20
Feb
2011

Sean P. Aune’s Articles For The Week Of February 13th

Written by  |  under Blogging, Work, Writing  |  No Comments

writingA total of 43 published this week.

FunJug.com

SeanPAune.com

TechnoBuffalo.com

13
Feb
2011

Sean P. Aune’s Articles For The Week Of February 6th

Written by  |  under Blogging, Work, Writing  |  No Comments

writingA total of 48 published this week, and back up the number goes.

FunJug.com

SeanPAune.com

TechnoBuffalo.com

6
Feb
2011

Sean P. Aune’s Articles For The Week Of January 30th

Written by  |  under Blogging, Work, Writing  |  No Comments

writingA total of 32 published this week, the smallest week in quite some time.

FunJug.com

SeanPAune.com

TechnoBuffalo.com

30
Jan
2011

Sean P. Aune’s Articles For The Week Of January 23rd

Written by  |  under Blogging, Work, Writing  |  No Comments

writingA total of 45 published this week … wow, I’m slowing down in my old age.

FunJug.com

SeanPAune.com

TechnoBuffalo.com

23
Jan
2011

Sean P. Aune’s Articles For The Week Of January 16th

Written by  |  under Blogging, Work, Writing  |  No Comments

writingA total of 50 published again this week.  Would you believe I’m still catching up on CES stuff?

FunJug.com

SeanPAune.com

TechnoBuffalo.com

16
Jan
2011

Sean P. Aune’s Articles For The Week Of January 9th

Written by  |  under Blogging, Work, Writing  |  No Comments

writingA total of 54 published again this week.  CES was still kicking my ass.

FunJug.com

SeanPAune.com

TechnoBuffalo.com

13
Jan
2011

Las Vegas – A Cross Section

Written by  |  under Travel, Work  |  No Comments

I’m finally back home from Las Vegas where I was attending CES, and it just wouldn’t be a trip out of town for me if I didn’t discuss the city in general.

All told I ended up in the rooms of two casinos, and spent time in a total of six different ones.  The differences were stark to say the least.

The Bellagio – This place is just massive, but overall it had the nicest casino area of any of the ones I visited.  It seemed the least set up to confuse you, and you could easily make your way through it without having to hunt for a path not littered with slot machines.  What did surprise me, however, was the one room I visited, while generous in size, and with a bathroom larger than some hotel rooms, was the frayed carpet.  I know rooms get a lot of use, but you would think in a hotel with the reputation of this one they would pay more attention to the finer details.

Ceaser’s Palace – “Desolate.”  That was the word that came to mind when I was there.  I only walked through to go to dinner at Mesa Grill – which was much better than I expected – but it just seemed very … empty.  Considering the 140,000 or more people in town for CES, that can’t be a good sign.

Harrahs – Old school Vegas runs in the veins of this place, but it isn’t as bad as the Hilton …

The Las Vegas Hilton – As I walked through the Hilton one evening with Jonathan Rettinger of TechnoBuffalo, I turned and asked him if he also felt like Rodert DeNiro was going to walk through at any moment as his character from Casino.  This place is old school, and it feels it.  I also spent a brief amount of time in two rooms for meetings, and found the smell to be that stale.musty smell you associate with aging motels, and the furntirue very warn.

This also used to be the home of Star Trek: The Experience.  When you remove an attraction like that, I also find it helpful to remove the added architectural designs, otherwise you have Star Trek-style doors leading to a wine bar.

The Paris – Cute, and no where as large a casino floor as the others, but it felt a bit too much like Epcot Center had been dropped into the Las Vegas strip.  The small Parisian village theme is carried out everywhere, and it’s easy to forget you are in a casino and not a theme park.

The Venetian – Again, a bit too Disney-fied in some sections such as St. Mark’s Square, but the food was fabulous at the two locations I ate at: F1rst and Otto’s.  The casino is huge, and it’s easy to lose your sense of direction in, but overall it was probably my favorite of all the ones I visited.  Still doubt I would have stayed there, however.

I did very little gambling where there as I was there for work, but I know I made the right choice staying at a Residence Inn so I at least had a decent room, free breakfast and so on.  Oh yeah, and it felt normal.

9
Jan
2011

Sean P. Aune’s Articles For The Week Of January 2nd

Written by  |  under Blogging, Work, Writing  |  No Comments

writingA total of 54 published this week.  CES kicked my ass.

FunJug.com

RememberingChristmas.com

SeanPAune.com

TechnoBuffalo.com

8
Jan
2011

The Worst Moment Of CES? That Damned Magician

Written by  |  under Blogging, Work, Writing  |  No Comments

I have spent the majority of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in the blogger’s workroom in the south hall.  (Meeting room S228 REPRESENT!)  However, there has been one major drawback … Johnny Ace Palmer.

