Austin360 blogs > Digital Savant > Archives > 2010 > February
February 2010
Austin’s Google Gigabit efforts get organized online
Since we last mentioned Austin citizens moving to get Google’s attention on its Gigabit Internet project, quite a bit has happened.
The Austin City Council approved a resolution to draft and submit a response for Google’s request for information and a group called Big Gig Austin has formed, complete with a Twitter account, Facebook page and Web site.
Will it be enough to get Google’s attention? We’ll be watching and hoping.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment Categories: Austin, Internet
SXSW panel preview: ‘Seed Combinators: Startup Incubators 2.0’
Seed Combinators: Startup Incubators 2.0
3:30 p.m., Monday, March 15
Hilton C
The panel will describe “Seed Combinators,” which is defined in the panel description as, “…the concept of mashing up angel investing, OpenCoffee Club meetups, tactical workshops, and Coworking that is giving rise to a new class of software and new media startups.”
Here’s some background on Austin’s Capital Factory from our start-ups reporter Lori Hawkins, a follow-up from her, an article about Austin’s Demo Day from TechCrunch and an NPR All Tech Considered segment I did in which I spoke about the problem of spam. Joshua Baer helped me prepare for the segment by giving me some background on how Otherinbox works and how most e-mail filtering companies deal with spam in a phone interview.
Bear was also one of the American-Statesman’s 2009 Texas Social Media Award winners.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment Categories: Applications, Austin, Internet, SXSW 2010
SXSW panel preview: ‘I Don’t Trust You One Stinking Bit’
‘I Don’t Trust You One Stinking Bit’
12:30 p.m. March 13
9ABC
Chris Brogan and Julien Smith, authors of the book “Trust Agents,” are the presenters in this panel on online trust. Read up on their work in this interview on the blog Lateral Action. An excerpt:
We wrote a book about the soul of the new machine, not a manual for how to use some fleeting piece of software. Trust Agents is every bit a business book, not an instruction manual. Hopefully, it will stand up long after books about Twitter seem dated and silly.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: SXSW 2010
SXSW Interactive live chat, 2 p.m. today with Tammy Lynn Gilmore and Shawn O’ Keefe
Today at 2 p.m. CST, we’ll be holding a live with Shawn O’ Keefe and Tammy Lynn Gilmore of South by Southwest Interactive. Got questions about the fest? Want to pick their brains about some of the highlights of this year’s Interactive? Bring your questions and comments today.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment Categories: Austin, Internet, SXSW 2010
SXSW panel preview: ‘Building a Bullet-Proof Personal Finance System’
‘Building a Bullet-Proof Personal Finance System’
11 a.m. March 13
Hilton E
Organizer Ramit Sethi is the creator of the blog I Will Teach You to Be Rich and the book of the same name. He’s one of the most popular personal finance bloggers on the Web, and his writing style is informative, funny and blunt (he titled a recent post “Attention whiny complainers: Why you STILL aren’t saving money”). Get a sample of his speaking style here.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: SXSW 2010
UPDATED: Time Warner Cable rolls out mobile Road Runner in Austin/San Marcos
Update, 5 p.m.: A few more details from Time Warner Cable, following up on the earlier blog info.
The $29.95 price is for a package that includes free USB hardware for Road Runner Mobile, but is limited to 2 Gigabytes a month (or about two high-def movie downloads). This is only available to Road Runner users and is considered “complementary” to the home broadband service, said Time Warner Cable’s general manager of wireless, Alex Heien.
“That’s for customers who customers who may not be doing a lot of surfing or watching video,” Heien said.
Also available will be a “Road Runner Mobile Elite” plan for $44.99 a month with unlimited data on the Clear 4G network. That plan also includes free hardware and the activation fee is waived.
Rounding out the packages is a $64.99 “National” plan that includes dual-mode 4G and 3G service (which has a wider coverage area). With that plan, the USB hardware costs $49. A $10 discount brings the price to $54.99 for six months.
Now the bad news for those seeking stand-alone unlimited mobile Internet service: both the Elite and National plans require bundling with another Time Warner Cable service, like cable TV service or a digital phone. A basic cable plan costs about $20, so you’re looking at about $65 a month for the cheapest unlimited option with Road Runner Mobile.
“We don’t have (stand-alone service),” Heien said, “we may in the future.”
The service does work with Macs and there’ll be a separate accessory available to create a wireless hotspot for up to five devices at a time by plugging in the USB modem. Coming soon is also a modem/Wi-Fi router built into one device, Heien said.
The coverage area will also continue to expand as more towers are put up and the network is tweaked.
Thoughts? Questions? Let us know in the comments.
Earlier information is below:
This morning, Time Warner Cable announced the official rollout of its 4G wireless data service, “Road Runner Mobile” in areas that include Austin, San Marcos, Waco and Killeen.
TWC says the service will start at $29.99 for existing Time Warner Cable customers and will offer speeds of up to 6 Mbps, similar to what Sprint 4G mobile customers can get (they share the same Clear 4G network).
