I thought author Max Barry's last book was pretty good. Jennifer Government had some interesting ideas and a fairly good story. I felt the world the characters lived in was more interesting than the story.

His latest book doesn't offer such an intriguing world. The Company takes place in Seattle and inside a company that isn't really a company. I won't give away the twist but I didn't think it was all that ground breaking.

Since Barry dedicated the book to Hewlett-Packard I can only assume he is making fun of his previous job in the tech industry. Barry does a good job with the work environment. You know, why some people have jobs but don't really do anything? I think everyone can relate to parts of this book, I know I do.

Company does a real good job of pointing out how people get caught up with petty shit and let it effect them in life and at work.

The book however lacks really good characters. The only one I found interesting he writes out of the story. I kept reading expecting her to return but she never did. The main character Jones is full of idealism but it's a road that's been traveled before.

Company could have been a lot better. It could have spent more time with other characters and really develop them better. The story was so-so but I didn't find it all that engulfing.

If you have never read Barry before I would check out his previous work and skip this one.

Many of you have never heard of Jack Kingston. Some of you have. In fact some you may even be represented by him in the US House of Representatives.

For those who don't know, Rep. Kingston is a Republican who represents, among other towns, Savannah, GA.

I have had the pleasure of meeting him and even interviewing him when I was working at the NBC affiliate in Savannah.

Rep. Kingston did the coolest thing the other day, he voted against Florida...literally.

A house resolution congratulating the University of Florida on it's National Championship hit the floor and Kingston was the only on to vote against it.

He was born in Athens, GA which is home to the University of Georgia. Georgia and Florida play every year in Jacksonville, FL which is effectionaly known as "the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party."

Kingston said he was routing for Florida because he is an SEC guy (right on!) but couldn't bring himself to vote YES and congratulate the Gator's.

Personally I say KINGSTON FOR PRESIDENT!

So  I went back to CES on Wednesday afternoon. This time I went to see the big boys. The Microsoft's, LG, and Sony's of the World. 

Microsoft had this massive layout and rightfully so, they have enough damn products.  I talked to the Zune folks and saw their interface. Talked to the Vista folks and a little to the XBOX folks.

It seems to me that Microsoft gets it. They are partnering with the right people, trying new things and then integrating them. Such as using your XBOX 360 as your set top box.

SONY has a lot of cool stuff but they are still morons. They still insist on a memory stick for everything instead of SD cards. PLAYSTATION 3: yeah, you can only get games and they, according to the marketing folks I talked to, don't have any plans to bring out other kinds of content through their online service.

SAMSUNG: Cool as shit! They had a laptop hooked up to a cell phone and had the phone running off of a HSPDA connection. The download speed was like 3.6 Mbps and the upload speed was like 2 Mbps. You could watch the monitor 10ft away and it looked fine.

Nokia had some tight gear. The handsets do a lot but the costs that would be associated with it tagged on by your provider would suck balls.

So that was my CES experience. Cnet did a semi good job of covering it. Also check out Yahoo! for some "experience coverage" and Gametrailerss for the gaming end of it.

Unless you were living under a rock you know that David Beckham is coming to America to play soccer. Coming to play for the MLS's LA Galaxy alongside Landon Donovan.

Beck's coming to America is a big deal. He still has some good years left, the sheer interest alone is enough to improve the standing of MLS, and being in LA isn't the worst thing that could have happened to him.

The bummer part of Beck's coming to America is that on the same day the US lost of of its most promising young players to an English club. Clint Dempsey who was the 2004 MLS rookie of the year and the only US player to score a goal in last year's World Cup signed on with Fulham FC of the English Premier League. His transfer fee (the amount Fulham had to pay the MLS for his rights) of $4 million was the highest yet for an American player. Of course that is a month's work for Beckham who is rumored to be getting something like $250 million over the next 5 years in the MLS.

Am I excited about Beckham coming to America? Hell yes. I plan on flying to LA for a game to see him play. I am sad though that we lost one of our best young players.

Dempsey is exciting to watch. He can play all over, has an air of unpredictability, and is plenty marketable. He is not a household name like Beckham though. Dempsey still has something to prove and hence has gone off to England while Beckham has proven his skills in soccer's biggest stages.

So welcome David Beckham to American soccer and good luck to you Clint Dempsey.

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Beckham's not making $250 million

Jan. 11: The English soccer legend comes to the United States to play. The money he will make is being exaggerated, "On the Money's" Darren Rovell tells anchor Melissa Francis.

No, I have no contracted a sexual disease although for the uninformed it might sound like it from the title of this entry. No, CES stands for Consumer Electronics Show or if you prefer the Mecca of electronics for today and tomorrow.

Being a current Vegas resident I got to attend.

Let me tell you how retarded this conference is. Yes it has super cool, state of the art gadgets, screens, and new platforms but getting registered was like reinventing the wheel. The first two people I talked to barley spoke English and one was real pissy. When I finally found the main registration area I was beyond annoyed and I was not alone. In fact by this point I had already overcome my anger and just accepted the challenge while many others were still very, very upset.

After I got registered I was able to walk around, have my picture taken with the Empire, see some new gadgets, and pretty much get lost.

What I took away from my first day at the conference was the fact that the CES web site is beyond terrible, you need a GPS device just to get around, if you want to sell a device, screen or various accoutrements then just tie it into Star Wars, and if you didn't receive your registration card in the mail like me then registering at the conference was easy...about as easy as fixing social security. 

And I hope to go back tomorrow.

Well Home Despot, I'm sorry, Home Depot got better today. It's CEO Bob Nardellii resigned with a golden parachute of an estimated $210 million. Not a bad parting gift for someone who lost me a bunch of money by deciding to not report certain things.

In any event, he's out I'm not getting my money back and I'm shopping at Lowe's. __________________________________________________________________

With the New Year comes the idea that you should re-evaluate your life/ situation. It is a time to reflect but also a time to look forward. In looking forward we have a few things to look forward too:

-WindowsVISTA

-Possibly a new U2 record

-Cheaper HDTV's

-Faster and cheaper broadband (please, please, please)

-Transformers the movie

And a lot, lot more. I should know more next week when I go to my first ever CES here in Las Vegas.

Now looking back several things stand out: One that most may not know, is the Battery game I wen to. It was a US Open Cup that pitched Charleston Battery against FC Dallas of the MLS. It ended in a shootout with FC Dallas walking away with the win. Charleston tied the game in the 90th minute on a penalty kick. The game was as intense of a sporting event as I have ever seen.

I finally broke down and got the Samsung Blackjack. It's not like I had much of a choice, my old phone crapped out on me during event week.

The first impression of the Blackjack are solid. It's got a nice display, bunch of bells and whistles, sleek design.

The draw backs: I don't think the antenna is very good, the battery doesn't last like my last phone (although this is my first smartphone so I am not familiar with battery longevity) and the speaker kind of sucks for listening to phone calls.

The good news is I gave the phone to my IT guy to look at and 15 minutes and an interview later he had the phone synced up with the corporate e-mail. His IT Kung Fu is strong.

Time will tell how this phone holds up but it seems pretty good for now.

 I know this first hand. Good info but not great.

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Broadband Shortage

Americans online lifestyle demands bandwidth, and theres a growing broadband shortage, with Rebecca Lieb, ClickZ Network Executive Editor Interactive Advertising andamp; Marketing Expert; Mike Arden, ABI Research Principle Analyst and CNBCs Scott Wapner