San Antonio was one of four cities nationwide to participate in a livestream city to city town hall to discuss the need for immigration reform.
Austin also held a virtual town hall along with New York City and San Francisco.
An immigration reform bill is currently pending in the U.S. Senate. Among the issues being considering is the expansion of the H1-B Visa that allows companies to hire highly skilled technical talent from other countries. The H1-B Visas are currently capped at 85,000 per year and the bill would expand that to 110,000 per year.
Several politicians, heads of chambers, technology industry executives and others gathered in the Silver Fox Studios Wednesday to broadcast live on the Internet a program about the need for immigration reform. And a call to action to encourage viewers to contact their representatives and senators to express their support for immigration reform.

Full disclosure: I participated in the March for Innovation and I’m in favor of expanding the H1-B Visa program and for immigration reform.

Bob Metcalfe, professor of innovation at the University of Texas at Austin, celebrated the 40th anniversary of the Ethernet today at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, Calif.
“On May 22, 1973 with David R. Boggs, I used my IBM Selectric with its Orator ball to type up a memo to my bosses at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), outlining our idea for this little invention called “Ethernet”, which we later patented,” Metcalfe wrote in a post to Reddit.
In addition to attending a celebration at the Computer History Museum, Metcalfe participated in a Reddit “Ask Me Anything” two hour long session.
Metcalfe kicked off the session with this post: “You’re probably connecting to reddit through a technology I invented. I’m Bob Metcalfe and I invented Ethernet – AMA”
During the AMA, Metcalfe answered a wide range of questions including whether he made a lot of money off his invention, to which he answered he didn’t make a lot on patent royalties from Ethernet “but by SELLING Ethernet for a decade to people who didn’t know they needed it.”
Metcalfe has given several talks and written articles about the importance of sales for entrepreneurs. In his 1999 article “Invention is a Flower, Innovation is a Weed” he explains why sales matter.
Metcalfe also reported that the official Ethernet cable color is yellow. (I thought it was blue)
One of my favorite answers from Metcalfe is to the question “Do you think someone else could have done it at the time?”
Metcalfe responded “Yes, but they didn’t. I was lucky to be born to my parents, to accidentally get accepted to MIT, to sneak into Xerox Parc, and lucky to get the completely new problem of having a building full of personal computers, one on every desk, if you can image.”
Another thing Metcalfe often says is that he doesn’t know why he succeeded.
“Most successful entrepreneurs I’ve met have no idea about the reasons for their success. They were thrown-like rocks. I had the good fortune to be thrown into Silicon Valley. My trajectory was a mystery to me then, and only a little less so now,” according to that 1999 article.
And the best advice someone gave Metcalfe on how to deal with challenging people or situations?
“God (or Darwin) gave us one mouth and two ears. Take the hint. Best to listen first. Summarize back with the language you’ve heard. Then, act!”
Someone should really give Metcalfe his own talk show. He dispenses good advice as easily as Oprah. And although I’ve been lucky enough to hear Metcalfe speak several times since he landed in Austin two years ago, he is always inspiring and insightful. I learn from him every time.
Metcalfe also answered a few questions about the Internet’s impact on society.
“The Internet reduces market frictions and expands freedom of choice. I give the Internet credit for everything good that has happened since 1969.”
He also said that he thought Google’s Fiber rollout in Austin would spur even more competition to provide even faster Internet speeds throughout the region.
In response to a question about his opinion of Google, he said he wished he had thought of it.
“As a professor of innovation, I like Google especially because of its “pivot” from fast search to auctioned targeted advertising. Google unseated Microsoft which unseated IBM. Who will unseat Google? Cannot wait to see how that plays out.”

You can read the full post here.

You can also find more about the 40th anniversary of the Internet on its Facebook page.

