KENS 5 digital media producer Dan Oshinsky is in Austin for the South by Southwest Interactive festival. He'll be sending back dispatches from Austin all weekend.
The most recent post will appear at the top of the page.
AUSTIN CONVENTION CENTER, 6:02 p.m. Sunday -- And so it comes to an end.
SXSW has two days left, but I'm needed back in San Antonio. Thanks to all for reading along this weekend. Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.
AUSTIN CONVENTION CENTER, 4:10 p.m. Sunday -- Another major theme of SXSW: scarcity.
Consider this: in the old days (say, 1999), a conference like SXSW would have been covered by traditional journalists. Now, it's being blogged and Tweeted and YouTube and other -ed's that didn't even exist last millenium.
Information used to be scarce. Now, it isn't.
This lack of scarcity -- or, I suppose, this surplus of information -- has put a particular burden on advertising. That's exactly what Jim Coudal of the Deck Network and John Gruber of Daring Fireball discussed on Sunday.
"There is a limitless commodity of advertising," Coudal said. "When there is a limitless commodity, there is only one way the price can go, and it is down."
Much of the post-talk Q&A dealt with questions about best practices online. How should I utilize ads on my blog? What happens to journalism? Will paywalls work?
But unlike nearly every other panel I saw -- panels where speakers seemed to have all the answers -- Coudal and Gruber had one answer over and over again:
"I don't know."
For an online world that's still unsettled, it seems even the experts aren't really sure where we're headed.
ON THE CORNER OF 6TH AND SAN JACINTO, 3:51 p.m. Sunday -- Tough to convince myself to stay inside on a day like this. Some Austinites on this six-person bike seemed to feel the same way.
AUSTIN CONVENTION CENTER, 1:29 p.m. Sunday -- For the rest of the under-30 crowd, I'd like to remind all SXSW presenters: We are aware of life before the Internet.
It's a young crowd here in Austin, but yes, some of us know that the Internet did not always exist. We are aware of mixtapes and these "CD collections" that Clay Shirky spoke of. We are aware of radio -- or, as Peter Shankman called it, "Pandora before the Internet."
I haven't heard a payphone joke yet, but I'm sure it's coming soon.
AUSTIN CONVENTION CENTER, 12:15 p.m. Sunday -- Media sage Clay Shirky just finished his talk in Ballroom D. For a fuller recap of what he said -- and he said quite a lot -- click here.
The three best quotes that I was able to write down from his talk, which was about the power of sharing:
1. "It's not that often that the ability to share changes the world."
2. "Behavior is just motivation filtered through opportunity."
3. "The minute everyone understands the need for something, all progress stops."
There was also an extended tangent on Vanilla Ice, but I just can't possibly imagine how I'd explain it here.
AUSTIN CONVENTION CENTER, 10:49 a.m. Sunday -- This SXSW schedule is bananas.
Kind of.
In 12 minutes, here in Ballroom D, "Monkeys with Internet Access: Sharing, Human Nature, and Digital Data" will be begin.
And at 12:30, also in Ballroom D, there's "Perfectly Irrational: Who Put the Monkey in the Driver's Seat."
It's not quite the karmic connection of consecutive pants ads during the Super Bowl, but it's close.
Here's to you, sir. PHOTO: Dan Oshinsky / KENS 5
AUSTIN CONVENTION CENTER, 10:33 a.m. Sunday -- Here's to you, man who recorded an entire SXSW lecture on his cell phone.
For 90 minutes, you held up your smartphone and recorded low-res, non-HD video of people sitting and talking in a semi-monotone about technology that'll probably be obsolete in 18 months. You didn't have a tripod, so you braced your arm against your chair to keep the camera steady. And there were times when, certainly, you wanted to give up. But you knew that you couldn't deprive the world of your Blair Witch recreation of such an important moment in SXSW history.
No, it wasn't easy, and certainly, the hours you'll spend uploading, rendering, chopping and posting the footage into a seven-part YouTube video compilation will be painstaking.
But just remember: the sensation in your right arm should return by next week. That low-res footage will stay online forever.
Sanjay? PHOTO: Dan Oshinsky / KENS 5
SOMEWHERE BETWEEN THE THIRD AND FOURTH FLOORS OF THE AUSTIN CONVENTION CENTER, 9:39 a.m. Sunday -- Where the hell is Sanjay Gupta?
