Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Trump Say He's Serious; Dry, Hot Weather Fuels Texas Fires; Two Controllers Fired For Sleeping; IPhone Tracking Your Moves; The Most Powerful Companies; BP Sues Manufacturer for Oil Spill; Weekly Jobless Claims Improve; Firefighter Dies in Texas; Obamas to Attend Shuttle Launch; Photojournalist Remembered; Bye Bifocals; When Will Met Kate
Aired April 21, 2011 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: CNN NEWSROOM continues right now with T.J. Holmes. T.J., hello! T.J.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Oh, all right. That's a heck of an introduction there, you should do all my intros from here on out.
MALVEAUX: I will do your intros. Very good to see you.
HOLMES: Good to see you, dear lady. Thank you so much.
And hello to you all. I'm T.J. Holmes, sitting in for Ali Velshi today. Thank you for being here.
We are talking about presidential election. You know, the next election is still more than a year and a half away but look at it this way, the first presidential primaries in the Iowa caucuses, well that's actually less than a year away. That's why so many eyes are on so many of the potential contenders.
We know the Democratic side who is the contender, President Obama. But on the other side, the Republican side, a lot of people wondering what's going to shake out there and one name keeps coming up. What is that name, folks? Yes, Trump.
He is, of course, a world famous real estate mogul, he's a reality TV star, but you know that part, but we also know him because he has teased us in previous years. He's teased us with his presidential aspirations, toyed with a run back in 1988, did the same thing in 2000.
This time though he says he is, quote, "very serious." Being famous not necessarily hurting him at this point. Check this out, brand-new poll from the few research centers shows voters, in general, especially Republicans, have heard more lately about Donald Trump than about all other possible candidates combined.
Well, our phone rang today, folks, here at CNN. We looked at the caller I.D. and it said Donald Trump. He called in to "American morning" this morning, kind of a surprise here. He didn't necessarily want to talk about poll numbers but he did want to talk -- he wants to talk about his bottom line. Listen to this.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT, TRUMP ORGANIZATION: Forbes says $2.7 billion, I can tell you that's a very low number, it's much more than that. And if I decide to run, which I very well may surprise people, but if I decide to run, I will give a net worth statement essentially we have to -- as you know, we have to fill out very detailed forms for the federal government. I think people will be extremely impressed. Not only is it much higher than that, but I'm extremely liquid and I have very, very little debt. (END AUDIO CLIP)
HOLMES: Well, his credit score must be off the charts. I want to bring in now about this possible trump campaign, Gloria Borger, always good to see you. She's a CNN senior political analyst. Hello there. And Lloyd Grove, editor at large at "Newsweek" and "The Daily Beast."
Gloria, I'm going to start with you, because Donald Trump is the subject of one of your latest columns at CNN.com. And you asked the question does he have something to say or does he have something to sell, which is it?
GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Sell, and I think it's largely about selling himself actually. Whether it's for TV ratings or whether -- who knows -- he's - -who knows whether it's books, television, whatever and I think the problem here is that in talking to serious Republican strategists who are actually trying to win a presidential campaign against Barack Obama, they're worried because they're worried that Donald Trump's talk about birthers and sending detectives to Hawaii to figure out just where Barack Obama was born, et cetera, et cetera, is taking the Republican conversation out of the mainstream.
Seventy-four percent of independent voters -- and those are the voters you have to get if you want to win a presidential election -- they believe that Barack Obama was born in the United States so it's clearly a conversation they're not really interested in having. HOLMES: OK, Lloyd, let me bring you in here. Take the polls out of it for a second. You know trump has come on top in some polls that have been taken in some states. But given how much exposure he's gotten, the interviews he's doing and just, quite frankly, the big microphone he has, would you call him the front-runner right now, whether he decides to get in or not, he hasn't said, but would you call him somewhere in the front-runners for the Republican nomination right now?
LLOYD GROVE, EDITOR-AT-LARGE, NEWSWEEK AND THE DAILY BEAST: No, I would not. I would call him the buzz master. But I don't think he's a front-runner, I think he just has a gift for getting publicity. And I have to say that his temperament is also quite interesting. He's not your father's president. We're used to presidents sort of being diplomatic and kind of above the fray.
But I was just thinking, what if Donald Trump were in charge during the Cuban missile crisis and sending letters to Khrushchev. You and I -- well, all of us might be broadcasting from a post apocalyptic wasteland right now.
