The Jeff Show: Places in Paris

Moet & Chandon Cellars from Moet.com.

Between CES, Case IH, and the Bankers Life and Casualty meetings, Jeff's 2013 is off to such a busy start that he asked me to contribute a travel tip.

Now, I'm not nearly a seasoned traveler as Jeff; however, like any typical American, I find anything French intriguing. One of my favorite trips was a week in France. Here are a few of my highlights:

The Moët & Chandon Cellars (Epernay, Champagne): Roaming around this legendary Champagne's subterranean labyrinth is memorable, especially as Frenchman whip around the corners of the cellars on four-wheelers. The bubbly at the end of the tour is divine.

Père Lachaise Cemetery (Paris, France): The final resting place of over 70,000 people, famous residents include Edith Piaf, Oscar Wilde, and Jim Morrison to name a few. The monuments, famous stories and traditions range from impressive to zany to seductive. Unfortunately, I did not see any of the cemetery's fabled cats.

Le Quartier Latin (Paris, France): The Latin Quarter is an arrondissement (what Parisans call the different sections of the city) in Paris. Filled with affordable restaurants and shopping, it's fun to roam around or relax in one of the cafés. If you visit during dinnertime, you'll be able to practice your French with maitres d's who call you into the restaurants as you choose where to dine.

Jeff will be back next month with his usual savvy and humorous tips. In the meantime, what are your favorite places in France?

CES: Tech to Watch

Photo of the uChair. By Time Hornyak/CNET.

This year has been off to a busy start! Dave Ripp, Craig Vlasic, Cory Wetzell, and Rob Romadka returned from CES and had a chance to tell us about cool technology they spotted at CES and is coming to a store near you:

Televisions: "In last week's post, we talked about LG's new OLED TV. One of the most noteworthy new products spotted CES were 4K televisions. All the big brands including another one of our clients, Toshiba, were showcasing these new monitors. The resolution is roughly 4000 x 2000 (as opposed to 1920 x 1080). No matter how closely you look, pixels can no longer be seen with the naked eye making images so clear and so vibrant. Prices for these impressive screens are a little expensive to make them readily available to the general public. Based on what I saw at CES, the future of television monitors are very bright indeed. -- Rob Romadka, Project Manager

Smart Appliances: "I was amazed that LG introduced a line of smart appliances called Thinq. These appliances, including a washing machine, dryer, a refrigerator, an oven and robotic vacuum cleaner, connect to a network and allow owners to start the machine by smart phone, the machine alerts owners of problems or even allows customer service to trouble shoot problems remotely." -- Cory Wetzell, Project Manager

And the the unique - The uChair: "We've heard of standing desks and even treadmill desks. I saw the exact opposite and the ultimate work space designed for comfort, the uChair. This is a recliner chair with a split keyboard in the armrests plus extra space for a mouse." -- Dave Ripp, Project Manager

WAV Helps Introduce LG's OLED at CES

WAV Project Managers, Cory Wetzell, Craig Vlasic and Dave Ripp, kicked off 2013 by assisting LG with the release of their latest state-of-the-art TV, OLED, at the CES Show in Las Vegas, NV.

Click here to watch video of the press conference

To make the press conference a success, we used three Sony HD cameras into a Panasonic HD 400 Switcher to feed CNET, Korea, and the big main screen you see in the above image. The main screen was ultimately switched by a Screen Pro II with the feed from the Panasonic HD 400, two Playback Pro computers, and two Powerpoint computers. All the equipment used HDSDI protocol so that the images were all in HD.

Now, you're probably wondering: what is an OLED TV? Named for the high tech material used in the screen, OLED means organic light-emitting diode. Unlike traditional, synthetic LEDs (light-emitting diodes), OLED uses an organic substance that glows when an electric current is introduced. This revolutionary material is part of new design approach that drastically reduces the thickness and weight of the TV. OLED is available for a cool $12K, and you can learn more about it here.