Consumer Electronics Show Day Three. Is the nation in an educational crisis?

I enjoyed the last panel that my work paid for me to attend on Thursday. It ran all day and focused in and around higher education technology. Just as a little background, half of my salary is paid through federal vocational rehabilitation which is a program that focuses on getting individuals the right kind of education and training for them to become gainful contributors to society. V.R. of course has its challenges, and I wanted to find out more information regarding what's out there that could help our clients to achieve success. What I ended up getting can more or less be summed up by the question: "How well does society in the United States prepare college graduates for a life of work?" I'm sure all of you have answers to that question. For me, the answer is obvious: it doesn't. The cost of higher education has become grotesque...beyond the means of people (like me) to afford. Sure, you can take out student loans. But graduates today will step into the workforce for the first time with a mountain of debt and many with skills that are obsolete within six months. So if you don't swim right away, then within a year or two, you're sinking. Is the cost of education worth it?

It's an interesting dilemma and really goes well with some of the other panels I attended at CES this week. Take for example the quandary of all of those out-of-work professional drivers who will be in their mid-forties and face obsolesence. The person in charge of that particular panel chafed at my question (if you remember) and merely said, they will have to get trained in other jobs that are created by leading innovations.

Okay...sure. So how does one get trained? Well apparently it's for the cheap cost of another $50,000 that you could either borrow or starve your family out (I suppose you could try selling your soul to the devil, but I don't think he's buying these days as sin is free).

Basically, this panel on higher education had a debate that went on for hours. They know that as of 2011, there exists 9.4% unemployment for those possessing only a high school degree. The ones that fall outside of that percentage have jobs at Burger King or McDonalds, right? But who cares, they have jobs. They just can't make any money at the jobs that they do.

The panel knows that normal "non-unicorns" are graduating with a ton of debt. A "unicorn" in this context is the "mythical" genius student that gets into Harvard at the age of 15 (my book "Slipstream" is about the life of a "unicorn" of this nature). These panelists know that a path to a degree should allow for the learner to pick and choose what they want that is in accordance with their goals. Take for example the "engineering" student that is forced to study Spanish literature and read Don Quixote. They want to put an end to this. However, to accomplish this, means to go to war against the Department of Education, and the DOE (the people that pay my salary through Voc Rehab) is an entity that moves very slowly and does not adjust to change the same as people posting a relationship status on Facebook.

It literally means a revamping of the "credentialing system." This "system" has been in place for decades, but technology has arrived. The West is well beyond what we should be doing and is facing what it must be doing in order to retain a position of leadership. The answer is a new pedagogy, because the United States is a nation that is in (right now) an educational crisis.

The United States is setting itself up to be essentially "irrelevant" within my lifetime. Nice. Here's some statistics for you: 36 million college students lost their way at some point and didn't get credentialed. They are smart, but have no certificate to show it. Because the system is the way it is, without that certificate, they are condemned to a life of poverty. Our system is not set up to help those students who may run into trouble mid-course. Our system is set up to count the dead bodies at the end. It's not a good system and creates obstacles for success to preserve the value of the certification as a reward at the end.

That would be all fine and dandy if businesses valued those credentials. But increasingly, businesses are hiring their employees based off of portfolios. They are examining the work of someone and could care less what the credentials are. That's the way Silicon Valley currently operates and is becoming more and more the business norm.

So the value of a degree is basically becoming less and less.

However, all of this discussion is moot since the Department of Education sent no representative and as far as anyone can tell, congress can't agree on anything anyway between the fiscal cliff and the debt ceiling that a discussion on educational reform isn't going to happen.

Interesting eh? I found a lot of food for thought in this last summit at CES. However, being presented with all problems and no solutions I guess seems like a waste of time. But at least there's a discussion taking place (probably one that gets even less attention than the one regarding gun control in our country). I predict that both will peter out, and we'll accept our irrelevance while China, Singapore, and other countries become global leaders and the United States watches Honey Boo Boo and gets fat on "sketty and butta", but continues to feel important simply because we all own firearms (and someone in the country knows the launch codes to nuclear weapons). And as much as the evangelicals in our country will want to blame the intellectual abyss that will become America, it will not be because of gay marriage.

"The mind is not a vessel that needs filling, but wood that needs igniting."
--Plutarch. (I really liked that quote and thought I'd share). You're welcome

Book Tour Stuff: Today I'm at Mimmi's Musing talking about my love affair with assassins. Go HERE to read about it :)

I'm talking about the hockey culture in "Oculus" on Puck Buddy's. Find the post HERE. Thank you, Jeff, for putting up the article on this blog recognized by the New York Times for its ground breaking articles.

Also I may be at Melissa Stevens tomorrow. Find that blog HERE.

Next week I shall be back from Vegas trying to resume a normal schedule. Thanks for your patience. Have a great weekend.

