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Me Want Some Sezmi

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sezmiNot happy with your cable TV? Maybe Sezmi has the answer for you.

Sezmi is a startup company with a new kind of TV service. According to Sezmi’s website, their goal is “to redefine the television experience with the first-ever personal television system.” But what does Sezmi really have to offer?

Some of the features they have to offer include:

*An extensive on-demand library of TV shows and movies – TV shows available include current and past seasons.
*Integrates TV and the internet – You can browse on YouTube and while watching a TV show.
*Personalized Sezmi remote – A special remote control that allows each person to set their own preferences and viewing patterns for their own profiles.
*Integrated DVR – Sezmi can automatically record shows for you on its hard drive. Can record up to 1,000 hours.

So what’s the catch?

The catch is that right now it is still in trial-mode in Los Angeles. If you live in Los Angeles and has a broadband connection at home make sure to go to their website to see if you qualify for the free 3-month trial period. If you end up not liking the Sezmi system you can return their equipment after the trial period at no cost. Participants of the free trial who end up liking the Sezmi get to keep their Sezmi system for half the introductory price.

Each Sezmi system includes an HD Media Recorder, HD TV Reception System, remote control and all the necessary cables.

Women in even more Peril in TV

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women in perilThe Parents Television Council (PTC) has reported that the number of “storylines depicting violence against females are increasing”. Now I have to say that I am all for awareness. However, the TV shows have also been depicting these violence in a more graphic way, blurring the line between helping raise awareness and desensitizing viewers to violence against women, or worse, trivializing the whole issue.

According to Tim Winter, PTC’s president, “Our new research points to a disturbing trend: by depicting violence against women with increasing frequency, or as a trivial, even humorous matter, the broadcast networks may ultimately be contributing to a desensitized atmosphere in which people view aggression and violence directed at women as normative, even acceptable.”

Here are their major findings:

Violence, irrespective of gender, on television increased only 2% from 2004 to 2009, while incidents of violence against women increased 120% during that same period.

1. Every network but ABC demonstrated a significant increase in the number of storylines that included violence against women between 2004 and 2009. (Hooray for ABC!)

2. Although female victims were primarily of adult age, collectively, there was a 400% increase in the depiction of teen girls as victims across all networks from 2004 to 2009.

3. Fox stood out for using violence against women as a punch line in its comedies — in particular Family Guy and American Dad — trivializing the gravity of the issue of violence against women. (Boo to Fox!)

4. From 2004 to 2009 there was an 81% increase in incidences of intimate partner violence on television.

Read the entire study “Women in Peril” here.

CNN Heroes 2009

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2009_CNN_Hero_EfrenMy head is aching a little bit and my eyes are still a bit puffy. If you watched CNN Heroes several hours ago like I did I bet you know exactly why I still have severe side effects from that awards show.

Last year when I saw CNN Heroes it wasn’t planned and just happened to tune in to CNN exactly at the middle of the show during a replay. Needless to say I was hooked. So hooked that one year later I was one of the avid viewers who clicked repeatedly on my hero hoping for a win. My hero didn’t win but I am not at all bitter because Efren Penaflorida, the hero from the Philippines who taught children Saturdays from a pushcart classroom, deserved the win just as much as any of the 10 nominees did.

If you didn’t see CNN Heroes or don’t even know what it is, it is the best awards show right now. What CNN does is it asks people to nominate ordinary people doing extraordinarily heroic things every single day. This year CNN got over 9,000 nominations out of which their blue ribbon panel selected the 10 CNN Heroes of 2009. Each of the 10 I believe deserved the to be Hero of the Year but since there can only be one I can only be happy for Mr Penaflorida and all the children his pushcart classroom will reach because of the $100,000 grant.

There are no words for the emotions and the inspiration one will feel seeing people strive to make a difference get recognition, so just make sure you see the rerun of CNN Heroes.

Goodbye to Bernard Birnbaum of CBS News

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cbs_newsCBS News has reported that award-winning CBS News producer Bernard Birnbaum passed away this Thanksgiving Day at the age of 89.

Birnbaum died from a heart attack at Stony Brook University Medical Center in Long Island. He is survived by Deborah and Amy Birnbaum (Amy has followed her father’s steps and is currently a CBS producer) as well as four grandkids.

Birnbaum is best known for his documentaries some of which include legendary specials spanning controversial and important issues and events such as the Watergate scandal (, Kennedy assassination (“CBS News Inquiry: The Warren Report” and “Who Killed Kennedy?”), the Vietnam War (“Vietnam: A War That is Finished”), and the plight of miners in Kentucky (“Christmas in Appalachia”) for which he won an Emmy. Actually, Birnbaum won 7 Emmys in all.

Some of the CBS shows that Birnbaum produced, whether as associate or senior producer, included: “CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite”,”Adventure,” “Eyewitness to History,” “The American Parade”, and “Sunday Morning.”

During his stint as CBS he served as mentor to many aspiring producers and correspondents. According to Sean McManus, CBS News and Sports President, “He always had an encouraging word and was always available to help with a problem. No one who had contact with Bernie can forget his enthusiasm as he would present some little known or forgotten treasure from the CBS News Archives – many of which he had been responsible for filming or taping.”

Before finding his niche at CBS Birbaum studied cinema at Rome, served in Italy during the World War II, and worked as a photographer in MGM Italy.

LG 15-inch AM-OLED TV

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logo-lgOLED here we go…

LG has announced it’s latest TV set – a 15-inch AM-OLED TV. OLED TV sets are pretty much the wave of the future. According to Marie-France Han and Rhee So-eui of Reuters, “Active-matrix organic light-emitting diode (AM-OLED) displays, which use self-glowing materials, have better picture quality, consume less power and are thinner than widely used liquid crystal displays (LCD) that need backlight units.” With people becoming more energy conscious by the day this is a big plus for OLED TVs, that and the fact that everyone’s always happy to get something with better picture quality.

LG’s 15-inch AM-OLED tv set is not the first of its kind with Sony having paved the way with its 11-inch OLED tv that was launched 2 years ago. But in this age where smaller is usually better, when it comes to TV screens bigger is still better. Probably this is why LG is aiming even higher by working on coming out with a 40-inch AM-OLED TV set in the “not too distant future”.

LG will be launching it’s latest product this next week in Berlin at the IFA 2009 consumer electric show. The TV set will be available in Korea by November. As for the rest of the world, we’ll have to wait till next year to get our hands on this OLED TV. Of course, you might want to sit on your current TV and wait till the 40-inch monster comes out.

Other News Around Korea

Is the Korean comfort women issue now being used as a political tool?

The dark side of South Korean pop music