CTIA: Thats Entertainment

From: spencer_katt@ziffdavis.com

Sent: Monday, November 1, 2004 12:28 AM

To: eWEEK readers

Subject: Sox stay up; Largent dials number; whos your momma?

“Theres a new world order,” proclaimed the Puss. “The Red Sox have finally won the World Series!” Spence once envisioned such a victory only bursting forth amid fire, brimstone, dogs and cats sleeping together, and the temperature in hell dropping to about zero on the Kelvin scale. But instead, it was as if a veil had been lifted, and the world was indeed a sunny place—and Spence could change his underwear after only four games this time. Even better, the win came toward the end of a hectic week for the furry Fan, who had skatted off to San Francisco to attend the CTIA Wireless IT & Entertainment show.

At The Moscone Center, the Mouser was amused as he watched CTIA CEO Steve Largent, a former Oklahoma congressman and an NFL Hall of Fame receiver, use a VOIP demo to call up and harass the Seattle Seahawks new wide receiver, Jerry Rice. Largent, who is the only player in the Seahawks history to have his jersey, No. 80, retired, jokingly called Seattles new star because Rice has asked the Seahawks to yank the number out of the glass case and let him wear it. Rice wore No. 80 previously with the San Francisco 49ers and the Oakland Raiders.

Several of the Wayans brothers, Keenen Ivory, Marlon and Shawn—of TV and movie fame—were on hand to launch a new cell phone game based on “The Dozens” (derivative of the popular street insult, “Yo mommas so … ,” which they said they played as kids). An audience member asked them for a demo of the game, in which a person tries to top another player with the funniest insults about the others mother, and Keenen replied, “We cant do that. We all have the same momma.” Marlon then demonstrated the dilemma by saying, “My momma is so fat … .” Marlon said he was psyched that the new Treo 650 has Bluetooth support and that hell hook it up to the Bluetooth system in his Range Rover. Later, Le Chat chatted with a Southern belle about recent reports that a restaurant in Bentonville, Ark., called The Vineyard has designated a “no-cell-phone” area for diners who are turned off by loud phone conversations and annoying ring tones. “Restaurants will soon be split up like chicken coops,” laughed the Lynx. “Will you be dining in the no-smoking, no-phoning, no-drinking, no-laughing or no-discussing-an-embarrassing-medical-problem section?”

Spence got a big chuckle at a party hosted by Seven Networks CEO Bill Nguyen at a club called Bimbos, which featured the rock band Cake. The band closed its first set with the song “No Phone,” which has such stirring lyrics as “Rhyming, chiming, got me working all the time / Gives me such a worried mind” and “No phone, no phone I just want to be alone today.” The Grimalkin giggled at watching wireless execs snapping pictures of the band with their camera phones while it chanted “No phone, no phone” at a party held by a company that makes software for phones. “Priceless,” purred the Puss.