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Consumer Electronics Show Day Two and some Absinthe in Las Vegas

Upon entering the Smart Homes and Digital Consumers seminar hosted by J.D. Power and Associates, I was greeted with the following quote from their president, Finbarr O'Neill:

"Consumer demand and expectations for digital lifestyle services continues to grow at a dramatic pace. The conveniences of monitoring and controlling more aspects of our lives through digital interface will change both engagement and dimensional aspects of the customer relationship."

I can't say that I don't agree. There's a clear and pressing need for Smart Home technologies at all scales of income. The one that I am most familiar with has to do with differently-abled individuals who rely upon assistive technology in order to live somewhat independently of a caregiver. However, these individuals can ill-afford the price tags of many assistive technology devices.

Think about this for a moment. We are entering a phase where technology in the home allows a quadriplegic to control all aspects of their environment. You can set the thermostat, turn lights on and off, change the channel on the television and operate a satellite DVR all without raising a finger. Home security is tied into this as well. You may have seen advertisements made by Xfinity touting their new remote camera systems allowing you to view activity both in and around your home.

This is the panel. We have Eric Anderson, Executive Vice President Products, Control4,
David VanderWaal, Director of LG Electronics USA, William F. Davidson,
Senior Vice President, Investor Relations at Qualcomm, and Chris Williams, Sr.
Director of Intelligent Home Product Development from Time Warner Cable

At the J.D. Power seminar, Time Warner indicated that they are rolling out the first of many intelligent homes in the next year. I thought this was excellent news.

Eric Anderson said there are many connection issues, and stressed that all of this "stuff" needs to be personalized and customized to each individual. We've gone from the generation of those that say "I want my MTV" to a generation that demands "I want all of my things from home available to me on the go." An interesting observation, but I can't say that I'm surprised given the selfish demands of the "me" generation.

The Qualcomm representative had a bunch of statistics. One of them purported that a person looks at their phone 160 times in a day (on average once every six minutes). So for them, the discussion is about visual appeal, battery life, and the fact that the "World is flat" which is a line stolen from a best-selling book and illustrated by the fact that social networks were key in making the "Arab Spring" a reality.

Because I know you guys love statistics, this is a pie chart that illustrates
how cable companies are leading the charge in providing Smart Home technologies
that everyone needs/wants. What do I say to this? Excellent. Lets regulate the
cable companies then. Regulation via public utility for a public service is the
only way to guarantee that these services "everyone needs" will be standardized
and that the price won't go up simply because the provider wants to make more money.
I'm sure "regulation" wasn't the point of the seminar. But it's what I was thinking
the entire time. I guess they really should check us democrats at the door.

Finally, the guy from L.G. stated that their goal is to promote ease of use, control, and lifestyle. Their goal through the use of their innovations is to give time back to the consumer.

All of the panelists agree on one thing. The need for Smart Home technologies is not just for the super rich. It is for everyone. Everyone will benefit from all of this and they want the companies to come together and create a standard so that everything will be compatible with everything else.

Then they started taking questions. Of course, you can count on me to bring up the uncomfortable question. And it did make the panelists jump a bit and caused the Qualcomm guy to utter, "I think I need to answer this question carefully."

The digital lifestyle ecosystem. It's a chart that shows how just paying
for cable leads to so many other roads, i.e., computer access, television,
movie rentals, game rentals, security, social networking, etc. Cable is
the doorway by which all things Smart Home will soon be possible.

I asked this, "If you are sitting up there saying that we all need these, I agree. This is even more true of the people that I help on a daily basis who have no ability to care for themselves without a care provider being around. So I ask you this: do you foresee the government coming in and regulating this industry just like a public utility? Would you oppose this? If you are saying that Smart Home Technology is a public service, then the price of those that offer it, i.e., Comcast or Xfinity needs to have price regulation just like a utility. In order for them to raise their prices, they should have to petition the government to be allowed to do so. Do you agree or disagree?"

There was a bit of "avoiding my question." It was their opinion that the only "regulation" that would need to take place revolves around privacy as they would be collecting massive amounts of information on consumers living in these homes in order to provide them with the best services. But other kinds of "regulation" might stifle innovation. Meh, that sounded a lot like a capitalist excuse.

Wednesday night, I attended the best show I've seen in Vegas yet. It's called Absinthe and it was at Caesar's Palace. It's in a very intimate setting and is for adults only. There's swearing, nudity, profanity, and audience members get randomly picked on by a foul-mouthed ring leader. But the Russian and Polish acrobats are not only gorgeous, but so close you can reach out and touch them. They even high five you during the show. Admittedly, I was in the front row.

If you like adult material (if you like my books basically), and watch rated-R
movies, go see this show in Vegas. It's truly a five star act. F*cking incredible
I might add. There's eye-candy for every sexuality IN SPADES.

