Disclaimer: The schedule has been hectic, so I’m a little behind here.

Started off Sunday in “Responsible Web Design,” but it felt like a dry run of Adobe feature sets through the web space. Making a safe exit, I headed over to “Meet the Architects,” which was essentially my first choice anyway, since I’ve been a fan of architecture since I was 7 years old.

The panel was mid-stream when I entered, talking about how architecture relates to digital media through a variety of ways. From using tools like Flickr to creating elaborate 3D fly-throughs targeted for wide, public consumption. Although, this panel seemed out of place for SXSW, it was quite fitting as it fundamentally poses the question to the audience of how to apply their skills to any discipline. While I couldn’t immediately make the connection from architecture to what I do, it became clear that there is a heavy reliance on digital media artists to help support a virtually unlimited array of arts, crafts and sciences. This was one of the better panels at SXSW.

Data as Art was another winner with digital media visualists Peter Kirn and Joy Mountford. Most stunning were the displays of data served up in a pastiche of ways. A continuously updating “live” data stream of Yahoo Mail was captivating as it showed the traffic on a global scale in it’s purest form, a rotating image of a gleaming, white globe with blue towers rising up and down as time zones and the hours spun by.

Arriving late, and not finding our party who were holding seats for us, we opted to take up residence on the floor over on the left side.

From the moment Daft Punk roared up on the P.A. directly in front of our noggins, it was apparent that the crowd was clearly electrified for what would be the pivotal event of SXSW circa 2008. The electricity transferred itself to the feet of a few individuals, who turned the front of the auditorium into an oversized and well-lit dance club. It seems Julia Allison was one of the instigators.


Once Mark Zuckerberg and interviewer Sarah Lacy of Business Week took the stage, the crowd settled in for what would be hoped to be an insider’s take on the world of the Facebook founder. In a sign of things to come, Lacy took her first hit when she replied to Zuck’s tale about how FB was being used to organize resistance to Guerilla armies in Columbia. As someone grumbled behind me, she stated it was against the “government.” It was already clear she wasn’t listening. Her constant wiggling around and overuse of the word “right” came off as indicators that she was just feigning interest. In reality, she seemed more interested in spinning her own take on her “relationship” with Mark by reminiscing about past interviews and encounters, which was clearly beyond the scope of what the audience came to hear.

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…and, what SXSW event would be compete without Robert Scoble (pictured, left). The man is everywhere!

So, I slithered into the conference center Saturday morning after an appalling breakfast at a Chowhound recommended spot. I won’t go into the gory details, but suffice it to say, avoid El Arroyo at all costs.

Went through the usual registration process, which was much shorter this year. It also felt alarmingly spacious this year, even with press reports of attendance numbers being much higher than in previous years. Almost immediately, I stumbled upon former co-worker/serial entrepreneur Jesse Thomas and his co-partner-in-crime Leslie Bradshaw. Together we explored the hall and made our way down to Screen Burn, which was twice the size as last year and much more interesting. They’ve added a competitive gaming “arena,” which looked akin to an American Gladiators set. Shortly after, bumped into Chris, the fifth party from yesterday’s fiasco and we struck up a short convo.

Ambled about for awhile, then spotted Tim Ferriss, who I consider a mad genius. Proposed my pared-down, snail’s-pace approach to his 4-Hour Workweek methodology, which he seemed to take with good measure. He offered that he was currently dealing with a “water obsession” that I didn’t get the full details on. Generally, he seemed like a cool guy, approachable and not ridiculously full of himself, like could be imagined.

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Alternate title A: “Good god, I’ve been bumped (or as I like to call it — ‘getting royally shafted by a corporate airline with no soul’)”

Alternate title B: “SXSW, here I co….wait, just one second there, padna!”

Customer service is dead. (Almost).

After years of hearing about the trend of airlines overbooking and thinking it was urban legend or something that only happened to people who had done something truly heinous in a previous life, it happened to me. Actually, it happened to me and five (it was thought to be four, but we caught up with the fifth later) other randomly chosen unfortunates, by the evil trolls that live deep within the bowels of United Airline’s computer reservations mainframes.

Apparently, it’s not good enough anymore to simply make a reservation with an airline. As I learned today, this does not guarantee you will get a seat on a booked flight. Even if you show up almost 3 hours early, make it through security without a hitch and have the luxury of time of your side, you may unwittingly be doomed. Walking up to the ticket gate around noon, I had no doubt I’d be boarding for my 12:30 flight to Austin. Nothing in previous travel experiences had alerted me to the fact that this could ever happen. I knew flights got overbooked and people could volunteer to skip in exchange for comps, but I hadn’t realized the extent of it and how unaware airlines really are when it comes to factors like conventions and the fact that overbooking is a shady business practice.

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What time is that, you say? SXSW time. The grandfather (probably not a term they’d choose) of all modern conferences. And generally, when people think SXSW, the popular consciousness thinks “music,” but alas, even though I’m a musician (with a semi-professional past), I have never been. No, I’m talking about the red-headed stepchild here (no offense to any red-headed stepchildren out there). And that child, of course, is the Interactive portion of the show.

Looks like this year will have a Twitter hangover, as there seems to be no leading contender to fill it’s shoes, though some might say it’s Meebo. Alas, some trend or app will dominate by show’s end.

Nice this year is the panel picker (or did that start last year), which is a user-generated and submitted process that allows the masses to choose from a long list of panel “ideas,” ranging from the sensible to the outlandish. Seems as though outlandish is in this year (and well, that’s no surprise, eh?).

Just noticed Microsoft is pushing Silverlight on us unsuspecting non-PC and PC types uniformly, though I’m not sure I want to install anything by Gates & Co. on my precious (or is that precocious) Mac. Ah, but maybe since Frog has something to do with, I’ll give it a second thought. And they’ve got a swell-looking opening bash to attend, so maybe I can just view their version instead.

More coverage once I’ve landed. Cheers!