The 36-year-old commentator on Black America isn't referring to his fledgling days in the '70s and '80s, when he was starting out in his native Kokomo, Ind.

"When I say, 'back in the day,' I'm talking a year ago," Smiley says.

What Smiley is talking is his recent embrace of technology. Back in the day, about a year ago, Smiley admits, he was technologically illiterate.

"I just started really using e-mail a year ago," he says.

Smiley is everywhere. The former longtime host of "BET Tonight" recently signed deals to do commentary on ABC and CNN and host a show on National Public Radio. Random House has signed him to a two-book deal. He publishes a newsletter, "The Smiley Report"; runs his own foundation; wrote a book called "How to Make Black America Better"; operates his www.tavistalk.com Web site; offers daily political commentary on the "Tom Joyner Morning Show"; and regularly crisscrosses the country speaking to college students, corporations, and organizations -- anyone willing to hear his message of Black empowerment. 

So how could someone as connected as Tavis Smiley get by without being connected to technology? It wasn't easy, he says.

For several years, Smiley's brand of technological prowess was his "red book" -- a battered, ripped, weathered, overstuffed companion that held the names, addresses, phone numbers, and business cards of key business contacts, friends, and colleagues. The eight rubber bands holding it together were quite distinctive, he says.

"A real piece of work," Smiley says. "If I ever were to have lost this book, there goes my whole world, basically."

But hooking into today's vast world of high-tech wizardry has made a world of difference to him. For instance, Smiley says, he often writes on planes to accommodate his hectic travel schedule. Here is how he would have gone about it a year ago:

"If I needed to write a column or an op-ed piece or an article for my newsletter, whatever the case may be, I'd write the thing out on a plane. And when I landed, I would call my office and either fax it to them or read it to them. They would have to type it in, fax it back to me so that I could reread it, make any corrections, changes, whatever it needed, and fax it back to them. Just back and forth, back and forth," he says.

Sounds inefficient? Confusing? But that was a year ago. Smiley hasn't reached techno-geek status yet, but a laptop, hand-held, and several other tech toys later, he feels like he's made it to Rick James' "Big Time."

"Now, of course, you type it on the plane on your laptop. You e-mail it. By the time you land, everything's done," he says.

Nowadays, Smiley sports a Toshiba Portege 3480 laptop and a Hewlett-Packard Jornada Pocket PC. His office staff uses a network of Compaq desktops with a DSL connection. A longtime holdout against cell phones, he now carries a backup battery for his handy Nokia.

"I've always been a pretty disciplined person in terms of getting things done," Smiley says. "You can't be on radio every morning and television at night and writing books and on the lecture circuit and not be a relatively disciplined person. But with this technology that I have finally gotten around to embracing, I have been able to do more. So I can cover even more ground and cover that ground quickly."

A joint venture between his company, The Smiley Group Inc., and software king Microsoft Corporation got Smiley off the snide. The deal has Smiley promoting technology use among small and home-based African-American and Hispanic businesses on Microsoft's "Building Your Business" Tour. Smiley traveled with Microsoft technologists and marketers early this year to New York, Atlanta, Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, and Oakland to promote Microsoft's business desktop computing products. Microsoft equipped him with the latest technology, as part of the venture.

Smiley says it is vital that all African Americans and other minority groups understand the importance of IT. His red book is no competition for his current Pocket PC, Smiley says.

"We're all comfortable with our various ways of doing things, and it wasn't that I was uncomfortable with my red book. It's just that the Pocket PC allows me to store that information and so much more," Smiley says.

In addition to having important information at his fingertips, Smiley now is more in tune with his Los Angeles office when he's on the road.

"Every number, contact information that I have, they have as well. And, of course, when I come off the road now, I plug in my Pocket PC and, in a matter of seconds, any information that's been added goes on their system. And anything that they've added to their system goes on my Pocket PC," Smiley says.

Smiley also has grabbed hold of the World Wide Web. He is one of an increasing number of celebrities who stay informed and in touch online. While he is a big fan of weather Web sites because of his travels, Smiley also goes to the Scrabble site regularly. And, as a big fan of Al Jarreau, he logs onto the crooner's site to keep up with his concert appearances. Smiley also likes a site called www.askjeeves.com, where users can type in questions and get quick responses.

"I'm still not a techie, but I've learned how to go online to get stuff that I need," Smiley says.

Among some of his celebrity friends, comedian Sinbad, entertainer Prince, and actress Halle Berry have embraced technology in a major way, he says. Berry recently launched her official site at www.hallewood.com. 

Blacks, Smiley says, appear to have a fear of technology and the Internet, and it is something they must get past for the future. 

"Certainly, as Black people, we need to get over our fear of the Internet. Black people are afraid of the Internet and technology in much the same way we are afraid of the stock market. We've got to get beyond our fear," Smiley says. 

-- Marvin V. Greene
Marvin V. Greene can be reached at MVGreene@ccgmag.com