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Top Tech of 2014; Taliban Strikes U.S. Embassy in Kabul; U.S. Marines Ready to Enter South Sudan; Vets Help Vets at Dixon Center; Top Weather Stories of 2013

Aired December 25, 2013 - 15:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right, few things help us better track the passing years like technology. The '70s brought us those giant Greg Brady-style headphones, Elton John obviously a fan there.

The Sony Walkman, remember that, got big in the '80s. What a feeling to bring our music wherever we went. And the '90s saw the growth of the cell phone, kind of overgrown there at first. It was a bit like talking into a brick.

Well, what can we expect for 2014?

I have got two tech experts that have gazed into their crystal ball or silicon ball, perhaps. Christina Warren is from Mashable.com in New York.

Good to see you.

And, from Toronto, Marc Saltzman, a syndicated tech writer.

Good to see you, Mark. It's been forever.

(LAUGHTER)

WHITFIELD: All right, let's talk...

MARC SALTZMAN, SYNDICATED TECHNOLOGY WRITER: Likewise. Happy holidays.

WHITFIELD: -- about 2014 and what's next.

Christina, you first, what do you think the biggest, hottest gadget is likely to be?

CHRISTINA WARREN, SENIOR TECH ANALYST, MASHABLE.COM: The biggest gadget out on the market today, I'm thinking it's two. It's the Xbox One and the Playstation 4.

Both of those are some of the biggest things you can get for the living room, and they're both two consoles that are going to have a big life ahead.

So, it's something you can get now, but also has a platform in place that's going to be really great for really the next decade, and it's going to help define I think what the living room looks like over the next 10 years.

WHITFIELD: So it's really going to evolve and we will, too, along with it.

So, Mark, how about you?

SALTZMAN: Well, although the concept behind it is very polarizing, I think Google Glass will be probably the most exciting tech innovation of 2014.

This is a wearable computer that looks like a pair of eyeglasses at first glance, but it allows you to do almost anything your smartphone or even your home computer can do with a smart screen hovering above your right eye.

Again, there are obviously some privacy and security concerns with a product like this, but I think it's going to be -- you know, you have one of the biggest tech companies in the world putting a lot of money behind it. I think it's going to be very exciting next year.

WHITFIELD: OK, so, let's look at the people or companies behind some of the exciting types of tech that you mentioned we should be keeping an eye out for in 2014.

Mark, you first, who or what should we be looking out for?

SALTZMAN: Well, I think the usual suspects, Samsung, Apple, Facebook, Google, and Twitter. Yesterday's Twitter price just jumped 8.5 percent, closing at almost $70 a share. Certainly those guys are big.

In terms of people instead of companies, Evan Spiegel, the 23-year-old CEO and co-founder of Snapchat, who allegedly turned down a $4 billion, billion with a "B," buyout offer from Facebook.

I'd love to see where Snapchat is going in 2014 or what else Evan Spiegel and his partner are cooking up behind closed doors. So I think it's going -- that, for sure Evan is one I want to keep my eye on.

WHITFIELD: So, Christina, who or what is going to be hot in terms of making things happen?

WARREN: Like Mark, I think all the big companies, your Apples, your Googles, your Samsungs, your Amazons are companies to keep an eye on.

But I would also say, for a person, I would say Elon Musk, because what he's doing with Tesla, despite some of the controversy around that.

But most importantly, I think the stuff from SpaceX and really what he's doing to transform the way we -- transportation in general and some of his bigger ideas for even recreating highways.

I think he's one of those visionaries I can't wait to see what he does in 2014.

WHITFIELD: It's a exciting time with tech just changing just ever so quickly.

But, at the same time, Mark, just when you get excited about something, you make a purchase, it becomes obsolete within a matter of weeks if not days.

And so what's a consumer to do when it comes down to making choices about, like you mentioned, the Playstation 4, the Xbox or even Google Glass, because you make a big investment and suddenly something else kind of upstages it.

SALTZMAN: It's a valid concern that many people have.

You know, number one, do your research. Make sure that you read not just critic reviews from guys like me, but also read consumer reviews of products before you make an investment.

And then I guess the second tip is you could always wait until something better comes around, and it always will, and it will always be cheaper with more features.

So the trick is to just jump in when you've got the budget to do so and you feel good that it's a highly rated product that you really will get a lot of use out of.

Otherwise, wait until the next iteration, because it will be less expensive and it will do more, as well.

WHITFIELD: So, Christina, do you see in 2014, while all of this technology -- while it's evolving, while there' so much more, it's becoming much more accessible, particularly because the price-point might come down to 2014?

WARREN: I think that's definitely part of it. Not only will prices come down, but companies are also seeing what works and what doesn't.

You take a category like wearables that had kind of a rocky 2013. Some of the things worked; some of them didn't.

