Austin360 blogs > Digital Savant > Archives > 2008 > March > 08
Saturday, March 8, 2008
‘Runway’ contestant part of craft panel
“High Tech Craft: Why Sewing and Knitting Still Matter” was like the best show-and-tell show ever.
Panelists including Diana Eng from Season 2 of “Project Runway” showed off creations like a hoodie that takes pictures when your heartbeat increases, a solar-powered brooch, a scarf that changed colors based on temperature, another scarf that contained an MP3 player and a purse that lights up when you open it.
Eng and another panelist, Alison Lewis of Iheartswitch, spoke movingly of the influence of their grandmothers on their work. Eng’s grandmother taught her to sew, but she was also a math and computer science teacher and emphasized to her family the importance of technology.
Lewis’ grandmother started crafting in her mid-50s after she was widowed and was self-taught. Lewis spoke of admiring her grandmother’s resourcefulness and positive attitude.
Moderator Natalie Zee Drieu of Craft Magazine led an interesting discussion about the intersection of technology and fashion and what future developments the panelists projected.
Eng said that with stores such as H&M quickly copying the clothes of high-end designers, technology might become how luxury goods distinguish themselves.
Panelists Mouna Andraos of Electronic Crafts and Syuzi Pakhchyan of SparkLab both hoped the future would bring clothing that consumers woudl be able to interact with and customize more.
Permalink | | Categories: SXSW
A conversation with Eugene Mirman, host
If you only know Eugene Mirman, the comedian, for his very brief appearances on “Flight of the Conchords,” get thee to some of his hilarious Web videos where you can see him strut his stuff.
Then go see some of his Space Talk videos. Good stuff, man. Seriously.
Eugene is hosting the SXSW Web Awards Sunday night. Who knows what stars will show up, but in our book, Mirman is plenty of wattage for us. Here’s an interview with the host with the most:
Austin American-Statesman: It’s what, noon over there?
Eugene Mirman: Yes, it is. It is exactly noon. You did a fantastic job.
I try to be punctual. You’ve been here several times? What do you think of the festival?
I have. I love it. I’ve come back maybe the last five or six years. I stay for the whole thing. For the last several years I do a show during interactive before the music starts at Emo’s. This year I’m doing it with Mike Birbigliaand Michael Showalter (10 p.m. Monday).
How is that different from doing the awards show? Is the material different?
Some of the material might be different. It’s different because one is a stand-up show. No one in our stand-up show is going to stand up and go, like, “Best blog is…”
There won’t be awards at Emo’s?
You never know. There might be awards but they will be significantly less than at the awards show. Some material will be similar, some will be different. I’ll do a lot more material at the stand-up show and things that aren’t related to Interactive world or technology. The reason I’m probably hosting this is I have things that relate to Web stuff and technology or whatever. But I also have things about the government.
Do you do a lot of awards shows?
It’s the first one I’m probably hosting.
With Invite Them Up (a New York-based comedy showcase) are you considered a host?
It’s not that I’ve never introduced things. I hosted a comedy show just last night. It’s the first time I’m hosting an awards show.
Do you have a strategy of some sort?
A strategy? To make it enjoyable and fun for the audience as a comedian would. I’m not competing in it. I have funny things I’ve prepared that I think people will laugh at.
In addition to being on stage are you going to be showing videos and such?
Yeah, I’ll probably play a few videos and a few comedic bits. Yes. I will in fact do that. I will try to entertain people throughout the boring hour of awards. That’s what award shows are. Someone trying to distract people who are excited to win a thing to put on their Web site about how their company is very good at something.
So there’s no physical award like a plaque or something?
There probably is a plaque. But it’s not like they’ll go to meetings with the plaque. They’ll probably just put a thing on their Web site that says, ‘We’re the best at new ways to sell… junk.”
Or make a video of the plaque and put it online?
They’re welcome to put a video of their plaque on YouTube. If they believe that will drive business to them.
Are you preparing material geared to a geekier audience than you would for Emo’s?
I’m preparing tech jokes but they’re not for a geeky audience. I have jokes that will involve the Internet or a Web site I found that you can do funny things with. All the stuff I do I would do at a show, it’s just that they happen to relate to the Internet. If somebody asked me to host love awards show, which I find unlikely, I would probably do more things centered around love and dating.
All your love material.
My two love-based jokes. I think stuff will relate. That’s my intent. But I’m not like adding a lot of technical mumbo jumbo to my jokes.
Like HTML code jokes?
Yeah, there isn’t like, “a=href” as a joke or whatever it is a a href equals. People would correct me.
People would —
What?
Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to —
I was just correcting my own HTML in case someone was gonna write me an angry letter about my misspeaking HTML code.
You were correcting on the fly.
I’m correcting my jokey code. But you were going to ask something more important than me correcting my jokey code.
No, probably not, no. I was going to ask if you’ve visited any of the Web sites nominated. Do you do research so you can make specific jokes?
I might. I’ve looked a little, but mostly… I’m not trying to come up with a perfect joke about a specific Web site. The stuff I do is generally related. As people win them I’ll try to knock them down by making fun of them. That part is not true. I will congratulate them. I’m not mad at the sites. I will look at them.
They haven’t done anything specific to you?
Not that I’m aware of.
If, say, the Oscars are the pinnacle of awards shows, where would this rank?
Probably below them. You want me to say how far below? Is that what you’re looking for?
I don’t want to get you fired from this gig.
I find it unlikely that I would be fired from the gig. I think it’ll be a fun event.
With all the videos you produce, it seems like you spend a lot of time online. What are your favorite sites?
I do spend a lot of time online. I will reveal my favorite Web sites at the awards show.
A lot of people now know you from “Flight of the Conchords,” but they really haven’t featured your character that prominently. Shouldn’t they get rid of those New Zealanders and put an American front and center?
I would hate to be the star of their TV show. That wouldn’t be great for me because of all the singing and faking an accent. I don’t sing. I like doing sort of a smaller role.
What are you working on today?
I have done a show every single night for the last 7 days. I have a book that I’m working on so I’ll be editing that. It’s called “The Will to Whatev.” Sort of a fake self-help book.
Are you working on that alone?
I am writing it alone, but I have a publisher who will print copies and sell them to people. I’m the king of all media like what’s his name.
Stern?
Howard Stern, yes.
Or Simon Cowell.
Simon Cowell. I am like a super-duper low-rent Simon Cowell.
What will the book show you how to do?
Anything from go to school well to how to start a manufacturing plant to how to die.
How to die well?
How to die well and maximize stuff in Heaven.
How long is this book?
Six pages. No, it’s just super dense and really accurate. I don’t know, 200 pages, plus or minus. It’s mostly dull jokes so don’t do anything you see in it. That’s how it can be so all-encompassing and shorter than the Bible. (It will be published) a little less than a year from now.
And there you have it. If you see Eugene at the fest, tell him we said hi.
Permalink | | Categories: Austin, Internet, SXSW
The Art of Speed: my favorite panel of the day
This was a great panel for anyone who wants to start their own company.
The panelists were: Mike Cassidy, who has started and sold several companies and is known for pushing to do this on a quick time frame. And by “quick,” he means meeting with three venture capital companies in one day, and having term sheets by the end of the day at 4:30 p.m. That’s just one example of how Cassidy rolls.
Then there’s Cali Lewis, part of the husband-and-wife team behind Geekbrief TV, three-to-five minute podcasts covering consumer electronics and new technology.
Last but not least, Evan Williams, who helped launch Twitter, Pyra Labs and Odeo. He still works at Twitter and credits SXSW for helping Twitter explode in popularity last year. Our technology and culture writer Omar Gallaga wrote about this phenomenon last year.
The “Art of Speed” was moderated by Tim Ferriss, author of “The 4-Hour Workweek.” Williams also credits SXSW with getting his book off the ground last year.
A lot of the the talk revolved around productivity and efficiency. There were also some entrepreneurial success stories from SXSW last year:
-One obvious time-suck is e-mail. Ferriss doesn’t do it at all and outsources it to an assistant. He joked that attending SXSW, with its abundance of laptops, is like an alcholic attending a bar.
-Ferriss also mentioned that filling up your day with meetings to look productive may not be the best use of your time. Warren Buffett doesn’t keep a calendar, he said.
-Cassidy said he comes home every day at 6:30 and runs every day at lunch. He finds that there’s always a crisis but you have to make room for a personal life.
-The most important thing is finding great talent and keeping it, Cassidy said. He courts talent, having them over to his house for dinner, sending flowers, etc.
-Cassidy hates first-day paperwork and insists that is completed before the employee’s first day so that person can actually start real work their first day.
-Williams said he didn’t intend for Twitter to explode last year during SXSW; it happened by accident. They had the right sponsors, and the right people were using it when they came to SXSW. Afterward, it really took off.
-Ferriss said he also hit it big at SXSW last year when he was promoting his book. Afterward, his book hit the New York Times bestsellers list. He said the key was not meeting as many people as possible, but spending as much time as possible with about 10 people.
-Be careful of internal friction issues, Cassidy says. You can spend more time trying to fight internal power struggles than fighting external enemies, he said.