HOLMES: I want to put something up here and I ask you another question about his favorable and unfavorables. Another CBS poll, "New York times" poll says the top five presidential -- potential Republican candidates, Trump has the lowest favorable rating and the highest unfavorable rating. That doesn't bode well.
Gloria, let me bring you back in on the point you talked about the birthers, that's what it seems like everyone wants to talk to him about. But has he taken on this issue so much in taking the lead of this issue, if he comes out and says, you know what? My investigation wrapped up, I believe President Obama was born in this country. Do you think that would help squash some of this birther movement?
BORGER: Yes, I think it would. And I think what we're seeing right now is that Republicans themselves, particularly ones who were serious about running for the presidency against Barack Obama, don't want to have this as an issue anymore because they understand that they're only speaking to a slice of their own base, so they would be thrilled if Donald Trump having sent his troops out there to figure out where Barack Obama was born finally said, OK, enough of this.
Because there are serious Republicans out there who have important things to say about how to solve the deficit problem, how to get jobs back in this country, how to fix the economy, and they'd like to be talking about that rather than birthers. Not enough of them have been saying this is nonsense but I think a lot of them would like to get rid of it.
HOLMES: Lloyd, last thing to you here. Do you see anything in his behavior -- given some of the appearances he's made, the interviews and more so the appearances, I'm talking about Florida at a tea party rally, he has New Hampshire on the schedule again I do believe, do you see him behaving as a possible presidential contender or you didn't take him seriously, doesn't sound like either one of you all do, but what have you seen him do that goes, OK, make he's acting like a potential candidate?
GROVE: There's very little that the way he's behaving where I see he's acting like a potential candidate. I mean he's winging it. He's having a great time but he doesn't even know why Roe v. Wade was decided, he doesn't -- never even heard of a group called the Club for Growth which is a major Republican group that's attacking him now. He's outside the box in a big way.
HOLMES: All right, Lloyd, Gloria, we shall see if, like some would say, he's making just a fool out of a lot of folks in the media. We're taking the bait. Or let's see if he actually throws his hat --
BORGER: We are.
HOLMES: Oh.
BORGER: And I think you've got to take anyone who says they're thinking about running seriously.
HOLMES: Got to take them seriously.
BORGER: You do.
HOLMES: All right then. Lloyd, Gloria, good to see you guys. Thanks so much. We shall see down the road.
Well, to our viewers, we're going to move on to some other stories making headlines. Sad news out of Texas right now. A second firefighter has died. There where massive wildfires are spreading across that state. His name is Elias Jaquez, he died 11 days after getting trapped in a fire and suffering serious burns. Another firefighter died on Friday.
After some rain, some cooler temperatures, still hot, dry and windy conditions are back today, that is intensifying the fires. Especially true in west Texas where some of the biggest fires are burning right now. The forest service says crews have responded to four new fires across more than 1,000 acres since yesterday. Since January, the wildfires have scorched more than 1.4 million acres and damaged some 5,000 homes and businesses.
Well, the federal aviation administration has fired two air traffic controllers for sleeping on the job. You've heard a lot about this over the past few weeks. One of these air traffic controllers worked in Knoxville, the other was in Miami. The two were cut following a wave of controllers getting caught sleeping on duty on those midnight shifts.
After those sleeping incidents came to light, the FAA added more controllers to overnight shifts and changed a number of rules such as requiring controllers to be off a minimum of nine hours between shifts even though that's just up from the previous rule which said they had to be off eight hours.
We turn to Canada now where police have arrested a man suspected of killing a Chinese exchange student who was attacked in her Toronto apartment as a friend in China watched on a Webcam.
Police have now charged 29-year-old Brian Dixon with first degree murder. He made a brief court appearance this morning. Investigators say 23-year-old Qian Liu was chatting with a friend in China through a Webcam when a man knocked on the door asking to use the phone. The friend saw them struggle before the attacker turned off that Webcam. Police later found her partially nude body in the apartment. Investigators have not said how they tied Dixon to the student's death.
Also, the mother who drowned along with three of her children after driving her minivan into the Hudson River is being laid to rest today. The funeral Lashanda Armstrong just started a few minutes ago in Spring Valley, New York. She's being buried separately from her three children. Armstrong's 11-month-old daughter, her 2-year-old and 5-year-old sons will be buried not with their mother, they'll be buried on Monday. Her baby girl would have turned one yesterday. Her oldest son, 10 years old, managed to escape from that van and survive. Well, that iPhone of yours, it may be able to know every single move you've made since last June. New this hour, you are hearing from one of the men who stumbled across the secret tracking device.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right, should we really be surprised to hear that your iPhone could be tracking your every move? Two researchers say they found a hidden file that's logging your whereabouts without your permission. CNN talked with them.