Virgin America this month launched a new daily roundtrip service from Austin-Bergstrom International Airport to San Jose.
To keep the high tech travelers happy, Virgin America offers WiFi on every flight and has other features like power outlets and personal touch-screen entertainment platforms at every seat.
The addition of the direct route shows the growing ties between the Austin region and San Francisco and Silicon Valley.
Fares between San Francisco and Austin start from $79. Southwest Airlines also offers a daily roundtrip direct service between Austin and San Jose, and the flight has affectionately become known as the “nerd bird,” for all the technology workers who travel the route.
Virgin America celebrated its first flight to touch down in Austin on Tuesday with a red carpet welcome for its customers. Austin-based psychedelic rock band, The Bright Light Social Hour also entertained the passengers on the plane in route to Austin.
“Austin and San Francisco share deep cultural and economic ties, so it made perfect sense for us to expand our network into this area that deserves not only increased flight options, but a better brand of service,” Virgin America President and CEO David Cush said in a news release. “As the only airline serving Austin with WiFi and power outlets at every seat, Virgin America allows business travelers flying between Silicon Valley and the Silicon Hills to stay connected and productive at 35,000 feet. And for those who prefer to tune out in-flight, we offer the largest and most advanced entertainment library in the skies, with on-demand music, live television, video games, interactive Google maps and more than 25 films, all available at their seatback touch-screen.”

Compare Metrics announced it has received $4.2 million in first round financing led by Austin Ventures.
Other investors included Mike Maples with Floodgate, Bob Greene with Contour Venture Partners, Julie Allegro with Allegro Venture Partners and Ralph Mack with Mack Capital as well as investors Tom Meredith and Adam Ross.
The Austin-based company plans to use the money to support its expansion. The company makes an analytics software aimed at retailers.
“Compare Metrics is transforming the way people are making buying decisions,” Compare Metrics’ co-founder and CEO Garrett Eastham, said in a news release. “We believe the future of online consumer discovery is not about creating the ultimate algorithm to tell consumers what they want but about giving consumers the best tools to articulate their personal desires and confidently follow their unique decision-making path.”
Compare Metrics has created a platform that delivers only the most relevant features to a customer. The platform becomes more intelligent the more a user interacts with it. It learns a person’s preferences and then makes product suggestions based on certain features. The company has a patent pending on its feature discovery and comparison platform.
Compare Metrics makes money by selling categories to e-commerce sites on a monthly basis. It is a software as a service company and charges $500 per month per category to retailers.
Eastham, Mikael Solomon and Stephen Goodwin founded Compare Metrics in late 2012. The company debuted its product at the Innotech Beta Summit last November.
“The solution was inspired by cognitive science research Eastham led at Stanford University to understand the impact of different computer interfaces on the decision-making process,” according to a news release. “The team has grown the idea into an innovative technology platform built from the ground-up, grown a highly scalable content curation team and content management system, and has signed market-leading customers.”

SolarWinds announced it has signed an agreement to buy N-able Technologies for $120 million in cash.
Austin-based Solarwinds, which makes information technology management software, expects the deal to close by the end of May.
N-able, based in Ottawa, Canada, makes remote monitoring, management and service automated software that is based in what has come to be known as the Cloud, computing resources such as hardware and software accessible over a network from a remote location.
“Upon completion of the acquisition, the addition of N-able to the SolarWinds family gives us the opportunity to respond to a growing need in the IT industry,” Kevin Thompson, SolarWinds’ President and CEO said in a news release.

The March for Innovation kicks off today.
The event is designed to raise awareness about immigration reform, said Peter French with Free Flow Research.
He’s organizing the San Antonio event for the March for Innovation virtual town hall meeting in the Silver Fox Studios. He’s been working with Jeremy Robbins, the director of the Partnership for a New American Economy and senior policy advisor to New York City Mayor Bloomberg.
Austin and San Antonio are two of only four cities participating in the virtual event nationwide to put the spotlight on the need for “smart immigration reform,” French said.
Austin is holding its event at uShip which will be live-streamed beginning at 5:30 p.m.
The other cities participating include New York and San Francisco. The event is a city-to-city pass-the-baton media event that includes live Google hangouts, tweet chats, Twitter town hall meetings, email blasts, and other media coverage.
Participants will include Arianna Huffington, Mayor Bloomberg, Steve Case, Mark Cuban and Eva Longoria nationally.
In San Antonio, the list of participants includes Diego Bernal, San Antonio City Councilman, Dennis Ahlburg, president of Trinity University, Nick Longo, director of Geekdom, Jason Seats, director of the TechStars Cloud, Inigo Arzec with GlobalScape, Magaly Chocano, CEO of Sweb Development and Walter Teele, co-founder of Parlevel Systems.The San Antonio event takes place from 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm and will be live-streamed nationally from 7:15 to 8 p.m.
In Austin, Burnie Burns with Rooster Teeth will moderate the event featuring Hector Dominguez, Co-Founder of Digital Union & Verdte, Olga Pechnenko, CEO & Founder at Revenue Hire, Samantha Dwinell, Director of Human Resources, Texas Instruments, Luke Kyohere, Founder of Beyonic, and Anurag Kumar, Founder and CEO of iTexico.
The March for Innovation event wants to harness the power of social media to reach as wide an audience as possible. French says the event will be the largest ever virtual march on Washington where business leaders, politicians, civic leaders, and celebrities use social and traditional media to share their support for immigration reform.
“We hope to drive hundreds of thousands of people to the March for Innovation website where they will be able to call on their Senators to pass immigration reform,” he said.
“This isn’t about us versus them partisan politics. It’s about all of us – Republicans and Democrats – seizing the moment and finally fixing our broken immigration system,” Carlos Gutierrez said in an email message. “To make sure Congress hears our voices, we’re going to flood them with tweets, calls, and Facebook messages. And we’ll be holding live, online events throughout the two days.”
People have already changed their Facebook and Twitter profile pictures to support the cause. They are also tweeting under the hashtag #iMarch.
According to Texans for Economic Progress, immigration is a key factor in the ability to retain top talent and create jobs, particularly in tech, and improve the nation’s economy. Immigrant-owned businesses generated more than $775 billion in revenue for the U.S. economy in 2011, according to Bloomberg.

