sxsw

What to expect at SXSWi, part 2: Panels and keynotes

This is part two of a four-part series. Here's part one.

If you've never been to the South by Southwest Interactive Festival--which runs Friday through Tuesday in Austin, Texas--you might get the impression that it's just a bunch of wild parties where people run around drinking margaritas and then snarfing down barbecue and tacos to temper the effect of the tequila so they can be lucid enough to put up the evening's photos on Flickr and Facebook.

Not quite.

There is, actually, an extensive and packed lineup of panels, keynotes, "salons," and "core … Read more

What to expect at SXSWi, part 1: Marketing and launches

This is part one of a four-post series.

It was a sort of worlds-collide surprise when I heard recently from a few guys from my hometown whom I've known since college. They wanted to talk to me about this month's South by Southwest Interactive Festival, that annual everyone-goes-there digital culture bacchanalia in Austin, Texas, which runs from Friday through next Tuesday.

You see, these friends of mine had recently started working at a company called JagTag, which creates barcode-based marketing campaigns for clients like sports teams and apparel brands. They're hoping to spread the word about the … Read more

Webware Radar: Bebo launches site for Latinos

AOL-owned social network Bebo announced Monday that it has launched a U.S. site for Latinos. According to the company executives, they decided to open a version of its site catering to the Latino community after enjoying success in offering a similar experience to those in the U.K., Ireland, Poland, and elsewhere.

Along with the launch of the new site, Bebo also announced that it has partnered with Hearst Magazines Digital Media and AOL Latino to incorporate offerings from both companies into Bebo. Hearst will be providing interactive content syndicated from its MisQuince Magazine, and AOL Latino will give … Read more

On PostSecret tour, a WoW confession

WALNUT CREEK, Calif.--There probably aren't very many people in the world who could inspire someone to stand up in front of a crowd of 800 strangers and admit to a World of Warcraft addiction.

It might sound like a joke, but in the case of Frank Warren, the founder and curator of the ongoing PostSecret project, people are always baring their souls to him, either via the privacy of an anonymous postcard or letter, or in the case of his many public speaking engagements, in front of hundreds, or even thousands, of people they've never met before. … Read more

Musicians don't deserve money, they earn it

I've been invited by Sonicbids CEO Panos Panay to speak on a panel at SXSW later this month entitled "Artist as Entrepreneur," and as I've been thinking about the subject, my attention was drawn to this recent post on CD Baby's bulletin boards (it was first posted elsewhere). Katie Taylor, the artistic director of Opera Theater Oregon, is worried about the rising perception that art--particularly music--should be available for a very low price or free.

To change this perception, she argues, artists need to convince the general public that there's a fundamental difference between … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 918: The incredible, edible car

Within 15 years, cars will be made of seaweed, but will they be edible? That's your next task, auto industry. We also make book recommendations, give medical advice, and generally just try to help. Oh, and we talk about exploding donut factories.

Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 918

Court upholds AP “quasi-property” rights on hot news http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/02/24/2229205

Conan copyright trolls censor fan-readings of public-domain stories http://www.boingboing.net/2009/02/25/conan-copyright-trol.html

SMiShing’ fishes for personal data over cell phone http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10171241-83.html… Read more

Sarah Lacy takes on Gnomedex

SEATTLE--Since there is significant attendee crossover between the Gnomedex conference here and the South by Southwest (SXSW) festival in Austin, Texas, it's safe to say that when Sarah Lacy took the stage Saturday, a lot of the audience had some pretty strong memories of the last time they'd seen her.

Last March, it was Lacy whose SXSW keynote interview of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg ended up in a Twitter-fueled mutiny by the audience. Many on hand in Austin had felt she conducted that session in an overtly flirty and self-promotional style that left little room for participation from a crowd eager to interact with the young billionaire.

With that recent history, then, the packed house on hand for Lacy's Gnomedex talk Saturday, "What happens when you get what you want: The growing blogosphere angst," was keyed up and wondering what kind of fireworks might erupt this time around.

And fireworks there were, though they came from uber-blogger Robert Scoble, who at one point during the session oddly got up out of his seat near the front of the auditorium and marched toward the back of the room to tensely confront author and entrepreneur Geoff Livingston.

But more on that later. … Read more

Vote for us at SXSW '09

CNET TV has officially submitted a panel to SXSW 2009 titled: "Lessons Learned: Moving to Online HD Video," and we need your help to get selected. SXSW uses a unique panel-selection method that involves a first round of online voting. If you think, like we do, that this is a fabulous topic, then head on over to the SXSW Panel Picker and give us a vote!

The full description of the panel is:

Online video is simple to produce, and as a result, the industry has seen explosive growth in recent years. However, there's been a shift … Read more

Where once you're lucky, twice you're good

EPISODE 98

Author Sarah Lacy joins us to talk tech, sexism, and elitist Fraggle Rock. Tomorrow, a special announcement. You'll want to listen live at 11 a.m. EST.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

The green(er)ing of Web 2.0 Expo

As someone who attends a fair number of conferences in many different cities, it's become painfully clear to me that, in general, the confabs' organizers have not yet climbed fully aboard the green train.

That is to say, conferences are often not the best examples of a focus on taking care of the environment.

For example, while I was told at the recent South by Southwest that its efforts to be green were improved from a year earlier, the endless sea of attendee bags on display--each with a small mountain of literature inside--was a visceral testament to the fact … Read more