Our own Ted Rowlands joins us live from Los Angeles. Ted, good to see you. So many iPhones out there, this is concerning to a lot of folks. Is it what is it sounds like it is?
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, leave it up to you, T.J., some people may find it concerning, others may not. Basically, here's what happens. You have your iPhone, it has an internal device here, or an internal application that basically tracks everything you do. And then when you transfer, you sync your iPhone to your computer which most people do through iTunes. You can run a little application, very easy to do, and it'll show where you've gone. This shows where I've been over the past year or so since June.
Now is that a problem? Well, for some people it might be. The guys that found this do believe it is a problem for some people and they do believe that iPhone users should have known about it. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It really just depends on their circumstances. You know, some people are in abusive relationships, some people are getting divorced, they're having things where people knowing their exact location at certain point in time is a bad thing.
I mean, personally, I'm not particularly concerned myself. I don't think people should panic, but I don't think that it's necessary to keep the data on the phone an people should be aware of it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROWLANDS: And T.J., we should -- people should keep in mind, for somebody to get this information, they physically have to get your device and, or that computer and have access to it so they would need to know your password, so it would have to be somebody that knows you well or that actually steals your device. And then the question is who cares if they know where you've been, for some people it makes a difference, for others they don't care.
HOLMES: OK, did they just -- these researchers you talked to, did they just stumble onto this?
ROWLAND: Yes, you know, they're data researchers or whatever you want to call them, guys that are obsessed with this type of technology. So, in this world -- in the tech world, this huge news, you know, they stumbled across something, this hidden device, so they claim they just stumbled upon it and it does raise some eyebrows. Practically for you and I, do we care that this information is embedded in our phones? That's a decision that people have to make.
HOLMES: OK. Can you do anything about it with your phone to try to turn the feature off or anything?
ROWLAND: You can't do anything about getting it off of your phone, and this also works for iPads as well, but if you go in to your computer and click on -- in the iTunes area, there is a way to click off the encryption. If you check a box, it is pretty easy to do, just go into the settings in iTunes. It says, encryption -- encrypting, downloading or backup information, you see that word, just check that little box. Then it won't be on the computer but you can't get it of the device itself, either the iPad or iPhone.
HOLMES: All right, Apple say anything just yet?
ROWLANDS: Nothing out of Apple. This is sort of par for the course for them. They usually let these things sort of settle off and drift off. It will be interesting to see if they do come out because the big question is why is it on there? Why did they put in there on the first place? What's their motivation for it? We haven't heard yet.
HOLMES: Ted, this is an interesting one that's got everybody talking. We appreciate you and the explanation. Like you say, for a lot of people it might not make that big of a difference, but it raises some questions. Ted Rowlands for us, we appreciate you as always.
All right, think about it, folks, the most powerful companies in the world. A lot of companies out there, who would you guess is the biggest, the most powerful? Here's a hint, big oil or big bank.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right, think about the world's most powerful companies. Oil, banks, maybe come to mind, but we have a new list now put together by "Forbes," takes into account everything from sales to market value.
Despite a crushing recession, both American and Japanese companies dominate the list, but both countries have a lot fewer entries than they did a few years ago. Not surprisingly, ground made up mostly by Chinese companies.
The full list has about 2,000 companies, but I'll boil it down for you, just give you five. Royal Dutch Shell based in the Netherlands, better known over here as Shell, all those gas stations you see. Number four, another oil and gas company -- Exxon Mobile. Despite some pull backs in earnings last year, the company holds its ground in the top five.
Number three, GE, General Electric, more on them we'll have in just a moment, but the company got knocked on its heels over the last couple of years, but keeps coming back stronger.
Number two here, you'll see a trend maybe start to develop, HSBC. Don't see the logo a whole lot. You see it here and there, but it is a huge, a powerful company. They have banking and financial services in every corner of the world.
One of its biggest acquisitions in the last couple of years, it bought one of Indonesia's biggest banks. And at number one, we got to go to Wall Street for this one, J.P. Morgan Chase. Huge company, have sales of $150 billion, employs more than 230,000 people.
That's just about everybody in Orlando, Florida. That's roughly their population there. Chances are you either have a credit card or you have home or car loan that's backed through J.P. Morgan. The company operates directly in 23 states.
Now more to General Electric. The company reported earnings today of $3.4 billion, 48 percent increase over last year. Again that's just for the first quarter, the expectations here. How exactly did they do that?