Verizon has been kind enough to sponsor the blogger workroom, outfitting us with Internet, printers, power sources (even if stupidly placed under tableclothed tables), coffee, a lounge area and so on.  However, there has been a price to pay.  A price that doesn’t come from your wallet, but instead from your sanity.

Verizon is running demos for 3D TV services (hence the glasses you see in the picture) and its new umi Telepresnece product that allows 1080p video calls.  To demo this service they have been making calls to a sleight of hand magician named Johnny Ace Palmer out in Los Angeles.

About every 10 or 15 minutes someone asks for a demo of the service, and I am treated to another slew of Mr. Palmer’s dime store bantar and feats of “magic”.  At first it was ignorable, but after three days of this … I have pondered taking my own life.

I have nothing against, low-end magic tricks, more power to them, but imagine being trapped with one for days on end.

The thing is, I don’t blame Mr. Palmer, I blame Verizon.  This is a work environment, a place where people come to meet deadlines, write and think, we don’t need to be constantly distracted by the chatter of someone doing “tricks”.

The response in the room has been pretty much universal disdain, with myself and two others contemplating asking for a demo just so we could flip off Mr. Palmer, or maybe go so far as mooning him.

The show is over tomorrow, but somehow I think Mr. Palmer will come home with me in my nightmares.

Damn you, Verizon.

7
Jan
2011

CES – The Blogger Killer

Written by  |  under Blogging, Work, Writing  |  No Comments

I … hurt in so many places.

CES (Consumer Electronics Show) is in full effect here in Las Vegas, and I can’t even begin to describe what a wonderful, challenging and fulfilling event this has been thus far.  We have three days left, and I can already easily declare this as the highlight of my professional writing career.

It isn’t just the nifty new gadgets I’m seeing, but the fact that the team at TechnoBuffalo has been, hands down, the best team I have ever worked with on a project.  The energy flowing between us is amazing, and we are so incredibly pumped that content we are turning out that I’m sure other people are getting fed up with seeing us grinning from ear to ear.

The nights are long, the legs are in pain, sleep is next to none … and we love it.  Every evening we head back to our rooms, promising one another that tonight is the night we get a little extra sleep, but yet here it is 2 AM and I just had the following exchange via e-mail with company president Jonathan Rettinger:

Jon – “Why aren’t we sleeping?”

Me – “Because we’re morons.”

Jon – “Fact.”

Okay, perhaps we aren’t exactly pithy, but come on, we’re punch drunk tired.

Even though we are in the midst of what is probably the most demanding week I have ever had in my writing career, we love it, and we can’t stop talking about our concepts for CES 2012.  We have learned so much this year on how we can better accomplish our goals here, and we are anxious to implement them, but we sadly will have to wait for the show to roll around again.

Darn it.

The entire team has been amazing and is turning in some of the bes coverage possible.  Please, if you are looking for any coverage of the show, stop by and check out our CES 2011 news, you won’t be disappointed.

Now, just one more article before bed …

2
Jan
2011

Las Vegas Bound

Written by  |  under Work  |  1 Comment

As you read this, I’m on my way to Las Vegas … well, via a stay over tonight in KC, and then flying out to Vegas in the morning.

As I mentioned the other day, I’m off to CES to look at loads and loads of new consumer electronics.  As opposed to my last bring trips to Boston and Philadelphia, this one is all about work.  To the point that while reviewing our schedule the other day, Jonathan Rettinger, my boss at TechnoBuffalo, asked me, “… when are we going to have time to eat?”  Yes, it’s that packed.

I’ve noticed that most people I know are still wishing me “fun on [my] trip”, and I have to wonder what part of this equation they are not getting.  Yes, I will be in Vegas, and it’s always nice to get away from home, but I’m going to be in meetings, writing, editing stories, editing photos, converting video footage and on and on and on.  Sure I’m going to be in a couple casinos – I pretty much live in meeting rooms at The Venetian for two days – but I’m not big on gambling, and I wouldn’t have the time for it any way.

I do get to kick off my trip by having dinner with some old friends in KC tonight, but beyond that it is going to be work, work and more work.

But, hey, shiny new gadgets for me to drool on, so I guess it will be fun in at least one way … until I lament how many things I want and can’t afford.

2
Jan
2011

Sean P. Aune’s Articles For The Week Of December 26th

Written by  |  under Blogging, Work, Writing  |  No Comments

writingA total of 31 published this week.  Yay holidays!

FunJug.com

RememberingChristmas.com

SeanPAune.com

TechnoBuffalo.com

Page 4 of 171st
...
« 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 »
...
Last