New Florence. New Renaissance.

"The Apple of Wellness"

Also during the pandemic, People magazine began covering instructors such as Rigsby and Arzón like celebrities (which they sort of are — some of Arzón’s rides can attract 20,000-plus riders, or roughly the capacity of Madison Square Garden). And talent agencies signed up instructors, including Emma Lovewell (UTA), Tunde Oyeneyin (ICM), and Rigsby and Ben Alldis (A3).

Despite the voluntary recall of Peloton’s two treadmill models in May after the death of a child (a $165 million hit to future revenue, according to company predictions) and a recently revealed data breach (since patched), the company is moving ahead.

When Peloton opens its new 20,000-square-foot London exercise studios and broadcast center later this year — it opened a hugely upgraded $50 million New York facility in 2020 — one feature will make Peloton’s media aspirations clear: a huge street-level window allowing passersby a peek into the control room.

The Hollywood Reporter

Churches add a new room: a video studio

Churches across the country are experimenting with taking their services online, and recruiting the help of video streaming companies such as TruthCasting and StreamingChurch.tv. But Williams wants to take the idea even further, beyond the temporary pandemic response to a new way of running a ministry. As part of a church redesign started before the pandemic, the Holy Trinity Baptist Church is adding a new feature that may become a more commonplace part of places of worship: a video studio.

Fast Company

 

 

Fun Zoom backgrounds

We are going through a period of wild experimentation with so many working from home and presenting/conversing over Zoom, ON24, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet and other platforms. I like to ask folks about their virtual backgrounds and related fun facts.

I interviewed Jason Blessing, CEO of Model N and he is a drone photographer in his spare time. He told me his background is of the west span of the Bay Bridge, shot on his Mavic 2 Pro launched from Yerba Buena Island.

Another Bay Area resident, Dave Watson of Health2047 fessed up that his Golden Gate Bridge is a stock Zoom background. But he has tricked others that it is the view from his office in the Marin headlands. He says "It took them awhile to figure out I was spoofing because it was a morning video call but the background shows an evening sunset..."

Alex Shootman, CEO of Workfront, does not need drone or satellite imagery. He routinely bikes up mountains in Utah. This is what he presented at his LEAP conference this week.

No heights for Paul Wright, CIO at Accuride. He has been working from his red barn in Michigan. I can report no farm animals Zoom bombed our session, and the connectivity was excellent!

Brent Leary of CRM Essentials has a real-life office background from his place in Atlanta. I have been on a few calls with him and the rotating fan never fails to mesmerize me. One way to stand out in a Zoom gallery with 200 other participants! More importantly, he is also what he calls a "bedroom DJ". He has a nice following of his virtual shows.

Paul Greenberg of The 56 Group is the Master of Disguise. No, not of the fact that he is a rabid Yankees fan. More in masking tens, may be even hundreds of Smart Home sensors and Alexa pods in his Virginia home. See how many you can spot.

Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce recently did a joint presentation with Aneel Bhusri, CEO of Workday. In a nice touch, he used the background of a Workday facility.

Aneel Bhusri, in turn, used the background of his favorite pizzeria in San Francisco in a session with me. He hopes the publicity will help them survive this tough patch for restaurants.

HPE had a burst of color in its virtual Discover broadcast this week.

But even better,  it was nostalgic to see an industry veteran, John Chambers, former CEO of Cisco talk about leadership during a crisis. He was interviewed by HPE CEO Antonio Neri and John was extremely generous to his predecessor, Lew Platt. The background? Even more color.

A celebration of the 60s and Hollywood

I find Quentin Tarantino movies too violet. Given that his new movie features Charles Manson, I thought QT would have even more blood and gore than usual and I almost skipped "Once upon a time in.. Hollywood". My wife did but I enjoyed it so much that I convinced her to go see it with me on my second trip.

What have I enjoyed?

It celebrates secondary Hollywood characters - stuntmen, talent scouts, production crew. It brings to life iconic actors like Steve McQueen, Sharon Tate, Bruce Lee, James Stacy and others. It brings out Westerns, even the spaghetti kind. Like them or not, that is what made Hollywood famous around the world

It showcases a mind boggling 2,000 vintage cars on the streets of LA. Here is Brad Pitt in his Karmann Ghia.

It also has vintage 747s with their spiral staircases (Most of my global travel in the 80s was on 747s - lots of good memories). It repurposes vintage Hollywood camerawork and other wizardry as this article shows. 

It is chockful of 60s music - Rolling Stones, Bob Seger, Joe Cocker, Paul Revere and the Raiders, Neil Diamond among them. Plenty of DJs and KHJ radio (Boss radio)

It features popular LA restaurants and theaters including El Coyote, Chili John's, the original Taco Bell, the Fox Westwood Theater and many more

You know what? I may go see it in a theater once again. And buy a copy to watch on flights. There are so many easter eggs in the movie, I have a feeling I will discover a couple new ahas each time I watch it.

Cable cutting options explode

Amazon now has a new free, ad-supported service, called IMDb Freedive, to complement its Amazon Prime subscription service.

Later this year, we should see new streaming services from Apple (Apple TV+) and Disney (Disney+); both companies have released more information about these upcoming offerings, which you can read about below. A new HBO-based service from AT&T subsidiary WarnerMedia is also expected to hit by year’s end.

The new options will join all-you-can-eat monthly subscription services such as Netflix, along with cable TV-style packages, from companies including DirecTV Now and Sling, designed to help consumers cut the cable cord

Consumer Reports

Review of YouTube TV which we currently subscribe to

Dion Hinchcliffe's "Every Day Carry"

Dion Hinchcliffe is one of my favorite analysts. I absolutely love his coverage of digital technologies. His slides are pure eye candy. 