TWC said the service includes data storage, Web mail and “Internet security.” The Austin coverage joins rollouts in Dallas, San Antonio, Wichita Falls, Corpus Christi and Charlotte, N.C.
We’ll be talking to Time Warner this afternoon to get more details and taking the hardware for a test drive soon (we’re told it’s Mac-compatible) and will post more details soon, including whether that $29.99 has a data limit and what it will cost for non-TWC subscribers. Stay tuned!
Click on the image below for a bigger view of the 3G/4G coverage areas:
Edited to add, Wednesday a.m.: Here are some photos of the Road Runner Mobile hardware:
Permalink | Comments (5) | Post your comment Categories: Austin, Internet
Rumblings: Twitter may announce ad platform at SXSWi
Several business blogs are speculating today that Twitter chief executive Evan Williams may announce an ad platform for the social media service at his keynote next month at South by Southwest Interactive.
The rumors stem from statement’s made by Twitter’s head of product management and monetization, Anamitra Banerji, who reportedly told attendees at an interactive advertising conference Monday that Twitter is about a month away from rolling out a way to incorporate ads into the service. This would be one answer to a question Twitter has faced since it took off at the SXSW Interactive festival in 2007: how would the company, which has millions of users, make money?
A blog post on GigaOm cites an anonymous “Industry insider” as saying the company “may” make the announcement at the festival. The timing makes sense, but would SXSW be the appropriate place to make such a move?
Perhaps. At last year’s festival, Facebook rolled out “Facebook Connect” at a morning panel and Dell introduced its Adamo thin laptop.
Despite the sketchy sourcing, if what Banerji said was accurate, the timing makes perfect sense.
Edited to add, Wednesday a.m.: TechCrunch takes a look at what these ads might look like.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Austin, Internet, SXSW 2010
SXSW preview: “The History of the Button”
2 p.m. March 12
Ballroom C
While the SXSW Interactive conference is generally about looking forward, Bill DeRouchey, Director of Interaction Design at Ziba Design, will be offering a look back when he visits Austin in a few weeks. At first glance, a talk about the history of the button may not seem terribly exciting, but as DeRouchey explains below, there is a lot to be learned from an idea that has remained a central element of technology over the last century, even as almost everything else has changed.
How did you get the idea to study the history of the button?
The initial idea came to me because I spent most of my career working in Web and software, and about five years ago I switched over to a product design firm, and noticed that most of what I knew from working on Web sites was out the window. With product design, you’re working on physical interfaces. I noticed that the one thread that was common between them was buttons. Of course buttons are all about how we interact online, and they’re also how we interact with physical products.
What was the first button?
Two questions I always get are what is the button, and what was the first button. The way I look at it is, what was the first device that people commonly carried around with them in everyday usage that actually had a button? It was either the flashlight or the light switch. They’re the crudest buttons possible. They do one thing, they turn a light on, whether it’s in your pocket or on the ceiling. It was the first common thing that people encountered that had the magic of a button.
There’s really no logical relationship between pushing a button and a light coming on from a physical standpoint. Before electric push buttons showed up, the way that we interacted with technology was mechanically based. Buttons are when the magic showed up of performing an action and getting a completely different type of reaction. Turning on a light was a magical thing. That led to all kinds of promises of the future of leisure: appliances, blenders, washing machines, radios. The 1930’s were a very magical era for technology because people were very excited about the future. The phrase push-button itself was code for easy, leisure, the future.
Now, buttons can do amazing things. I can actually click once, say at a place like Amazon.com, and that initiates an entire process of books going into boxes, boxes being shipped to my house, money being deducted from my bank account, and so on. It all comes down to the very simple action of poking things. What I’m fascinated by is how our relationship with the world has changed over the last hundred years in terms of what we can do with the simplest of motions and how that changes our psychology, how we view the world and even relate to each other as people.
How does the history of the button apply to the SXSW conference?
A lot of SXSW is about looking to the future, what is new, what is hot, what is being introduced and so on. It’s important to take a step back and reflect on where we’ve been as an industry or as a community and all the technology that we deal with. As an interaction designer, I often have to think about interface, and how people use different devices. I have to think about up and down and left and right and colors on a very semantic level and all of those things are simply conventions that have been built up over decades, from before onscreen technology. A simple example are the colors red and green. Red is bad and green is good. You can trace that back to traffic signals, and before that, train signals. It is important for interaction designers to understand where the semantics of the language of technology comes from. They don’t come out of nowhere, languages takes decades or centuries to be built.
Any thoughts on the future of the button?
