The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music is Coleman Hawkins, an underrated saxophonist. He wasn't flashy but he sure was good:

 

True Companion's Roxxxy the Sexbot - we just read off the cue cards here, folks -- is a 120-pound, 5-foot, 7-inch mechanical with an anatomically-accurate mechanical skeleton hidden underneath real-feeling "flesh," according to its maker.

 

"No matter how real she may feel, I can't shake the thought that she's a cross between Joan Jett and Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, with a dash of Chrissy Hynde of the Pretenders thrown in for good measure," says industry observer Brennon Slattery. Obviously she's got your basic Rock Slut appeal.

 

Roxxxy debuted at the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas, yet another event we were not invited to, and at the show, Slattery says, "had a laptop plugged into her back." No, sorry, we don't have any pictures. We've seen the pictures, and trust us, actually seeing the robot makes it all just that much more pathetic.

 

But you'll be glad to know she's also Wi-Fi capable, and "her little quirks, like the way she holds your hand, can be shared with other sexbot owners through the True Companion Web site."

 

Roxxxy has attitude, Slattery reports, "with several personality types you can elicit at the touch of a button: "Frigid Farrah is reserved and a bit chilly; Wild Wendy lives up to her name; S&M Susan, well, you know; and Mature Martha has that experienced thing goin' on."

 

 Owners can also change Roxxxy's hair color, cup size, race, and other characteristics until they get that perfect creature, Slattery reports, adding in the key observation: "However, you cannot take away the cold, dead stare."

 

Her creators claim the sex aspect is mere marketing, that Roxxxy is "all about companionship," probably in much the same way Las Vegas claims it's all about family entertainment, not gambling, and guys say they read Playboy for the articles.

 

Slattery says Roxxxy's built with technology that allows her to carry out simple conversations, and we can believe she would certainly be a more sprightly conversationalist than the majority of live women the sort of men who would fancy Roxxxy are used to.

 

Douglas Hines, the robot's inventor, insists that "She's a companion. She has a personality. She hears you. She listens to you. She speaks. She feels your touch. She goes to sleep. We are trying to replicate a personality of a person."

 

Prices will hover around $7,000 to $9,000, depending on "the level of customization," Slattery says.

...

Time Warner Cable has announced its customer sweepstakes for the month of February -- "a chance for customers to win an array of prizes including a Sharp 46" LCD TV and a year of flowers from 1-800-Flowers.com."

 

The perfect His 'n' Hers twofer, in other words. "Pick out any flowers you want, honey."

The sweepstakes celebrates Time Warner Cable's partnership with Universal Pictures' Love Happens, available on video on demand for Time Warner Cable customers, just in time for Valentine's Day.

 

"I wish we could send all our customers flowers to show how much we appreciate their support," said Marissa Freeman, Senior Vice President of Marketing Communications for Time Warner Cable, "But we love that our customers have the chance to win great prizes and that we're able to connect them with the entertainment and music they love."

 

We wish you could send us all 46" LCD TVs to show how much you appreciate us, too, but we'll make do with the sentiment.

 

In addition to the Grand Prize TV, customers who are eligible also have a chance to win other prizes, including a 16GB iPod Nano and a $50 iTunes card. Customers can enter for a chance to win by visiting http://www.twondemand.com/love/. The sweepstakes runs until March 1, 2010.

All the usual rules and regulations and fine print and valid here but not valid there and family and friends and batteries not included and side effects may include and not held liables at the Web site.

 

...

After being "blown away" by the amount of mobile Web traffic NBC Universal received during the Beijing Olympics, NBC officials say the network is "investing even more heavily in mobile for the Vancouver 2010 Olympics."

 

Industry observer Tricia Duryee writes that in the summer of 2008, the Olympics were considered one of the largest digital events to date, and NBC executives were "stunned by the 6.5 million unique visitors coming to its mobile Web site during the games." But with smart phone adoption and data consumption "steadily increasing since, this Olympics could draw even bigger crowds to the mobile phone."

 

An NBC spokesperson told Duryee that this year they've added "two apps, a smart phone version of the NBC Olympics mobile site, and new social media features to its mobile offerings." In addition, "NBC said they have been able to attract advertisers to mobile -- not because it was part of a larger media TV or online buy, but because of the strong performance numbers from Beijing," she reported.

 

For the Olympics, NBC has launched two apps, Duryee says: "The NBC Olympics application is basically an extension of the site. It has news, results and video, but also social networking elements. For instance, users will be able to follow the Twitter feeds of athletes or share items with Facebook. It also uses technology from AT&T that allows you to chat with friends, publicly or privately."

 

And for the mobile Web, NBC has added a new smart phone version to its mobile site, "which will display well on phones with big screens, such as the iPhone, Android phones, and some BlackBerry phones. Users will be able to personalize the site for their favorite sports, or their region with content from the local NBC affiliates."

 

...

 Glowpoint, a carrier-grade provider of managed services for telepresence and video conferencing, has  announced that a global private investment firm, with more than $7 billion of capital under management, has expanded its use of Glowpoint's managed services to a total of nine sites.

 

Glowpoint originally implemented services for the firm in 2007, with an initial deployment of three sites in the U.S. Since then, the company has added more sites in the U.S. and in Western Europe, in cities such as London and Paris.

 

Glowpoint President and Co-CEO Joseph Laezza mentioned that the financial services sector represents more than eleven percent of Glowpoint's revenues, and the demand from this community continues to be strong.

 

Glowpoint's managed services for the firm minimize the cost and time lost from flights abroad, while also reducing company's carbon footprint, Glowpoint officials say, adding that their product also enables on-demand, impromptu collaboration globally between managing directors and executive partners.

 

The investment firm gets a lower total cost of ownership for infrastructure, Glowpoint officials say. The firm, whose name is kept confidential due to its policies, handles a family of funds that include venture capital, distressed debt, private equity, and public equities.

 

Laezza said "Our client's expansion validates the value proposition of Glowpoint as an everyday communications tool. In addition, Glowpoint's 'in the cloud' managed services eliminate the extraordinary challenge and expense of purchasing and managing a video infrastructure, allowing the firm to focus on their primary mission of managing capital for their customers."

 

Given Glowpoint's expertise and experience related to this vertical market, our company will continue to aggressively expand its footprint in the financial sector in 2010."