SXSW

AUSTIN, Texas--U.S. Sen. Al Franken wants tech savvy entrepreneurs to keep pushing Congress to protect Net neutrality.

Franken (D-Minn.), a comedy writer, author, and radio talk show host turned senator, spoke to attendees at the South by Southwest Interactive Festival (SXSW) conference here today where he urged them contact their representatives in Congress and let them know that protecting a free and open Internet is important. He also wants this community of creative business people to attend rallies and do all they can to raise awareness of the issue.

In his speech, he railed against big broadband service providers, … Read more

AUSTIN, Texas--Digital futurists have been saying for years now that they believe the promises of mobile technology are ushering in an era of technology that goes beyond the PC and even the laptop. At this week's South by Southwest Interactive Festival (SXSW), we may have gotten a look into the future: With the enormous festival sprawled out all over the city, toting around a laptop can hold anyone back. More importantly, the immediacy of it all--where to go, where not to go, which party has a longer or a shorter line, where a surprise musical guest has shown … 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--Twitter today published a blog post in advance of its fifth birthday next week--the first tweet (though it wasn't called a tweet back then) was sent by Jack Dorsey, eventually one of Twitter's co-founders, back when it was a small side project at a now-forgotten development company called Obvious. Monday's blog post consisted, more or less, of some of the numbers that prove just how fast it's grown.

Among them: It took three years, two months, and one day for Twitter to hit 1 billion tweets; now, a billion tweets are posted in the course … Read more

AUSTIN, Texas--Is there a little bit of madness to the sky-high tech company valuations that are all over the place right now? Yes, says IAC founder and former entertainment mogul Barry Diller, who gave a talk at the South by Southwest Interactive Festival (SXSW) this morning to provide a bit of blunt, curmudgeonly insight for a conference best-known as a hub of the young, wide-eyed, and exuberant.

It was one of Diller's first high-profile appearances since he stepped down as the CEO of IAC in December; he remains chairman.

So is there a tech bubble, as evidenced by the … Read more

AUSTIN, Texas--Mike Tyson has been a lot of things--heavyweight boxing champion, "The Hangover" character, reality show star, controversial ex-con, possessor of one of the world's most recognizable tattoos, and now the start of an iPhone game called "Mike Tyson's Main Event."

At the South by Southwest Interactive Festival (SXSW) this week, game developer RockLive set up a massive boxing ring at the Austin Convention Center for a meet-and-greet with the notoriously eccentric Tyson, and CNET managed to pull him aside (along with RockLive co-founders and brothers John and Sam Shahidi) for a few minutes … Read more

AUSTIN, Texas--It can't be easy for Josh Williams, the CEO of geolocation service Gowalla, to see once-close rival Foursquare plastered all over his hometown this week for the annual South by Southwest Interactive Festival (SXSW). On the massive outdoor "Pepsi Max Lot" where lucky Foursquare check-ins can earn users "golden tickets" to a Monday night concert by Big Boi, at local vendors participating in a blockbuster partnership between Foursquare and American Express, or just on the smartphones of the tens of thousands of geeks who flood the Texas capital for the conference each year.

"… 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