kr8tr's blog

Where do San Antonio Technical people look for jobs?

Thu, 3 Aug 2006 22:30:11 -0500

Austin, San Jose, Seattle, and even Colorado Springs, CO have dedicated technical job sites for their cities. San Antonio doesn't (at least not that I can find).

Do we need one? I think we do, if we are serious about building our image as a tech city.

Anyone interested in helping me build one? I am willing to help with site design, business aspects of the site, finding a suitable domain, spec'ing the project, finding hosting, etc - but I don't have the time to actually build (read CODE) the site. If you are interested in helping, email me at rob{at}lagesse{dot}org.

There's probably no money in this - just a service I think we need, and maybe something fun to do outside your day job. I envision a very social community job site, not just a bunch of listings. Think "MySpace" meets "LinkedIn" meets a friendly community.

This looks like an amazing product... and it will be free!

Mon, 31 Jul 2006 17:36:27 -0500

Microsoft Live Labs - Announcing Microsoft Live Labs Photosynth Technology Preview

After watching the video on the Photosynth blog site, and reading everything else I could find on the product I am simply amazed by the potential of this tool, and I can't wait to get my hands on it. I have over 12,800 digital photos, and I would love to see what Photosynth does with them.

Some of the things that impress me is that a) Microsoft bought a startup for what appears to be their "zooming technology", b) they put together a team, and developed this product in a few short months, c) they will offer it FREE, and d) the potential for the application after it becomes more "web aware".

Texas surpasses California as largest Wind energy producer

Tue, 25 Jul 2006 11:59:56 -0500

"Texas capacity stands at 2,370 megawatts, enough to power 600,000
average-sized homes a year, according to a midyear report released
Tuesday by the American Wind Energy Association. That puts Texas
slightly ahead of California, the nation's leader since 1981.
California has 2,323 megawatts of capacity.

The total U.S. capacity is 9,971 megawatts. So far this year, Texas
has added 375 megawatts, or 46 percent of the total 822 megawatts
brought online nationwide.

Last year, wind energy generation grew 35 percent nationwide, adding
2,431 megawatts, but that fell short of the projected 2,500. The wind
association believes it can add 3,000 megawatts nationwide this year,
even if that means another 2,178 megawatts by year's end."

Read the full article at the source:
Wired News: Wind Energy: Texas Blows Hot Air

50 People who matter, and YOU is number one

Fri, 21 Jul 2006 14:52:52 -0500

Business 2.0: 50 People who matter

I love it that business, and the Main Stream Media (MSM) are finally figuring out that YOU are importnant. Follow the link, and click on YOU - it's a short but interesting read.

Personally, I don't think Bill Gates should be as far down the list as he is (at #21) - not because he's still the head of Microsoft, but I think him taking more time to spend on his foundation, and putting all of those billions to use around the world make him pretty much a guy that could matter more now then he ever did working for a little software company.

Journalist sues YouTube

Wed, 19 Jul 2006 15:22:38 -0500

Suit claims Web site encouraged users to copy his protected materials
I don't understand this - I've tried several times to save a YouTube video to my hard drive. It can be done, but it certainly isn't easy, and YouTube certainly doesn't provide me with any information on accomplishing it.

J ournalist sues YouTube over digital rights - Tech News & Reviews - MSNBC.com

Looking for something to do in San Antonio Friday evening?

Wed, 19 Jul 2006 10:36:21 -0500

This sounds like fun for all:

An Evening in the Park featuring a showing of the movie, "E.T." Entertainment from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Extended swimming hours at the pool until 8 p.m. Movie begins at sunset. Free face painting, balloon art and snowcones for the kids. Bring your blankets and chairs to this free family event. Lady Bird Johnson Park, 10700 Nacogdoches Road. Presented by Time Warner Cable San Antonio. 207-3000.

It's time to conserve some power!

Tue, 18 Jul 2006 14:57:25 -0500

PUC warns of possible power outages due to sweltering heat - San Antonio Business Journal:

Some ways to save:

If you have an electric stove or oven, cook outside instead. Nothing like a little beef on the BBQ!
Turn the thermostat up a bit - if everyone turns things up just two degrees it will make a huge difference.
Minimize how many times you open the icebox, and try to cut back a bit on hot water (especially if you have an electric water heater).
If you normally put your computer in standby or just leave it on, shut it off instead for the next week or so.
Replace all-night outdoor lighting with motion-activated lighting. It's cheap, easy to do, saves you money, and is more effective at scaring people away then an "always on" light.

Two things - why you don't comment and a conversation with a Silicon Valley Tech guy...

Fri, 7 Jul 2006 23:45:31 -0500

I'm combining two things here becase it's late, it's my birthday, and I am tired!

First, I understand why many of you don't comment now (thanks for the feedback!). I'll work with SalsaNet to try and fix the technological challenges that make commenting difficult.

Second, and totally unrelated - I was talking to a "Valley" tech geek tonight and he commented something to the affect of, "Yeah, I know you guys got Toyota, and the Alamo, and you are the "telemarketing capital of the world"... Never mind for a minute if he had his facts straight or not - I know we have a lot of call centers and telemarketing, but I don't know if we are the "capital of the world" in those areas.

