to watch, what books you need to read, what clothes you want to wear, on and on. Bottom line, you won’t be able to live without them. They will dictate how you live, and who they want you to be.

It’s not going to happen soon, but it could within a few years. A case in point is the fact that Amazon is now reportedly planning to open dozens of grocery stores in major cities around the country. They could force your neighborhood convenience store right out-of-business.

The new Amazon food store will carry a wider selection of non-organic products than Whole Foods. The store will be smaller than most traditional supermarkets, but somehow Amazon will know just the right products to stock for you.

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Two Apps Help To Stop Sexual Assaults

As time goes on, some of us learn the deep, dark secrets of dear friends and family. It’s horrifying to find out that people we know have been sexually assaulted. Many of them never report the offenders to the authorities.

I always wondered why people keep these terrible offensives to themselves. Most claim they were too ashamed, confused, and scared to admit the attacks. That may seem ridiculous to us, but unless we had that experience, we will never know how it feels.

Sexual assaults must be reported and stopped. I was so happy to learn that there are two apps that allow victims to report crimes anonymously.

One is called JDoe, and the other is Callisto. Users are urged to tell all when incidents occur. They should report where it took place and the name of the perpetrators. The details are stored in an encrypted database. Both apps scan for patterns. Legal experts immediately intervene and determine if further action needs to be taken.

Watch the video above. NBC Nightly News provides further details how this technology works and how it helps prevent sexual attacks.

Evan Reinheimer – Kite Aerial Photography.

https://youtu.be/4Nci7vRcutM

We saw a lot of interesting exhibits at the Coconut Grove Arts Festival on Saturday afternoon, but the one that interested us the most was a photographer who takes “Kite Aerial Photography.”

Eliot, my friend Brian Hauserman, and I were amazed by the ingenuity of Evan Reinheimer of Patchogue, Long Island.

Evan, an award-winning photographer, flies kites which hold his cameras so he can snap aerial photos all over the globe. It’s a great technique to show new photographic angles.

I asked Evan why he doesn’t use drones. He said kites are much more flexible and he is totally committed to the art form. Kites allow him to fly close to his subjects without danger. He knows exactly what type of kite he needs depending on the winds of the day.

His website explains, “ Evan uses a variety of high end advanced compact cameras. The camera sits in a rig that is suspended from the kite line. The camera sends a live video feed to Evan on the ground and the rig has an electronic servo that allows him to compose the photograph.”

Evan certainly has an interesting life and certainly provides us with a new view.

Retailers Are Rating You

Do you know your CLV score? I bet you have no idea what I am talking about. More and more retailers are rating you. They are judging your behavior. It’s called “Customer Lifetime Value.”

Can you imagine that? The people where you shop are talking about you, kind of like the drivers for Lyft and Uber who rate you after every ride. I certainly hope you know about that.

CLV is a little more complicated. Participating retailers are sizing you up to see how much more money they can make off of you. If you are loyal, buy more and more, and frequently show up online and offline, you are going to get better pricing, service, and better merchandise.

I suggest you watch the video to better understand exactly what I am talking about. It’s a whole new retail world.

Will It Be A Happy Valentine’s Day For Jeff Bezos?

The girl friend (l), Bezos, and the wife.

One would think that a guy as smart as Jeff Bezos would know never to text a photo of his private parts over the Internet. You would hope that the world’s richest guy would have some common sense. He knows exactly how the Internet works. He probably would have been the first to tell you that the chances of someone getting their hands on your provocative photos on the Internet is pretty much a guarantee.

So why didn’t that stop Romeo? Like a lot of very successful men and women, he thought he could get away with it. He let himself believe that Lauren Sanchez was really interested in what he had between his legs. As Bill Maher pointed out last Friday night, “the only thing between Bezos’ legs that Sanchez was interested in was his wallet.” Hahaha.

Bezos thinks he is once again the powerful one because he is going after David Pecker of American Media, for extortion and blackmail. He said that “Pecker’s organization threatened to publish intimate photos of him and Lauren Sánchez if he did not stop his investigation into how his text messages and other photos had been leaked to the National Enquirer.”

