Heart's DeZire

Tomorrow on The Screen Savers I'm going to do my weekly Leo's Pick. This week I'll demo the new Palm Zire 71. It's the nicest Palm yet with a 320x320 16-bit transflective screen, 144 mhz ARM processor, 16 MB of RAM, an SD expansion slot, and a VGA camera and all for just $299. The camera isn't the best, but it's good enough for quick shots. Here are some I took on the set today for the demo tomorrow.

Kevin pretends to be busy	Kristina DeNike (Roman's wife) with their new baby
Patrick, Fu, Yoshi, and I gather to review questions	Yoshi says this shirt makes him look fat. No way!
Prager pretending to be busy	Sarah strikes a pose
Patrick wields a mean Sawzall	The beast with three backs

It just goes to show you that the picture is more important than the quality of the camera.

Woz Hosts

Patrick's taking the rest of the week off. Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak will co-host The Screen Savers Wednesday, 5/20. Kevin Rose co-hosts on Thursday, and Martin Sargent co-hosts Friday in his farewell appearance on the show. His new show, Unscrewed, debuts Monday 5/26 at 11p Eastern. Make sure to tune in for Marty's final list: the top five reasons why he can't stay on The Screen Savers.

Less sexy, more filling

I've been getting a lot of email about the lack of re-runs for The Screen Savers. There's nothing I can do about it, folks. Management already knows what I think. You need to let them know what you think. Sign Mike Demers's online petition and email feedback@techtv.com. TechTV's programmers don't believe help shows like The Screen Savers and Call for Help belong in prime time. I guess we've become the public affairs programming of TechTV: the shows they have to do but don't really like. It's part of the general sea change at the channel. They tell me it's necessary as the network matures. I can understand the need to turn a profit. And supposedly the new sexier, edgier programming is aimed at a younger demographic that's more appealing to advertisers. It does make me feel like a little bit of an old shoe, however. Well, I'm going to just keep on doing what I do for as long as someone will watch. I may not be edgy, sexy, and youthful, but I do look good in a kilt. Wait a minute. That's Patrick. Never mind.

Up On The Roof

Call for Help and The Screen Savers are dark today. We take one of these or so per month so the staff can catch up. I stayed home to shoot my segment for the Digital Digs series which will air the week of June 16. Patrick, Yoshi, Kevin, and I are souping up our homes - digitally. Sarah is hosting each of the field segments. My project was to install a WiFi antenna to boost the signal from my house so I could work anywhere on the property, including our old barn. At one point Sarah got on my roof with the video crew. I was down below with my laptop testing the signal strength, but I couldn't resist snapping this picture of them.
Santa Lane

The Stars of ZDTV

Sumi Das's last day was Thursday. She's heading to a reporting job at MSNBC. That leaves Adam Sessler and me as the last original show hosts from the very first days of ZDTV. (Michaela joined the channel after only a month or so due to visa difficulties.) I'm beginning to feel like Kurt Loder. Hey it could be worse, I could be Mark Goodman. (How many of the original MTV VJs can you name?). The good news is that everyone who has left the channel has moved on to bigger and better things. Here are the original, and now dearly departed, hosts of ZDTV on May 11, 1998 as best as I can remember.

• Jim Louderback and Sumi Das, Fresh Gear
• Lauren Fielder, Gamespot TV
• Scott Herriott, Ed Marques (The Surf Guru) and SuChin Pak, Internet Tonight
• Carmine Gallo, Money Machine
• Kate Botello, The Screen Savers and Tilde
• John C. Dvorak, Silicon Spin
• Victoria Recaño, ZDTV News

Am I missing anybody? There were hundreds of other people behind the scenes, of course, many of whom have also left. About a dozen or so of us old timers are still around, although no one has been around as long as I have. Today begins my 10th year with ZDTV/TechTV. That's the longest I've ever worked for anybody. I helped hire many of the people who started the channel. All of them are gone but I'm still standing. I can't figure out if I'm a survivor or just too lazy to move on. I guess Adam and I will just have to head out and raise a glass to the original stars of ZDTV.