CEA Interview with Loaded’s Natali del Conte
By Tara Dunion
Natali del Conte is the host of CNET TV’s Loaded news show. With the recent CBS purchase of CNET, she’s also been a voice of technology on The Early Show as well as other news programs.
Prior to CNET, she wrote, produced, and hosted a show called TeXtra on the Podshow network.
Natali is a recent transplant to NYC, from the Bay Area, and is a well known blogger and online personality.
Natali, thanks for joining us today on the CEA blog. We are glad to have the opportunity to interview you.
For starters, can you tell us what’s the coolest product or technology you’ve covered in 2008?
That is like being asked to pick a favorite child! There are so many that I’m excited about. We’re just now starting to see the products from CES hit the shelves and that is exciting. I’m a big fan of the HD camcorders that have so much internal storage. I also like the LG flatpanel TVs that have the red backside. I’m excited to see the two new BlackBerry phones, the Bold and the Storm. I’m also in the market for one of the small and cheap laptops but I can’t decide if I want to wait to see Dell and Sony’s offering or if I want to just go with the Eee PC. Such hard decisions! 
What’s the first site, after CNET and your own blog, that you visit each day?
I have RSS feeds to most of the sites that I visit daily so I almost never actually go to their sites. I read so many headlines from just about every publication you can think of. I like to joke that I have my RSS feed fed to me intravenously. I also run the applications I like on Adobe AIR applications so I’m not going directly to sites like Twitter or Pandora. I guess the only site that I go out of my way to check is Facebook.
Where do you see social media heading?
I don’t think it will be the buzzword that it is now in five years. I think it will be an assumption. Every site is starting to have the ability to network, chat, meet people. Social media will be something we take for granted in the future like the telephone.
Are you planning to be at the CNET booth at the 2009 International CES? If so, what are you most looking forward to at the next CES?
I sure am! My first week at CNET was when we covered the 2008 CES. It was a great way to get acclimated to the crew but it was SO overwhelming! I walked into our booth and onto our stage and I thought to myself, “Wow, these are the big leagues!” We worked our butts off but I was so proud to have been a part of it. When it was over, I felt like we were leaving summer camp and really looked forward to next year. I’m sure CNET has an amazing set in the works for next year so I’ll be excited for that. Also, I would like to do a live version of Loaded every day from CES. Loaded had not launched yet at this year’s CES so that wasn’t an option but I think it would be fun to do that in 2009. The Buzz Report does that and it is always a good time.
Thanks so much Natali. We’ll stay tuned to Loaded and look for you in Vegas at the 2009 Int’l CES!
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