Polaroid’s Suicide

By MARK JEWELL
The Associated Press
Friday, February 8, 2008; 4:54 PM

“Polaroid Corp. is dropping the technology it pioneered long before digital photography rendered instant film obsolete to all but a few nostalgia buffs.”

Polaroid is closing factories in Massachusetts, Mexico and the Netherlands and cutting 450 jobs as the brand synonymous with instant images focuses on ventures such as a portable printer for images from cell phones and Polaroid-branded digital cameras, televisions and DVD players.

The company stopped making instant cameras over the past two years.

“We’re trying to reinvent Polaroid so it lives on for the next 30 to 40 years,” Tom Beaudoin, Polaroid’s president, chief operating officer and chief financial officer, said in a phone interview Friday, after the company’s plans were reported in The Boston Globe.

Polaroid failed to embrace the digital technology that has transformed photography, instead sticking to its belief that many photographers who didn’t want to wait to get pictures developed would hold onto their old Polaroid cameras.

Global sales of traditional camera film have been dropping about 25 percent to 30 percent per year, “and I’ve got to believe instant film has been falling as fast if not faster,” said Ed Lee, a digital photography analyst at the research firm InfoTrends Inc.

“At some point in time, it had to reach the point where it was going to be uneconomical to keep producing instant film,” Lee said.

Privately held Polaroid doesn’t disclose financial details about its instant film business.

Polaroid instant film will be available in stores through next year, the company said _ after which, Lee said, Japan’s Fujifilm will be the only major maker of instant film.

Polaroid got its start making polarized sunglasses in the 1930s, and introduced its first instant camera in 1948. Film packs contained the chemicals for developing images inside the camera, and photos emerged from the camera in less than a minute.

Polaroid’s overall revenue from instant cameras, film and other products peaked in 1991 at nearly $3 billion. The company went into bankruptcy in 2001 and was bought four years later for $426 million by Minnetonka, Minn.-based consumer products company Petters Group Worldwide.

Meanwhile, Polaroid is seeking a partner to acquire licensing rights for its instant film, in hopes that another firm will continue making the film to supply Polaroid enthusiasts.

INFO taken from : washingtonpost.com
photo below taken from: www.wildcalifornia.org

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Reavel’s Personal Note on this Subject:

I can’t believe this. I knew they will come to an end but not so fast. Come on we all love that old looks on the photos. The excitement of waiting the burden when it came they way it wasnt expected, the funky hues the film made. I just fell in love with the idea of having one after seen lots of polaroids photos of some websites. I still want one so i will have to hurry up before people buy them just to have one. Some people might do that. At least we will be able to buy the films anyways. But no more cameras that is sad. I wonder what the fashion industry will say and do since many used them for many things. Also on XMas and Three Kings Day season… the kids wont be able to get the photos with them to keep as a memory that is sad, breaking a childs dream of having a pic with Santa, Gaspar, Melchor and Baltazar. Lets see what happens and I do hope somebody buys the lisence from them. Polaroid will always be part of us. Ohh the good old things are fading away and some could care less. Damn you digital world… 😦

Tenis Plasticos: Que mal!

Asi que hoy sali a dar una vuelta con mi familia al lado este de la isla. De camino mi madre se detuvo en Walmart de Fajardo y entramos a comprar unas boberias. No entendi porque ir tan lejos cuando tengo uno a 15 min de mi casa. Pero nada que ibamos en ruta a Las Croabas. Estando en la tienda fui en busqueda de tenis ‘sneakers’ para ver si conseguia unas para pintarlas. Ya despues de scannear todo el area de calzado no encontre lo que buscaba pero si encontre unas tenis que me dejaron en shock. Son en estos momentos que me encanta me telefono celular con camara porque asi puedo captar las cosas y mostrarsela a los demas.

Imagino que la persona que creo este disenho no tiene idea del calor que hace aqui en Puerto Rico. Imagino que ni siquiera los hizo pensando en calor, ni en frio real. Acepto que me recordaron las sandalias que venderion una vez hace anhos a tras de Xuxa que eran de plastico tan noventosas. Ahh pense que eso demostraba muy bien que eso no funciono y que mucha gente sufrio por el material, el calor y el dolor. Ahora mismo no recuerdo la marca se que comienza con Gear ‘algo’. Son economicos y no se puede pedir mas solo cuestan $14.99. El disenho esta bien.. pero plastico clear, transparente para unas tenis? O sea no aprendieron con las de Xuxa? Como hacer eso de nuevo? Lo unico que tiene color en el calzado son los detalles porque el resto es plastico. Los colores que vi alli eran dorado, rojo/azul, azul cielo, rosado y amarillo/negro. Bueno ya veran lo que les digo.

Mi mayor esperanza es no ver a nadie con ellos porque la verdad es que no quiero ver como se ven los dedos dentro del tenis de alguien, ni ver los dedos sudando bajo el sol dentro de los tenis y se van a manchar con el sudor y el sol y todo eso. La verdad es que no necesitamos eso. Se que alguien que los vio se hecho a reir cuando paso por el lado de ellos y dijo WTF? Ademas de que no parecia local [posiblemente un nuyorican de vacaciones, whatever! el acentico no era local pero se reconocen, jiji]. Apoyo a la persona 100 por ciento. Soo what the fuck con estos tenis plasticos, que mal!

