Howdy! Eric here, fresh from Vegas!

What a wild week it was for me! Let me first start off by saying, "Wow, where has the year gone already?" I am almost ready to turn the magic number of 38 years old in February. More on that later.

Anyway... back in November I was asked to be the HLN reporter for the 2009 International Consumer Electronics Show, or CES. What an honor! However I was not 100% prepared for the experience at hand... until I got there.

The plane ride there got me started. I used to be afraid of flying, but through all my travels on small jets and big 'uns... [my fear of flying] has subsided for the most part. BUT, the "unexpected turbulence" I experienced on the jet from Atlanta to Las Vegas, got me a little off... (never been on a plane where people screamed and had to use the "magic bags" in the seat pockets - usually this happens on the plane ride HOME from Vegas). But we made it through.

Believe it or not this was my first time to Sin City... and for someone like me who doesn't gamble it was a shocker.

We arrived and immediately began our treasure hunt of the latest gee-whiz-wowzers-techno-gizmos. From the moment we landed to the time we took off again, we worked the floors of this 1.7 MILLION square foot trade show. I made friends, I made people mad - it's what I do. BUT I got the stories HLN wanted - what is hot, what is not. Thanks to Ashley Preskar, and Paul Chase for editing all the pieces, Dan Wright for everything and Ferre Dollar and Eric Yanak for making it all look and sound good... a great crew.

See below for the ERIC LANFORD "what's hot and what's not" list for CES:

HOT:
3-D TV: is a'comin' but you will have to wear those geeky glasses.
Touch Screens: EVERYTHING will be touchy feely soon... I mean everything.
Convergence: ONE device that does everything.
Really small computers: really small, but yet you can still type.
Remoteless TV's: Do it all with your hand, not remote.
Vegas: Need I say more?

NOT:
Flat TVs: They are getting much thinner...trust me...like paper thin.
WebTV: Didn't see much about this, is it still a viable thing?
Vegas: Man, everything costs...I mean everything...

I could go on and on, but they limit me on the blog.* In summary, I had a great time and it got me back to my roots of having fun with people and showcasing my personality (and yes, I do have one).

That's all for now... see you on the "tech-side!"
-Eric

"News To Me" will come to you from Las Vegas next weekend! Including much more from CES!

*Editor's Note: It's not that Eric is being "limited" from the blog, it's more like YOU (the reader) are being "protected" from Eric.

Hi everybody, Eric here.

First of all, if anyone knows where I can get some dang gas anywhere in the state of Georgia, please tell me. 5 gas stations and 3 fist fights later, I am still on “E.” What the heck is going on? It's like Armageddon here… weird. What’s weirder is that I was in Montana last week, a state that has like 50 people in the whole territory and there was gas everywhere! Gas for me. Gas for you. Here take some gas, it’s free… really take it… c’mon, stash some in your luggage… wow!

Why Montana? I was on vacation and it was great! Saw the great state of Montana in it’s entirety… fished the Blackfoot, Bighole, Rock Creek, & Bitterroot Rivers… had some great microbrews and ate some great bison steaks. Now that is living!

Now about this weeks show... I don’t really blog that often, for 2 reasons… one, Grayson is the blog king, and I can’t compete [Grayson's note: "Whatever."] and two, no one really cares what I have to say (if you do care tell me and I will send a personal blog to you and you only, my treat). I did want to blog today though because if you have ever seen the video called, "WHERE ARE YOU GOING?" (check out that link... it's an Eric recommendation) from the master man on the street interviewer Tom Green, you can understand why I am so happy that we got him on the show this weekend. He was very nice and happy to be on the show. I promise by the end of our interview, you will see what true innovation is… Tom Green makes things happen, takes chances… and I think that is really cool. I do hope you enjoy the piece.

Yes, Grayson was correct, I am trying to get you some more guests who have a UGC angle on the show…like Bear Grylls. Have you seen this guy? I was watching his show the other night and he killed a rattlesnake, cut its head off and ate the thing raw! Now why wouldn’t you want him on the show? Especially if you are trying to survive somewhere, you know like the Hamptons, or Martha’s Vineyard?

Coming up: Wait to you see the interview we've already shot with these Bigfoot hoax guys… I can tell you they have something up their sleeve… look for them to come out with a special announcement soon! You heard it here first… I think they will end up somehow duping yours truly in some way… but that’s the risk when you do hard hitting interviews (tis, tis).

