The third day of Spring Comdex opened with an odd keynote address by CNN founder Ted Turner and Oracle CEO Larry Ellison. Turner announced CNN Custom News, a joint venture between CNN and Oracle that became available today for free. The service will personalize content from CNN and over 100 other services.
"We will give you what you want, when you want it," Mrs. Fonda said.
Apparently, the demo of the service was a disaster, which did not amuse the volatile Turner.
"I was worried it wouldn't be ready. Someday it will work...You're not doing a very good job \[with the demo\]," he said to Ellison. "We should have practiced. We keep this up Larry, and both our stocks are going to fall."
Other than some Ellison jabs at Microsoft, the keynote didn't generate much of a positive response. Not that I witnessed this personally: I was once again back at the hotel in bed, seemingly suffering from a sleeping disorder. My morning went something like this:
"Get up, time for breakfast."
"Hrrrmmmm"
"We're leaving now, get up."
"Hrrrmmmm"
"We'll bring you back something."
"Hrrrmmmm"
"We brought back something."
"Hrrrmmmm"
"Your breakfast is cold now."
"Hrrrmmmm"
You probably get the idea. In any event, once I'd convinced the guys from Wugnet that I have an infinite capacity for sleep, I finally rolled out the door around one in the afternoon, just in time to head for the airport. While the show itself was lamer than some recent shows, like Fall Comdex and Seybold, I had a great time. Atlanta is truly a beautiful city, despite the Peachtree thing (see yesterday's WinInfo for details)