Check out this video about a new concept car BMW is doing:
BMW GINA Light Visionary Model: Premiere This is very cool! They are re-thinking what makes up a car. There is a cool thread about it's design concepts here:
www.37signals.com
More info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_GINA

Avid News - Changing things up to improve profitability

Lot of news coming out of Avid / Didi / M-Audio, and it looks like the management team is serious about re-organizing the company.  They got rid of a distraction by selling:

Avid to sell Pinnacle PCTV line to Hauppauge

Multimedia technology company Avid Technology Inc. said Monday it agreed to sell its Pinnacle PCTV product line and related assets to Hauppauge Digital Inc. for an undisclosed sum.
The deal is expected to close before the end of the year.
Avid said it is focusing on software that complements its broader portfolio of video and audio products. The company makes digital editing systems used in film, video, audio, 3D animation, gaming and other industries.
"PCTV is a compelling standalone hardware product and a better fit for Hauppauge, a recognized leader in the TV-viewing hardware market," said Gary Greenfield, Avid chairman and chief executive, in a statement.
Hauppauge makes television receivers for personal computers, among other products.
Shares of Avid rose 34 cents, or 2.5 percent, to $13.90 in morning trading, while shares of Hauppauge rose a penny to $1.01.

The are cutting head count to improve profitability and from what I hear to bring the Avid / Digi / M-Audio together around the management team at Avid (where it should be noted Dave Lebolt is now the CTO for the company . 

Avid Technology Inc. Plans to Cut 410 Jobs
10/24/2008
Avid Technology Inc. is laying off 410 full-time employees - 15% of its workforce - dismissing another 90 contract workers, and selling off its Softimage 3-D game animation software business in a major restructuring.

Avid Technology Inc. Reports Earnings Results for the Third Quarter and Nine Months Ended September 30, 2008 ; Announces Impairment of Goodwill and Intangible Assets for the Third Quarter of 2008
10/23/2008
Avid Technology Inc. reported earnings results for the third quarter and nine months ended September 30, 2008. The company reported revenue of $217.1 million for the three-month period ended September 30, 2008, compared to $226.8 million for the same period in 2007. GAAP net loss for the quarter was $66.4 million, or $1.80 per share, compared to GAAP net loss of $5.9 million, or $0.14 per share, in the third quarter of 2007. Non-GAAP loss per share was $0.12 for the third quarter of 2008 compared to non-GAAP earnings per diluted share of $0.37 in the third quarter of 2007. Non-GAAP net loss of $4.4 million against net income of $15.2 million for the same period in the last year. Revenue for the nine-month period ended September 30, 2008 was $638.2 million, compared to revenue of $671.1 million for the same period in 2007. GAAP net loss for the first nine months of 2008 was $97.9 million, or $2.59 per share, compared to GAAP net loss of $11.8 million, or $0.29 per share, for the same period in 2007. Non-GAAP loss per share was $0.42 per share for the first nine months of 2008 compared to non-GAAP earnings per diluted share of $0.82 for the first nine months of 2007. Non-GAAP net loss of $16.0 million against net income of $34.0 million for the same period in the last year. The company announced impairment of goodwill and intangible assets of $51,257,000 for the third quarter of 2008.

The sell off of Softimage seems to be a part of the re-focus on their core markets.

Avid Technology Mulls Divesting Softimage 3D Product Line
10/23/2008
Avid Technology Inc., which reported revenues of $217.1 million for the three-month period ended September 30, 2008, compared to $226.8 million for the same period in 2007, also announced the company’s intention to sell Softimage 3D animation product line. As part of the company's business transformation efforts, Avid announced plans to divest the Softimage 3D animation product line. In addition, the company announced a reduction in workforce to better align its cost structure around the core businesses.

All info is from BusinessWeek http://investing.businessweek.com

Please post responses about how you thing this will affect the domination that Digi has in the DAW market or any other thoughts you may have.

Larry Crane at Wordstock! Portland OR NOv 8

LARRY CRANE AT WORDSTOCK, PORTLAND, OR, NOV. 8

That’s right, somehow a lowly engineer and magazine editor that can’t even type has been asked to read some excerpts from Tape Op: The Book About Creative Music Recording Vol. II and moderate a panel at world-renowned literary event, Wordstock. Wordstock is Portland's Book & Literary Festival, and there’s a music theme this year - maybe that’s how I snuck in the door? The event runs Nov. 6-9, 2008, but I’ll only be in town for two appearances on Nov. 8th.

Book Reading - 3pm-3:50 p.m.
Panel Moderator - Words Are Music (songwriting panel) - 5-5:50 p.m.
with Willy Vlautin, Charles R. Cross, Jonathan Coulton

As you may know Willy is from the band Richmond Fontaine (and a fine author as well). Not only have I recorded many past works with his band, I’ll be working on their new CD this winter with JD Foster producing. Charles is known as a Seattle music journalist and has written six books. Jonathan is a clever, geeky songwriter guy. Should be fun!

http://www.wordstockfestival.com
At The Portland Convention Center, 777 NE MLK Jr. Blvd.