But I think that what's great about technology is that companies are able to make changes quickly, so a product we see today that maybe isn't that great can become something that's really exciting into the next year.

And I think wearables are one of the categories that's really going to take off in the next year, even if people weren't as accepting of some of the smart watches and devices and things like Google Glass this year.

WHITFIELD: All right, Christina Warren, Mark Saltzman, good to see both of you. Merry Christmas and happy new year.

WARREN: Merry Christmas.

SALTZMAN: Thank you, and to you.

WHITFIELD: Next, it's the season to be with family and friends, right? But for American soldiers overseas that can be very challenging.

So, this Christmas, we've made it a little easier for one solder in Afghanistan to connect with his family right here at home, all straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: A pair of rockets fired by the Taliban have struck the United States embassy in Afghanistan, no reports of casualties, but it was a horrific Christmas morning for the hundreds of American diplomats and aid workers who are based at that compound in the center of Kabul. They were sent scrambling into fortified bunkers.

The attack comes as the U.S. and Afghanistan are working on a post- 2014 plan for a U.S. military presence in that country.

And heavily armed U.S. Marines are ready to move at a moment's notice to rescue Americans caught up in a bloody and brutal conflict in South Sudan.

Amid reports of mass graves and ethnic killings, more international forces are now arriving, including 50 U.S. Marines. They're spending their Christmas stationed in nearby Uganda, ready to go in to help evacuate any Americans still in the South.

Joining me now, CNN correspondent Fred Pleitgen.

So, Fred, we know the U.N. Security Council voted unanimously to send troops, thousands more troops, into South Sudan. So how bad are things getting there?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they're getting pretty bad, Fredricka.

What's going on there is that the fighting is spreading and the fighting is getting worse. There are heavy clashes in the north of the country, which is significant because the north of South Sudan has some major oil fields and the oil fields are the main source of revenue for that country.

What's happening is that these clashes are getting more intense, and they're also getting more and more ethnic. It's the two main tribes pitted against each other, one led by the country's president, the other led by the country's former vice president who was sacked earlier this year.

The U.S. is trying to step in sending high-level diplomats over there and telling these two sides you have to sort out your differences before this tears the country apart.

There are many people who believe that could happen, that genocide could happen, mass killings could happen.

There are already reports out there of summary executions. There's one mass grave that have been confirmed by the United Nations. Several others that have yet to be confirmed, but there are reports out there other mass graves have been found.

The U.N. is sending thousands of additional troops to protect civilians. Tens of thousands are on the run. The U.S. is protecting its assets there as well.

WHITFIELD: Thanks so much, Fred Pleitgen. Keep us posted on that.

Now, coming up --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LIEUTENANT URIEL MACIAS, U.S. NAVY: I haven't seen him in close to eight months, and right before I left my little boy was born, so it will be quite interesting to see them again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: They are separated by an ocean, but we brought them a little closer together this very special Christmas celebration with one military family, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, I'm (Inaudible) Wiggins (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And I'm Airman First Class (inaudible) and we're here with the 451st (inaudible -

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- at Kandahar Airfield.

We just want to wish our family and friends a very merry Christmas.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And happy new year.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And we'll see you guys in 2014.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We love and miss you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Christmas is a time to spend with family and friends, but there are thousands of U.S. troops who are so far away from home, stationed overseas, waking up in a military base today away from their families, and all they want to do is come home.

Well, one Army veteran is trying to fulfill that dream.

Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID SUTHERLAND, IRAQ WAR VETERAN: I'm Colonel Dave Sutherland. I'm a veteran with great pride.

I'm a father. I'm a husband. I'm an uncle. I'm a son. I'm an American soldier.

I serve for you, I fought with you and I would die for you.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Dave Sutherland led 5,000 troops in Iraq. We first met him on patrol in 2007.

SUTHERLAND: They were sick and tired of al Qaeda.

STARR: Now retired, his journey to serve continues with one passion, helping veterans coming home.

SUTHERLAND: We believe in everything we do that our veterans, our military families, our families of the fallen can thrive where they live.

STARR: A journey of absolute commitment he's made with colleague Kim Mitchell, a former naval officer.

They are here talking to veterans and veterans' advocates.

KIM MITCHELL, PRESIDENT, DIXON CENTER: Something in my heart told me that this is what I was meant to do, given my background, given the fact that the only reason I'm here is because of the Vietnam veterans.

STARR: They left military service in 2012 and opened up the Dixon Center, working with communities across the country, organizing locally-based help with jobs, education, and housing.

NICHOLAS STEPHANOVIC, IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN VETERAN: This is the new approach that everyone is looking towards, more local community-based organizations to help veterans, which is essentially going to be the answer for all of the things that the V.A. hasn't been able to cover.

STARR: He knows how bad the post-traumatic stress can get.

