>> live from pier 3 in san francisco, welcome to the late edition of "bloomberg west" where we cover the global technology and media companies that are reshaping our world. i am emily chang. our focus is on innovation, technology, and the future of business. let's get straight to the rundown. ces is about to kick off. google has teamed up with

automakers to bring its android software to your dashboard. is 30 seconds worth $4 million? we have the ad rates for this year's super bowl and once again it is a record high. in the age of social media, the question is why? the consumer electronics show starts tomorrow. this is the biggest gathering in technology. more than 3300 companies expected to be there and samsung is starting the conference off early. with a bang. staking out its territory. it is announced a giant tv with a bendable screen just a few minutes ago.

>> i will just wing this. >> tell us what you think. >> i try to take people on an emotional ride. >> the curve? >> that was michael bay. he ended up walking off stage. you sort of feel for him in my line of work. they did announce a huge tv. 105 inches. they signed content deals with netflix, fox, and more. google is hitting the fast lane. wearable tech will be huge at ces. glasses, wristbands, also other quirky gadgets.

the wristband has a wearable health tracker. i hate to say it but i have plenty of wristbands and i am not compelled to wear any of them everyday. why should i wear yours? >> i think you're right. this is definitely the year of wearables at ces and we will see all kinds of things. more fitness trackers as you described. here is where wearables have fallen short. we have seen a lot of step trackers. maybe you have a couple of those sitting in your drawer. the issue with those as they do not give you enough insight and they do not help you figure out how you're going to act on the data they do collect. they do not help you figure out the changes that will lead to a healthier life. there are fitness devices that do not take a 24-7 approach to health. they are fine for the running or biking event but maybe they do not do a good job of this work

play, sleep picture of your health. trying to help you figure out what you are doing in your real life. >> you have a new feature that tells people how much quality sleep they get. >> that is a good example of trying to get a more holistic picture. we have for a while focused on the fitness side. we have this technology called body iq that will recognize when you are engaged in healthy activities like running or biking or -- and do some smart things, help you calculate calories. that is a huge part of your overall health. poor sleep is correlated to things like obesity and poor memory performance. it is an important part of health and one that we tend to overlook because we focus so much on fitness. we have doubled down on sleep. we have five sensors running all the time and the issue is not just more sensors, it is the kind of data we get at.

heart rate and perspiration and skin temperature. seeing how your body is performing. we can use all of that data now to see when you are in your real sleep stages. light sleep, deep sleep which is where your body is recovering physically from the days activities. and now even rem sleep where your mind is recovering. that is obviously fundamental to memory performance and mental acuity. we can show you your full nights sleep stages as you go through all these different stages. we can add that up to a sleep quality score and show you how your sleep is improving or not. and give you specific things that you should be doing to make it better. >> when you think about things you wear, it is an expression of you, whether it is your closer jewelry or the way you do your hair. how you compare -- do you compare wristbands to glasses and other things we can put on? when will we see things that are going to be an expression on you

and customizable? >> that is absolutely right. i would say this is one of the most important things about wearables that the category has not fully cracked yet. what you wear and what people see you wearing is a statement about yourself. for those of you wearing health devices it is a statement that you care about your health and you're getting smart tools to do a better job of managing your health and doing your part. and still despite them being a positive status symbol it is something it -- that you will want to wear. we have made the basis and so it is customizable so you can change the way will looks -- the way it looks. we have different colors and shapes and designs. we just updated the design. we call this the new carbon steel edition. we just made it nicer. it has stainless steel accents and a new material for the band that is not only nicer looking but more comfortable.

it is stretchy and easier to find the right fit. so balancing the right idea of customization and make it look the way you want it to look and still be comfortable and perform in everyday life. >> we will see how it stacks up against the rest of the competition at ces. thanks for joining us today. that is wearables. what about connected cars? google is pushing into the fast lane when it comes to connected cars. they announced something called the open automotive alliance. an alliance of a bunch of different carmakers including gm, honda, audi and the goal is to get android, a customized version on your dashboard. i am joined now by mark mahaney. this is a real battleground. >> are you concerned about liability? >> what is the endgame? >> it is to become the utility for your life. they are your online utility. the one single thing that you

could not live without on the internet. now they are trying to put that feature on your glasses and in your car where you spend your time. you cannot do searches when you do not have a desktop with you or your mobile phone but you have your car with you, now you can if it is integrated into the car. just the information they are trying to build around maps. they made not -- they may not be able to monetize a map. you will use them for the other functions. >> the founder said this is not being announced at ces. it is not apple. what is your take on that? the car is unclaimed territory.

