Before my first solo, cross-country road trip, I Googled to see if I could find an inflatable likeness of Bill Gates — for grins, to access HOV lanes and for companionship. … Never found a pseudo Bill. But last week, I found something better, at least in the mobile companionship category.
Guillory, Good Sport
One of my favorite wireless gadgets at the Consumer Electronics Show, CES, in Vegas was the technology called CruiseCast from AT&T. To enjoy, you simply mount an antennae device on the top of your vehicle, join and pay a monthly fee for video and audio programming beamed straight to your auto. (The antennae is about the size of a turntable.) It offers satellite music, movies and best of all, up-to-the second television news coverage — anywhere where there are satellites overhead.
And I got the impression that CruiseCast was totally in sync with my mobile lifestyle. First, I read their sign dangling from the CES rafters. “AT&T CruiseCast Tailgate Party,” it boasted. Well … for the aforementioned road trip, guess where I conducted my very first press conference … yes … from a tailgate on the side of the interstate. Second, I checked out their demo vehicle in the Vegas booth. It was a charcoal gray, Toyota Highlander. Ha … guess what I drive today! The same.
So great minds think alike … or perhaps the planets aligned … or something bigger than the two of us was at work when I pulled aside Winston Guillory, president of RaySat to talk about his company’s partnership with AT&T in CruiseCast.
They Ride With CruiseCast
Guillory is a polite, engaging and knowledgeable fellow, but the conversation was pretty much “nuts and bolts” — at first.
Yoel Gat is the founder of the two-year-old company, RaySat Broadcasting Company, which was formed to partner with AT&T CruiseCast. The company is privately held. The service will include 22 video channels and 20 music channels and is scheduled to launch in March.
So … the first thing I wanted to know, as an entrepreneur, how in the world did they get a foot in the door with the empire that is AT&T?
“I think you have to have a great idea and a great solution,” Guillory said. “And you have to hit the demographics of some of the customers AT&T wants to go after — long-term consumers. So it was a match made in heaven.”
I know why I would want the service — to watch “The Sopranos” on the road, since I travel so much. What’s that, Tony and the family have been off the air for two years? See … I need this. Others will too.
PingMobile Sans Satellite
Guillory explained, “If you have young kids, or teens or ‘tweens’ — puting this equipment in the back for any trip that is 20 to 30 minutes or longer … you are going to say ‘Man, why didn’t I have this before?’.”
He said CruiseCast programming will focus on family entertainment, for example Disney Channel-type content, MTV products, sports programming, Animal Planet, Learning Channel, Discovery … and for the adults — news programming.
But, don’t get any big ideas. It is illegal in most, if not all, states to watch video programming in the front seat of an auto. But, of course, one might listen to their favorite show from the back while driving. You can also listen to genre music channels — ’60s, ’70s, ’80s, ’90s, light jazz …
Guillory said there are 200 units on the road, spread out around the country in a “friends and family” program, which is collecting consumer information.
“We’re collecting data from those customers today to see how they’re using it. What the uptime is with the system. How the buffering of the system works.”
He said CruiseCast has a unique three-minute buffering capability, to avoid any jumps or clips in programming if reception is momentarily disrupted.
And that’s when it happened … the interview was momentarily disrupted. Yes … “welcome to the geeky world of CES”. Some gentleman walked right through the interview and expelled a toxic mist of intestinal origin. I believe “cropdusting” is the term to describe this sort of rude behavior in that joke page that is circulating the Internet.
Can you believe that? I was appalled, and obviously taken off guard, so right there in the middle of the interview I asked Guillory to ignore the fact that someone just passed gas in our general direction. Ha … I thought the moment required some levity, so I told him “I assumed it was not him.”
Awkward silence …
And on that note, the interview was over.
Here is the link, so that you can read on in the safety of your own home:
http://www.cruisecast.com/channel.html
Can you believe that?
Well … let me tell you Guillory is a good sport. He finished up some other “more conventional” interviews and talked for a few more minutes. And this time I was ready. I fired up the video camera. In the event that there might be any more flyby attacks, I was going to get the sick perpetrator on tape.
Know what I sayin?