STEPHANOVIC: Pretty much destroyed my life, but it was the common issues of PTSD, like the anger, the sleepless nights, the substance abuse.

STARR: Army veteran David Barr, now a social worker, he and Sutherland hope to work together.

Barr says veterans like him often feel alone when they come home.

DAVID BARR, IRAQ VETERAN: You're going to need a community. You're going to need a town. You're going to need to block, you're going to need a neighborhood.

STARR: Sutherland and Mitchell have gone to more than 500 communities across the country, organizing local help on their journey borne of grief and hope.

Dixon Center is named after Sutherland's friend, Staff Sergeant Donnie Dixon, killed before Sutherland's eyes on an Iraq patrol.

Kim's journey, borne of the Vietnam War, more than 40 years ago, a South Vietnamese soldier had orders to blow up a bridge.

MITCHELL: There was one last survivor stumbling across the bridge carrying a bundle. That was a hat with a baby wrapped up in a towel.

He had found me along the side of the road clinging to the body of a dead woman.

STARR: Kim was adopted by an American service member. Last year after reading an article about her, that Vietnamese soldier, now living in New Mexico, found her again.

We meet up on Skype. He tells us it was beyond belief she was the baby he saved. He could not imagine how she survived.

Dave Sutherland and Kim Mitchell strongly believe that veterans can do more than just survive. They can thrive in the communities where they live.

So this holiday season if you see a veteran, stop and ask them how they're doing.

Barbara Starr, CNN, The Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And here at home at CNN, we want to do something a little bit special for one of those heroes serving in Kabul, Afghanistan, this Christmas.

Navy Lieutenant Uriel Macias hasn't seen his family since June, so we connected them to his family more than 7,000 miles away.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MACIAS: Right before I left my little boy was born, so it will be quite interesting to see them again when I redeploy.

WHITFIELD: And so, Angela, how about you? You're message to your husband right now?

ANGELA MACIAS, HUSBAND DEPLOYED IN AFGHANISTAN: We miss him dearly. It's been really a hectic year without him.

The little one is now eight months. As you can see, he's grown a lot since you left.

WHITFIELD: So, Angela, how was Christmas morning today? Maybe you can fill Uriel in on what it was like in the house this morning.

A. MACIAS: Honestly, a little quiet, just sharing time together and opening gifts in the morning with the children.

Today with his absence, a little sad, quiet, and it was just me and the kids.

WHITFIELD: And Natalie, as the big sister there, what was it like for you in the household?

How did you try to, you know, keep it festive or, you know, how -- what were your thoughts about your dad have morning?

NATALIE YNIGUEZ, STEPDAD DEPLOYED IN AFGHANIST: It's different. It's just hard because -- really loves him and so does he. So he just keeps saying like Papi.

(Inaudible).

WHITFIELD: And, Uriel, what is it like now to hear your kids and your wife?

You're many miles apart but in a small kind of way we've brought you together. Maybe the distance doesn't seem so far right now, does it?

U. MACIAS: It's almost like I'm almost there. I can actually kind of hear my dog barking in the background, too, so it's kind of nice.

It's very nice actually to see them all together and thank you for doing this. I really appreciate it.

WHITFIELD: And so, Lieutenant, what kind of traditions were carried out at the base this morning for the many other troops that are with you?

U. MACIAS: They did a nice breakfast and nice dinner. The upper officers were the ones serving the dinner to the enlisted.

It was nice to see the Christmas dinner being served by the officers and colonels and captains and all the other people we report to on a daily basis.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And good news is, the lieutenant will be home from Afghanistan next month. Congrats to all of them. And merry Christmas.

Up next, Oklahoma tornadoes destroyed a school in sessions, a nor'easter that packed 80-mile-per-hour winds, and four feet of snow in South Dakota just as fall was beginning, these were just a few of the top 10 weather events of 2013.

We've got number one, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAPTAIN RENEE CHARITY CASSIDY (ph), U.S. AIR FORCE: Hey, Jacksonville, it's Captain Renee Charity Cassidy (ph) with the United States Air Force and Paxton High School class of '04.

Mom, happen holidays. No tears, I'll be home soon.

And, Dad, I can't get you the '76 Mustang this year. Jacksonville, keep my family safe, and go, Jaguars!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: A thousand-year flood, a nearly 300-mile-an-hour tornado and a typhoon that destroyed millions of homes, mindboggling numbers to go with some of the extreme weather stories we've covered this year.

Chad Myers counts down the top 10.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: 2013 was quite a year, weather-wise. Let's go to the top 10 weather stories right now. We'll start at number 10 in Mexico.

Twin hurricanes hitting that country, one from the Gulf of Mexico, the other from the Pacific, $5 billion in damage, more than a hundred people killed in that flooding.