-With mentors, don’t be afraid to reach high, going for those people you think might be unattainable. Ferriss said he has helped students at Princeton get in touch with high-profile business leaders such as the CEO of Google, etc. Ferriss also said when sending e-mails, say who you are, and be brief.
Permalink | | Categories: SXSW
SXSWii Day One shorty shorts
I’ve been bouncing around like a pinball in a game played by a hyperactive teen, so instead of doing long write-ups of yesterdays panels (already so far in the past that I barely remember them), I’ll give you the very brief gist:
Rawk SXSW: The Basics — This might go down as the most fun panel at the whole festival. An accordion guy, lustful talk of Texas BBQ, funny photos of panelists and about 15 minutes at the end devoted to looking at pictures of lolcats. Much hilarity ensued when the panelists couldn’t type in the correct URL for ICanHasCheezburger.com, and even more laughter came from the photos themselves. I swear, if they did a panel with nothing but funny cat photos, people would show up. I know I would. They’re even more fun to watch with a group.
Respect! — This design panel featured Web designers griping that nobody in their companies respects them: They’re always left out of the loop and brought into projects at the last minute and not given the time or resources to really do their thing. The best advice to designers was to be proactive, get more involved in what your company is doing even if it means coming in early and leaving late and to try to find a work environment that fosters better communication and more involvement from Web designers. For some, unfortunately, that’s not the norm.
Friday Night Mix at Six — This was the party of the night for Interactive. People lined up around the block to get into Six and then stood in line again to get up on the rooftop. It went like that from 6 p.m. until the wee hours. Lots of schmoozing, lots of fun. I got to meet one of my writing heroes, N’Gai Croal, there. If he’s not the best video game writer in the country, he’s at least in the top three. Here’s a photo. That beer’s not mine, by the way:
Permalink | | Categories: Austin, Internet, SXSW
Online Extremism
This afternoon’s pannel ‘Online Extremism - And the Muslims Who Fight It’ introduced the attendees to a new type of terrorist, the Islamic fundamentalist hacker. The panel, made up of private security officers, former and current governement officials and a the founder of Muslim community Web site, also introduced us to the people fighting this new enemy.
“It’s an online battle for their hearts and minds,” said Mohamad Hluchan of iDefense, a cyber-intelligence firm.
Hluchan spoke about the sophistication of the encryption and coding software like Asrar Al-Mujahidin and the “two way street” between organized crime and terrorists. The Kalashnikov-toting fundamentalist is the face of these orgnaizations, but the tech saavy brain is a much more insidious foe.
If Hluchan gave us a new boogey man, Mohammed Suleiman Khan, founder of Hadithuna.com, gave us the face of the people working to combat the negative perceptions spread this new enemy. Khan’s Web site is a sucessful online community that hosts over 57 million blogs from housewives and college students to more radical minded fundamenalists. Khan admitted to walking a fine line between promoting provacative dialouge and facilitating hate-speech. Ultimately, the radicals have helped promote the website’s objectives by demonstrating the power of the majority of its users to police the site themselves when it came to hateful and inflamatory speech.
Overall, the panel was an introduction into the online grassroots approach that many Muslims around the world are embracing to combat the work of extremists. Videos like ‘Yeh Hum Naheen’ (‘This is Not Us’), a sort of “We Are The World” collaboration of Pakistani pop stars, fight back against the negative perception of Muslims perpetrated by terrorist propaganda. Frank Cilluffo, associate vice president for homeland security at The George Washington University, challanged the roomful of bloggers and journalists to help in this effort to combat radical extremism.
Permalink | | Categories: SXSW
Video and photos: BarCamp Austin
I’ve got a bunch of other photos posted on the Statesman’s Flickr SXSW pool and I’ll get to those soon, but here’s some quick pics and a video I shot at BarCamp Austin, happening all day today at GSD&M Idea City.
Permalink | | Categories: Austin, Internet, SXSW
Should I be looking for a new job?
That title is a joke, but after hearing first panelist Corey Bridges, from Multiverse, talk about what he sees as the inevitable destruction of the newspaper industry, I left wondering if perhaps I had picked the wrong panel to kick off my Interactive experience.
Bridges spoke at “Rise of the Indies: The Future of Video Game Development.”
But some of his talk focused on other industries, such as the news media and the music business.
His big take-away? Things like the Internet and the drive toward user-generated content have completely dismantled traditional industries such as the news media and music industry.
“Everybody wants to express themselves in some way,” Bridges said. “A lot of people want to express themselves in blogs.”
What does this mean for video games? It means that, increasingly, big game publishers such as Electronic Arts aren’t necessary. Independent game developers can create games for much less and without the restraints that publishers have.
