All posts by jetrotz

the author of this blog.

First Fireworks

launch
Emily and Warren Hutmacher were kind enough to invite a crowd over to their place in Avondale Estates for July 4th. It’s a cute little town in the Atlanta environs where Warren is the city manager and wields the unique power to tell them when to start the show. Trouble is, he couldn’t control the weather, too. After a brief thunderstorm, Sam was able to enjoy his first fireworks. No crying! Amazing!
Click here to view the gallery.

May we see your family photos part two

The Handelman family gathered this past weekend in Cooperstown, New York for some R&R, baseball, and family fun. Everyone got a chance to meet baby Sam, and here is a quick pic from the family photo sessions – yes there were two! More to come soon…

Click on the photo at right to see a larger version.

Happy Father’s Day!

Amy and Sam both surprised me with very touching cards this morning on this, my first Father’s Day. That boy is really amazing. I could almost read his handwriting! We spent the day in relaxing, had a nice dinner out at Fritti with Sam getting all the attention, etc. To cap the day off, I’d encourage anyone reading the blog to visit the CNN.com free video site and find the ‘CNN’s dads give advice‘ video. You may have to use the ‘search’ box at upper right – just put in ‘dads give advice’ and you’ll find it. Really quite touching. Guess I’m turning into a big ol’ softie as a dad.

CNN.com Free Video Launch

launch
So after three long years where CNN.com’s video was a premium (ie – pay) product licensed to various wholesale companies as well as direct to consumers, the site launched on Saturday (two days ahead of schedule) their new free video product. Supported by the burgeoning broadband video advertising market, the new product is slated to feature some 30 new videos daily. I was involved in the product development aspects of the advertising technology and operations side of the project. This gallery shows the combined technical teams in our ‘Port:80’ conference room gathered for the launch effort, some 12 hours of work beginning at 6am on Saturday. The best news of all – it went off without a hitch, and the reviews are already coming in.

Lost Remote TV Blog review is here.
Media Bistro’s TV Newser talks about the return of free video (finally)
PaidContent.org talks about the Saturday launch, and CNN.com plans for the fall.