>> the big missing link in wearable devices and in integrated cars i think is voice recognition. it is pretty clear that the company with the best voice recognition, voice context technology is google. i would take some exception to what his comments were. he is very capable. the google glass is very klugey. it will be in your car. it will be tailored to your voice. not just anybody's voice. >> samsung relies on the android operating system. it seems like they are focused on the connected home and not the connected car. is that a mistake? >> i do not know. this internet of things, we will be connected with all the things that internet offers us.

information, the ability to perform basic functions, anything that saves us time. i do not know why samsung would not be part of this ecosystem. in that environment where it is the internet connection that matters more, the importance of devices kind of falls a little bit. you will need devices so they will become commoditized. that is a ten-year trend. >> what about driverless cars? >> i saw a video of you in one of those. >> it is still not on the road. >> they have already gone over 100,000 miles of driverless driving in two states, nevada and california. i do not know. when this will begin is hard to know. it is one of those odd things, one of those experiments that google does. i do not -- if it becomes utility they will find a way to monetize it. >> thanks for joining us today here on "bloomberg west."

you have got one of the hardest jobs in technology. blackberry's new ceo has to turn the company around and we just spoke to him. our exclusive interview later this hour. ♪

>> welcome back. i am emily chang. we have breaking news in washington where the senate just has officially confirmed janet yellen as the chairman of the federal reserve. she will replace ben bernanke whose term ends on january 31. phil mattingly joins us from washington with all of the details. i assume this was a foregone conclusion. what does this mean? >> that is right. senate democrats took the drama out of this process when they changed the confirmation vote threshold a few weeks ago. janet yellen by a vote of 56-26

has now been confirmed to be the next chairman of the federal reserve. the 15th overall in its 100 year history and the first woman in the history of the fed. a big deal all around. a minor issue we have been keeping an eye on is when ben bernanke was confirmed, he set the record for the most senators opposed to his nomination with 30. they expect patient is that janet yellen would surpass that. she fell short with 26. big issue, whether a number of senators could make it back for the vote. ben bernanke holds on to that title when he does not -- one that he does not want to have. 26 opposed. the fed still recovering from the political scars of the financial crisis. never before were senators voting by 10's and 20's against federal reserve nominees. a lot of work to do from the fed. something bernanke has talked about his last few public appearances. she will have to talk to congress whether she likes it or not.

janet yellen, february 1, the next federal reserve chairman. >> it is official. thanks for bringing us that update. now to another story we're following. tim cook and apple are taking steps to diversify the board. apple has one woman board member and one incoming woman in the top executive ranks. she is the former ceo of burberry and she will be coming into lead retail. apple has been a under -- under a lot of pressure to bring diversity to its board and has added some language to its governing board charter that they will be voting on next month. for more on this and want to bring in -- i want to bring in our guests. facebook and twitter have dealt with board issues in the past. what exactly does this mean? i have the language here.

the nominating committee is committed to actively seeking out highly qualified women and individuals from minority groups to include in the pool from which board nominees are chosen. should they not be doing that anyway? >> this is something that has been in their proxy statement for a while but they are adding it to the committee charter and doing this to make it a little bit more official. these shareholder groups have been pressuring the company to be more aggressive in this area. if you look at the executive team now, there is no woman there is one woman joining. >> that happened only recently. >> right. in the board as well. apple is saying this is something we will be more aggressive about. >> are there any potential candidates? >> there is no commitment or commitment that they need to add more. they have a small board in comparison to other public companies. they could bring more people in. for now, there is nothing that would indicate that. >> facebook dealt with this

around the time they went public. twitter just recently added a woman to its board. what kind of pressure are companies under to diversify these days? >> with apple it will start building. there is not a dramatic amount of diversification. just for some quick numbers, it -- amazon is 10%. there is a little bit of -- some diversification. their board may reflect the employee base. it does not reflect the customer base so maybe that is where the issue is and there will be mounting pressure. >> 17% of wards of fortune 500 companies are held by women and 15% of executive officer positions are held by women. in some cases the tech industry is ahead of the curve but in some cases behind. any indication of when a more diverse board member would be added to apple's board.