They made more money in their health care and aviation businesses. The head of the company clearly pleased with the results. More importantly, the numbers matter to all of us because GE is considered one of the big bellwethers in where the economy is headed.
So theoretically good news for GE is good news for all of us. That's "Your Money" for today. If you want more money talk, join Christine Romans for "YOUR BOTTOM LINE" each Saturday morning at 9:30 Eastern Time.
Also don't miss "YOUR MONEY" with Ali Velshi, Saturdays at 1:00 Eastern and Sundays at 3:00 Eastern time.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES (voice-over): We're 21 minutes past the hour now. You saw those pictures for months on end last year, but now one year after the deepwater horizon, oil rig explosion, BP is suing the manufacturer of the rig's blowout preventer for faulty design and essentially not preventing the blow-out like it was supposed to.
The report released last month determined the oil spill was caused by a piece of drill pipe trapped in the rig's blow-out preventer, which is intended to stop oil from leaking into the ocean. BP claims the preventer should have cut through the pipe and sealed the well.
The Labor Department says 403,000 people filed for first-time unemployment benefits last week. That is 13,000 fewer than the previous week although the number has top 400,000 for two straight weeks. Analysts say the job market continues to show slow, but steady improvement.
A second firefighter has now died fighting the wildfires in Texas. He died yesterday. It's 11 days after getting trapped in a fire and suffering serious burns. More than 1 million acres have already burned across that state.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Well, President Obama trying to raise millions and millions of dollars today. You got to go where the money is. Hollywood. But one big Hollywood name not a fan of all the compromise. Our Ed Henry who never compromises will be here with me in just a couple of minutes. Stick around for that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right. President Obama has Hollywood stars lining up for his sold-out fund-raisers in Los Angeles. But there are some a-list supporters grumbling that the president has compromised too much with Republicans.
Ed Henry joining me now from the White House. OK, so what? An A-lister here or there makes a little grumble. He'll still get most of them in the room, right?
ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: He certainly is. I mean, Jamie Foxx is going to be at one of these fund-raisers tonight performing. That's sort of more of a rally. There are thousands of people going to that at $2,500 a head.
To give you an idea of how much money is being raked in then a more intimate dinner with all kinds of a-list celebs that the president is charging $35,000 a person. Money split between the Democratic National Committee and his re-elect.
They had 60 tickets for that intimate dinner, sold out so quickly they added a second dinner. But you mentioned some of the celebrities who maybe won't be there, little upset. Matt Damon was on with Piers Morgan last night saying he's disappointed. There's not been enough change. President hasn't moved quickly enough.
It's interesting, just in the last few minutes in San Francisco, before heading to L.A., the president had a morning fund-raiser and a group of protesters paid their money to get in and were sort of posing as supporters, then during the president's remarks stood up and started protesting.
They sang a song about Bradley Manning, the suspect in the WikiLeaks case. Let me give you an idea of some of the lyrics. They said "each of us brought you $5,000" obviously to get into the breakfast. "It takes a lot of Benjamins to run a campaign. I paid my dues. Where's our change?"
The president after the interruption White House aides got some of the protesters out. President regained the podium and basically said, look, after 2-1/2 years I know change has not come easy. So even when's out in California, pretty friendly territory, he's got some of his own supporters saying you're not moving quickly enough.
That's one of the things he's trying to attend to out on the west coast, is get that base excited again about his re-election. HOLMES: Well, it seems to some that maybe he's starting so early, but the goal is an awfully ambitious one of raising a billion dollars. He already broke all the records last time around so he's really just getting going here.
Some other news though, you know, this is kind of if you want to call it kind of a feel-good story. We followed Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in her recovery and we're still following her. Possibility now that she could attend the launch that her husband's going to be commander of the "Endeavour" next week. Now the first family plans to go to that shuttle launch?
HENRY: That's right. We're hearing that first family is going to go to Cape Canaveral Florida late next week to watch space shuttle "Endeavour" take off. Mark Kelly as commander. Gabby Giffords, the congresswoman, who as you say has pad somewhat miraculous recovery, but we have not seen her in public.
She is expected there as well to see her husband off. We would assume the president and first lady and their daughters will get a chance to meet with her again. You'll remember the president got a chance to go to her hospital room in Tucson right before he spoke at that memorial service and she opened her eyes and all of that. It was so dramatic. So this recovery still continues to be a remarkable story, T.J.
HOLMES: Yes, that will be a nice moment. He decided he was going to be commander of that shuttle. That will be a nice moment next week. We'll see what the end of happening. Ed, always good to see you. We'll talk to you again very soon.
