We here at Southwest Printers was given the opportunity through the Xerox Corp. to attend the "Innovation Power Panel" keynote at the Hilton Theatre. Aside from the fact that the Hilton which is now not the Hilton but sports the new and totally uninspired name of the Las Vegas Hotel, The innovation panel, made up of Ursula Burns the Chairman and CEO of Xerox Corp., Alan Mulally president and CEO of Ford Motor Co., John Stratton, President of Verizon Enterprise Solutions and hosted by CEA President and CEO Gary Shapiro was for me was quite motivating.

It is always very interesting to listen to the people who were instrumental in turning around their respective companies from the brink of irrelevence to thriving, innovative and competitive entities. Ms. Burns and Mr Mulally in particular had very inspirational stories to tell, and I only wish that the time had not ended so quickly which is unusual for me since normally I find events such as this rather dull and often find myself squirming in my seat wishing I had sat closer to the door. This was not the case this time.

After exiting the theatre I found myself cought in a seamingly endless train of people all focused on getting over to the show. Once inside I wandered around looking for something that truly excited me. Keep in mind that I am a tech type guy and not much seems to amaze me when it comes to technology, so it was no wonder that I had a hard time finding anything that truly got me going. I have to admit here that I did not have all that much time and did not get to all the venues however, seeing how the Las Vegas Convention Center is the largest venue I think I got a really good sample. Having seen all the press releases and product announcements, I didn't really see anything really exciting and by new I mean NEW as in never been seen before, game changing, totally will blow you away new.

In an article on cnet by Jennifer Guevin entitled "What Mattered Most on CES Day 2" she tried to point out the most important things that mattered on that day but what she actually ended up doing in giving you the impression that there was nothing and she struggled to find anything at all to write about because there was nothing, nothing at all to talk about or write about. So what was there at CES 2012 Day 2,1 & 3 & 4 ? Well technologically speaking there was nothing really new, just the same old things repackaged, resized, 3D-ified, faster, wider, taller, smaller, flatter, thinner, bigger, better, have it this way, have it that way, have it your way....just anything but truly new and innovative...that thing that makes you say WOW !!!

Don't get me wrong here I loved the show and in fact one of the products I loved the most is one which is not new or changed very much at all. It is the A.R. Drone by Parrot. We at Southwest Printers and me in particular just love this thing. I want one.

In fact there were numerous products that I liked even if they were not game changers and one of those that is or will be influencial is the LG Cimema 3D OLED which is basically just a piece of glass and almost no frame to speak of and is only about 1/4" thick and a bezel width of about 1mm and was the CNET best of show award winner for 2012.

It's possible that I am being just a bit too synical and maybe next year there will be some magical product that just knocks your socks off and says "Here I Am !!". So are we just going to be followers and evolutionaries or are we still innovators and creators of the new and the WOW ! ?

Special thanks to Jeff at Xerox for making this possible for me.

Over the past two or three months I have received no less than two dozen emails from my local gas utility telling me that I could help save the environment and help stop global warming by discontinuing paper statements in favor of having my statements emailed. At first, I ignored these annoying emails but after giving it some thought I decided that I should do something to try to set the record straight on this topic. So I composed an email stating a few facts, which I also printed out and mailed (after hunting down a stamp).

The point of my  letter was simply to inform them that it is a rather difficult stretch of the imagination to try to make the case that printed material will somehow harm the environment when in fact just the opposite is true. It is actually fairly easy, armed with just a few facts to make the case that printed material is good for the environment and therefore the use of paper products should be ecouraged not discouraged.

Facts such as:

1. Print is recycleable - roughly 64% of paper in the us is recycled.
2. Waste makes paper - According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency "one third of fiber used in paper comes from wood-chip and sawmill scrap and another third from recycled paper.
3. Forests are Replenished - There is financial incentive to replenish forests rather than sell it for redevelopment or convert it for other uses. So in fact when you use paper you actually help to grow more trees. More info.
4. 56% of U.S. forest land is privately owned and these private land owners plant 4 million trees every day which is 3-4 times more than is harvested. There is an excellent Wall Street Journal article by Chuck Leavell which may be downloaded here.

As of yet I have not recevied any response from my gas utility.

Mike