BroadRamp works with KSAT to showcase Steve Spriester's 30-minute segment on the homeless

After Steve Spriester completed an interview of Sean Darwish, the chief technology officer at BroadRamp, the company offered to showcase its video streaming capability for a 30-minute special on the homeless. Right now, KSAT has this hotlink on its web site. Until we offered to provide this service, KSAT didn't have the bandwidth to stream this award winning news piece.

Oh yes, KSAT aired a two-minute piece on BroadRamp on Friday evening.

How the Dallas Cowboys are helping San Antonio as a tourist destination

I drove my daughter, Kate, back from her camp in northeast Texas, and I did some radio surfing to find the local sports channels. From Austin (AM 1300) to Waco (AM1660) to Dallas (AM 990), I picked up three stations with promotional prizes involving a weekend in San Antonio to see the Cowboys train. Now, that San Antonio has locked up the training camp for the next five years, it'll help drive Cowboy fans to our city to watch their team training. And, even though I am a lifetime Bears fan (my fraternal grandpa was a personal friend of George Halas when the Bears were the Decatur Staleys), I have to admire how my adopted hometown has optimized their tourism expertise.

San Antonio, the quiet tech giant

I just got back from a family trip to Washington D.C. over the Fourth of July holiday. My son, Pete, wanted to visit the Smithsonian and the Library of Congress as his graduation present from high school. While there, I helped a New York engineer get a ride to a local Target so he could replace a batter for his car’s key fob. During our drive, I mentioned that I was from San Antonio working as a publicist in the technology sector. His first comments were typical: “I didn’t know there was technology in San Antonio, but I knew there was a bunch of it in Austin.”
That’s one of the reasons why I volunteered to work as the volunteer press officer for the DCI aka the Digital Convergence Initiative. Not only do I want to strengthen the relationship of San Antonio’s growing tech presence in the region outside of Texas, but I want to also build the relationship between Austin and San Antonio. I once lived in Austin while assigned to the public affairs office at Bergstrom AFB, Texas (Note: Both Hunter S. Thompson and I edited the base paper, the Jet Gazette), and like all other residents, I considered San Antonio as a nice place for a weekend getaway.
It wasn’t until I got assigned to San Antonio, and I retired from here, that I noticed the difference again in the two cities. San Antonio is a combination of retired military, conservative German and Hispanics. Compared to Austin, it has a different attitude, and driving through San Antonio is a lot easier than Austin. After leaving Bergstrom in 1982, I knew Austin had grown into a technopolitan community. Whenever I get to Austin, I feel a different kind of vibe.
Yet, even though we are somewhat different, both communities can become the base for a growing convergence of technology. In San Antonio, we have some of the top cryptologists in the world as well as some of the leading biomedical research facilities. And, it’s not just these two industries. There’s a growing expansion of other technologies. BroadRamp, a client of mine, has some major deals for its streaming media services. Rackspace is one of the largest content delivery storage facilities in the world, and my friends at Bauhaus have launched an animation sharing site.
I hope to learn about the growing technologies in Austin and to help strengthen the relationship between both communities. Sloan Foster, DCI’s new president and another SA resident, asked me to serve on the board, and I am willing to volunteer time to bring the two communities as well as others together. Already, I know where the good pit stops are on I-35. (Note: While I love the Longhorn Café in San Antonio, you can’t get a better milk shake at the Steak n Shake at Exit 227 near Austin.) I am hoping that through my work on the board, that I will help bring convergence to our two communities and hopefully get a free shake or two from the Steak ‘n’ Shake frequent customer card.

Major conference wants you to audition before speaking

As anyone who has tried to book clients as speakers know, it's important to put the right person in front of the right group. When I read David Meerman Scott's blog today, I had to laugh that the Software 2007 conference is hosting a short audition via Utube to pick the best speakers.

Here's hoping more banquet planners, symposium gurus and others in the world of public speaking take the time to ask for a short video of the speaker. I know that when I attended the SATAI banquet as their event PR guy, I was not too impressed with the ATT technology VP who spoke on the benefits of Uverse. It made me want to stay with Time Warner Cable even more.

Note: Anyone who wants to get a great video that will impress the nomination committee should call Martha Trevino, my counterpart and marketing diva, at BroadRamp.

Express News and vPopcorn

Laura Lorek, the technology beat writer for the Express News, just completed a nice story on BroadRamp and their vPopcorn platform. As BroadRamp's publicist, I worked with setting up the interview with Sean Darwish about his technology. Right now, there are other versions of computer stuff that allows folks to download a movie, but the process is rather clunky and the process requires the movie provider to "flood" your temporary files with the movie.

Hooking up with a dear old friend.

30 years later, and Jon Perkins and I haven't changed a bit. And, I have some swampland in Florida for sale.

A private tour of the Washington Post, thanks to my old buddy "Perk"

After not seeing him for 30 years, my family and I got to see Jon Perkins, one of my old ISU Vidette colleagues, at the Washington Post. Jon is a copy editor for the newspaper, and he gave us a VIP tour of the newsroom. While showing us around, Jon showed us Bob Woodward's office and told my daughters, Kate and Jen, and my son, Pete, how the Watergate journalist and assistant managing editor would still work as a night editor every weekend. "He'd pulled out $200 and tell one of the interns to get a bunch of ice cream for the staff," he said.


I wish that Jon and I could have connected this time to catch up, but he was heading out of town to speak to other journalists on editing. He tells me that I have a standing invite to play some poker if I back in Washington for business. All I need is a 12-pack of beer.

Afternote: How times have changed. My two daughters have not heard much about Watergate and Woodward's role in exposing the Republican party's decision to find files in the Democratic offices. So, I am buying a copy of Woodward's and Carl Bernstein's "All the President's Men" for them to understand the significance of Woodward's role in this story.