Fun Facts

Posted on January 2, 2019 by loiswhitmanhess

Thank you Jon Erlichman, anchor of BNN Bloomberg’s morning program, The Open, for these interesting facts.

1-Here’s how old these companies will be in 2019:

Snapchat: 8 years

Uber: 10 years

Twitter: 13 years

Facebook: 15 years

Tesla: 16 years

Google: 21 years

Netflix: 22 years

Amazon: 25 years

Apple: 43 years

Intel: 51 years

HP: 80 years

Disney: 96 years

IBM: 108 years

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2-Microsoft starts this year as most valuable tech company for 1st time since 2010:

Microsoft: $785 billion

Apple: $748 billion

Amazon: $734 billion

Google: $723 billion

Facebook: $377 billion

Alibaba: $355 billion

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3-Netflix subscribers on New Year’s Eve:

2018: 146.5 million

2017: 117.6 million

2016: 93.8 million

2015: 74.8 million

2014: 57.4 million

2013: 44.4 million

2012: 33.3 million

2011: 23.5 million

2010: 20.0 million

2009: 12.3 million

2008: 9.4 million

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4-Apple’s first quarter revenue:

Q1 2019: $84 billion*

Q1 2018: $88.3 billion

Q1 2017: $78.4 billion

Q1 2016: $75.6 billion

Q1 2015: $74.6 billion

Q1 2014: $57.6 billion

Q1 2013: $54.5 billion

Q1 2012: $46.3 billion

Q1 2011: $26.7 billion

(*Apple’s new guidance for Q1)

Never Stop Learning

Posted on December 31, 2018 by loiswhitmanhess

I’m going to have a busy 2019. Between listening to all of the books I want to on my Audible list, I’m adding Master Class to my daily routines. There are just so many areas of interest I want to know more about: book writing, chess, film directing, fashion, and comedy.

MasterClass, an app on your smartphone, offers online education. You can access tutorials and lectures pre-recorded by very well known experts in various fields. Some of the biggest names in the business are teachers.

Years ago these notables never would have considered teaching courses like this, but then it became totally acceptable. You really should take advantage of this opportunity. The best thing about these courses is that they give you insight into the area you are most interested in. Then you can decide if you want to delve further with other online courses, or adult education classes.

The idea is too keep your mind active.

We are living in a time when these opportunities are available to us. Let’s not take them for granted.

Happy New Year to you and your loved ones!

Music Connects People Of All Ages

Posted on December 25, 2018 by loiswhitmanhess

Did you know that Michelle Obama’s maternal grandfather was an audiophile?

In the early chapters of “Becoming” by Michelle Obama, I found out that he wired the house, in the south side of Chicago, from top to bottom, for music. “He put speakers in every room, including the bathroom. In the dining room, he built an elaborate cabinet system to hold his stereo equipment, much of it scavenged at yard sales. He had two mismatched turntables plus a rickety old reel-to-reel tape player and shelves packed with records he’d collected over many years.”

Everyone in the family had to talk loudly over whatever he put on the stereo, because the music always dominated. Michelle’s family celebrated most major life events at his house which meant that over the years they unwrapped Christmas presents to Ella Fitzgerald and blew out birthday candles to Coltrane.

“According to my mother, as a younger man he made a point of pumping jazz into his seven children, often. He would wake everyone at sunrise by playing one of his records at full blast. His love for music was infectious. I’d pass whole afternoons at his house, pulling albums from the shelf at random and putting them on his stereo, each one its own immersing adventure. Even though I was small, he put no restrictions on what I could touch. He’d later buy me my first album, Stevie Wonder’s Talking Book, which I’d keep at his house on a special shelf he designated for my favorite records.”

Diving For Dirt

Posted on December 18, 2018 by loiswhitmanhess

I have always wondered why someone would throw their garbage in a river, a lake, a bay, or an ocean? When Eliot and I took a cruise down the Siene last Spring, I was so disappointed to see how polluted the water was. I would lie in bed and stare out at the sides of the river that were filled with plastic bags stuck in the shrubs. There were thousands of them for miles and miles. I just couldn’t believe this was the same Siene that was portrayed in so many romantic movies.

