Non Sequitur

Move over, Rebecca Black: Another unusual addition to the iTunes top-selling charts is on its way. Namely, it's the "soundtrack" to the much-ballyhooed royal wedding between Prince William and his fiancee Kate Middleton on April 29, set to appear on Apple's digital download marketplace "within hours" of the occasion's end, according to The Telegraph.

Were this a perfect world, the album would include a handful of wedding guests' merry karaoke recordings (Prince Harry is making sure that this is part of the program, right?), and perhaps the live cut of a surprise reunion … Read more

AUSTIN, Texas--After three days jammed into buses headed here from cities across the country and four days perfecting their pitches, the winners of the second-annual Startup Bus competition claimed victory tonight.

If you haven't been following the happenings of the Startup Bus, 38 teams of so-called "buspreneurs" departed on six buses from San Francisco, Chicago, Cleveland, Miami, and New York last Tuesday, headed for the South by Southwest conference (SXSW) here. Each team, formed mainly from strangers aboard their bus, faced this challenge: conceive of an idea, and take the time from departure to arrival in Austin … Read more

AUSTIN, Texas--There was a time, just a couple of years ago, when you could figure out almost everything going on at the South by Southwest Interactive conference (SXSW) just by keeping an eye on the #SXSW hash tag.

Whether it was an impromptu wine party hosted by Gary Vaynerchuck or a Laughing Squid meet-up or word about a great panel going on, that hash tag was many people's essential organizing principle.

But with the explosive growth of SXSW and Twitter, the thousands who are prowling around day and night here this week looking for the next great thing to … Read more

AUSTIN, Texas--There's no denying that most of us are "Star Wars" fans, but how many of us ever thought our own work could complement George Lucas' immortal screenplay? For thousands of people, the wonderful Star Wars Uncut project has been the key to pretending, even if for just 15 seconds, that we've got a little Lucas in us.

For those unaware of it, Star Wars Uncut is an ongoing project that tasked fans with re-creating 15-second scenes from the original film in any way they can think of. Fans responded by the thousands, and thanks to … Read more

AUSTIN, Texas--When I wrote a story a couple days ago about trying to game the virtual Startup Bus stock market game, I didn't realize that I was playing in the minor leagues.

The major leagues, it turns out, was an organized hack that illegitimately benefited three of the teams that were leading the stock competition among each of the several dozen teams of "buspreneurs" aboard the six coaches that made their way from cities around the U.S. to Austin for the South by Southwest conference.

As part of the Startup Bus project, each of the teams … Read more

AUSTIN, Texas--Let's face it folks: when it comes to marketing at SXSW 2011, Apple out and out dominated everyone. On the first day. The game is already over.

The South by Southwest Interactive conference (SXSW) has become the essential place for social-marketing experts to come to show how good they are. And for those experts to try to show their clients they know how to manage explosive launches the way Twitter did here in 2007 and Foursquare did in 2009.

But no matter how many giant stages Pepsi builds, or parties Facebook or Digg throw, no matter how many … Read more

AUSTIN, Texas--There may not be a more Net-connected group of people than the tens of thousands that have descended here this week for the South By Southwest Interactive Festival (SXSW). And in an attempt to harvest the collective power of these digital powerhouses to help out with relief for the disasters that hit Japan on Friday, conference organizers quickly took action.

Today, SXSW Interactive director Hugh Forrest announced SXSW4Japan, a Web site where conference attendees are being asked to donate a total of at least $10,000 for relief efforts in Japan.

"Can the SXSW community raise $10,000 … Read more

After three days on the road to get here from San Francisco, the coach full of "buspreneurs" I've been traveling with since early Tuesday morning has arrived for the South by Southwest Interactive Festival--historically abbreviated as SXSWi--and the chance to vie for the title of best startup created on the fly on the highways of America.

Counting those aboard sister buses from Chicago, New York, Miami, and Cleveland--as well as on a second bus from San Francisco--about 160 entrepreneurs have crisscrossed the country building all kinds … Read more

If you've been anywhere near Twitter in the last week, you know that the South by Southwest Interactive, Film, and Music festival (known lovingly as SXSW to just about everyone) starts this week. Last year was the first time that interactive registrants outnumbered even music festival attendees, so it's more than safe to say the Internet portion of the program has become the biggest part of the program (probably to the dismay of Austin's old-school music fans!). But hey, we can take a hint. If you're anyone at all online, you're at SXSW. So, we'… Read more