I'm late. Somewhere in this building, CNN's doctor-in-chief is talking about StoryCorps, his project to share extraordinary stories with the world. Room 10AB. He's here, somewhere.
I'm late, because Daylight Savings Time came as a surprise, because 9:30 a.m. isn't a realistic starting time for a Sunday conference.
Even so: Must.... find.... Sanjay.
Take the escalator up to the fourth floor, where all the SXSW conference rooms are. 14A, 13AB, 12A, 11D. Where the hell is 10AB?
Must.... find.... Sanjay.
A lit-up map on a wall. There are two levels to this place? 10AB is on the third floor. "Use the stairs (fire escape) to move between levels." There's a staircase outside, and a big sign on the door. "Do not open. Alarm will sound." Don't think he's down there.
SXSW Starbucks barista points down the hall. I walk, past the Microsoft Lounge, past the dude Rock Banding into a turnstile, past an empty row of conference rooms. There's a big sign.
"To floors 1 & 4."
Sanjay?
The stairs are contained within a cage. There's a man in a semi-official SXSW shirt, trying to prop open the door with the edges of a rubber mat. "Come on," he says.
I come, down the stairs, through a door. The walls are unpainted. The hallway is empty. On the right, an unmarked room. There's an 8x11 sheet taped to the wall.
"Story.Next -- Narrating the Crowd. Suneel Gupta & Dr. Sanjay Gupta."
I open the door, hoping that the room isn't already full.
Jeremy Koester of Sweb Apps on the mike. PHOTO: Dan Oshinsky / KENS 5
NEAR THE CORNER OF 8TH AND CONGRESS 7:25 p.m. Saturday -- So this is what it's come to: a bunch of San Antonians, sitting around at the Hickory Bar, drinking beer and Twittering.
That's Jeremy Koester of San Antonio's Sweb Apps on the microphone, leading some Twitter-based games.
It's all about the #hashtag, apparently.
The best shirt I've seen at SXSW. PHOTO: Dan Oshinsky / KENS 5
AUSTIN CONVENTION CENTER, 5:59 p.m. Saturday -- There seem to be two overarching themes of SXSW:
1. How can I tell everyone what I'm doing from where I'm doing it?
2. Will anyone pay me for my stuff?
Robert Millis and Will Coghlan fit into the second category. As the guys behind a daily web-only political talk show, Political Lunch, they made a lot of original content, but not a lot of money.
On Saturday, Millis even sported a shirt -- seen above -- reading:
"I researched, wrote, rehearsed, lit, shot, hosted, transferred, captured, cut, compressed, exported, uploaded, tagged, posted and hyped my own show for 18 months, and all I got was this lousy shirt."
The two showed off their new company, Dynamo Player, as an alternative to YouTube Rentals or Amazon.com. The key to their site: when a user clicks on a video, the player pops up with a window asking you to pay via PayPal or the system's own payment plan.
No pay, no play.
So will users break out the credit cards for Dynamo's videos? That's tough to say.
But I know I'd be willing to pay for one of Millis' incredibly complicated shirts.
AUSTIN CONVENTION CENTER, 5:09 p.m. Saturday -- At 5:09 p.m. on Day Two of SXSW, I'm calling this convention for Steve Jobs.
You may be a Blackberry kind of person -- in fact, you may even be reading this on your Kens5.com-powered Blackberry -- but it turns out that in Austin this weekend, Blackberry users and SXSW patrons are mutually exclusive groups.
I've been keeping my eyes fixed on the types of phones that SXSW Interactive conference-goers are using. I've seen literally thousands of iPhones. I've seen some Droids and even a few not-capable-of-surfing-the-web phones.
But in two days of conferences, and of very careful searching and tallying, I've noted exactly three Blackberry users.
Maybe those Blackberry users are huddled in some secret corner of the conference room. Maybe they've got their own Twitter hashtag.
I just haven't found them yet.
AUSTIN CONVENTION CENTER, 4:55 p.m. Saturday --
A helpful hint: download this on your phone to read the post above.
AUSTIN HILTON, 4:17 p.m. Saturday -- I'd been getting worried. I'd been to all these tech lectures at SXSW, but nobody seemed to be talking about the most powerful social media company in the entire world.