Full disclosure: I, Laura Lorek, believe strongly in the need for immigration reform and I will be participating in and supporting the March for Innovation.

Design BIG is a free weekend design workshop for entrepreneurs that our team at Pushstart, an Austin-based industrial and interactive design firm, is organizing.
The three-day event is designed to help entrepreneurs design their product with customers in mind. During the weekend, design consultants will help the entrepreneurs. The weekend features a series of lectures, discussions and creative exercises.
The workshop ends with a pitch session in front of experts who will give feedback on their product design.
Design BIG will take place the weekend of June 28th through June 30th at Maker Square.
To attend, entrepreneurs must apply by June 7th.

Spot on Sciences‘ Founder Jeanette Hill credits the RampCorp program at Texas State University with helping her launch her venture.
RampCorp is designed primarily for women entrepreneurs who want to build a scalable business.
Spot on Sciences won the RISE Austin Fast Pitch Competition last week. Hill received the $3,000 cash prize, a Dell Ultrabook laptop and American Airlines points.
Spot on Sciences makes an portable, convenient device that allows anyone to take a blood sample easily from anywhere.
In the video segment posted below, Hill explains that RampCorp not only helped her understand the process of launching an entrepreneurial business, but introduced her to mentors and helped her avoid problems.
Hill is featured in the “Austin’s Top Female Entrepreneurs” episode of Capital of Innovation, which will repeat on KLRU May 30 at 8 pm.

One of the latest companies to graduate from the TechStars Cloud program, Postmater announced it has raised $600,000 in seed stage funding.
The Austin-based startup has created an online portal for shipping, tracking and saving money on small parcel shipping.
Capital Factory, Cloud Power and Zelkova Ventures led the round along with angel investors. The company plans to use the money to hire developers and work on features of its product.
The Postmaster platform seeks to give businesses the most cost effective way to ship a parcel by using its system which integrates with all the major carriers.
“Traditionally, merchants have been required to integrate with each shipping carrier individually, which is time consuming and costly,” according to Postmaster. “Because the carriers are siloed, it’s difficult to know which shipping carrier and route is best for each package.”
Postmaster solves that problem.
“It’s been an exciting few months for Postmaster. Since our initial public launch in March, we graduated from TechStars Cloud, have been busy building out our product and onboarding beta customers, and forged an exciting partnership with Lonestar Overnight,” Jesse Lovelace, CEO and Co-Founder of Postmaster said in a news release. “With this seed round, we can more quickly develop our product, grow our staff, and bring Postmaster to more ecommerce developers and merchants.”
“APIs are eating the Internet and shipping logistics is next,” Joshua Baer of Capital Factory said in a news release. “No programmer wants to integrate with multiple shipping vendors. Postmaster’s solution saves time in the short term and saves money in the long term. It’s a win-win proposition for any eCommerce site.”
Postmaster also announced it has partnered with regional shipping carrier Lone Star Overnight to offers its services on its online shipping portal. You can read more about the company’s latest moves at TechCrunch.