SXSWi 2009: Tech fest in Texas

roundup South by Southwest Interactive in Austin is the ultimate petri dish for tech enthusiasts eager to try out innovative ways to meet up, socialize, and consume media.

Latest coverage

Austin 911! Fake police Twitter account gets busted

Microblogging site pulls down an account claiming to come from the Texas capital's police department after it started posting bizarre updates like "warming up my radar gun for SXSWi." Read more

Posted by Caroline McCarthy March 25, 2009 11:38 AM PDT

At SXSWi, hacking 'The hat game'

A CNET News reporter decides to game a festival project--which tasked players with tracking and retrieving a bowler hat with an embedded GPS chip--by wearing one of his own. Read more

Posted by Daniel Terdiman March 18, 2009 10:00 AM PDT

At SXSWi, how much should big media be listening?

The annual confab in Austin is a hotbed of wild ideas about the future of the media industry. But some of it should really be taken with a grain of salt--or several. Read more

Posted by Caroline McCarthy March 18, 2009 4:00 AM PDT

Does location-based networking need some direction?

A panel at SXSWi offers the debate: make the likes of Loopt, Brightkite, and Whrrl interoperable to ensure a level playing field, or let the industry just shake itself out. Read more

Posted by Caroline McCarthy March 17, 2009 4:05 PM PDT

The lessons of 'Mad Men' on Twitter

At SXSWi, three of the people who have been Twittering as characters from the hit AMC show talked about their experiences and what producers and marketers can learn. Read more

Posted by Daniel Terdiman March 17, 2009 4:00 PM PDT

At SXSWi, Twitter is the new Twitter is the new Twitter

Attendees may have hit Twitter saturation, but there's no arguing with the facts: Twitter is dominating the annual interactive festival in Austin, Texas. Read more

Posted by Daniel Terdiman March 17, 2009 2:50 AM PDT

FourSquare: Life in the SXSWi hot seat

For those of us who have played with the location-based mobile app from its bug-filled inception, seeing it take off at the South by Southwest Interactive Festival has been a fun process. Read more

Posted by Caroline McCarthy March 16, 2009 6:44 PM PDT

IMDb's vision: Offer streaming for every title

At the SXSW Film Festival, founder Col Needham talks about wanting to someday provide instant access to the more than 1.3 million titles that the site indexes. Read more

Posted by Daniel Terdiman March 16, 2009 3:18 PM PDT

Companies find ways to launch iPhone apps at SXSW

Despite Apple's general reluctance to participate in developers' event-oriented app launch deadlines, at least five companies managed to get theirs out for the tech-centric confab. Read more

Posted by Daniel Terdiman March 16, 2009 1:14 PM PDT

Filmmaker Spurlock: Digital distribution revenues are 'pathetic'

A panelist of film industry and digital video representatives at the South by Southwest Interactive Festival agreed that digital film distribution isn't a cash cow. But they didn't agree on the best strategy for working toward that end. Read more

Posted by Caroline McCarthy March 16, 2009 10:25 AM PDT

The iPhone: SXSWi's enfant terrible

Everybody both loves and hates their iPhones at the annual Austin geekfest, as new apps and rumors flood the scene but service takes a turn for the worse. Read more

Posted by Caroline McCarthy March 16, 2009 8:41 AM PDT

SXSW panel to convene digital-music entrepreneurs

What should bands pay for? Can art and marketing coexist? I'll be at SXSW, discussing these and other aspects of the changing music business on a panel called "Artist as Entrepreneur." Read more

Posted by Matt Rosoff March 16, 2009 12:17 AM PDT

FiveThirtyEight.com's Nate Silver on life post-election

Known as a superstar statistician whose blog gave Democrats daily data that calmed them down last fall, Silver was the keynote speaker at SXSWi Sunday. Afterward, he spoke to CNET News. Read more

Posted by Daniel Terdiman March 15, 2009 5:10 PM PDT

SXSWi's party scene goes do-it-yourself

With many of the conference's big parties no longer offering open bars, and with venues even more packed than last year, the phenomenon of Twitter-organized alternatives has grown only more prevalent. Read more

Posted by Caroline McCarthy March 15, 2009 4:10 PM PDT

Arc Attack's tesla coils rock SXSW

At Dorkbot in Austin, Texas, on Saturday, the local group had its singing tesla coils turned up loud, thrilling the crowd that came for a celebration of science and geekery. Read more

Posted by Daniel Terdiman March 14, 2009 11:17 PM PDT

Featured stories

At SXSW, attendees confront Twitter saturation

So many people are using the "#sxsw" tag in their tweets that it has become extremely hard to filter for worthwhile panels and parties. That is creating an opportunity for other services.
(Posted in Webware by Daniel Terdiman)
March 14, 2009 1:10 PM PDT

Facebook: It's party time for the social Web...on the iPhone

Facebook Connect for the iPhone is the company's big announcement at senior platform manager Dave Morin's talk at the South by Southwest Interactive Festival.
(Posted in The Social by Caroline McCarthy)
March 14, 2009 9:53 AM PDT

SXSWi confronts explosive growth

While many conferences are shrinking, the Austin, Texas interactive fest is expected to grow at least 20 percent. Here's how organizers are handling the uptick.
• Photos: Scenes on the eve of SXSW
(Posted in Digital Media by Daniel Terdiman)
March 12, 2009 10:00 AM PDT

[daviddohoney]

No Tech fest for the layed off workers

[philipzhang2007]

What a pity! Nobody care the layed off workers. But i care.