Concerned Citizens

I’m sure several of you have seen the latest viral videos of soldiers in various conflicts letting off steam by lip syncing to some of the most interesting songs, usually by female pop artists. They’re hilarious at times and present a different side we don’t see beyond the news reports. Remember, these soldiers are in harms way most of the time so as long as it doesn’t jeopardize the mission I don’t care what they do and hopefully they are having fun doing the videos. Unfortunately some people in command don’t see it that way. All I can say is let it go and let them have fun. Read more…

This was my first Texas Democratic Party State Convention since I started blogging over a year ago. I wasn’t sure what to expect but knew it would be a different world. I was ready to go with a netbook and a convention center covered with wifi access. I had my blog, Twitter, and Facebook accounts at the ready for posting the latest information. What I found at the convention was even better than I expected. I wasn’t the only one. In fact, the convention had a new army of people just like me hitting the convention – the New Media folks. Read more…

Day Two of SXSW Interactive was very productive and busy. After getting the devices (netbook and iPhone) charged for the day, which is critical for a full day, I was ready to hit the day. I drove down Saturday since I wanted the vehicle close by in case I needed to make a run anywhere. One of the challenges is keeping devices going to the end of the day. My iPhone was starving when I pulled into the room last night and netbook wasn’t much better. Read more…

Yesterday was a good day at SXSWi for a first day. I didn’t feel as lost yesterday as I did the first year I attended. I even felt like an old timer as I helped people find registration, gave some a brief tutorial on the Austin Convention Center, and staked out claim to prized seats in some of the more popular sessions. What made the day even better was that I learned some things yesterday and we’re just in Day One of the five day Interactive portion. So what did this old dog learn and what’s ahead? Read more…

Last year I was just learning my way around this megafest of social media and Web 2.0 and really felt like a newbie. Even with the overwhelming experience of meeting so many creative and talented people I came away with some new ideas and new friends. Now I’m back and ready for the five days of fun along with 15,000 others. Read more…

I’m in Austin this week for South by Southwest Interactive (SXSWi), the techy side of SXSW. It’s probably one of the biggest social media gatherings in the nation and brings together so many creative and talented people into one single location and conference. During the next five days I’ll be sitting in sessions dealing with everything from new media to mobile to touch interfaces. Yes, as you can see the schedule is going to be busy. No, I can’t be in two or three places at the same time but I always overbook and choose the session at the last minute based on participant feedback. Sometimes I’ll walk out of a dog session and hit another based on tweets in Twitter from friends. So why would I spend these five days in this big interactive festival? Read more…

Today I found this video at Mashable produced by Whirled Interactive providing a perspective on 2009 using Google Wave. In case you’re not familiar with the technology the perspective is a “wave” with a series of wavelet conversations. There are a lot of subtle nuances that are Wave specific so all you Wavers should watch for them, especially the RIP section. Regardless it’s just fun to watch. The thing to understand is that the only editing is audio. The Wave was built and replayed as is.

This past weekend if you surfed the NY Times website Sunday morning looking for information on the “Tea Party” march in Washington you probably were surprised to have a fake antivirus malware popup hit you warning you of virus problems. Many of us who saw the popup were shocked that a site with the reputation of the NY Times would have such a situation happen. Fortunately my browser, Google’s Chrome, prevented the malware from being loaded and installed on my computer and saved me hours of painful removal process. The NY Times did respond to the issue and removed the malicious ad from the site. But how could this have happened? Furthermore, how could a fake picture about the march in Washington be posted as legitimate? Ah, the false reality of the Internet. Read more…

Today was the last day of the largest political bloggers convention in the nation, Netroots Nation 2009. It started with a bang and ended with zzzzs for me. What made it even better was that I snuck a few learning sessions in on blogging and sausage making (aka the legislative process). Valerie Jarrett was our starting speaker and we had a panel on economics during lunch catered by the American Federation of Teachers. In the end exhaustion overtook me and I overslept and missed the closing session with Darcy Burner. Even without the closing session I can say this gathering was even better than last year’s. It accomplished the goal of recharging my blogging spirit, hopefully evidenced in the weeks to come. Read more…

Yesterday was my first day of Netroots Nation 2009 and it was full of information and fun. In case you’re coming to the blog new or missed my earlier post I am attending NN09 for a blogging recharge. Over 2,000 progressive bloggers from across the nation are attending this year’s NN09 and the energy is still there with the crowd. It definitely has a different feeling with Obama in the White House and Democrats in control of Congress. However, many realize this could easily change in 2010 depending on how the recovery fares or what comes of health care reform. Regardless, I think I have discovered my blogging voice and feel more at home around other political bloggers and progressives. Read more…

Tomorrow I leave for what is almost a political blogger’s dream vacation. Okay, that does sound a little weird but if you are anything of a political wonk and like to write about it Netroots Nation is the perfect place to be, especially if you’re on the progressive side. For three solid days a bunch of progressive political bloggers from across the U.S. gather in August to share ideas, hear from key political figures and get a recharge to head back and cover the political landscape of our states, counties and cities. Some, such as founder Markos Moulitsas of the Daily Kos, will bring the conversation up to the national level. Others like KT Musselman, Matt Glazer, and David Mauro, all of the Burnt Orange Report, will bring us the scope at the state level. Regardless, for one weekend we’re just a bunch of political bloggers enjoying the time together. Read more…

This past weekend I had a great experience at the first Tweet Camp SA organized by Andi Narvaez (@andinarvaez), Jennifer Navarrete (@epodcaster), and Colleen Pence (@colleenpence). The sessions were great and followed the traditional bar camp format. Throughout the day several social media people in the San Antonio area participated in some great presentations about everything Twitter. Through some scheduling changes I ended up presenting with another great social media person, Angela Bartels (@safun) from Rackspace Cloud (@rackcloud), on how to leverage social media tools like Facebook and Twitter in applications through the APIs. Then the fun began with regards to Twitter followings. Read more…

Last night was a busy night on the technology front. After years of planning and public outreach the nation’s television airwaves went all digital. Hundreds of analog transmitters were turned off across the nation and thousands of TV sets went dark. As a result of this transition stations are able to save thousands of dollars in energy costs since the new transmitters use substantially less power. It also marks the beginning of a new model in mobile communication but more on that in a bit. Last night also was when Facebook allowed users to pick their own identity on the popular social media platform. I went with my social media ID of RBearSAT while others who were up at the magical moment got more recognizable names like their real name. Read more…

Beginning June 13th at 12:01 a.m. EDT Facebook users will be asked to pick a name to identify themselves in the Facebook world. Just like you have a name in the Twitter space (mine’s @RBearSAT) you’ll get to have a name in Facebook land that will identify you more personally. Yes, it’s the 2009 Facebook name rush, very similar to the Oklahoma Land Rush of 1889. I can just see people around the world setting their alarm clocks for that crucial moment to make sure they get their special user name. Remember, there are over 200 million Facebook users in the world so how many chances do you have to get that perfect name? Will the Facebook platform slowly melt down around 12:01 a.m. EDT that day? Read more…

On Monday I decided to jump on the iPhone bandwagon after the recent announcement of the iPhone 3GS. Most of us who watch technology had been anticipating this announcement, both from a hardware and software perspective. While the other versions of the iPhone have been good, this is the version I felt was a good mix of technology for a smartphone. In another development, Mayor Julian Castro has started vlogging from City Hall in an effort to provide a more open and transparent government for San Antonio. Aside from the normal political and civic agenda you get a better picture of what’s on his iPod. It’s probably the first time an iPod has been a main component of the office. Who knows? Maybe he’ll start podcasting for those of us with iPhones. Read more…