I look forward to meeting him at events, even though we hardly ever talk enterprise tech. I live vicariously through his tales of exotic travel and foodie meals. And to be honest, I am usually curious about the latest gadget he is tagging along. Its always something new - last time I saw him it was the Insta360 video camera.

I managed to convince him to open up what I call his toy bag – he calls it his "Every Day Carry". If that is his EDC for business travel, imagine the drones, GPS trackers and other stuff he takes on his hikes with his twins. And how wired his car and home must be? 

I think I will have to make his EDC an annual feature for this blog. Bet it is filled with completely new items each year, especially after he discovers goodies at each CES. 

A - Apple iPad Pro 10.5"

B - A5 Memobottle (slides into bag easily and without bulk)

C - Belkin Portable Apple Watch Charger (for my Series 3 cellular)

D - Apple Earpods with Wireless Charging Case (so you can just drop it on a wireless charger)

E - Jawbone Portable Bluetooth Speakerphone

F - Tap Wearable Keyboard (for typing on the go, even when hands full pulling luggage)

G - Insta360 Full 360 Degree Video Camera (shoots everything in every direction, then you extract the shots you want)

H - OmniCharge 20 Ultra High Capacity USB Smart Battery Bank (for keeping everything charged)

I - Tough Braided USB/Lightning Charge Cables (anything else shreds after a few hard trips)

J - Novt Horizontal Folding Keyboard (can slip into blazer pocket for minimal carry, I use for live tweeting/blogging)

K - Micro Bluetooth Earbud - For calls/music with Apple Watch while walking/running, no phone required)

L - Anker PowerPort combined Adapter with Battery and USB-C (backup battery + wall adapter for OmniCharge as well as USB-C plug)

M - JBL Clip (best sounding portable travel bluetooth music speaker, hands down, can be clipped on anything)

N - Lightning adapters for HDMI, power + audio, and VGA

O - Bowers & Wilkins PX headphones (amazing travel headphones with bluetooth)

P - Tumi Card Case

Q - Tumi Coin Purse (for Europe, where they still use coins)

R - Travel Receipt Bag

S - TSA approved multitool including screwdrivers, bottle opener, 18 tools in all (has saved the day several times)

T - Emergency Lightning charger (if all else fails)

U - Smallest Lightning Multicharger (iPad, iPhone, and Apple Pencil at once)

V - Antislip Pads for Electronics on Small Airplane Trays

W - SD Card Wallet and Lightning Reader (always too full of pics and videos)

X - DJI Mavic Pro Drone (best drone on the market until the Mavic 2 came out, I get amazing aerials of tech events)

Y - DJI Mavic Remote Control

Not shown but honorable mention: Beam Authentic Wearable Wireless Name Badge (for custom badges during conferences)

16 Cameras in One

A quick glance registers the L16 as innocuous. It's really just a black, rounded rectangle topped with a silver button. But when you notice the 16 different circles (17 if you count the IR sensor) on its face, the L16 becomes an almost threatening piece of technology to look at.

Light has taken advantage of what founder Rajiv Laroia calls "a silent revolution" in the photography world. Thanks to the need to put better-quality cameras in smartphones, the process of miniaturizing camera modules and molding high-quality plastic lenses has brought things to a place where — with a little computational photography — you can make something like the L16. Light sees it as a DSLR replacement, something that you can throw in your bag to save yourself from lugging around extra lenses and equipment. But really it's more of an experiment, one that you can preorder now for $1,299, and one that won't ship until late summer 2016.

The Verge

 

 

Org Chart made for frequent flyers

Businessweek has a story on Diebold’s virtual executive suite but the collaboration, telepresence and communication technology described below is becoming mainstream in most companies around the world.

The YouTube juggernaut

YouTube is now the world’s third most popular online destination. Of the 3.2 billion people who have Internet access, more than 1 billion watch YouTube. It has more American viewers ages 18 to 49 just on mobile than any cable network. Revenue increased by an estimated $1 billion last year. (Google is coy about profits.) The site is available in 61 languages. It has a million advertisers.

And more than ever, YouTube is the ultimate destination for kids logging on to the Internet. It pretty much owns kids’ eyeballs at this point. One of its core demographics is 8 to 17 years old. According to a 2014 survey of 6,661 kids and their parents by youth researchers Smarty Pants, 66% of children ages 6 to 12 visit YouTube daily, including 72% of 6-to-8-year-olds. When Variety asked a bunch of teens to choose their favorite stars among 20 names, the top five were all from YouTube.

Time (sub required)

How video has reshaped recruiting

What used to require a phone screening and an in-person, on-site interview is now accomplished with an initial video interview, reducing time to hire and improving hiring managers' ability to gauge the right fit, Malloy says. "You get a much better sense of who that candidate is using video rather than trying to guess based on their paper resume and a phone conversation. It also cuts down our time-to-hire, because video interviews are easier and less complicated to schedule -- no travel time, no coordinating with hiring managers' time off, or candidates existing work schedules," he says.

A video interview doesn't have to be done live, either, says Chris Brown, director of HR at unified communications firm InterCall, and head of human resources for InterCall's parent company, West Corporation. Candidates can record their own introduction video, attach it to the rest of their digital application, and have that entire package delivered to hiring managers and decision makers simultaneously.

CIO.com

Btw – a nice short video on how to look good in a video interview