We are getting close to the bottom of the hour now. Would you believe on the anniversary of the columbine shooting, a failed bombing attempt at a mall not far away. Details in just a minute.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, we're about half past the hour. Some of the stories you may have missed, including about Donald Trump. Yes, he continues to make the rounds in the media, still fueling speculation that he will announce a run for president.
One of his platforms, the economy and a strong dislike for China's economic policies. He called in to our "AMERICAN MORNING" earlier to voice his concern over China's currency valuation.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, ENTREPRENEUR/REALITY TV STAR: If they didn't manipulate their currency, where we were competing one on one, I would say absolutely I wouldn't even think about the tax. But they're making it impossible for our people, our companies, to do business to compete.
(END AUDIO CLIP) HOLMES: You heard him refer to a tax there, a possible tax on imports coming from China. Now Trump has yet to officially announce if he is going to run for president.
Well, the wildfires continues to spread across Texas, learning now that a second firefighter has died. Elias Jaquez died yesterday, 11 days after suffering burns while trapped in a fire. Another firefighter died on Friday.
The Texas wildfires have burned more than a million acres amid unusually dry conditions. West Texas averages 50 inches of rain per year, but in the past six months, they have gotten less than a quarter of an inch.
Firefighters from 36 other states have come to Texas to help extinguished those fires. They've scorched some 252 of the state's 254 counties since December of last year.
In Japan now, police are strictly enforcing evacuation orders for the 20-kilometer hot zone around the damaged Fukushima Daiichi power plant. About 78,000 residents have been evacuated from the area, but many have returned in recent weeks to check on their homes and businesses. Official say entry will now be highly regulated. People will have to return and be limited to two-hour visits and they will have to wear protective clothing.
Investigators in Colorado seeking the public's help in identifying the man in this picture spotted on a security camera just minutes before a mall security guard noticed a fire. It is believed that the fire was an attempt to detonate explosives at the Southwest Plaza Mall. The mall was quickly evacuated and there were no injuries reported.
The mall is located less than two miles from Columbine High School which, as you know, was the scene of a massive shooting 12 years ago that left two shooters and 12 other students and a teacher dead. Officials are expected to announce an update in the case sometime this hour.
A New York woman suing the Yankees for trademark infringement? She claims that it was actually her uncle that created that team logo that you see there, and she says her uncle was never paid for the work. She says her uncle, who lived in Europe, was commissioned to create the logo for the team back in 1936. She says he didn't realize they actually used his work until he came to America in 1947. She says the logo contains her uncle's signature "P." The Yankees said they have not yet been served with the lawsuit.
Vice President Joe Biden, teen idol Justin Bieber, WikiLeaks' Julian Assange, what do they all have in common? Can't really see these guys sitting around and hanging out, can you? But they do have something in common. I'll let you know in just a couple minutes.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Before the break, we were asking you what Vice President Joe Biden, teen idol Justin Bieber and WikiLeaks' Julian Assange all had in common. Don't really see these guys hanging out together, but they were all selected to our sister company, "Time's" 100 most influential people list, along with other artists, activists, heads of state, captains of their industry, to name a few.
Oprah Winfrey, currently winding down her talk show, has been named one of "Time" magazine's most influential people every year since 2004. That's more than any other "Time" 100 designee. She's followed by President Barack Obama whose made the list six times.
It also includes Prince William and his fiance Kate Middleton. Also, Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords is on the list. You can visit our blog at CNN.com/Ali for a link to the entire list of the 2011's most influential people.
You may have seen -- some of you aren't in this position yet, but some people have a lot of trouble reading their bifocals or those progressive lenses. Well, life is about to change for them. We will tell you why.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Today in "Globe Trekking," want to take a minute to remember somebody, somebody who probably embodied globe trekking as much as anybody we know. Tim Hetherington killed yesterday while working as a photo journalist in Libya for "Vanity Fair" magazine.
CNN's Becky Anderson takes a look at his career.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He traveled the globe documenting some of the world's deadliest conflicts. His profession was his life.
Born in Liverpool, award-winning photojournalist Tim Hetherington spent eight years in West Africa, where his images of civil war in Liberia brought to the world the reality of the conflict that had, until then, gone unnoticed.
He then turned his attention to Afghanistan, where he spent five years capturing award-winning and iconic images of life on the front line. He was awarded the Grand Jury Prize in 2010 at the Sundance Film Festival for "Restrepo," his directorial debut, a film which also earned him an Academy Award nomination.