The simplest place you can look right now is all of the touch technology floating around, with the iPhone being the most popular example. The button is now disappearing into the surface of various products. Buttons can show and hide depending on whatever the context is in which you are currently using the product. Buttons will probably start going away in terms of a physical button that you can push. I think the concept of the button will live on, because we’ve taught ourselves that this is how we interact with technology. We push things, whether they are physical things, whether we are using the virtual proxy of a mouse and a pointer or whether we’re actually touching our finger to a virtual button. I think we’ll start seeing in the near future the notion of dynamic surface, where the surface is no longer flat. I think touch screen is the gateway to that, where the button can rise out of the surface when it’s needed and disappear when it’s not.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: SXSW 2010
TEDxATX wrapup: good vibes, say attendees
Judging from the Tweets and blog posts of those who attended on Saturday, it looks as if the first Austin TEDxAustin event (a licensed version of the popular TED conferences) was a success.
Although it was very easy to be cynical about the event based on some of the choices made beforehand (and I am nothing if not a cynical jerk about these things), attendees expressed quite a bit of uplift after the event, which took place at the Austin City Limits studio.
I followed the first hour and a half via the event’s live video stream and was baffled by the choice to open the event with a diet guru (despite positive word from attendees about speaker Rip Esselstyn, when I hear the words “Diet” and “Guru” together, I usually run the other way — toward Whataburger). I was amused by giggles, sighs and whisper I could hear from those who apparently were in charge of streaming the event. (Some on Twitter asked them to stop. I begged them to continue the unofficial commentary; it was very entertaining.)
Nancy Giordano opened the conference by thanking attendees for taking a leap of faith that the programming would be worth their time. Jen Spencer then told attendees that despite an earlier message on Twitter, TEDxAustin was asking attendees not to use Twitter or to live-blog the day’s proceedings. It had something to do with not interfering with the live video stream, but you’d think that people’s 3G-enabled phones wouldn’t rock the boat on that front.
But what I apparently missed by not attending (I was taking my daughter to “Sesame Street Live,” a whole other kind of life-affirming experience) was a very good cross-section of Austin thinkers, philanthropists, scientists and do-gooders. Good vibes do not tend to translate well over online video or through Tweets, but it’s clear from the feedback I saw from people whose opinion I trust that the event struck a chord with them and left them feeling good. I imagine that is more than worth the $50 attendance fee and the expensive of one’s Saturday.
Believe me, if people felt ripped off or displeased with the way their time was spent, people would have been pretty vocal about it online.
So here’s a wrap-up of what people are saying about TEDxAustin. Congratulations to the organizers for putting on an event that seems to have resonated with those who were invited and many who watched online.
- Our quick-hit Saturday wrap-ups from here on Digital Savant.
- I Am A Connector lists all the speakers and organizers with links to more information on each of them.
- Jon Lebkowsky’s take.
- Eugene Sepulveda’s take.
- Laura Lorek’s take.
- John McElhenney’s take.
- Thom Singer’s take.
- Carla Thompson’s take. Edited to add: Ashley Brown’s take.
- Event planners The Simplifiers give some background on helping put it together.
- Photos from Kirk Tuck.
- And via Community Matters, this amazing video of visual notes from TEDxAustin. Very, very cool.
And one more, a video from Paul Terry Walhus of the Conjunctured TEDxATX rejection party:
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Austin, Internet
SXSW panel preview: ‘How to Unplan Your Business Idea’
How To Unplan Your Business Idea
5 p.m. March 13
Hilton E
Ian Sanders, who’s presenting “How to Unplan Your Business Idea” with David Sloly on March 13 at SXSW Interactive, took some time to answer questions from us via e-mail (we kept his British spellings) about his Core Conversation. Sanders is the author of ‘Juggle! Rethink Work, Reclaim Your Life’.”
First, could you talk a little bit about your background and how the “unplan” idea evolved?
I’ve been in business for 20 years; 10 years working for myself and 10 years in organisations. Through all that time, I’ve focused on launching new business ventures, taking new ideas to market and helping clients with start-ups. If there’s one thing I’ve learnt - both as a manager/ entrepreneur launching my own ideas and an independent consult advising others - it’s the importance of putting your ideas into action rather than over-planning them. There’s this tradition in business that if you’re launching a new venture you must have a long-term plan and 3 or 5 year financial projections. I think now, more than ever, that’s flawed. It’s much more important to get your idea out to market, to prototype and test it as you go.
What can people who come to your SXSW session expect?
We’ll be setting out to bust the business planning myth, encouraging people to greenlight their ideas rather than keep them sitting on a spreadsheet. We hope to provide inspiration and ideas to give people the confidence to put their ideas into action. And arguing that having the right attitude is more important than a plan. But this isn’t me and my collaborator standing on a stage talking at you. It’s a ‘core conversation’ and we’ll be hosting a discussion, getting the audience’s take on their own experiences and answering questions people have.
It seems like two of the reasons too much planning might be increasingly futile are the economy and the speed of technological changes. How have those two factors changed what launching a business means now?
Absolutely. How can we predict economic and technological changes? If the last 12 months of economic turmoil have shown us anything it’s that the landscape can change in an instant… just like that. Big corporations and institutions can crumble overnight. That provides some challenges and also opportunities for entrepreneurs. But it also means trying to predict the future is futile. The same goes for technology. Who could have predicted how much of a game-changer the iPhone would have been, or what the next game-changer might be? If you’re launching a business now, you need to be open to whole host of new opportunities that may be around the corner; and you can’t forecast them. Sure, have some goals but don’t have a fixed linear plan for how you might reach them.
