Lenovo showed off its upcoming Windows 8 hardware at a splashy event highlighting how creative professionals are already using its mobile technology.
Tuesday night’s event at New York City’s Altman Building featured some of the computer maker’s convertible tablets and laptops. When you twist the screen around, they do double duty, depending on how you want to work with them, as a tablet or laptop. You can position the hinges so the computers function in what Lenovo calls “stand mode” and “tent mode” as well as the usual laptop and tablet modes.
Among the creative professionals on hand at the event was Martin Campbell, who directed the 2006 James Bond movie “Casino Royale,” which introduced Daniel Craig as Agent 007. Campbell’s latest effort is an action-packed advertisement for Lenovo’s Yoga line of tablet-laptops. He showed off three versions of the ad, including a 30-second TV commercial, a 90-second version that will play in theaters, and an extended “director’s cut,” which helps flesh out some of the plot of the spy vs. spy action.
Along with the IdeaPad Yoga 11 and 13, Lenovo executives also showed off their IdeaTab Lynx and ThinkPad Twist models, each with different types of hardware, depending on one’s mobile needs.
The event highlighted how the mobile devices can be used by various types of creative professionals. Unfortunately, none of them were accountants, but among those on hand were Rachel Sussman, an artist and photographer who has been working on a project called “The Oldest Living Things,” photographing trees and plants with roots going back thousands of years. Film composer Paul Brill, who has written the music for documentaries like “Freakonomics,” “A Piece of Work,” “The Devil Came on Horseback,” and “No Woman, No Cry,” used a Lenovo computer to compose and play music right there in the room at the same time as people could listen to it. I put on the headphones and heard a wonderful piece he was composing on the spot.
Chef de cuisine Anthony Sasso of New York’s Casa Mono whipped up a scrumptious chocolate dessert and demonstrated how he earned the restaurant its first Michelin star in only a year.
Fashion designer Joshua McKinley showed how he became a finalist on the TV series "Project Runway." And spinning the tunes for the evening was actress/fashion-designer/DJ Taryn Manning, who has appeared in the movies “8 Mile” and “Hustle & Flow” and the reboot of the TV series “Hawaii Five-O.” If only Jack Lord were around to hear her music, I’m sure he’d say, “Book her, Danno.”