>> there is no indication of that. the argument that is made here is that the customer base is much more diverse than the leadership of the company would indicate. so if you want to stay on top of the trends, if you are an international company, you want to have different -- a different source of background to dash of leadership to bring to the table. >> microsoft has two women. twitter has added one woman, the former ceo of pearson. twitter said they will have women on the board. are they looking for more? >> it seems like it. they are independent voices and they are there to challenge the management team and we make sure we do not lose sight. >> what are you looking for? >> exactly that.

if they had industry experience from another industry that is useful but they have an independent voice. especially with the dual class voting structures, a lot of the ceo's can be ceo's for life which has positives and negatives depending on how good that ceo is and it is rare that there is a ceo that can withstand and catch all of -- catch all the vicissitudes. the changes in business over a 10 to 20 year timeframe. apple will probably add that person but there are the -- not that many. they are strong and vocal and can stand up to the management team. that is what financial analysts would care about. women or men could provide that role but relative to the customer base, there is a mismatch. >> thank you for that story. thanks for joining us here on "bloomberg west." coming up, multimillions for a 32nd commercial? that is a record high for super bowl ads this year. we will talk about whether or not it is worth it coming up on

"bloomberg west." we will have an exclusive interview with the new ceo of blackberry. ♪

>> welcome back. i have got to say one more time, go niners. check out the winning play from yesterday's playoff game. why not rub it in, right? 49ers beat the packers last night. it turns out it was the most-watched game since the super bowl last year. the super bowl this year better be more watched. it costs million dollars for a

30 second spot. when you can watch on your phone, your tablet, 4 million dollars, really? >> that is the interesting thing is the growth in mainstream media. at the same time you have all this growth in non-mainstream media. alex sherman is joining me. is this about the economy? >> i say it is about both. in bad economy times may be the increase would be slightly less but the numbers go up every year regardless of the economy. it is how much it goes up. it is more about the super bowl in the sense that this is the only event now. >> this ad is memorable. >> not only is it memorable, it means one remembers it. it is the only time that anyone remembers a tv ad anywhere.

>> will there be a sequel to this this year? other than this ad and other ads, have you heard of godaddy before? has one heard of godaddy? >> it is a brand that is identified around this thing. i wonder -- some of the advertising as the canary in the coal mine for recession. companies spend like crazy to get ahead of someone else because their revenue is ahead of them. >> the super bowl is less of that. it is the one time that a company knows the ad will be the focal point.

>> these ads -- there is more to come. we appreciate it. more "bloomberg west" after this break. check it out. ♪

>> you are watching "bloomberg west," where we focus on technology and the future of business. your headlines. $2.4 billion to verizon for some new airwaves, also giving rise in some licenses to try to improve its service in major cities, and the deal gives t-mobile key spectrum in nine of the top 10 u.s. markets. microsoft says it sold more than 3 million xbox consoles in 13 countries, calling it the best xbox launch ever. it has been neck and neck with the sony playstation four, which is cheaper and available in 32 countries.

and apple has bought the maker of a popular iphone app, which speeds up the iphone camera, allowing users to take 20 photographs per second. terms were not disclosed. they also got their sole employee, an australian computer whiz. and let's get back to the biggest gathering in technology, getting in full swing tomorrow, ces, and our own jon erlichman is there, and he has caught up with john chen, who have a lot at stake. he is the guy charged with turning blackberry around, and he took over as ceo in november, and i want to get to that interview with john chen. >> blackberry has always been good at security and connectivity and communications, so it matters most in the business setting.

the government, the banks, so forth. >> and when we think about where these devices are going to be seen, should we think of at&t stores that are, for example, near wall street, as opposed to a mall that is not near some corporate center? is that where we will see some of these devices going forward? >> those, you have to ask at&t. of course, we would love to see at&t near wall street. another major carrier like verizon, they had agreed to help us in the enterprise space. account to account, and you'll probably see a lot of that on the web.

>> what does foxconn bring to the table? do they know the designs? now, we need to still be managing what is to be assigned, and especially in the software world, which we will definitely control. they can be a really great partner, not only dealing with the inventory list, but also their ability to penetrate different markets. there is an emerging and developing market. they kind of had a better position on that. i will look at them to help us in these markets, so, yes, they will be helping us a little bit in the market. they will be helping us in the hardware design part of it, and

we are going to build some great things together. >> if we think about where the hardware is going, look, blackberry, for example, the operating system. to gain traction, having devices is important. once you gain the traction that you are satisfied with our happy with on the operating systems is there any need to have the physical hardware? >> well, that is a long-term conversation. but for now, we definitely need the software. the world may shift. i have been in business long enough to know that you never say never, but it is to focus the company on enterprise and security, on communications, and if i can do that and become a major player, if not the market dominant player, in these areas, then collaborating with a device or whatever, that is not an important thing, but that is a

very long-term conversation. >> you did mention emerging markets, and especially with this partnership with foxconn, are you looking at both touchscreen and keyboard devices? have you made any decisions for that for the first one to roll off the line? >> i think there are enough leaks in the market, so i am not going to confirm or deny it. i personally love the keyboards, so you will look at blackberry going forward with keyboards, and i would not use the word exclusively, but predominantly. >> it is interesting you say that. there is a blackberry lawsuit tied to a company called typo, and ryan seacrest is an investor in this, and why are you suing them?