Could someone who isn’t an entrepreneur and who works in a more corporate setting apply your ideas?
Good question! Sure, ‘How To Unplan Your Business’ is not just for entrepreneurs and start-ups. It’s also for management teams and executives in corporate settings who may have got stuck in inertia; too much analysis may have paralysed their businesses, and they need to focus on putting ideas into action. Because an idea not put into action has no value!
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: SXSW 2010
PSA: New RSVP deadline for SXSWi pre-party is Monday
Edited to add, Sunday, noon: SXSWi organizers say the deadline to register for this pre-party has been extended to 12 p.m. CST Monday. Original post (with RSVP links) below:
Fair warning: if you’re planning to attend Monday’s South by Southwest Interactive pre-party/networking mixer at Lustre Pearl, you need to RSVP today.
The event is from 7 to 9 p.m. and is the culmination of pre-parties in six cities including Atlanta, New York City and Chicago. We’re running a story in Sunday’s paper about these parties, but by the time you read that, the RSVP deadline will have passed.
You can RSVP at this Web page or on Facebook. If you’re going, I’ll see you there!
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Austin, Internet, SXSW 2010
TedxAustin: Carrie Contey, Turk and Christy Pipkin
Carrie Contey connected what we know now about how babies learn to what we need to thrive as adults.
She said babies are “big beings in little bodies” who have an imperative to learn and grow. And their process of doing this involves alternating doing and being. Time to rest is crucial for new learning to take hold.
As adults, Contey says, we aren’t much different. We need to pause to take stock of where we are and to regulate ourselves — if we take in more new stuff than we can process, we start to feel irritable and anxious. Taking a break regulates our nervous system. It also helps us integrate what we’ve learned. Creativity happens when we pause, Contey said. She added that although technology makes it possible to be doing something every minute, we have to remind ourselves to take that pause.
Turk and Christy Pipkin talked about their work with the Nobelity Project and showed a trailer for their latest film “One Peace at a Time.” Their projects include building a school in Kenya.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment
TedxAustin: Mark Rolston
Mark Rolston, chief creative officer of Frog Design. just wrapped up what, judging by Twitter reaction, seemed to be one of the conversation-provoking talks of the day. Ralston talked about the evolution of computing — how innovations go from “weird” to normal parts of our life. He talked about how our “second lives” in the virtual world are growing so much that they’re becoming equally if not more important than our first lives. He talked about how the next step is a future where we interact with computers in 3D space and showed an animation of what this could look like, with colorful graphics moving down a street. He envisioned a future where the human and the computer become blended.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment
TEDxAustin part one recap: Go small to play big
The first part of today’s TEDxAustin event is over, and even though the theme of the talks is “Play Big,” a lot of the speakers have emphasized that the small things are what is important. The day started with former fireman/health guru Rip Esselstyn talking about healthy eating. Next up was Livestrong CEO and cancer survivor Doug Ulman. Ulman talked about the increasingly blurred line between non-profits and for-profits, and pointed to the popularity of the yellow Livestrong bracelets as proof that a community is the key to fighting cancer.
After Ulman was playwright and economist Steven Tomlinson, who offered an inspirational speech about achieving goals. Tomlinson’s talk was the most Twitter-ready of the morning, full of lines like “lead with what you love.” Computer scientist Chris Muller, on the other hand, gave an informed but not so Twitter-friendly talk about mapping the human genome. The audience was then shown an archived TED talk from 2007 by Gever Tully, “Five Dangerous Things For Kids.” We should apparently give children fire, knives and spears.
Following the video talk was business consultant Chris Shipley, who focused on how small businesses drive innovation. Finally, the morning portion ended with Suzanne and David Armistead, who offered an interpretative dance/multimedia performance about dealing with grief.
If you would like to watch the afternoon portion of the talks, the live stream is embedded below. You can also join in on a conversation about the event on Twitter by searching for hash tags #TEDxAustin or #TEDxATX.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment
Learn more about Engine 2 Diet
If your’e watching the stream of TEDxAustin and would like to learn more about Rip Esselstyn, who’s speaking right now, read Fit City columnist Pam LeBlanc’s story about the Engine 2 Diet from last February after the jump.
Austin firefighter Rip Esselstyn, a former professional triathlete and, most recently, self-dubbed Head Lettuce of a group that tested his Engine 2 Diet, wants to know.
Esselstyn is about to drop a smart bomb of healthy eating into a society that, he says, eats food that ravages our cardiovascular systems and relies too readily on drugs to keep its cholesterol in check.
