BoomTown » consumer electronics

For Shame: The Congo Nightmare Continues

Kara Swisher — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 16:09:18 +0000

Eve Ensler, playwright, activist and creator of V-Day, appeared at the the seventh D: All Things Digital conference in late May to talk about the links between what goes into making mobile phones and human rights violations.

There, Ensler (pictured above) shed much needed light on the dire situation in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, where some of the worst atrocities are now being committed on the population in a terrible civil war.

She predicted it would get worse without massive international intervention.

Tragically, she was right.

Yesterday, the Washington Post reported that rapes of women were escalating dramatically–if that is even possible considering past devastation–in the Congo.

Reported the Post:

“An already staggering epidemic of rape has become markedly worse since the January deployment of tens of thousands of poorly trained, poorly paid Congolese soldiers, with people in front-line villages such as this one saying the soldiers are not so much hunting rebels as hunting women.”

It follows another recent report by the New York Times about the rise of rapes of men too.

Today, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was in the Congo, where she unveiled a $17 million plan to battle sexual violence in the country.

She said the situation was “evil in its basest form”

Ensler’s aim is to end the use of rape as a weapon of war there, which is, in part, a consequence of the region’s coltan trade. Coltan, or columbite tantalite, is a mineral essential to the manufacture of a wide array of consumer electronics, such as mobile phones and laptops.

Clinton mentioned these “conflict minerals” during her visit.

To learn more about a shameful situation that needs immediate attention, I urge you to watch the video interview from D7 with me, which you can see in its entirety below.

And then visit the V-Day site on the dire situation in the Congo to learn what you can do to help.

Here is the Ensler interview:

[ See post to watch video ]

What Hath Flip Wrought?–The Ghoul Edition

Kara Swisher — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:06:27 +0000

Earlier this week, BoomTown pointed out how Cisco (CSCO) Chairman and CEO John Chambers was captured doing duck calls on the Flip digital video camera, made by the start-up his company bought in March for $590 million.

That was an adorable use of the consumer electronics device. But in the not-so-cute department, I submit this photo above.

Sitting next to her boss, Barbara Walters, an ABC producer used it to ghoulishly take shots of the kids of pop legend Michael Jackson memorial service on Monday.

Noted the TMZ celebrity news site:

“During last night’s ‘20/20′ Michael Jackson special, Walters showcased footage shot by an ABC producer sitting next to her at the memorial. The video captures Katherine Jackson and Michael’s kids two rows in front of Barbara watching the service–despite the fact that tickets to the event clearly state ‘no camera/video/recording.’”

While readers of this blog know I am all for annoying execs with the Flip treatment, pointing and shooting at what is essentially a funeral service, given how much video was available already of those kids (already being sadly overexposed, but that’s another issue): Yuk.

Here is a link on the TMZ of the video in use by Walters.

[Photo courtesy of Getty Images.]

Plastic Logic: The Full D7 Demo

Kara Swisher — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 21:11:32 +0000

Reading books and newspapers on a handheld device has gotten to be a hot arena in the consumer electronics business, especially after the introduction of the Kindle from Amazon (AMZN).

Plastic Logic will come on the market next year with its e-reader offering. So, the Silicon Valley-based company gave a sneak preview of the device, including a first look at the gadget’s innovative touchscreen user interface at the seventh D: All Things Digital conference.

Look ma, no keyboard!

In all seriousness, the controversies around how content is going to be paid for and delivered have been growing over the last year, as media companies struggle to reinvent troubled business models.

Here’s the full D7 demo to Walt Mossberg and me:

[ See post to watch video ]

V-Day Founder Eve Ensler: The Full D7 Session

Kara Swisher — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 07:21:16 +0000

As founder of a global movement to end violence against women and girls, Eve Ensler has long been focused on human rights issues across the world.

Onstage in an interview at the seventh D: All Things Digital conference, she shed much-needed light on the dire situation in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, where some of the worst atrocities are now being committed on the population in a terrible civil war.

It is well worth hearing about exactly how some of our everyday gadgets come to us at a terrible price.

Here is the video of the full D7 session:

[ See post to watch video ]

The Entire D6 Interview With Sony's Sir Howard Stringer (1 of 4)

Kara Swisher — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 07:01:52 +0000

We’re posting all the interviews from the sixth D: All Things Digital conference that took place in late May.

Unfortunately, due to issues too complicated to go into, we have to post all the D6 interviews in several 15-minute parts (I know, I know).

But–as many readers have requested–they will all be available in their entirety in this column.

Here’s Part 1 of 4 of an interview Walt Mossberg did with Sony Chairman and CEO Sir Howard Stringer. (I am posting one video part of the discussion with Stringer every day this week, starting today and concluding Friday.)

The consumer electronics giant has been under enormous pressure to innovate and compete better in all its many businesses and still has not proved Sony (SNE) can knit them all together into a cogent whole.

In this video, Stringer talks about how Sony has been recovering from recent troubled times, the challenges of the television business, what’s next for screen technology (think thin) and the prospects for Sony’s huge PlayStation gaming franchise.

[ See post to watch video ]