>> in a lawsuit environment, i should not comment too much about it, but i will say this. blackberry has 44,000 patents -- i think it is important that we gain some benefits throughout ownership of those patents and our ownership of ip, so the keyboard is extremely important to blackberry, so the combination, you can put that together. >> you have hired a man to head up your devices, somebody who has worked for htc and sony ericsson. >> ron is a very creative guy. what impressed me about ron, he can look at a phone 30 yards away, and he would tell you a lot about the phone, and i think he is more in touch of not only the technology but how people like the phone, and i came from an enterprise software

background, kind of a management type, and so that level of skill i need to have. i do not have that, oh, this is really cool stuff. i am not that kind. i love the fact that he knows how to put phones together, and he knows what a cool phone is, right? i love that. >> let's shift from the phones to blackberry messenger, which is another part of the business. you made available for iphone and android devices. >> today, there are actually a lot of channels. the corporation will run channels, and we will get some money out, but, honestly speaking, it is a welcome set of money, but it is not a huge amount of money. i like it from an enterprise point of view. i think every enterprise would love to have their own secure

messaging intranet, and i think this should tied to what we offer to enterprise as part of the server, so the situation is important so they have a gateway to communicate in a very secure manner, a private manner, pin to pin, so private manner, and also externally to your friends and families and all of that. so that is where the money will come from. eventually, we will also, when the volume is big enough, we will partner with some retail situations. i think advertising is interesting. it is always tough, but we are not going to say we are not going to do that. >> ok, our senior west coast correspondent jon erlichman and an exclusive interview with the blackberry interim ceo john chen, and we will have much more from john from vegas all week long. he is on the ground. coming up, who is the number two

for jeff bezos? i did not know that until today, when jeff bezos was rushed to the hospital. taking a look at the amazon family tree, coming up. ♪

>> welcome back to "bloomberg west." i am emily chang. jeff bezos apparently hates helicopters, and we will tell you why he hates it, but jeff bezos had to be taken in one when he was at the galapagos islands over new year's and had some sort of emergency and had to be rushed back to the united states. here to discuss this is the senior writer at bloomberg businessweek who wrote the book on amazon, brad stone. first of all, why does he hate helicopters? let's start there. >> a scary situation. actually, 10 years ago, jeff was

in a helicopter accident in texas when he was scouting out locations for his ranch. >> was that really serious? >> it was serious, but no one was seriously injured, and all of the passengers managed to walk away, but he subsequently said that a helicopter was not a favorite form of transportation, no doubt, though one of the cruel ironies from the galapagos is that they took him out of there in a helicopter. >> what happened? >> all we know is what amazon said, which is that he had a medical emergency related to kidney stones, and he was transported back to the united states, and he is fine now. >> any reason to believe they are playing it down, or is it something worse? >> technology companies in general do not have a fantastic record of being transparent when it comes to the health of their chief executives, apple being

the best example, but this seems fairly straightforward. >> who is the number two of jeff bezos? we do not know a lot about that because he is such a larger-than-life persona and has personified amazon from the beginning. who is next in command? >> it is interesting that that company is so complex, so diversified that i am not sure there is a natural candidate to run everything. to run a cloud company, a retailer, and advertising company, a hardware company, not many people can do that. that said, i think there is probably a consensus in amazon for the man who runs the north american operations including the retail website. he has been the guy who figured out the complexities of the fulfillment centers.

he has been by the side of jeff bezos for many years. >> and the others. >> a lot of that management team has been at amazon for more than a decade. the one who runs the cloud business, probably an $8 billion cloud business in 2014. he is taking more of a public role in running the web services. there is the one that came from apple and you had a big role in expanding apple overseas. but, again, jeff bezos is about to turn 50. he probably has many years ahead of him running amazon. >> do you think they are asking themselves the question today? or are they now, maybe we should think about it? >> my guess is -- >> he is a very thoughtful guy. >> well, he probably has, but my speculation is it is not a topic that gets a lot of attention inside amazon because my sense is that jeff sees himself running the company for many years. he prefers to have a more