Five years ago, Esselstyn flipped the meat-munching crew of the Austin fire station where he worked to a plant-powered gang fueled by beans, tofu and leafy greens. Now he’s introducing the rest of us to his eating philosophy in his book, “The Engine 2 Diet: The Texas Firefighter’s 28-Day Save-Your-Life Plan that Lowers Cholesterol and Burns Away the Pounds.”
The premise of the diet is simple: No meat or fish, no dairy, no added oils. Even olive oil - a concentrated source of calories - is spurned. Eliminate as many processed foods as possible. Cut down on sodium. Increase your intake of vegetables, legumes, leafy greens and fruits.
By following his program, Esselstyn says you can lower cholesterol naturally.
The idea is not new. Nutrition researchers Dr. Neal Barnard and Dr. Dean Ornish both promote similar diets, as does Esselstyn’s father, Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn Jr., a retired Cleveland surgeon and clinician who has studied heart disease for decades.
Get your total cholesterol below 150, and your LDL cholesterol - the bad stuff - below 80, and you are essentially bulletproof, the Esselstyns say. The risk of heart disease, diabetes, certain cancers and other diseases drop significantly.
“As we all know, America’s health is in dire straits right now,” Rip Esselstyn says. “I want people to start becoming more aware and more conscientious of what they put in their bodies.”
How the diet works
On a recent evening, firefighter Steve Martinez is whipping up a batch of corn chowder made with rice milk, green chiles, potatoes and vegetable broth at Fire Station 2, near the University of Texas campus. The chowder will make it onto the dinner table alongside a giant salad and whole wheat bread. There’s no meat or butter in sight.
Esselstyn looks on approvingly. “It’s hearty, and it’s tasty,” he says. It’s also void of saturated fats, dietary cholesterol and animal protein. “Remove those three culprits and your cholesterol comes down like a rock,” Esselstyn says.
Most Americans get 10 percent of their diet from whole, unprocessed foods. About 50 percent comes from processed foods; 40 percent is dairy or meat, Esselstyn says. “If we can turn that upside down, it’s so much better.”
It boils down to the single-layer of cells called endothelial cells that line our blood vessels. “These cells are magical lifejackets to preserve the health of our vessel,” says Dr. Esselstyn, Rip’s father. They secrete nitric oxide, a gas that keeps blood flowing smoothly, without becoming sticky. It also protects arteries from inflammation, which can lead to plaque ruptures, the cause of most heart attacks. Think Teflon versus Velcro.
“Every time you eat saturated fats in oil, dairy and meat, you absolutely injure and hamper and assault those endothelial cells and decrease their capacity to make nitric oxide,” Dr. Esselstyn says.
Some people blame genes for their high cholesterol. But the doctor disagrees. “Genes load the gun, but lifestyle pulls the trigger,” he says, adding that Brussels sprouts, broccoli and kale are more powerful than a gorilla dose of statins, the class of drugs to lower cholesterol, in the fight against heart disease.
His philosophy rubbed off on his son Rip, 45, who swam for the University of Texas in the 1980s. Back then, he ate at the training table with the football and baseball players.
“We lit it up - chicken-fried steak, pizza, chicken,” Rip Esselstyn says. “It was endless - breakfast, lunch and dinner.”
Esselstyn’s cholesterol was more than 200 at age 21. Then he started paying attention to a study his father began in 1985. That ongoing study showed that a plant-based diet can halt - and reverse - heart disease.
The younger Esselstyn cut meat, dairy and oil out of his diet and dove into a sea of leafy greens, tofu and beans. He’s been eating that way for 22 years now.
Lest anyone think it’s made him a weaker man, consider that he has won the Capital of Texas Triathlon eight times. Last fall, he set a record in his age group in the 200-meter backstroke at the U.S. Masters Swimming National Championship.
It’s stressing the muscle and letting it rebuild - not eating meat - that makes a body stronger, Esselstyn says. And contrary to popular belief, he adds, most people get plenty of protein from beans, vegetables and whole grains.
He started his push at the firehouse. About five years ago, Esselstyn and his buddies laid down a challenge to see who had the lowest cholesterol. The alarm sounded when one firefighter reported a total cholesterol of 344. Esselstyn persuaded everyone on his shift at the station to eat according to his plant-strong plan. The Engine 2 Diet was born.
Putting it to the test
I wanted to know what would happen if I followed the diet. I got a baseline cholesterol test, and on Jan. 12 I cut out meat, dairy and oil. My husband and about a dozen others did the experiment at the same time. We met with Esselstyn, who anointed himself the Head Lettuce, once a week for lunch.
I learned a lot.
It was surprisingly easy to eliminate meat and dairy. Oil, though, was a different story. It’s in everything from salad dressing to bread to crackers. I became an expert label reader. I found myself craving, of all things, popcorn, cooked in a pan with a little oil. Going out to eat was a real challenge, one that we faced head-on by (gasp!) joining some out-of-town friends for an excursion to the County Line BBQ. (We ate dry baked potatoes while they wiped sauce off their lips.)