“Obviously production and distrubition are now in the hands of these indies,” Bridges said.
None of this is breaking news. I was a little disappointed that Bridges didn’t have better insight to share. But he was amusing to listen to, excited when he learned that folks interested in podcasting his talk were OK with curse words.
Permalink | | Categories: SXSW
Customer service secrets from Zappos
Zappos.com is known for outstanding customer service. Tony Hsieh, the CEO of the shoe (and now clothing, makeup and electronics) site shared some of the principles that have worked for the company at a session called “Top Ten Lessons Learne din E-Commerce.”
E-commerce businesses are built on repeat customers. Hsieh says Zappos focuses on building customer loyalty.
Word of mouth really works online. Hsieh says word of mouth is the No. 1 way Zappos gets new customers.
Don’t compete on price. Hsieh says Zappos tried things like offering coupons, but found out that the new customers they got through coupons did not become loyal, repeat customers.
Make sure that your Web site inventory is 100 percent accurate. Getting a “your item is not in stock” message drives off customers.
Centrally locate your distribution. Zappos picked Kentucky for its distribution center because it enabled the company to offer faster shipping to more customers, while at the same time costing Zappos less money.
Customer service is an investment, not an expense. Zappos doesn’t have scripts for its call center employees; nor does it try to minimize call time. Hsieh says measures like that save money in the short term but don’t create long-term customer relationships.
Start small, stay focused. For example, Zappos has started selling clothing but is not making a huge push in this direction. Instead, they’re building slowly, taking their time figuring out how clothing sales will work on the site.
Don’t be secretive and don’t worry about competitors.
You need to actively manage your company culture. Zappos has a book that spells out its company culture, and bases a big part of hiring and evaluating on culture fit.
Be wary of so-called experts. Hsieh says most of the consultants they worked with on various areas were a big waste of money and time. He emphasized that not all consultants are bad, but that no one knows your business as much as you do.
Permalink | | Categories: SXSW
Getting a late start at SXSWi
So far, not so good. But it’s mostly my fault.
I thought if I left my house at 9 a.m., I’d have plenty of time to get to the Austin Convention Center for the first South by Southwest Interactive panels at 10 a.m.
Boy, was I wrong.
After swinging by Starbucks and the Statesman to grab a notebook and pens, I would have enough time to walk over to the center.
But after glancing at my watch and seeing that it was already 9:40 a.m., I drove over to the center, guess I could use the Convention Center parking garage.
Wrong. The line was snaking around the block just to get in. I circled the block and decided to shell out $10 a day to park at the Hilton, which is also having a corporate event for Whole Foods Market, so its capacity was filling up fast.
Scrambling, I ran across the street only to find that I wasn’t registered. Whaaa?
“But, my company already registered me,” I told the volunteer.
“You’re not in our system.”
Speed-walking to the press booth, I disovered indeed I was registered, it just hadn’t been put in the system. Whew. Crisis averted. Badge in hand, I was on my way.
Lesson learned: Leave the house about an hour before you think you need to.
Although I missed the 10 a.m. panels, I still made it in plenty of time to capture most of Saturday’s festivities, which run until 6 p.m., not counting the after-parties.
Stay tuned for my blog on the 11:30 panel: “Rise of the Indies: The future of video game development.” (I’m listening to it now and just heard the panelist talk about newspapers are dead and will soon start folding. Gulp.)
Permalink | | Categories: SXSW
I spy at SXSWi
Things I’m seeing a lot of at South by Southwest Interactive 2008:
- iPhones
- Nokia smartphones, particularly the spiffy N95, which can stream video to Qik.
- Renewed interest in Twitter, as well as Dodgeball to keep track of where your peeps are at the fest.
- Lust for BBQ. On a “How to Rawk SXSW” panel, vegetarians were asked to raise their hands. “What are you doing in Texas!?” they were asked. Everybody wants to go to Salt Lick.
- Lots of first-time attendees. At the same panel, about two-thirds of the audience raised their hands when asked if it was their first fest. Sure, it was the newbie panel, but it was still a lot of people.
- Tons of parties. The evening events, at least on the first day, definitely overshadowed the panels and readings.
- More talk about video games. I met N’Gai Croal last night, which is already a highlight of the fest for me.
- Lots of breakfast and dinner meetups. Twitter, Facebook and Dodgeball are facilitating better communication for like groups to hand out and find each other.
More updates throughout the day, including a brief wrap-up of some of Friday’s panels. If you want to see several videos of Interactive director Hugh Forrest talking about the fest as well as stories from today’s Statesman related to the fest, go to our SXSW coverage page.
