John de Guzmán

I got CNN.com to give me real news!

I have the hardest time finding news on CNN.com. Check this out:

Can you find news there? Barely. Let’s take a look. Is there news here?

Not really. How about here?

Well, I’m interested in student load debt rising and N. Korea. They sure are buried with fluff, though…

What about THIS CNN, though?

Holy moly. That’s… news I’ll visit. Lots of Syria coverage. Let’s take a look at other sections of the page. I want to read these featured articles:

And these headlines? They flip the what-I’ll-read to fluff ratio from the previous version:

The new version seems like news to me. Maybe that’s just because I grew up overseas.

So, what did I do? I changed my region on CNN.com to “International.” Ah, feels like home.

I’m keeping it here.

(Source: CNN)

Apple’s Going to Change TV

The Apple TV, a small $99 box that hooks into your TV and pulls content from iTunes and has apps… kinda like a, well, a stationary iPhone… has been a “hobby” for Apple since 2007. Even though just a hobby, Apple’s sold 2.7 million so far in 2012. Rumors have been circulating that Apple would be getting into the TV hardware business, a business that currently has tiny margins (even losses) for manufacturers.

Apple would only get involved if there’s money.

Which means, if Apple does start making a TV, they’d have a game-changing revenue plan up their sleeve. They always have a plan. I remember when they cut the price of the iPhone to $200. When Steve Jobs announced that, the crowd at the Apple event groaned assuming Apple revenue and the stock price would crash. He smirked and said, essentially, “Trust us. We know what we’re doing.”

Is Apple getting into the hardware business? Well, five years ago when Steve Jobs announced the iPhone he said, “No one likes their phone. We want to build a phone people like.” (paraphrased)

Tim Cook, Apple’s current CEO, was interviewed by All Things D this week. He said, “Can we make a [TV] product that we all want? … Those are all the things we would ask about any new product category.” If that’s a yes, which I think it is given how they could use iTunes, apps and the 300 million+ iOS devices in market to expand/augment the TV experience, you’ll be seeing Apple TV’s on apple.com by next year. They’ll fly off shelves, change TV as we know it and other OEM’s will take years to catch up.

Portion size - 1950’s vs. now.

My… goodness.

#Titra’s my office crush. I tweet about her.

Facebook’s purchase of Instagram

Easter Memory

Around 10 yrs ago, I was visiting grandparents in Boston with my girlfriend at the time. I made breakfast for my grandparents and came back to the room to see if my lady was awake. She was. She was smiling on the bed. She had put Easter candy all over our room and gave me a card so sweet I wanted to eat it.

Make someone feel special today.

Look, a vegan!!

A friend posted on facebook that he was trying a vegan diet. One of his friends commented:

Dude!! Tell me u r not going vegan!!! First of all as a Texan, that makes u a disgrace. Secondly, go online and in real life and look at vegans. Have u really seen any that look “healthy”?!?! Our teeth r meant for meat and veggies, not just veggies!! ;)

Now, I was vegan for 4 years, and have been a vegetarian for 12. If anyone is looking to build a vegetarian/vegan line-up to see how incredibly weak we are, let me know. I’m available, and I can pick up a fridge.

What really surprises me about this is insinuating that vegans are a rare breed, like Big Foot. “Look up the Loch Ness monster on the internet!” “Look up what gays are on the internet!” “Look up what redheads are on the internet!”

This friend and I live in NYC. Everyone’s around you. Every opinion, lifestyle… to think you’d have to look anything “up” is insanity. Vegans aren’t lying on our bedroom floors, too tired to get up. We actually participate in society, just like pediatricians, drug lords, teachers, chimney sweeps, dummies. (Wait, they all could be vegan, too!)

Finally, this guy has no idea why people go vegetarian or vegan. In some cases it’s for medical reasons. Sometimes, it’s for environmental concerns. Sometimes people just don’t want to eat a carcass. To insinuate that makes someone a “disgrace…” Well, I don’t even have to comment on that.

Now, I know I’m being a voyeur into two friend’s conversation, albeit it a public conversation, but that’s not an isolated sentiment. I’ve heard it too many times, and it’s just dumb.

Rachel Maddow on her depression

Here’s a quote from Rachel Maddow on Terry Gross’ Fresh Air.

Ever since puberty, ever since I was 11 or 12, I’ve had cyclical depression. That’s something that has been a defining feature of my life as an adult. It’s manageable. But it’s real. And it doesn’t take away from my joy or my work or my energy, but coping with depression is something that is part of the everyday way that I live and have lived for as long as I can remember.

Depression for me, you can’t distract your way out of it. I think people can understand the difference if you’ve never been depressed you can still understand the difference between sadness and depression. The opposite of love isn’t hate, it’s indifference. And the opposite of happiness isn’t necessarily sadness, it’s disconnection. When you are depressed, it’s like the rest of the world is the mother ship, and you’re out there on a little pod and your line gets cut and you don’t connect with anything. You sort of disappear. And so it’s not something you can talk-therapy out of. It’s really a chemical thing. You get adrenaline from work, but adrenaline is not a cure.

It’s hard to explain depression, but that’s a really good attempt.

(Source: NPR)

Geraldo Rivera’s What Not To Wear

Geraldo Riveras What Not to Wear

I took Ambien and tweeted

KFC Ad

Here is the first sentence for a real KFC ad:

Today at KFC, get our freshly delivered whole chicken freshly prepared by real cooks with our own secret recipes. 

Congrats on trying to debunk 5 rumors in one sentence.

Methinks thou doth protest too much.