But I also learned there’s almost always a way to make a healthy substitution, at least at home. Think migas made with tofu, mushrooms and onions on corn tortillas. Or lasagna with layers of sweet potatoes, spinach and broccoli. “Burritos” with homemade hummus inside steamed mustard greens.
“It’s the cheapest way to eat on the planet,” Esselstyn says. (Unless you are buying Ezekiel bread, a brand made without oil or preservatives, I should add.) “It’s environmentally friendly. It’s compassionate. Plant foods are loaded with micronutrients, yet they are calorie lean, as opposed to meat and dairy.”
And it works. Two weeks in, my total cholesterol dropped 37 points. By the end of the 28-day program, it was down exactly 40 points. My LDL cholesterol - the bad stuff - sank to 71. My risk ratio was 0.95, just about perfect. (My HDL, or good cholesterol, also dropped, but Esselstyn says that’s because when your LDL drops you need fewer HDL molecules to clean up after them.)
“You’re essentially heart-attack proof,” Esselstyn told me. “That’s an amazing risk ratio. You hit a home run.”
During an earlier six-week pilot study with 62 people who followed the Engine 2 Diet, the average drop in total cholesterol was 40 points; the average LDL drop was 36 points.
Most people also lose weight. In fact, some athletes lose too much weight or see a drop in energy level when they cut out oil. It’s an easy fix, the elder Esselstyn says. Eat more rice or whole grains.
Can the average person stick to such a strict diet? It’s not easy. But Esselstyn doesn’t say you have to, 100 percent. He just wants you to be plant strong. Knowing what they’ve learned, though, many people find it hard to revert entirely to their old ways.
I won’t stick to it completely, but I’ll take a lot away. I’ll sauté in vegetable broth instead of oil, I’ll make my own oil-free hummus, with chickpeas, lemon juice and low-sodium soy sauce. I’ll eat tons more leafy greens and sprinkle ground flax and raw oats on my breakfast cereal. I might eat fish or meat or cheese on occasion, but not nearly as often.
“That’s why this program is so powerful,” Esselstyn says. “People can see just with nutrition what they can do. Afterward, you decide what you want to incorporate.”
In the long run, he wants to change the way Americans think and feel about eating this way.
“I became a firefighter to help people and save lives,” he says. This is just another way to do that.
pleblanc@statesman.com; 445-3994
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment
TEDxAustin streaming online: watch it here
The TEDxAustin conference is today — since the event was announced, it’s generated buzz online not only for the mystique of TED (a popular technology, entertainment and design conference), but by some odd choices in its inaugural outing.
It’s not an official TED event — it’s licensed. Also, a list of speakers was not released to attendees, who each paid $50 and were required to apply to be there. Instead, a mysterious (and interestingly worded) list of speakers was posted on their Web site with such descriptions as, “A dancing storyteller” (Usher?), “A sage from the streets” (Oscar the Grouch?) and “An international tastemaker” (the inventor of General Foods International Coffee? IHOP?).
Given the number of varied, free social-networking and tech-related bar camps that regularly happen in town, some cried on Twitter that the event, with its tight invite list and $50 admission fee, was elitist and not keeping with the spirit of Austin. (Funny, you don’t hear a lot of that when it comes to what people pay to attend SXSW Interactive.)
TEDxAustin made an odd choice in an e-mail sent to registrants. It read, in part, “No blogging, texting, tweeting, filming, etc. will be allowed in the Austin City Limits studio during the event. Odd concept these days, we know. But we ask you respect not only our request, but the space and rights of the speakers, performers and fellow attendees to be entirely in the moment.”
Definitely odd for a tech-related conference in 2010, which you’d figure people would want to share insights to the rest of the Web as the event is happening.
I posted about it on Twitter and after several attendees raised concerns, the conference organizers relented. Now they’re asking frequent Tweeters to sit in the back. Some will sit VERY far in the back — as far away as a separate “TEDxAustin rejection party” happening across town at Conjunctured coworking.
But, hey, who knows? We hope the event is great for those attending. As we mentioned before, the day’s events will be streamed live online, thanks to the Texas Evening MBA Program and the Texas Executive MBA Program at McCombs.
We’ll be keeping an eye on TEDxAustin and posting our thoughts on a blog post Monday.
You can see the stream embedded below. Post your thoughts in the comments:
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment Categories: Austin, Internet
SXSW panel preview: ‘Rules of BrandFiction from Twittering MadMen’
‘Rules of BrandFiction from Twittering MadMen’
3:30 p.m. March 13
Hilton D
Panelists Helen Klein Ross and Michael Bissell were part of a panel last SXSW on their experiences tweeting as characters from “Mad Men.” At that panel, they talked about the emerging idea of “brand fiction” as a marketing tool. Their SXSW 2009 session was entertaining, and it should be interesting to hear their updates. Below is our write-up from the original session.