Anyone remember Facebook?
Turns out that some sources are still using Facebook as a tool to reach out to the community. Take Nishat Kuwa from San Francisco-based Youth Media International. At the "Covering Big News on Small Budgets" talk, she mentioned one tool that her organization created using Facebook.
It's called "Stop Me From Spending!"
The idea: you probably spend too much money already. So using their Facebook app, you can set mone y-saving goals. Then, your friends encourage you to save, all while the app presents you with tips for being frugal.
And, best yet: if you're incapable of saving money, the app still offers a "goal tracker" option to help you responsibly save for that next big purchase.
AUSTIN HILTON, 3:28 p.m. Saturday -- Jeff Eaton's been taking questions for 20 minutes. He's holding court at the "Giving Away the Cow" lecture, talking about open-source products and their future, when he offers a proposal to the audience.
"We're going to allow people to stand up and speak actual questions into the actual microphone instead of just taking them from Twitter," he said.
He pauses.
"Are there people in this room who arent using Twitter right now?"
It's possible, but not very likely. Of the networking sites at SXSW, Twitter is the unquestioned leader. They're also the one with the most public face at SXSW.
At each conference, next to the names of the panelists, organizers have placed a sign with a Twitter hashtag. Anyone in the room is encouraged to use the hashtag in order to curate a simultaneous discussion online.
So while panelists are actually talking on stage, hundreds of users might be having their own discussion in and about what's being talked about on stage. Some panels, like the "Giving Away the Cow" folks, actually solicited questions from Twitter.
One plus to Twitter-based questions: the questioner doesn't have space in the 140 character limit to go on an extended tangent/rant.
The most important item at SXSW. PHOTO: Dan Oshinsky / KENS 5
AUSTIN CONFERENCE CENTER, 12:44 p.m. Saturday -- Brother, can you spare a plug?
With thousands of techies roaming Austin, there might be hundreds of thousands of electronic devices in desperate need of an outlet plug. Those iPhones and laptops and Flip cameras won't recharge themselves.
So SXSW wisely sold out on the matter of outlets. I'm writing this now from the Chevy Volt recharge lounge, and many of the power outlets around the conference center have a big Chevy logo slapped on the side.
It doesn't exactly make me want to buy a GM product, but weirdly, I do have got John Cougar Mellencamp stuck in my head.
AUSTIN HILTON, 11:55 a.m. Saturday -- Five days ago, Eve Dmochowska thought she was ready to launch Crowdfund, a site looking to pool the financial resources of the web to fund online startups in South Africa. Her hope was that in four months, she'd be able to find enough investors to raise 1 million South African rand (about $135,000).
So she emailed 10 friends with a link to the site, and asked them if they thought Crowdfund was ready.
But one of those friends misunderstood the email, and thinking that Crowdfund had launched, sent out a Tweet about it.
Five days later -- without having sent out a single press release or having officially launched the site -- Dmochowska's raised over $100,000. Soon, Crowdfund will use that money to try to get a dozen or more online South African businesses off the ground.
That's the strange thing about South by Southwest Interactive. Some people here are looking to build their own brand, to launch "the next big thing" in tech.
But then there's this other group of speakers, talking to half-empty rooms about ideas that could actually change lives.
"We are now motivating people, who, before, just had ideas," Dmochowska said. Instead, they're now telling entrepreneurs: "You have more reason to succeed now than you ever had before."
What the five-member panel spoke of Saturday was a broken model for venture capitalists in South Africa. It's a country that does not have an infrastructure to support entrepreneurs, so Dmochowska emphasized that Crowdfund is there to close the gap. She hopes that the site will not just provide access to money but also will give South African startups access to mentors and corporate help.
"Being an entreprenueral geek isn't exactly cool in South Africa," said Heather Ford. She said they'll use GeekRetreat -- an annual Internet conference in South Africa that she created with fellow Crowdfund panelist Justin Spratt -- to get potential entrepreneurs on board.
Spratt spoke of a zulu phrase -- umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu -- meaning, "a person is a person through other people." He said that it's that connection to the community, and a drive to break the business model in South Africa, that gives Crowdfund a chance to succeed.
"The crowd that has done this has done it against all odds," he said.