(VIDEO CLIP, OUTPOST FILMS "RESTREPO")
TIM HETHERINGTON, PHOTOJOURNALIST: Often when I'm working in a very pressured situation, my -- I can almost flick the off switch and go into a default of filming. And later on, I come to, and it shocks me what I've done. And that's just something that I've been able to do, and that's, perhaps, why I continue -- why I realize that I'm good at what I do.
(GUN SHOTS FIRING) HETHERINGTON: But it does have the side that it is very dangerous. I remember being in the Congo and firefights and realizing -- a guy said to me, who I was filming close range, and he said, "Do you see the traces pass between our heads?" And I hadn't.
And later on, I saw the trees behind me all shot up, and I realized we were very exposed. And I'm in default. And that can be a funny thing later to understand.
ANDERSON (voice-over): Hetherington thrived on his work. He lived with his characters and told their stories to millions around the world. That was his talent, and that was his mission.
His final assignment was for "Vanity Fair" in Libya. His last Twitter post read, "In besieged Libyan city of Misrata. Indiscriminate shelling by Gadhafi forces. No sign of NATO."
Tim Hetherington was 41 years old.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: We turn now to today's "Freedom Project" report.
We feature David Arkless. You may not know the name, but his company, Manpower, is the world's largest employment agency. And it's adopted a zero tolerance policy on human trafficking. He says other companies have the power to make a difference if they try.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID ARKLESS, PRESIDENT OF CORPORATE AFFAIRS, MANPOWER: Take a corporate approach, get a strategic plan. If you stand against it, get your company policies right, communicate to your employees what the issue is, and then work in everything from policy and advocacy with governments and the U.N., through capacity building of NGOs and not-for-profits, through to taking direct action in cities and locations around the world.
Corporations have every opportunity to help solve this problem and we need to get more of them to take it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: You can learn all about CNN's year-long Freedom Project at CNN.com/freedom.
Ever since Benjamin Franklin invented bifocals back in 1784, wearing them meant you couldn't look down at objects more than a couple feet below your head, you know, the shoes, the ground some simple stuff like that, because you'll experience some blurred or distorted vision. Now the same often goes for those progressive lenses.
But come June now this may all be a thing of the past. That's when a company called PixelOptics plans to release EmPower!. That's a line of electronic eye glances that lets wearers toggle between two prescriptions electronically.
Joining me now to tell me about this technology is Mark Graham, director of electronic frame development and design at PixelOptics.
Sir, hello to you.
Are you wearing some of them right now?
MARK GRAHAM, PIXELOPTICS: I am sure, T.J. Thank you for having me, by the way.
HOLMES: OK, those look pretty good. I was worried about what they might look like. You hear bifocals, then you hear this new technology. So those look pretty good.
But how does the technology actually work?
GRAHAM: Yes, it's funny. In answer to your question about looking good, that's the first thing people think about is will it look like something that has large battery pack in it or whatever. But opposite of that, these are quite fashionable. They look like any designer frame on the market there.
But how it works is there's basically three components to the emPower! technology. One is the electronic lens, which is t most important component to it. That electronic lens has liquid crystal embedded in the center of the lens. Now that liquid crystal reacts to the electricity that's generated from the frame and electronic module.
The electronic module is the second part of it and the electronic module senses the touch. You simply touch your temple to turn the lens on. You can touch it to turn it off or you can swipe it to put it in the automatic mode, and I'll talk about that a little bit later.
Then, of course, the third component is the electronic frame. The frame is very sophisticated in that it can hold the electronic module and properly seek the lenses to make this work.
HOLMES: OK, Mark, let me understand here, you just touch it. How quickly does it switch to the other prescription?
GRAHAM: It switches very quickly. In fact, when I touch this and I'm turning on my reading portion, as I did right there, it switches in seven milliseconds. That's faster than you can blink an eye. In fact, it's three times faster than you can blink your eye. And then the same thing in turning it off.
When I swipe to put it in the automatic mode it reacts just as quickly. And when I say automatic mode, that means that there's an accelerometer in the temple here and that accelerometer that senses head tilts.
So I'm somebody that is constantly looking down at then looking up at my computer screen, I don't want to go on and off and on and off. I simply swipe the temple, put it in the automatic mode, I look down, automatically the reading portion comes on, I look up, it turns off. It is absolutely fascinating.
HOLMES: Of course, the accelerometer. Of course, it's all in the accelerometer.
GRAHAM: Yes, exactly.
HOLMES: OK, tell me here, though, it seems to be running on battery power. How long can a charge last you?