Panelists: Helen Klein Ross (Supporting Characters), Michael Bissell (Conquent), Carri Bugbee (Big Deal PR)
The gist: Last summer, characters from the AMC series “Mad Men” started showing up on Twitter, talking to each other and to fans of the show. A Twitter hit was born. At this panel, three of the people behind the characters talked about how the whole phenomenon came about, and what it might mean to the future of marketing.
Bugbee, who Tweets as secretary-turned-copywriter Peggy Olson, said she started the Peggy Tweet as a whim just because it sounded like fun, but, as followers poured in, she quickly realized it was on to something interesting.
She and fellow panelists Ross (suburban housewife Betty Draper) and Bissell (ad executive Roger Sterling) talked about the research that goes into their Twitter project. Bugbee watches episodes repeatedly and even transcribes dialogue; Ross is now the owner of a collection of 1960s cookbooks. When they make a mistake, Twitter followers let them know.
Ross said the “Mad Men” Tweeters aim to extend the lives of the characters between episodes and between seasons of the show. They strive to remain parallel to the universe of the show and not to do anything that conflicts with the show’s actual storylines.
Quotes: ““I took it upon myself to get inside (Peggy’s) head.” — Bugbee
“I really looked at it as a form of fiction.” — Ross
“We’re transforming fan fiction to a new form of marketing.” — Ross
Takeaways: Panelists said social media projects like theirs can enhance fans’ loyalty to a show. Ross calls what they are doing “brand fiction” (instead of “fan fiction”). Bissell said that what they did with “Mad Men” is not set in stone as a model for how to do this kind of marketing because the social media universe changes so rapidly.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: SXSW 2010
New Jersey Web host comments on plane crash-related manifesto site
The New Jersey-based Web host that served “EmbeddedArt.com,” the site where investigators believe Joe Stack posted an anti-tax manifesto before crashing a plane into an Austin building, says it took down the site at the request of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
In an e-mail, the CEO of T35, Alex Melen, said that Stack had been a customer of T35 since early 2004. Melen said that the FBI contacted T35 about the Web site, whose message was dated Feb. 18, and that it was the first time the company was aware of its contents.
“We only found out about the incident and the contents when we were contacted by the FBI,” Melen wrote. “Due to numerous user requests, we have now linked the original article on the site.”
The page that now appears where the site was hosted changed several times through the day. At one point it read, “This website has been taken offline due to the sensitive nature of the events that transpired in Texas this morning. Regards, T35 Hosting.”
It was later amended to read, “This website has been taken offline due to the sensitive nature of the events that transpired in Texas this morning and in compliance with a request from the FBI.”
Later, T35 added a link to the article to the statement. It reads: “If you want to see the original letter, please see the archived version at thesmokinggun.com: http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2010/0218102stack1.html.”
Melen invited visitors to the site to post on its forum. In the most recent amendment to the page “EmbeddedArt.com” now points to, it reads, “Please go to our forum if you wish to discuss anything related to this incident: Texas crash pilot left suicide note on Web site - embeddedart.com.”
Before the original post disappeared, it was posted widely on the Web. Statesman.com posted a copy of it, as did the popular social networking news site Mashable.com.
Updated 3:10 p.m.: One new wrinkle — if you go to a similarly-spelled Web site, “EmbededArt.com” (with one D), a copy of the manifesto comes up, with a tag at the end: ” APRIL FOOLS! You’ve been Rick Rolled.”
The Alex Jones Web site Infowars speculated today that this Web site might signal that the original “EmbeddedArt” site might be a fake. Conspiracy!
Not so, says California-based Nathan Mallamace, who says he registered the domain name and copy/pasted the manifesto today after seeing the news.
“Basically I went to the original site and copied it over,” says Mallamace when reached by phone. “I don’t really have an agenda behind this. I registered this domain for the purpose of repeating this today. I’m just as fascinated as the next person about what this is about. I’m trying to make sense of this, too.”
Mallamace said he was poking fun at the way people trust information they find on the Web, even on a site with a misspelled domain, not at the incident itself. “I wanted people to know at the end that this was not the official site. This guy’s an extremist. I don’t personally believe in extremist stuff.”
Mallamace was unaware of the post on Infowars, but when told about it had a long laugh, then expressed mixed feelings about the site’s owner, Jones. “It’s a complete joke. But some of the stuff they say is the kind of stuff that this guy’s talking about,” he said. “I can’t believe they picked me up from all this stuff.”
Update: 4:02 p.m. Nathan Mallamace called us to let us know that he removed the “APRIL FOOLS!” tag at the end of his Web page and added this note at the top: “Joseph Stack Manifesto. Not the original site. I registered this domain for the purpose of repeating this today. I’m just as fascinated as the next person about what this is about. I’m trying to make sense of this, too.”
He then posted a link to this blog post.
Permalink | Comments (16) | Post your comment Categories: Austin, Internet
Live Chat: Tammy Lynn Gilmore and Shawn O’ Keefe: POSTPONED
My apologies, but because of a major news event today, we’re postponing today’s scheduled 2 p.m. live chat with South by Southwest Interactive staffers.