Technovated's Gareth Knight said that Crowdfund will also have a chance to build on the emerging pool of talent that is starting to migrate back to South Africa.
"I'm seeing the brain drain reversing," said Technovated's Gareth Knight, referring to the exodus of talented South Africans to more developed countries. "Those people are deciding to come home."
For Dmochowska, Crowdfund has been a project a year in the making, and she said she's thrilled with the initial payoff -- even if it wasn't expected.
"We almost got a million Rand without even trying," she said. "It's an indication of how desperately we needed this in South Africa."
AUSTIN CONVENTION CENTER, 10:52 a.m. Saturday -- Here's to you, Twitter self-promoters of the world.
Here's to you, SXSW-er walking around with your Twitter handle on your shirt. I can tell by the fact that you've been wearing that shirt for the last 72 hours that you're the kind of classy Twitter user who I need to follow immediately. You'll fit right in on my "unkempt, heavily bearded, may-not-launder-clothes" column on TweetDeck.
And here's to you, girl who posted headshots on every signpost in Austin and slapped your Twitter name underneath. I don't know what you're offering or who you are. But if I'm looking for someone in Austin with absurd amounts of duct tape, I'll know where to find you.
[/end rant]
Cuban greets fans afterward. PHOTO: Dan Oshinsky / KENS 5
AUSTIN CONVENTION CENTER, 7:16 p.m. Friday -- There's a good chance you've never heard of Avner Ronen, but he's got a message for you.
"The fight is over," he told an all-too-eager-to-hear-it crowd at one of SXSW's largest ballrooms. "The Internet is coming."
A relative unknown like Ronen doesn't often end up sharing the stage with Mark Cuban, but that's exactly what took place on Friday. You know Cuban as the Mavs owner and billionaire who's spent the last decade forcing reporters to find new synoynms for "mercurial." Ronen's a web developer who created Boxee, a free application that makes it easy to stream Hulu, YouTube and web-based shows on your TV.
Boxee is the kind of tool that TV executives are terrified of. Sure, TV shows are alaready available for free online, but Boxee provides the kind of simple connection between web and TV that gives consumers a good reason to unsubscribe from cable or satellite.
But Cuban -- who owns HDNet -- wasn't willing to concede to the web in an hour-plus debate reminiscent of so many Dirk-v.-Duncan battles. Cuban told the audience that the a la carte model is enticing for consumers and offers new opportunities for creators. But there's a caveat, he said.
"To stand out on the Internet is very expensive," he said.
At the crux of the debate was one key question: is the Internet a primary or a secondary source for online video? Ronen suggested that as long as TV networks and entertainment distributors negotiate with companies like Boxee, the Internet would deliver a better experience for users.
Cuban simply disagreed.
"The future of television is television," he said. He noted two technologies -- EBIF and true2way -- that he felt could revolutionize the set-top box.
But ultimately, Cuban's argument came back to the balance sheet. His companies, including HDNet and Magnolia Pictures, are profitable, he said. A company like Boxee -- or any other company who distributes videos online -- are typically not.
"If you can get your cat to play the piano and make money for it, good for you," he said.
What Cuban did leave the door open to, however, was a potential HDNet-Boxee partnership. Cuban told Ronen that if he could deliver the existing 1 million Boxee users, and if they'd pay $3 each for HDNet programming, Cuban would happily open his network up for the service. A handshake deal between the two drew huge applause from the crowd.
But that just seemed to reinforce Cuban's main point: companies like Boxee first need to find a viable business model in order to grow.
"We make money," said Cuban told Ronen. "Do you want me to explain that to you?"
Cuban wasn't hesitant, either, to call out the pro-Internet crowd at SXSW. One questioner told Cuban that he'd cancelled his cable because he wanted to get out from underneath the shadow of the man.
"No, bro," Cuban responded. "The man's always gonna screw you."
AUSTIN CONVENTION CENTER, 5:12 p.m. Friday -- And then the alarms sounded.
Just as the debate between Mark Cuban and Boxee's Avner Ronen was getting good, sirens came on inside the Austin Convention Center. And then a voice: "Attention. Attention. Attention. An emergency has been reported."
The convention center has about half cleared. The rest are moving up for better seats. Doesn't seem like Cuban or Ronen are too concerned: they're still hanging out at the front of the room, chatting with patrons.