Thanks for watching and get ready to laugh this weekend…

Eric

This weekend we tapped into the creativity of a couple of guys who pretty much INVENTED viral video... the brothers behind JibJab! Eric had a chance to talk to the Spiridellis brothers about their little empire and where the ideas for their hysterical videos come from. We've got the link to their latest creation plus the links to just about everything else you saw on "News To Me" this weekend on the next page »

Not everything on our radar can go into "News To Me." The show is only 30 minutes long, once a week! Luckily we have this sweet little bit of extra bandwidth where we can open up our bookmarks and give you a little look at some of what we're keeping an eye on even though it might not make it into the show.

Like this:

• The video of a truck towing a travel trailer that takes down a drive-through canopy at a bank in Texas. Unbelievably no one was hurt. *UPDATE... we're trying to make room for more on this story in this weekend's show!

• Has the petition to get Nike to make the McFly 2015 high tops finally worked?

• "Friend" T. Boone Pickens on Facebook and take a look at his scheme to get the United States weaned off foreign oil.

• The new "Morning Express with Robin Meade blog." 164 comments on ONE POST? Girl, how do you DO that?

• Eric's all hot for extreme ironing.

• I can hardly wait for the next installments of Joss Whedon's "Dr. Horrible's sing-a-long blog."

• We ALL want the R2D2 Home Theater System (now with wireless webcam)!

• ... and of course... in case you somehow missed it on cable news today... a new Jib Jab video came out!!! Time for some Campaignin'.

That's what we're surfing... but "News To Me" is your show... what are some of the weird, cool, crazy, CLEAN, sites you visit? I'm sure y'all have more than a few in your favorites that we should have on the show... don't you? Let us know in the comment section.

You LIKE US, you REALLY like us! Thanks to y'all, last weekend, "News To Me" had its best ratings since moving to prime time! Needless to say, we're pretty happy about that. Apparently Eric's fan told some friends to watch, and then they told some friends and so on and so on and so on...

In an effort to keep that ratings ball rollin' we worked overtime to put together an even better half hour of YOUR stories, YOUR pictures and YOUR videos for this weekend.

Being the "active viewers" that you are we know you want MORE, NOW! OK. The links to most of the stories we featured on this weekends show are on the next page. click here for the full list

Hello again and thanks for making our show #1 among people who are watching our show!

While you ponder history-making presidential politics, here's a look at what's been on my mind grapes:

1. What does John Mayer have, and where can I get it?

2. I thought the writers strike was over. Hey producers in Hollywood, get an original thought! We all can't dance, so who cares? If I would have known that “SYTYCD” was going to be so popular I would have taken a video cam to every high school dance. Wait a minute, what a great show idea... hmmmmm.

3. The grainy alien photo... c'mon....

4. Indiana Jones... haven't seen it.

5. If you see the ”NTM” crew out in the field, take a photo and upload it, I want to see what I look like through your eyes… (weird fanatasy).

See ya on the tube... Eric.

So far we have been lucky enough to shoot 53 shows for our hit CNN Headline News show "News To Me"… and isn’t it amazing that we are able to keep it real, or fresh every week? I like to think it is because of me…. but really it is you. Yes, you reading this while chugging down that half-caf-tall… what I mean is, thanks for watching the show and sending in your mostly positive comments… they have been helpful and inspired some great stories for the show. Keep em’ coming.

Ok, enough about you…I want to make the rest of this post mine, ok? All about me…because when we are out shooting amongst you all, I have collected many questions and comments that I would like to respond to…so lets call this, “Questions From You.”

1. Why are you bald? Keep reading for the answer and more questions...

Hello, all you "News To Me" blog fans… btw, is there another name for this blog thing? It sounds so… blah! So I am going old skool and renaming it, “My Mindless Thoughts?" (like you care?) Anyway...

I do appreciate all the "News To Me" viewers out there. Funny how this whole thing started in a small conference room in New York City, and now we are here a year later still chuggin along with this whole UGC thing on a NATIONAL level. It's a dream come true for a guy who was told by a well known talent agent in ATL, “you will NEVER be on TV." Hmmm…

You know I was reminiscing with the two "News To Me" executive producers last night over some beers about the very first interview we ever did. The one with that Blend-Tec guy, the man who blends everything, Tom Dickson. Compare that to where we are now, meeting and telling stories from all over the world, my how we have grown. Pretty incredible.

And now I'm going LIVE! Doing "NTM" teases on Headline News! Certainly not the highlight of my demo reel. I still get a bit nervous.

Read more to find out what it's like to go live! »