PS: I think I signed up to be available for The Night of Literary Feasts. You could have dinner with Larry Crane, or just look for me in a dive bar downtown later that night.

You can still purchase Tape Op: The Book About Creative Music Recording Vol. II

About Wordstock:
Wordstock is an annual festival of books, writers, and storytelling in Portland, Oregon. Wordstock features ten author stages, a book fair with over 150 exhibitors, a special children’s area and children’s literature stage, a series of workshops for writers and for K-12 teachers, a special broadcast of LiveWire!, the popular public radio variety show, featuring writers from the festival, and more. Although it only began in 2005, Wordstock is already the largest celebration of literature and literacy in the Pacific Northwest, and is one of the largest festivals of its kind in the nation.

Neil Young News: Everett, Washington Concert Reports: 10/21/08

Neil Young News: Everett, Washington Concert Reports: 10/21/08

It was a great show and you can see my video at:

Picholine Resyurant NYC Rare FInd

It is rare that I go to a new restaurant and it immediately become a new favorite of mine. Of course in NYC there are so many great restaurants.

The food was a amazing and inventive without going over the edge. The soft shell crab was unquestionably the best I ever tasted.

The service was always there when you wanted but never in the way.


Picholine
35 West 64th St.
New York, NY 10023
Phone: (212) 724-8585
http://www.picholinenyc.com

It is expensive but worth it.

Farallon Resturant -San Francisco

One of my favorites in San Fran, an AES treat.
Never disapoints - one of the best Sea food places in the bay area, expensive but lovely.

Farallon
450 Post Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
Phone: (415) 956-6969
http://www.farallonrestaurant.com

Max The Movie

My son Max who is in Morocco this simester was requited originally to be an extra for the Movie  The Green Zone which is about the Iraq war.  He ended up getting a speaking part as a US military commander giving a peep talk to "his" troop before they go into balltle to invade Iraq. 

Green Zone

Director: Paul Greengrass
Writers: 

Brian Helgeland (written by)
Rajiv Chandraskaran  (book)

Release Date: 2009 (USA)
Genre: Drama / War
Plot Outline: A thriller about a pair of CIA agents on the trail of certain Weapons of Mass Destruction and a foreign correspondent following their mission. Inspired by Imperial Life in the Emerald City.
An adaptation of Washington Post journalist Rajiv Chandrasekaran's Iraq war chronicle.
The Green Zone stars: 

Matt Damon ... Roy Miller
Brendan Gleeson
Jason Isaacs ... Maj. Briggs
Greg Kinnear

Dinner at Yama Galleria

Finding a new great restaurant on the east-side of lake Washington is a rare treat for me.  This place was exactly as advertised a great independent restaurant in a sea of cooperate eateries in Bellevue. 

The Bar looked welcoming (I hear that is has a good happy hour) and the Sushi is probably the best overall I have found on the East-side. The O-Toro and Uni were great.  They had a very wide selection of fresh fish served Sushi or Sashimi.

The menu items of cooked pan asian food were good but not  spectacular, and while not an espscailly long list it did include a very wide range of choices from your basic fish in Japanize preparation (Miso glaze with Wasabi Mashed Potatoes) to rack of lamb and Ciopinno ala Nabeyaki – (crab, shrimp, clams, mussels, fish, fumet marinara, and udon) which I had and was good and very filing. 

Dining Style: Casual Dining, 

Cuisine: Fusion / Eclectic, Japanese, Bellevue, 

http://www.yamagalleria.com 

Phone: (425) 453-4007

Will Have to go a few ore times to really rate this place long term, but it is off to a good start.

8 Years Ago April 7th EAW was sold to Mackie

In 1978 Kenton Forsythe and myself started EAW with no idea how little we know about running a company.  Shortly afterwards Frank Loyko joined the team and the rest is history. . . Well actually something like 10 years of struggling to figure out what were doing and finding and convincing some great people people to join us and build an amazing team.

The last few years before we sold EAW to Mackie we had a dream team of people and were on top of the world.  I can say for myself that I thought at the time combining EAW with Mackie was going to let us all take it to the next level.  I have learned that is not the way it works.

Welcome

I have been meaning to do a blog as part of my website for about a year now. And since I am over the top busy I figured it was the right time.

This simply the place where I will rant or shamelessly promote the stuff I think or know about.  More likely what I think I know about.  So you can expect to read about the Music Industry, the Pro Audio Industry and the computer / Internet and how it relates to marketing.

Welcome to Ken's Info & Bully Pulpit

I have wanted to put up a blog for some time. I have done a few special purpose blogs on trips with my kids (all wonderful Max 22 years old in Rabat Morocco , Jacob 18 years old at Parsons NYC and Julia 20 years old at SFAI) in the past, but never one where I could comment (mostly) on the stuff I know about. The obvious topics I intend to cover are:

1. Consumer Electronics - both as reviews of products and trends in the industry,
2. Over all trends in the pro audio and video space,
3. Specific Products that are changing the way we relate to products,
4. And finally where is this all going and how does it effect you/us?