Mark Cuban arrives. PHOTO: Dan Oshinsky / KENS 5
AUSTIN CONVENTION CENTER, 4:55 p.m. Friday -- There's a big crowd on hand for "PayTV vs. Internet - The Battle For Your TV." The reason: Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban's one of the featured speakers.
No word on whether or not San Antonio Spurs GM R.C. Buford will be giving a talk at next year's SXSW Interactive.
The view from the top of the Austin Convention Center. PHOTO: Dan Oshinsky / KENS 5
AUSTIN CONVENTION CENTER, 4:47 p.m. Friday -- Stepping outside for air. Tough to believe it snowed in Austin just a few weeks ago.
The 'Giving Away the Cow' panel's advice: find something you can sell. PHOTO: Dan Oshinsky / KENS 5
AUSTIN HILTON, 4:28 p.m. Friday --Some good advice for entrepreneurs working on the web: "As long as there's one other person who needs your stuff, they can give back from you."
That's from Tiffany Farriss of Palantir.net. Farriss was one of five panelists at "Selling Your Milk When the Cow is Free," a talk from open-source tech developers about giving your services away.
Their message was that some products -- like the open-source software behind Mozilla Firefox -- can be given away for free, but that creators can still find a way to make money off of those products. The key, the panel agreed, comes by finding a niche that you can actually sell.
"The money comes from stuff you can't download," said Evan Prodromou, creator of WikiTravel.org. "Your time, your talent."
The message: it's alright to give away the cow, but you might want to get into the butcher business first.
The rolling papers in question. PHOTO: Dan Oshinsky / KENS 5
AUSTIN HILTON, 3:31 p.m. Friday -- I've been at SXSW for less than an hour, and I've already been offered drug paraphernalia.
Sponty is one of the dozens of geo-location services that's launching this weekend in Austin. Their pitch: they'll mobilize users to get out to events around a city (or, as their tagline goes, "Be hangoutable.")
The site is just starting to roll out nationwide -- so far, they're only in 13 cities, including Austin and Dallas -- but their SXSW campaign is pretty catchy.
It's all about weed.
As SXSWers wait in line to get their registration badges, Sponty reps are trolling the lines handing out rolling papers. The papers ask you to use your iPhone to download their app. (I did get my hands on the papers in question, and I've promised my bosses that I will donate them to science or whatever UT student asks me politely.)
So far, it looks like the campaign is working for Sponty. Their SXSW Facebook fan page already has more than 31,000 fans, and the conference is less than 24 hours old.
Users, checking in online while checking in (in reality). PHOTO: Dan Oshinsky / KENS 5
AUSTIN CONVENTION CENTER, 2:46 p.m. Friday -- Right now, as I type this inside the Austin Convention Center, someone has just been declared the mayor of this little building.
Geolocation tools are "in" this year at SXSW (if USA Today says it, it must be true, right?)
Foursquare is the leader in these services. Think of Foursquare as a personal Lo-Jack system. Users can "check in" at restaurants, arenas, museums or other public buildings. The more often you check in, the more likely you are to become the "mayor" of a place.
There is, however, some residual benefit to becoming mayor. Some restaurants will give away special deals -- say, "mayors drink free" -- to frequent Foursquare users.
Maybe this all sounds trivial to non-Twitter types, but consider this: according to Foursquare's Twitter feed, users "checked in" over 300,000 times Thursday night at Austin locations.
Get those cyber-sashes ready: a few new mayors will be crowned this weekend.
AUSTIN CONVENTION CENTER, 2:22 p.m. Friday -- It's a beautiful day in Central Texas, and what better way to spend it than inside, telling everyone you know on Foursquare that you're learning about Twitter's effect on South African democracy?
Okay, so there might be better ways to enjoy this weather, but if you're one of the thousands in Austin who've arrived for the annual South by Southwest Interactive festival, you might not be able to think of a better way to spend this weekend. Hundreds of the smartest minds in tech are here -- Steve Jobs excepted -- to talk about Twitter, iPads and all sorts of newfangled dongles that don't yet exist.
I'll be blogging all weekend from Austin, so keep the KENS 5 SXSW interactive blog nearby as we bring you the future of tech... or at least what I managed to see of it.
