The Writers Workbench: IFA Berlin

As I've mentioned a few times around these parts, I was recently in Berlin for the IFA tech trade show.  I just finished my looooooooong write-up of the show, and put it on the Huffingotn Post.

What I've noted in the past is that the reasons I post my "The Writers Workbench" columns on the Huffington Post rather than here is because they require a lot of individual coding, and it's just a real pain to do it twice.  So, to make life oh-so-much easier, I just provide the link here.

(By the way, for those wary of such things, just know that almost the first half of the article has to do solely with the oddity of the general show itself and such home-friendly products as coffee machines, refrigerators, and vacuum cleaners.  And even in the supposedly "techie" part, it starts with a long look at Samsung's SmartWatch.  So...I think the water is fine, at least for dipping in your big toe and testing.)

But as a bonus for your fine folks, I'll include a couple of photos and very brief tales that didn't make it into the loooooooooong article.  (Yes, I know it will shock you that I actually edited that epic and left things out.)

This below is at the booth for Miele, a major German home appliance company.  And in it, you'll see one of the fine past times of IFA -- taking photos and sucking up to the company executives.  This picture was taken on the Press Conference Days.  That's before they open the door to the general public.  You can tell this because there is actually a lot of room to walk around.

And this below doesn't do justice to what was probably the strangest, bordering-on-creepiest press conferences at the show.  Or any that I've ever been to.

It was for Sony, and the room was jam-packed to the point of uncomfortable.  As you stood in line to get in and neared the door, you could hear this maniacal, rhythmic clapping and cheering.  I had no idea what in the world what was going on.  It turned out that when you entered, the entranceway was lined with probably at least 100 Sony employees, periodically breaking into this clapping and cheering when people arrived.  It was like being at a cross between a religious revival meeting and a gathering of Amway salespeople.  The enthusiasm was certainly endearing -- except that forced enthusiasm is anything but, and it sort of made you feel like if you said the wrong thing (like "Toshiba") you might get attacked and beaten to death.  But since that didn't happen, it was nice to be welcomed.

Anyway, again, the full article is here.