GRAHAM: A charge will get you about three to four days. What you do with emPower! frames, put them in your charger the same way you would your iPod or iPad or cell phone. Put them in the charger at night, charge them overnight and that will give you three to four days of continuous use.
HOLMES: Mark, here's the question. How much will it set up back?
GRAHAM: They're about 30 percent premium over regular progressive lenses in a quality frame that you would buy today. But you know, when you think about that -- and that's about $1,200. When you think about that, you got to remember that, with this technology, you're losing the distortion that's inherent with progressive lenses.
You also have the accelerometer which allows you to turn it on and off automatically when you're looking up and down. You have very sophisticated technology into these frames and into these eyewear. So that 30 percent premium, I think, is well worth it.
And I'll tell you this, I've been wearing these EmPower! frames and lenses for about six months. Prior to that I wore regular progressive lenses. And I got to tell you, after wearing these, I would never go back to regular progressive because these are absolutely the greatest thing on the market right now.
HOLMES: You also work for the company, Mark. Come on now.
GRAHAM: Yes, I do. Exactly.
(LAUGHTER)
HOLMES: OK. But you think people are going to want to shell out $1,200-plus for these. And I know you talk about a 30 percent premium, but you can get some cheaper bifocals out there, it is more than a 30 percent premium.
What's wrong with the old school, people been doing it that way for a long time?
GRAHAM: You know, with emPower!, we correct two of the problems that are inherent with progressive lenses and/or bifocals.
One of them is, with progressive lenses, remember, you have a lot of distortion on the outer edges, on the peripheral area of your vision there. So that's why when you go to an optometrist, your eye care professional and you get prescribed progressive lenses, they always tell to you point to where you are looking, don't look out to the left or right because you'll have distortion.
And the second thing is that, with progressive lenses or bifocals, you always have that reading portion there. You can't turn it off, so it is a safety issue. When you're walking downstairs, you're looking through the reading portion of that lens, which can be very dangerous for somebody that's older.
Now somebody that's golfing like me -- as a matter of fact I just came back from Hilton Head, South Carolina -- when you're golfing using regular progressive addition lenses or bifocals, you are looking down looking down and you're looking through the reading portion of that lens. And that's probably why in the past couple years when I was wearing progressives I was having to yell "fore" a lot to the people on the other fairways.
HOLMES: Yes, blame it on the glasses.
(LAUGHTER)
GRAHAM: I blame my clubs too.
HOLMES: This is fascinating stuff. We will see if there is market for them. Maybe more people want them. Maybe the prices start to come down. But some people may be willing to shell out that $1,200.
But, Mark Graham, we appreciate you taking the time and explaining this to us. Fascinating stuff for our "Big I" today. Thanks so much.
GRAHAM: Thank you very much, T.J.
HOLMES: For more on these bifocals and all of the "Big Is," you can visit the blog, CNN.com/Ali.
Well, he is still playing it a bit coy right now as to his presidential intentions, but his travel schedule may speak volumes. Brianna Keilar is going to be joining us on the potential candidacy on the potential candidacy of Donald Trump in just a couple of minutes.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Time for our CNN "Political Update." We go to Washington for that and we find Brianna Keilar who has the update for us.
It seems like, Brianna, every "Political Update" has something to do with Donald Trump.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: He just keeps us guessing. We want to know if he's running. And you know, T.J., what we can tell you is he sure is acting like a presidential candidate because he's going to be heading to the all-important early primary state of New Hampshire next week. He'll be there next Wednesday. So what is he going to be doing? Look, we've got a speech. We have a walking tour. He's going to be sitting down with donors and organizers.
But hasn't said he's running yet. He's holding out, he's going to make that announcement on the season finale of his show "Celebrity Apprentice," that's May 22nd, folks. And, T.J., he told our anchors on CNN's "AMERICAN MORNING" he seriously is considering running and it's not just a publicity stunt.
So also on the Ticker, Medicare. This is shaping up to be a huge battleground topic going into 2012. There's a conservative group, 60 Plus, they've done a big ad buy and they say they're going to blanket the country with radio ads thanking Republicans for voting to save Medicare.
To put this in context, this comes on the heels of a big ad buy by Democrats and by a liberal PAC where they were targeting a number of Republicans saying that they voted to end Medicare.
And all of this centers around the vote on Friday to pass the 2012 House budget. In it, and it was Republicans whose pushed this through the House, it would overhaul Medicare, as we know it, change into a voucher system, keeping it in place the way it currently is for seniors who are in retirement or near retirement.