My response to him was, "Well, I won't argue the telemarketing comment, but if you think about it, if it's true, wouldn't that require a huge amount of IT infrastructure support?"

Bashful?

Wed, 5 Jul 2006 22:28:33 -0500

I'm wondering what it would take to get you all to start commenting a bit... are you shy, you don't like the topics, what?

Do you not feel welcome to comment? You are!

Leave a comment, and tell us why you don't leave comments!

Dominoes was first to deliver

Sat, 1 Jul 2006 21:54:03 -0500

My kids and I lived in Palm Bay, Florida in 2004, for just eight months. In that eight months we were hit by four hurricanes - three of them major.

It was not unusual for power to be out for 14-18 days after a storm. Stores were closed, restaurants were understaffed and unable to open.

But on day three of Hurricane Jeanne, as the kids and I were out looking for gas for the generator we found a Dominoes Pizza with a huge line in front of it. They were open!

Those that know me know of my severe distaste for pizza. It's just not something I like - yet this day we waited for hours in a line. Finally we were able to order, and we had a choice, "Large Cheese, or large cheese". I ordered ten large cheese (the most they would let me order) and we waited again.

Shuttle Launch

Sat, 1 Jul 2006 13:27:09 -0500

HDNet (Channel 162 on Time Warner Cable's HD network) has been showing live (mostly) High Definition coverage of the preparation for the Shuttle launch since 9am today. I'm glued to the screen - it's interesting to see this much detail into what goes on before a launch (and to see it in HD is amazing).

We're currently just under two hours until the launch - if weather allows it. I can't imagine what kind of person it takes to go up in the shuttle after the recent failures, and the uncertainties this mission brings. I am awed by their courage and conviction, and my best hopes are with them not only for the critical launch, but for the perhaps even more critical re-entry.

They just finished talking about emergency landing options in Europe. One of those spots is Rota, Spain. Back in February of 1981 someone I cared about a lot was transfered to Rota - I never saw her again after that, but every shuttle launch reminds me of her, and I smile inside. I also cringe at the thought of the dangers these brave women and men face to further our knowledge and exploration of space - a frontier I honestly believe we must conquer.

Lowes Data Center, tax incentives, and the bottom line

Wed, 28 Jun 2006 19:28:19 -0500

I know some of you might be concerned about the 10 year tax abatements the city gave Lowe's (and others, and something the city will certainly do again and again - I hope).

One thing you need to keep in mind on these types of deals is what the "big picture" is when it comes to revenue for the city (not to mention the very good nationwide publicity it gives us, and the real movement it makes towards us being recognized as a "technology city").

Data Centers consume huge (*really* huge) amounts of power. We own our power company, so we profit off of just selling electricity. How much profit? It's hard to tell, but I have heard from some insiders that it is as much as nine MILLION dollars a year. Now I have no idea if that is a valid number or not, but I do know how much power datacenters use, and I find the number believable.

Simplyhired.com - a very nice job search tool

Thu, 22 Jun 2006 22:59:52 -0500

Simplyhired is a very simple, yet powerful job search tool. It's completely free to use and since it aggregates job listings from a wide variety of sites you get a huge amount of listings. Typically there are several hundered new listing for San Antonio each day.

Since I am between positions right now, I have looked at a lot of job search tools, and SimplyHired is by far my favorite. If you use LinkedIn you can find an interesting position and click on "Who do I know" - SimplyHired and LinkedIn compare the company with the job listing to your LinkedIn contacts, trying to find you some connection at the hiring company. Of course, the more contacts you have on LinkedIn, the more useful this feature will be to you.

One of my "best of" technologies I've purchased in the past year

Thu, 22 Jun 2006 22:34:31 -0500

The SlingBox, by SlingMedia is an amazingly simple device to use, considering what it does.

The SlingBox is a small hardware box that you connect to your cable, or satellite tv connection. Then plug an Ethernet cable from your router (hopefully you have a Cable Modem or DSL connection, because you need the high bandwidth) into the slingbox.

Run some simple setup software and in minutes (literally) you have the ability to watch your paid-for-by-you cable channels on any computer (once you install the client software - again, easy to do) anywhere.

I recently went to Austin and had a delay before a meeting started. I opened my laptop, connected via Wireless (luckily there was free WiFi where I was) and I watched the news, then I saw an episode of Sanford and Son (you know you love it!).

Ouch - we may be the seventh largest city, but we're only the 40th smartest - we need to fix this!

Thu, 22 Jun 2006 22:15:34 -0500

This data shows us to be 40th on the list of "brainiest" cities.

Personally, I find this hard to be true - I've lived in San Diego, Chicago, San Francisco, Honolulu and a few other big cities (and a LOT of other small ones). I've never met a greater number of smart people anywhere than I have here in San Antonio. Don't get me wrong - I met a LOT of very smart people in other cities - I just also met a lot of really... well, challenged ones!

Nonetheless, this data doesn't bode well for us - so how do we improve it? How do we increase the collective IQ of our fair city? Any ideas?