Last week in Toronto, Amber MacArthur very kindly asked me to co-host her video podcast, Command-N. I'm on episode 73 - take a peek at CommandN.tv. Dang, we used to be pretty good together! I think both of us really hope to work together on TV again. Until then, there's always our live podcast net@nite.
It may seem a little like Big Brother, but these kiosks were a very early attempt to break down the barriers between TV news and its viewers. This was before the web. There's still a kiosk outside the CHUMCity building at 299 Queen St West in Toronto, but this is the original inside the building. Amber took Merlin, Steve Gibson, and me on a tour and I really felt like we were seeing TV history.
As most of you know by now, James Kim died trying to save his family. I know how much he loved them, and as a father myself, I know he did everything he could to ensure their survival, even if it meant risking his own life. I'm sure he'd be content knowing his loved ones made it, even though he didn't.
James was a loving husband and father, a wonderful co-worker, and a young man just full of life. We'll all miss him very much.
If you'd like to help the Kim family now, you'll find information at JamesAndKati.com.
James's co-workers at C|NET have put together a tribute video.
We'll be dedicating future episodes of Call for Help to his memory, and we'll be talking about him in this week's TWiT.
Just posted on CNET at 2:17P Pacific...
The wife and daughters of missing CNET senior editor James Kim have been found alive and airlifted to a local hospital, authorities announced at a press conference in Merlin, Ore., Monday afternoon.
James Kim left the car on snowshoes two days ago to seek help and has not been found. The search for him continues.
According to the official speaking at the news conference, the conditions of Kati, Penelope and Sabine are not yet known. More details are expected at a press conference at 5 p.m. PST.
No word on James - but we're praying for him!
I just received this disturbing news. If any of you knows anything please help...
CNET editor and former Fresh Gear contributor and Lab analyst James Kim has been missing since Saturday. ANY word, especially from people in the Oregon area is appreciated. The information is all below from the official investigation by the SFPD.
Missing Family Includes: James, Kati, Penelope (age 4.5) and Sabine (6 months). Last name is Kim
Overview: The Kim Family left San Francisco on November 17th on a road trip to the Pacific Northwest. They had Thanksgiving in Seattle with family and then drove to Portland. They were last seen by their friends in Portland whom they had brunch with on Saturday, November 25. According to their friends, their plans were to drive out to the town of Gold Beach on the Oregon Coast and then make their way back to San Francisco. James was expected back at work on Tuesday, November 28th. When no one had heard from him by Wednesday morning employees at the Kims' two stores and his colleagues at CNET began to make phone calls to his family and friends to inquire of his whereabouts. Presently, the SFPD is investigating the case.
The family was last heard from at around 5:45 PM on Saturday. A hotel clerk at the Tu Tu Tun lodge in Gold Beach, Oregon took a call from James. He said he was about five hours away. The hotel clerk said she would leave the keys out for them as the lobby would be closed after 10. The keys were still in the same place the next morning. The clerk believes James referred to being near Salem, Oregon at the time. They were driving a 2005 silver Saab station wagon with California personalized plates of “DOESF”.
More details and pictures of the family are available on CNET's Crave Blog.
If you know anything about James' whereabouts, you can contact the SFPD by calling 415-558-5508 during normal business hours and 415-553-1071 after hours.
Sorry to be such a laggard in posting. I have a bunch of items to put up - but I've been so busy I haven't had a moment to do it. Just to keep things fresh here's a video version of the TWiT network sounder that the Pixel Corps just worked up. Sorry about the poor quality - Vox is compressing it something awful. You can see it in all its 1080p glory on the new episode of MacBreak coming out later today.
Thanks to Karl Hassenfratz and the Motion Graphics Team at the Pixel Corps for a brilliant job!
Things were so bad at the height of the Great Depression that the best minds believed democracy had failed. Alter makes a convincing case that FDR saved democracy with the New Deal. He may well have also saved Europe from the Nazis. One man, in the right place, at the right time, can make a difference.
Worth reading concurrently: Phillip K. Dick's The Man In The High Castle - a fantasy novel that begins with the premise that Roosevelt was assassinated by Giuseppe Zangara days before taking office (it very nearly happened), the US lost the war, and the Nazis and Japanese run the world. It takes place in 1962, after the Nazis have drained the Mediterranean, razed Africa, and split the US down the middle with the Japanese. What might have been had Roosevelt failed.
