Unofficial SXSW 2014 Parties You Should RSVP To

Jay-Z at Austin City Limits Live ACL Live 2012 SXSW
RSVP to many events. Then roll with it. You might end up front and center like this (Jay-Z at ACL Live, SXSW 2012).

SXSW Interactive is one of the most attended conferences of the year for tech and media types, with 30,000 conference participants flooding Austin. But in recent years, the cost of an official interactive badge has gone up considerably and many are attending unofficial SXSW parties and related events that do not require badges. For people who have never attended SXSWi, it’s good to go with a badge at least one year — the depth and breadth of content discussed across hundreds of panels and sessions can be as valuable and high quality as the networking you’ll do. However, it gets redundant year after year. In past years I’ve attended the music portion of SXSW as well — this is incredibly fun and far fewer people spend time in the actual convention center. Why would you with all the amazing day parties and live music showcases across sunny Austin? Here’s a shortlist of unofficial events that I’ve RSVP’d for this year. For more info and discovery of unofficial SXSW parties I recommend Sched.org, do512, and Unofficial SXSW Guide.

Want to meet up in Austin? I’ll be there from March 6-12. Hit me up!

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Google I/O 2011 Day Two Keynote: Chromebooks; ‘Rome’ 3D Interactive Music Experience

Chrome Press Briefing Google I/O 2011
(L-R) Casesar Sengupta, Linus Upson, Sundar Pichai, Sergey Brin

Chrome 11 benchmarks at 10 times the speed of previous versions and Google is ready to pronounce the death of the PC, as we know it. On June the Chromebook — a netbook with cloud-based applications built specifically for the enterprise and education — will hit the streets, with Samsung and Acer as partners. The Chromebooks will be available to businesses for $28 per user per month and to educational institutes for $20 per user per month. The Chromebooks, with 11.6-inch (Acer) or 12.1-inch HD displays (Samsung), will be available to consumers from $349 for the Acer to $429 (WiFi only) and $499 (3G) for the Samsung.

Also coming soon (live as of May 12) — the team that produced Arcade Fire’s The Wilderness Downtown interactive video will launch and even more interactive music video with integrated UGC built on top of the Danger Mouse with Daniele Luppi release titled Rome + Jack White (dropping May 17th, stream via NPR)


More cool GPL-based wizardry at chromeexperiments.com.

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SXSW 2011 Highlights

In an eleventh-hour decision, I cashed in some American AAdvantage miles and caught a flight to Austin for spring break — or more specifically, the 25th annual South by Southwest Conference. With all of the networking opportunities, free food, drink, music and friends – some of whom i only see once a year or so – i’m glad i took advantage and visited the great city of Austin. It was a whirlwind four days but the photos and video below provide some flavor.


See my photos from past years at SXSW

The trip began with an amazing takeoff directly into the fading sun over the Pacific. This would be the last time the sun set before Daylight Savings time kicked in. Got in to Austin and met up with Jory, provider of a fine crash pad for the duration of my stay. Then began a serious of meetups, events, and parties: All Hat III, which was a priceless opportunity to visit with many of the folks I most admire in the interactive space who happen to share a passion and commitment to do-gooding.

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SXSW 2009 – Hope to See YOU There

South by Southwest is upon us, and while i’m likely not going to be there for 9 days this time, I will be there for Interactive, Thursday thru Tuesday. Amid all the excitement, panels, parties, and more parties it can be difficult to meet up with everyone I’d like to, so please hit me up if you’re going to be there so we can connect. I’m especially interested in discussing upcoming projects I’m working on at Live Earth and the many ways you can get involved as a partner, friend, or otherwise.

Below is the overbooked schedule of events that i’m interested in but won’t be able to make it to without cloning myself (via sched.org):

Your best bet, as per usual is to find me via twitter and/or brightkite.