All I remember from this night is blue eyes, a chiseled narrow nose, pronounced Adam's apple, and mousy brown hair...a Russian so beautiful, I'm speechless. I guess "Yay, Vegas!" applies because I'm glad for all those who escape from Putin's grasp. I just hope America treats them well. They certainly put in the hard work. I'm still in awe from the sheer display of strength that I saw only a few feet away. Guys doing hand stands thirty feet in the air with only one arm, girls getting slung around by their necks, and a high wire act without a net involving two guys carrying a third who balanced on top of a chair that was balanced on top of a pole. He almost fell, but caught himself. It was nerve wracking. None of them couldn't have been older than 30. And they performed many of their acts shirtless (girls included and one married man got titties rubbed on his face for you alpha males out there). She was oiled up too (and glistening). I think I'm going to write a Russian into my books. After this show, I don't see how I could avoid that.

This is a video someone uploaded on YouTube. I saw this from a few feet away in the front row. Crazy chair guy is so athletic, it's silly.

If you have the time, please go and visit Melissa's Imaginarium as she is kind enough to support me on my book tour today. You can find the link HERE.

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Consumer Electronics Show 2013 Day One

My first day at C.E.S. was full of all kinds of exciting things. Here are my highlights:

Dr. Wendy Walsh, Relationship Expert for CNN and author of "the 30 Day Love Detox" spoke at length about online dating. She gave advice for singles exploring a market that are looking for companionship after kids. The advice I took away: 1) Avoid a profile pic because pictures move the discussion away from a carefully crafted profile that is as detailed as possible to intrigue your soul mate. 2) Do not engage in email exchange as words invite the other party to extend their own perceptions about you as a person before you meet in person (possibly setting up disappointment). If you are interested, arrange a quick meet and greet at a coffee shop with the intention of progressing to a first date. 3) Older people are looking to find connections later in their life and embracing technology to rediscover interests that were put aside to raise family.

Panelists at the Silvers Summit

Eric Taub, writer for the New York Times, moderated a panel with current developers of SmartHome technologies. For those of you who don't know smart home technologies, it's where you can go in and have all your environmental controls, lights, and habitat controlled by something as simple as voice. The next step in this is to develop a digital means to monitor life signs or to even predict dangerous falls. All of this stuff is ideal on a bottomless budget (i.e. the 1%), but the fact is, most people won't have the access to the kinds of funds to make this a reality. There's a push by people to get Medicare to pay for all of these Smart Home innovations, which pushes the tax burden onto the american tax payer. But hey, seniors live longer so they can draw more social security, which causes medicare expenses to go up to keep them alive, and medicare and social security continue their never-ending dance with one another until people are 140 years old and still alive drawing down money and entitlements. It's really quite interesting.

I can't tell you which pavilion is more magnificent between Sony's and LG.
The LG Pavilion was filled with 3D ultra HD television sets so sharp, it's like
real life. Sony's debuted its new 4K television sets that were simply incredible.

Justin Rattner, the CTO for Intel, spoke about working with Stephen Hawking. Intel worked with the world famous astrophysicist who is paralyzed, yet still able to do things like advanced calculus in his head. Anyway, Intel went to Cambridge and studied his facial gestures of which he has three: a cheek twitch, an eyebrow raise, and a mouth raise. They want to make computers more accessible for older folks or for people (like Hawking) who really struggle with the technology because they are "differently-abled." You may find this interesting: Hawking can only do one word per minute. When you hear him speak at conferences or to respond to someone's question, that's all been done beforehand so you don't have to wait for him to answer you. The same goes for his writing...all done one word per minute via a word prediction program that tracks his eye twitch and/or movement. So what's coming? Well they're going to eliminate passwords. Intel wants to go to palm secure authentication. Skin is transparent at certain wavelengths of light, so they intend to put an emitter on a computer that can read the infrared structure of your palm. So basically, they want all computers to be more secure through better biometrics.

Finally, Nick Pudar, VP of Planning and Development with OnStar told us of the plans coming for self-autonomous cars. First off, Audi, Toyota, and GM will have them within two years. He said that within our lifetime, you will have to go to Disneyland to actually drive a car. By taking away the responsibility from consumers and employing the use of a bionic eye, more lives will be saved. It's all about safety and how the car manufacturers are taking steps to prevent automobile deaths. When they took questions, I don't think they were prepared for mine. I kinda got that "Who let the Democrat in this seminar?" look. What question would poor old Mike ask you might say? Well it went something like this: "So if cars can drive themselves, what happens to the millions of drivers who have jobs and families that depend on that income?" The answer: "Well, we think there will be resistance to this notion, but those people will be unemployed and have to find other work." So yet again...technology in America destroys jobs.

After C.E.S. got out, I went to see the Jersey Boys at the Paris Hotel and Casino. I absolutely loved it. I'll have to do a review later as this blog post is already too long. But here's a video from another show, and it's pretty much what you get at the Las Vegas one. The singing was incredible, and I knew nothing of Frankie Valli but now I'm a fan. It's just really interesting to me how four guys with such incredible talent can randomly coalesce/find each other. Who wouldn't like guys that have voices like angels?

Have a great Wednesday.

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