Unfortunately, most of the waters around the world are filled with trash. I just don’t know how we allowed this to happen. Not everyone is going to let this continue. Kathryn Mikesell, the woman who owns Fountainhead, the artist residency Eliot and I belong to, is a member of The Dolphins and Rainbows swim club, that actually removes trash from Biscayne Bay in Miami everyday.

Their story is remarkable and one to be admired. The local NBC news did s story about how this group dives for trash and what they are willing to do to keep the waters clean. While the rest of us are reading the morning papers, and sipping our coffees, this swim club group is hard at work. Bless them.

A New Cancer Treatment

Posted on December 18, 2018 by loiswhitmanhess

This is an unusual DigiDame post, but one that I wanted to do for a few weeks. Lester Holt, host of NBC Nightly News, was one of many newscasters around the country, who announced a new cancer drug that attacks the DNA of a tumor rather than the location in the body.

This is supposed to be a major breakthrough in the successful treatment of cancer. I listened to this announcement with great hope that many more people can be cured forever because of this major breakthrough.

I recorded the segment to share this with you. What startled me the most was that a doctor friend initiated a conversation with me about this new drug because he was depending on it to cure a loved one.

That was the first time in my life that I felt like an insider in the world of medical innovation. It was a big wow moment. If this cancer drug does the trick, then I was there at the beginning. I wanted you to experience this too.

Good luck and best wishes for a cure.

350,000 Of These Little Vehicles Will Be On The Streets Of America Very Soon

Posted on December 15, 2018 by loiswhitmanhess

You have entered the world of automated delivery robots if you see a little self-driving cart on the sidewalks of America in the coming weeks. A company called Postmates, San Francisco, has created these carts, called “Serve,” to make food deliveries more efficient.

The carts can carry up to 50 lbs and travel 25 miles on a single charge. Customers can check on the whereabouts of their “Serve” using an app which zeros in on the cameras mounted on top of the robot.

“Serve” will launch first in the Los Angeles area, and will be available in other U.S. cities over the next 12 months.

Local governments will work with Postmates to make sure the self-driving carts are safe and don’t interfere with pedestrians. Postmates hopes the 350,000 carts will be on the road in order to reduce congestion.

My Digital Life

Posted on December 14, 2018 by loiswhitmanhess

https://youtu.be/aeK3mecdd2Y

I was up very late last night trying to post this video of the very famous Artist and Film Director Julian Schnabel, talking about his new Vincent Van Gogh movie. I did a blog post about this subject yesterday, but I couldn’t get the video uploaded. I had trouble finding the YouTube icon on my camera roll.

My daughter Whitney came to my rescue today by reminding me that I could upload the video through the YouTube app. It never even occurred to me to try that. Even though I work in the tech business, I am often technically challenged.

I’m thrilled to be able to deliver this video to you because I recorded it yesterday after we watched Schnabel’s movie, At Eternity’s Gate, an art movie theater in Coral Gables. Schnabel did the Skype interview from Sweden, 3am, his time. That’s what I call passion for a project. He looked so tired, but he gave us a lot of insight into Van Gogh and Willem Defoe, who portrayed him.

Enjoy this exclusive interview.

A special shoutout to Whitney. Thank you, thank you, for making my digital life so much better.

Artist And Film Director Julian Schnabel Reveals Creative Tidbits About His New Vincent Van Gogh Flick

Posted on December 14, 2018 by loiswhitmanhess

The last thing I wanted to do tonight was see another movie about artist Vincent Van Gogh. We ventured out anyway to our favorite movie house, the Coral Gables Art Cinema, because they secured a Skype interview with the movie’s director. Julian Schnabel called into the theater from Sweden after we viewed At Eternity’s Gate.

It was so interesting to listen to artist Schnabel talk about artist Van Gogh. Schnabel gave his perspective on how an artist views his or her work. You are no longer just looking at a pretty picture . You are looking at how an artist views the world. The camera work was amazing too. Schnabel shot scenes from angles you are not used to seeing. The portrayal of Van Gogh by Willem Dafoe was surreal. Hollywood feels this is Defoe’s best role yet. Let’s see what happens during the movie awards.