immediate impact for customers, and that is not the kind of thing that i would imagine they spent a lot of time on. >> well, let's talk a little bit about amazon in 2014. they started the year off not in the best way with the whole ups issue, delays, and they sort of blamed the carriers, essentially. what are you going to be following when it comes to amazon this year? what should we be following? >> there are many avenues of expansion. we will see an amazon phone sometime soon, and maybe an amazon set-top box, and that creates more opportunities for the physical opportunity, to have showrooms, to compete with apple and microsoft. >> it is interesting. samsung just announced a partnership, and now they put out a huge tv. >> it is sort of like a requirement in the hardware business, where customers can see and feel these devices, and amazon had some pop-up stores

over the holidays, and my sense is that that was a trial, so we may see that. and then groceries, with amazon fresh. we will be watching that closely. >> all right, thanks so much, brad stone of business week, and author of the everything store. coming up, we are going to be talking about wine. my favorite topic. an app that allows you to buy more wine while you are drinking it. we will have more on that, coming up. ♪

>> welcome back to "bloomberg west." i am emily chang. there is an app everything. this is like shazam for wine lovers. while you are drinking, you can scan a photograph, if you like it, on a bottle, and you can get much more. cory johnson is in new york. tell me more. tell me you are drinking there. >> i am not drinking on the set, quite yet. we did that last week, but that was new year's eve. i am joined by the cofounder and ceo of drync. interesting app. the wine business is high revenue, big business all around the world, certainly growing in america rapidly. talk about how your app works.

>> this is for android and iphone, and what we're trying to do is bridge the gap between the wine experience and the purchase. today, you might go to a restaurant and write down the name of a wine you love on a napkin. >> it is still difficult to know the producers and what you like and what years. >> do you want to know why? there are 38,000 wineries in the world, with 160,000 new wines every year. there is a huge fragmentation problem, so what you have got is retailers that have 2000, 1000 on the shelf, and you have got all of these wines out there, and the restaurant use to differentiate, and it is very hard. >> so what does it do? >> the app allows you to take a picture of any wine. >> it is as simple as pressing a camera button.

it takes a photograph of the label, and you can rate it. we love that purple cowboy. you can write a tasty note, share it to facebook and twitter, and then within seconds, it is there. >> if i am photographing and sharing it, i am photographing the label. >> we need to keep a record, and your phone is tracking your wine life now. we also have winemakers' notes. you can see the price. you can write tasting notes. >> there is a company in san francisco that has a neat app that i use called the delectable. it is trying to sell the same interesting thing. how does yours differ? >> we are all about commerce. we are really focused on that. the delectables, sharing with your friends, it is a great app

for that. >> is that where the money is? >> yes, we get a marketing fee for the sale of wine, effectively, so, for instance, we launched in q4, and we have done about $250,000 in sales. >> are the partnerships the most important part for you? >> a network of partners, allowing us to thread together 30,000 wines available for sale across the u.s., and we also have partnerships with wineries, and some will go direct to wineries. >> will you link to wines that you do not have a marketing partnership with? yes, any wine you scan will come up in the database, and 30,000 of them are available for sale. >> and you have a partnership with the show "cougar town." >> it is fabulous.

they love wine, and we are doing a giveaway with them whereas tomorrow morning, you can go to our website, drync.com/cougartown, and then there are some wines, and you can add it to your cart, and get free wine delivered to your home. >> free booze. kids are not watching bloomberg tv. the ceo of drync with a "y." >> you are downloading that app right after this, right? >> cougars and free wine is trouble. >> please, please. ok, i will leave it there. it is time now for the bwest byte, where we focus on one number that said a whole lot.

>> go, niners, 47 million, the number of people who watched the 49ers and packers game last night, the biggest rating a wild-card game has had probably since 1988, and maybe longer, the numbers do not go back that far. interesting, it was a 20% increase over last year's best rated wild-card game, and it was a great game. in fact, all of the weekend games were great, with perhaps only one exception, and this was a thriller. >> we are fans, so, of course, i tuned in, but do you think people just wanted to see how they played in such cold weather, below zero? >> such great teams, and you have a quarterback aaron rodgers who wanted to play for the niners and did not get drafted by them, and one of the coldest games ever, and it was just a great game. we had a lot of that this week. >> all right, well, more next weekend. thank you for watching this

edition of the show. we will see you tomorrow. ♪

>> the following is a paid advertisement for omega xl. ♪ >> my name is larry king. a few years ago, i had to have open-heart surgery, and when i recovered, i established the larry king cardiac foundation to help people like me avoid heart problems with proper foods, medication, and have a healthy lifestyle.