Retweet Record during the Oscars! "Something is technically wrong!"

Ellen DeGeneres brings down Twitter with a retweet!

The host of the 2014 Academy Awards crashed the social networking site with her selfie taken during the show, causing Twitter to throw up a screen saying "Something is technically wrong."  

Twitter users overwhelmed the social networking site as Ellen DeGeneres careened from one surprising skit to another during the Oscars.

Midway through the telecast, Ellen DeGeneres, abandoning the stage to walk the theater isles, asked actor Bradley Cooper to take a picture.  The Academy Award nominee gleefully complied.  The result is a "selfie" stuffed with some of the most famous people in the world.

Repeat Oscar-winner Meryl Streep can be seen grasping DeGeneres' right shoulder as she struggles not to be blocked out fellow award-nominee Jennifer Lawrence.

Julia Roberts, a nominee herself and one of the highest paid actors in the world, laughs as she almost seems to pile on top of her colleagues, with fellow mega-millionaire actor and multiple Oscar-winner Brad Pitt looking as if he doesn't know quite what to make of what's happening.

Kevin Spacey, another multiple Oscar winner, can be seen mugging for the picture between the two of them, with fellow nominees on the left and right struggling to get in on the shot.

When DeGeneres posted the picture, Twitter promptly crashed under the weight of millions of retweets.  Users of the site ended up seeing this screen for a period lasting up to 20 minutes:

DeGeneres' picture had been retweeted more than two-million times by midnight, breaking a record set by the U.S. President Barack Obama with a picture of him hugging First Lady Michelle Obama after his re-election in 2012.

DeGeneres' stunt came during a show in which the movie "12 Years a Slave" won best picture and "Gravity" pulled down seven Oscars, including a statue for Alfonso Cuaron who becomes the first Latin American filmmaker to win the Oscar for directing.

A New Way to Distribute Your Story

I've got a good example of the future when it comes to news!

It comes in the form of a posting on YouTube.

It's something to take notice of, mainly for the technique used by the distributors.  It shows how major news is more than ever in the hands of those who can afford to put it out there for public consumption.

This particular example is from the City of Los Angeles' public transit system, Metro.

Traditional media, including television news, nearly ignored Metro's big announcement this last week.  It involved a press conference about a project that could top a BILLION DOLLARS.

So the agency figured out how to distribute the press conference itself, and did it:

Transit Project Press Conference

Keep in mind, this is no small project!

It involves linking downtown Los Angeles more closely together with public transit.  Trains running through downtown will finally be linked, but at a cost of more than a half-billion dollars!  It's going to take the rest of the decade to build it.

The agency sends out a regular email with important updates on projects as well as events.  It just so happens that this time it included the video from past week's announcement.

Forward-thinking leaders are increasingly posting video of their appearances on the Internet, bypassing what has been a traditional filter of writers, reporters and editors.

The Road to Downtown Los Angeles

I think it's shocking when you consider what's going to happen to downtown Los Angeles!

Imagine the city's Union Station when it's seamlessly connected to the region.  You'll be able to get on about any train and get to Downtown L.A.

It's happening!  What has been a disjointed series of connections will be fused through a more than half-billion dollar project:

It could be finished by the end of the decade!

I think the announcement, distributed here by Metro, shows how public leaders can seize the initiative and distribute the news directly to people:

Metro: A New Day for Downtown L.A.

I'll be watching developments here as the entertainment capital of the world blossoms in what leaders are calling a Renaissance, so check back and "Like" this blog.

Revolutionary Development in Mobile Technology

The Internet of Things is taking a giant leap forward!

New technology has just been developed that will not only allow you to stream high-quality video wherever you are and whenever you want, but also allows greater connectivity to just about any device with a computer chip.

Through this radical new development, anyone can have a broadband connection wherever they are or whatever they're doing.  Cellular networks will no longer buckle under the weight of everyone wanting to watch their own video at the same time.

My colleague, Steve Pearlman, the founder of Artemis in San Francisco, demonstrates it here:

pCell laboratory demonstration

This, of course, is a huge development for the Ah! Channel.  We'll now be able to stream our stories to your mobile devices without delay, sans stuttering.

In fact, each of us are now on the verge of being able stream video on any mobile device.  Steve shows us just how the antenna works that allows us to do that:

pCell antenna demonstration

Basically, the technology uses newly-developed antennas to take advantage of the interference caused by having too many other antennas in close proximity.  Think of it as a jump from the radio tube on which broadcasting was founded to the transistor.  And then from the transistor to the computer chip.

You can stay with me in this discussion by "following" the Ah! Channel on Google+ and subscribing to the Ah! Channel on YouTube.

Another step in the renaissance of Downtown Los Angeles:  Construction crews carried out the largest continuous concrete pour in history to lay the foundation for the Wilshire Grand.  The 73-story building will be the tallest west of the Mississippi River.

Video: Wilshire Grand Concrete Pour

When the $1-billion project is complete in 2016 or early 2017, Los Angeles will have a new 900 room, four-star hotel along with new restaurants and office space.  It's the most significant development in recent memory for downtown L.A.

The developer is Korean Air.  The architect is AC Martin with the design and construction being managed by Martin Project Management.

We should take note of a new news outlet launched this week.

It looks to be of particular importance to those looking for information about government and corporate accountability.

The Intercept went online with revelations from the trove of information taken by NSA contractor Edward Snowden:

The Intercept

I mention this here in that this digital publication is an example of how the world of journalism is changing.  

This particular outlet, which is not tied to any one particular region of the country, promises "to hold the most powerful governmental and corporate factions accountable"

The passing of Shirley Temple Black gives us pause to consider her life and times.

For the purposes of this blog, I'll pull out an excerpt from her 1988 autobiography which she levels child exploitation charges against the Hollywood studios which made her famous, but also subjected an untold number of kids to abuse:

When any of the two dozen children in “Baby Burlesks” misbehaved, they were locked in a windowless sound box with only a block of ice on which to sit. “So far as I can tell, the black box did no lasting damage to my psyche,” Mrs. Black wrote in “Child Star.” “Its lesson of life, however, was profound and unforgettable. Time is money. Wasted time means wasted money means trouble."

I can't imagine a child remembering the damage to her or anyone else's "psyche" at the age of four or five.  Nevertheless, the revelation opens a small window into the thinking of those in charge of the studios at a time when Hollywood was coming of age.