Grammy Amnesia*

When I came online this morning I saw that MSN had a list of 21 people that were forgotten by the Grammy. Thing is that Grammy turns 50 this year and they are celebrating it the only way it can be celebrated, BIG. But this article is good and got me reading actually an MSN news cause it is true. Those artists were forgotten by the academy and guess what they are the most loved artists by the people and today even when some of them have died we still talk about them and listen their music. I noticed that most of the left behinds were eternally loved rock bands. Strange, right? Not so. The academy [for what I see] didn’t liked that so much [rock music]. I think cause when I saw the list they put up they left the biggest rock artists of the world. There are like just two that doesnt really fit in but well what can I do.

I have to be honest. I dont like too much the grammies this days. I being a latina never understood how in the world none of the latino artists ever won a tropical music category and if they did ever won in the latino category they never made it to the stand they always show it on a little side/corner of the TV after of before the shows stars after the commercials this here is NOT fair. Thanks God we have latin grammys and we can talk in spanish or we can’t but we dont’t care about that [HAHA!!] The catagories for the latino audience are Best Latin Pop Album (Vocal or Instrumental.), Best Latin Rock Or Alternative Album, Best Latin Urban Album, Best Tropical Latin Album, Best Mexican/Mexican-American Album, Best Tejano Album, Best Norteño Album and Best Banda Album.

That is another thing I never ever understood. Latin pop, Ok. Latin Rock, Super OK. Latin Urban they won that so yeah Ok. Now Best Mexican/Mexican American Album, Tejano, Norteño and Banda. What the hell? Those are four categories for only one latino audience mexicanos. What happen to Merengue, flamenco, salsa, musica de trios, ballenato, cumbia and all that. I bet they still believe that despues de mexico everybody sings mariachi and guess what NOT true at all. I dont blame mexicans cause they have nothing to do with this. I just blame the academy. Besides there are many styles of latin music like the one from Spain, Puerto Rico, Colombia, Cuba even Mexico they left the mariachis out of the nominations. Maybe that is why they gave us our won grammies but before they actually recognize we need our own side. What happen? That will always be a mystery.

Anyways back to the topic and sorry but I had to write that down before I forget it. Here is the list of the artists the academy forgot. Led Zeppelin, Neil Young, The Beach Boys, Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Allman Brothers Band, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Grateful Dead, James Brown, Queen, Diana Ross, 2Pac, Bob Dylan, David Bowie, The Doors, Rolling Stones, Madonna, Bob Marley & The Wailers, 50 Cents [wtf?], Jessica Simpson [again, wtf?] and The Byrds.

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*amnesia: [A noun] 1. amnesia, memory loss, blackout

The friends with the dead guy on the chair.

Last night when I was about to go off to bed and rest for today I saw the news and they had this report on this guys [David J. Dalaia and James O’Hare] that traveled around Manhattan streets with his dead friend [Virgilio Cintron] cause they were taking him to a check-cashing store so they could change his social security check. I was going to post something about this last night but I was tired so I decided to do this today after I read some more info about this weird and wicked story.

So, yeah 3 guys living together [they are on their 60 years] and one of them dies and the other two dress him up all dead so they could change his social security check. And no they couldn’t use a wheelchair [Ha! no! we are in New York baby] they used a red office chair to take the dead guy to the check-cashing store.First, why they took him there? Well the store cashier told them that in order for him to change the check the owner had to be there cause the cashier knew this guys [David J. Dalaia and James O’Hare] were none of the owners so they went back to the apartment and took the dead guy with them. The guy [Virgilio Cintron] died of natural causes but that didnt stop them. All of the people involved the dead guy and his friends had records on the police.

A cool or interesting detail is that there were people on the street [cause hey it is Manhattan not some town with no people] so we are talking that more than 300 people could possibly saw this guys dealing with the dead guy on the red office chair. I just wonder what people thought when they saw this picture. Some even said they didnt even think the guy on the chair was dead. Even the policeman [Detective Travis Rapp] that was eating lunch at the moment he saw the guys and made the calls upon them but at first he thought it was a joke or a movie [again it is New York anything can happen there and they just proved that didnt they].

At about the same time, Rapp spotted the men and confronted them as they were trying to haul the body into the store. He said that even after he identified himself as a police officer, O’Hare told him, “I have to get my friend in here. I have to cash his check.”

He ordered the men to back away from the victim. They feigned surprise when paramedics declared him dead, Rapp said.

“When they said, ‘Your friend is dead,’ they said, ‘Oh my God, he’s gone?'”

In the end the guys were arrested for fraud. I would arrest them for stupidity… How in the world you are going around the streets with a DEAD GUY!!!!! And you try to rob the guy even when he is dead. Please!!! It seems we have seen nothing yet and this is just the beging of the year. Just 10 days of the year and we have dead guys crusing on NY street with his friends. HA!

+Info : www.examiner.com