Gitmo to Close!

Last month, Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced that he had ordered aides to draw up plans for closing down the prison camp at Guantánamo Bay. Days after the election, the ACLU called on President-elect Obama to close the prison at Guantánamo Bay and shut down the military commissions on his first day in the White House.

You may have heard the news this week that five high-profile detainees attempted to submit guilty pleas before the government’s ill-conceived military commissions at Guantánamo Bay. But, by the end of the day, their pleas were tied up in a blizzard of confusion over unresolved legal questions.

What’s happening at Guantánamo flies in the face of justice, fairness and our American ideals. Please take a moment to tell President-elect Obama to close the prison at Guantánamo.

Tags: guantanamo, gitmo, close gitmo, civil rights violation, violation of geneva convention

Advertisement as Entertainment

DreamWorks, SoBe, Intel, NBC Plan 3-D Super Bowl Ad - Advertising Age

Powered by Intel, viewers will see a trailer in 3D from the DreamWorks movie Monsters vs. Aliens (nice tie-in).

There also will be a 60-second advertisement for SoBe Life Water featuring the dancing SoBe lizards that were so popular last year.

The lizards will dance Swan Lake with football players and movie characters. Viewers will be told to hold onto the 3-D glasses to view an episode of Chuck airing the next day.
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Advertisement as entertainment is full engagement with your audience. This is going to rock.

Tags: sobe, dreamworks, collaboration, super bowl ad, 3D glasses

Virtuality Adds New Dimension to Multimedia

Richter Studios for Nielsen Answers
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As someone who remembers programming with punch cards, computers without Windows and hand coding HTML, there is a brave new world on the web today. Forget web 1.0 and web 2.0, we are now experiencing the growing pains of the birth of web 3.0.

How can a company or a brand prepare for an ever-evolving web? Step into the future with the help of professionals, like Richter Studios and their Web, Interactive and Video Production Service. In the decade since Richter Studios' inception, the team has been involved in the evolution of digital technology. With over 250 video projects completed, Richter Studios remains on the leading edge of innovation in multimedia.

Richter Studios believes in an all-digital workflow. The video is recorded by high-definition digital cameras in the 1080P format directly from an infinity background (green or blue screen) to a hard drive.

Of course, Richter Studios has shot video on location, such as Venice, Rome, London and Paris, and from extreme aerial positions, such as 60-story-high construction cranes, helicopters and skyscrapers.

Once the video is captured, the designers, animators, editors and programmers go to work on MAC desktops or multi-touch tablets. There they apply the illustrations, animations, virtual backgrounds and special effects to create the final product.

Virtuality adds a new dimension to multimedia and Richter Studios is your guide to web 3.0. Enjoy the ride!

Tags: video production service, interactivity, virtuality, web 3.0

John Lennon Imagines a Better World

John Lennon Imagines One Laptop per Child in Ad for Nonprofit - Advertising Age

Imagine every child, no matter where in the world they were, could access a universe of knowledge. They would have a chance to learn, to dream, to achieve anything they want. I tried to do it through my music, but now you can do it in a very different way. You can give a child a laptop, and more than imagine, you can change the world (PSA voiceover with John Lennon).

People do not know what to think about John Lennon's voice and face in the PSA for One Laptop per Child. According to the article cited above, writers on Boing Boing said, "Resurrecting the dead to shill modern products is not going to catch on," adding, "Digitally, it's creepy." Please, shut up. You were in diapers when John Lennon died. His magical music is still meaningful to generations. The PSA was done pro bono by Taxi, New York and permission was given to use the voice and picture of Mr. Lennon by his wife, Yoko Ono.

The mission of One Laptop per Child (OLPC) is to empower the children of developing countries to learn by providing one connected laptop to every school-age child. I believe John Lennon would support OLPC. Lennon could imagine a better world in the midst of an illegal war, religious intolerance, racial tension and Watergate. He had the talent of writing songs that allowed us to imagine right along with him.

John Lennon loved to be in the news and to make people think. I can imagine that he is quite happy with the contretemps he has caused -- again.

Tags: psa, one laptop per child, john lennon, contretremps

To My Blogging Friends . . .

Participative Government in the Making

President-elect Obama has charged his appointee for Secretary of Health and Human Services, Senator Tom Daschle, with determining how Americans feel about health care reform. This is something the USA has been lacking for the past eight years--participative government.

Please take a moment to complete a short survey on the AARP website. If you have a personal story about health care, share it. The results of the survey and the comments will be shared with Senator Daschle and, ultimately, President Obama.

Please share your experiences with the health care system, with securing health care for the self-employed, with having problems being referred to a specialist, with trying to find a physician in a specific area from a very limited list of providers.

Parents may want to share how hard it is to find health care without insurance, waiting five hours in line with your child at the health department to get immunizations, being treated at the emergency room without health insurance, being haunted by collection agencies for past due health bills.

Seniors should share about having to choose between filling prescriptions or buying food, losing homes due to long-term health care bills, being victimized by prescription card providers, and feeling like a burden to the family instead of an honored elder.

President Obama is becoming captain of a sinking ship. Help him prioritize the life-saving measures to keep it afloat. Take five minutes to help change the state of health care in the USA.

Tags: health care, dividedwefail, aarp, health care survey, share health care horrors

Need a Job? Join LinkedIn

LinkedIn is an online network of more than 30 million experienced professionals from around the world, representing 150 industries. LinkedIn grew from 18 million members in 2008. Not surprisingly, new registrations were heaviest in sectors like financial, technology and media.

As the economy tanks, more people join LinkedIn to network and to find work. LinkedIn provides several levels of service that puts your qualifications, skills and experience in front of people who may be looking for a contractor, an employee or a partner in a joint venture.

First, you join and complete your profile. Next, you may import your contacts from mail programs like Yahoo!, Windows Live, AOL or GMail. Once imported, you may invite your contacts to join LinkedIn and join your network or to reconnect through LinkedIn if they are members. Then you may search for coworkers, colleagues, classmates and old friends, thereby increasing your network.

To show you how the powerful networking of LinkedIn works: I have six contacts (1st degree), they have 300+ contacts (2nd degree), so my network is 20,800+ (3rd degree). I joined LinkedIn to have one place to keep my professional profile online. I do not have a business account, have not used all the available applications to upload presentations, nor have I actively developed contacts or requested recommendations. Even so, if I were interested in employment, I would already have a job.

View my limited profile on LinkedIn or just Join LinkedIn. Use the power of the Internet to network to your next job.

Tags: networking, employment, linkedin