Now to South Dakota, 12 days into autumn, we're looking at this, four feet of snow, 70-mile-per-winds. Twenty thousand cattle were killed in this storm as ranchers were caught off guard.

Now to the northeast, the nor'easter, a big storm back in February, 83-mile-per-hour winds at one point, but the pressure was equal to a Category 2 hurricane.

Now to Arizona where the wildfire struck, lightning strike north of Phoenix created this wildfire. It grew to 6,000 acres.

The Granite Mountain Hotshots were sent in, the wind shifted directions on them and blew the fire right back at those firefighters. Nineteen died that day, that's the largest loss of life of firefighters since 9/11.

To East Asia, right here, big dome of high pressure, a very populated area here Shanghai into Shimanto, Japan. Shimanto, Japan had 106 degrees

Shimanto, Japan, has never been that hot. In fact, no city in Japan has ever been that hot on any day, any summer, as long as they were keeping records.

Now to Oklahoma City, a 210-mile-per-hour tornado, an EF-5 headed to Moore, Oklahoma, Moore, Oklahoma, right here, and it was coming in from the West, and we knew it was moving into a populated area.

We watched it live on CNN from our local affiliates and broadcast it live to the world.

And that school is Plaza Towers. It took a direct hit. Seven children were killed in that school, but look at the damage that that school had. Now, on to El Reno I was there 11 days later. This is a 2.6-mile-wide tornado that moved to the southeast for a while, but when it got very strong, almost 300-miles-per-hour with some mobile Doppler radar units it turned to the left, caught an awful lot of storm chasers out of where they thought they should be, in a very bad position.

That's where the storm should have gone, in that white line. It didn't do that. It turned to the left and the storm chasers were right there.

In fact, even the Weather Channel was right there. Their storm-chase vehicle was hit by this tornado, but sadly, Tim Samaras and two other chasers were killed in that vehicle right there as the tornado overtook them.

Colorado flash floods, this is a once-in-a-1,000-year flood, 17 inches of rain in eight days, nine inches of rain in 24 hours. When you get that kind of rain in the mountains, it's going to run off. It can't all soak in.

So the rain came down, and it ran down the mountains and washed away towns, washed away bridges and roads, and there was significant damage all the way into Boulder.

Also, had very effective video, look at this video. We watched this just for hours as they rescued people out of some of these creeks and streams. These high-water rescues go on for a couple of days.

Now, we go to India, 15 inches of rain in 24 hours, and look at what happened here. These towns were eaten alive by the water, washed away into the rivers here, one building after another.

There were religious pilgrims in the area as well and more than 5,000 of them died.

Now, onto Europe, this isn't a flash flood like we've just seen the past two. This is a long-term rain event.

And it rains in the mountains, and it rains in the plains, and it all gets down into the rivers, and the rivers there in Europe went up, the Danube, the Rhine, the Elbe, all at historic, record levels.

They have been keeping records for some of these rivers since 1501. It even broke those records. Vienna, Prague, Budapest, all of those ancient cities hit by this flood.

Now to number one, Super Typhoon Haiyan, the strongest storm to ever make landfall in recent history, a 200-mile-per-hour monster super typhoon. We had 20-foot storm surge.

Andrew Stevens was there. Anderson Cooper was there. Six thousand people died as a 200-mile-per-hour wind rolled through Tacloban also with that 20-foot storm surge.

There are still 2,000 people missing. There are millions of people that don't have homes right now, still, in the Philippines. All of this happened in a year that the IPCC put out their climate report. Those are the climate gurus for the United Nations, and they say we're going to have more heat waves in the future, we're going to have more floods, and we're also going to have more drought because of climate change.

So maybe what we think of right now as extreme weather might just be the new normal.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, Chad, thanks so much.

Some production companies are hoping the bad weather holds off as people head to the theaters. Several big movies are opening today, including Martin Scorsese's "Wolf of Wall Street," starring Leonardo DiCaprio; Keanu Reeves new film, "47 Ronin"; and "Grudge Match," starring Robert De Niro and Sylvester Stallone; and Ben Stiller directs and stars in "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty."

And before we go, take a look at this. It's going to make you hungry. It's the Gingerbread White House -- it doesn't even look real, does it? -- in the making.

It's big, 300 pounds big, and as you can see, the detailed work that's gone into this is really incredible. It's art. It's even a working water fountain that is installed there to wash down the big bites of the Oval Office.

And, yes, the Gingerbread White House is entirely edible. Voila! And there it is.

That's going to do it for me. Thanks so much. Merry Christmas to everybody out there, hey, and especially to the Whitfields, the Simeons (ph), and the Glenns (ph).

I'm Fredricka Whitfield. I'll see you tomorrow, earlier in the day. Newsroom with Dana Bash is next. Have a great holiday.