Is Bezos that naïve that it never occurred to him that his girlfriend could share those photos with others? Again, this is a self-made man, the richest person in the world. One would think he would make better choices. I really don’t care what Bezos does in his private life, but I am offended that he would take such a public risk.

He is married for 25 years to the woman who helped him build his empire. He is the father of four. I just can’t respect him the way I did. I wanted him to be the ultimate entrepreneurial idol. Now he is just a reminder of the lower standards Americans have become accustomed to.

Bill Maher explains why the photos of Bezos below the belt are real.

https://youtu.be/xPMTkyFsxsM

Congratulations Eliot Hess

Thank you Inspicio Editor-In-Chief, Ray Elman, for featuring Eliot’s photo in your prestigious online magazine. This is a tremendous honor. We also want to thank Gail Williams and Dawn McCall of the Williams McCall Gallery for showcasing Eliot’s photo work so he caught the attention of Ray.

http://inspicio.fiu.edu/uncategorized/eliot-hess/

A Closer Look At Eliot’s Photos

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Ethan Hawke on ‘True West

Addendum: We saw “True West” tonight. Miss it. Totally juvenile. The following was written hours before we saw the show.

Image: Variety

CREDIT: MICHAEL SCHWARTZ / TRUNK-ARCHIVE

I have been in the tech world for ages, but it still amazes me that there is such a thing called a podcast that I can access at any time, on any subject. This became apparent to me when I noticed that Variety has a podcast called “Stagecraft,” available every Tuesday.

Coincidentally, Stagecraft recently interviewed Ethan Hawke because he is appearing on Broadway in the stage production of “True West.” Eliot and I are going to see it tonight.

It was very exciting to listen to the background of why Hawke wanted to do this play and what it truly means to him. It’s going to make a huge difference on how we are going to watch “True West” and realize what the actor is thinking as he says his lines.

Download and subscribe to “Stagecraft” on iTunes, Stitcher, or anywhere finer podcasts are dispensed. Find past episodes here and on Apple Podcasts.

This is the link to Variety

https://variety.com/2019/legit/news/ethan-hawke-true-west-broadway-1203113481/

A Moment In life

I was mesmerized at @maccosmetics on Fifth Ave yesterday while I was buying up my favorite lipstick shade. I couldn’t get over how lovingly this husband was looking at his wife while she was having her makeup applied. He was thrilled for her. A moment in life.

Rob Stott Of Dealerscope Uncovered Something About Amazon Most Industry Analysts Overlooked

Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, may have just found out, that he too, can’t make retail all better. A business friend of mine, Rob Stott, an editor at Dealerscope, a tech trade publication, just discovered in a recent Amazon sales report, that “its physical stores reached $4.4 billion during the fourth quarter, a 3 percent sales decline from the $4.52 billion they did last year during the same period.”

According to Stott, that 3 per cent figure includes sales at the company’s Whole Foods locations as well as its other physical stores like Amazon Go and the Amazon Bookstore locations that have been popping up around the country.

Amazon’s overall quarterly earnings report did have a lot of positive news. Sales are up 20 percent year-over-year, ending at $72.4 billion for the quarter.

Stott read the entire report and found the one little item that gave him a chuckle. “For what it’s worth, physical stores represent a tiny segment of the business that Amazon does as a whole. But the blemish they left on what was otherwise a pretty solid quarterly earnings report shows that even big, bad Amazon is at least somewhat struggling to find a way to make brick-and-mortar work for them. And while they’ve been busy expanding their physical retail presence, competitors are quickly catching up on the ecommerce side of the business.”

Thanks Rob for clueing us in. It’s nice to know that Amazon may be forced to figure out how to make traditional retail stores popular again.

Here is Rob’s story in Dealerscope.

https://www.dealerscope.com/article/amazon-brick-and-mortar-sales-drop-3-percent-year-over-year/