And then "Time 100," being honored, I think this is pretty interesting, Gabrielle Giffords. Of course, the injured Congresswoman from Arizona, she survived that shooting at one of her congressional events in January that killed six people. She's going to be honored.
She's actually the 20th most influential person. President Obama wrote the tribute saying that, you know, this is a testament to just determination and resilience.
And also on this list, Wael Ghonim, he is the Google executive who helped spark the revolution in Egypt using social media, T.J.
HOLMES: Always an interesting list in seeing how varied the folks are on there. Some names you know, some you don't.
Brianna, did you know Will and Kate are on that list, actually, as well? I'm sure you saw that.
KEILAR: I did know that. Yes, and House Speaker John Boehner and Secretary of State Clinton. It's pretty interesting.
HOLMES: You know all of the politicians on the list, of course, you're supposed to.
Good to see you.
I mentioned Will and Kate because many people -- did you realize they met some 10 years ago? And maybe in the most unexpected of places. Fate had something in mind for these two, and just throw some lingerie into the story as well and you've got a fairy tale royal romance.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: St. Andrews, one of the oldest and most respected universities in the world, that has also earned the reputation as Britain's top matchmaking school. One in ten students said to meet their future mate right there, and that includes, you guessed it, those two. It was a match made at St. Andrews.
Soledad O'Brien takes us behind the romance of Prince William and Kate Middleton in "THE WOMEN WHO WOULD BE QUEEN."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN SPECIAL INVESTIGATION CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Fall 2001, St. Andrews, Scotland. Kate Middleton meets her prince.
KATE MIDDLETON, ENGAGED TO PRINCE WILLIAM: I actually went bright red when I met you and scuttled off, feeling very shy about -- about meeting you.
CHRISTOPHER ANDERSEN, AUTHOR, "WILLIAM AND KATE": Not long after, William invited a number of friends to his dormitory room. She did this awkward curtsy and he reacted by instantly spilling his drink because he realized -- he would do things like this to put people at ease. And from that point on, they became friendly.
O'BRIEN: They both live in this dorm, affectionately called St. Sally's. They bonded over their shared major of art history, early morning swims in the campus pool and their sense of humor.
HRH PRINCE WILLIAM OF WALES, UNITED KINGDOM: It was good fun. We had a really good laugh, and things happened.
O'BRIEN: They stuck together in good times and in bad.
CHARLES WARREN, PRINCE WILLIAM'S TEACHER: He was panicking about approaching deadlines and struggling with some of it, like all -- you know, most of our student do.
ANDERSEN: He was so desperately unhappy that, after the first year, he was determined to leave, and it really was Kate who talked him into staying. She said, look, you know, we'll both stick it out together, if at the end of the sophomore year we feel the same way, we'll both leave.
O'BRIEN: It was a friendship that almost never happened. Most assumed William would go to Oxford, like most of his family had.
JULES KNIGHT, FRIEND OF WILLIAM AND KATE: I think it was an attempt to get away from the public eye, to some extent.
O'BRIEN: St. Andrews is a small town in Scotland, population 28,000. So small and isolated that the school and palace could control the media there. They even brokered a deal with the press that while William was at St. Andrews, they would stay away.
In this private enclave, he was able to meet Kate, who some say was convinced to go to St. Andrews by her mother.
ANDERSEN: Originally, Kate wanted to go to Edinburgh University. When it was announced by the palace that William would be attending St. Andrews University, enrollment among women in St. Andrews jumped over night by 40 percent.
By putting her in proximity to William, magic happened.
O'BRIEN: That magic happened March 2002. The annual charity fashion show called Don't Walk. A lingerie show. The models were nearly naked. Kate was no exception.
She wasn't what you call a kind of risque girl. She was a safe bet, quite conservative really in the way that she dressed and the way that she acted. And here she was not wearing that much, looking amazing.
ANDERSEN: That was point at which he pursued her romantically and very quickly.
O'BRIEN: A romance that would become St. Andrews' ultimate match.
Soledad O'Brien, CNN, reporting.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Whether you're a romantic or not, the buzz over Will and Kate's royal wedding reaching a fevered pitch. Someone just posted, tweeted or commented about the royal wedding, I'm sure, right about now. In the last seven days, an independent research firm says the chatter online pretty much nonstop, 9,000 posts out there a day.
And what are they talking about? Kate's wedding dress, the guest list, gifts, those are the top these things people are talking about. Prince William's choice not to wear a wedding band has also fueled the buzz, in my house as well.