We will reschedule for next week and I’ll post a blog entry as soon as we have details.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Austin, Internet, SXSW 2010
Cell networks apparently holding up in plane crash aftermath
About an hour after news reports trickled in of a plane hitting a building in northwest Austin, Twitter has been alight with eyewitness reports, photos of the smoking building and speculation about the cause of the crash.
Follow the Statesman Twitter account for the latest confirmed reports.
I put out the question of whether the cell phone networks are holding up in this emergency situation as traffic is backed up near 183 and Mopac. Based on responses I got from Twitter users, data and voice connectivity seems fine at the moment, although callers to News 8 seemed to be cutting out. One Twitterer said she had trouble accessing statesman.com. Another said he had the same problem with the News 8 site.
Seeing any data outages or having trouble making calls in that area? Post in the comments.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Austin, Internet
The Linkdown for Wednesday, Feb. 17
The Linkdown is already exhausted by South by Southwest Interactive and it’s still a month away! No fair! Must regroup and rally! Here are some links to recharge Internet fatigue:
- Cospace, a new North Austin coworking space opens today. 3,000 square feet, located on 911 W. Anderson Lane Suite 203.
- Skype is coming to Verizon 3G phones soon.
- Austin’s VolunteerSpot offers free sign-up sheets for youth sports.
- MobileMonday Austin presents, “Monetizing Mobile Apps.” Free presentation, open bar!
- Dr. Seuss apps come to the iPhone / iPod Touch.
- This week on my NPR segment: tons of Google news.
- Related: Google is rolling out limited 1-gigabit internet service. Austin/Round Rock are very interested (Austin will discuss at a meeting tonight). Other cities lobbying: Pittsburgh, Seattle. And the state of Hawaii.
- Weather Underground offers an iPad-optimized Full Screen Weather site. Very pretty.
- HeliOS project needs more donated computers. Please help.
- The Game Developers Conference (GDC Austin) will henceforth be known as GDC Online.
- U-verse customers have access to a free Winter Olympics app.
- U.S. broadband speeds rose 28 percent in 2009, says In-Stat.
- NCSoft is bringing back a 14-day free trial for “Lineage II.”
- Austin’s Blastro turns 10.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Austin, Internet
SXSW panel preview: ‘Showering Optional: Tips for Remote Employees’
“Showering Optional: Tips for Remote Employees” 3:30 p.m. March 14 Rio Grande B at Courtyard Austin Downtown, 300 E. Fourth St.
Jayna Wallace is a big fan of working remotely.
She’s done it successfully for the past several years, first at AOL and now in her new job as principal user experience designer for Blockbuster.
She cites benefits of working at home you’ve probably experienced yourself if you’ve been able work remotely: You avoid the time and stress of a commute, as well as the distractions of co-workers stopping by your desk to ask questions (or just annoying you with yet another loud personal phone call at their desk).
But she also mentions something that you (and your boss) may not have considered.
“You become a better employee when you’re remote,” Wallace says. Why? Besides the lack of distractions, working remotely also makes you a better communicator, she says. You learn to write e-mails that are clear, complete and not open to misinterpretation.
Another benefit: “Meetings are much more brief and to the point when you’re on the phone,” she says. There are fewer tangents and less small talk, she says. And if you do get stuck in a boring meeting via phone at least you can get some work done instead of just being trapped in the conference room.
She’ll talk more about the pros and cons of working remotely during her SXSW session. Here’s a brief preview of her advice:
— Have a designated office space where it’s quiet. “You can’t have a dog barking whenever you’re in the middle of a conference call,” Wallace says.
— There’s no IT department at your house. Learn to fix your own computer problems, or to work around them — if your wi-fi goes out, be prepared for a trip to the library or coffee shop to work.
— Be available. A quick reply when your manager contacts you will help allay any concerns she might have about your working remotely. If you don’t respond to her instant message right away, it’s all too easy for her to her assume you’re watching Bravo instead of working.
— Toot your own horn. “Getting promoted is kind of difficult whenever you’re in a remote capacity,” Wallace says. Without the boss seeing you every day, it can be harder to prove your worth. If you work remotely, “It’s not enough just to be average and be OK at your job,” Wallace says. “You have to try harder.”And you can’t be shy about letting people know about the great stuff you’re doing, she adds.
— Have a friend on the inside. If you work remotely and most of your co-workers are at the same office, you need an ally who’ll tell you what the boss has been saying and give you the number for a conference call if the coordinator forgot to.
“You don’t feel like you’re sitting out the middle of nowhere having on idea what’s’ going on,” Wallace says.
UPDATED: Edited on March 3 to add information on the panel location
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: SXSW 2010
SXSW Panel Preview - Unsexy & Profitable: Making $$ Without Hype
Unsexy & Profitable: Making $$ Without Hype, 3:30 p.m. March 13, Hilton A/B
Matt Chasen, the CEO and founder of Austin’s uShip Inc., has watched lots of flashy company sail through South by Southwest Interactive on a wave of hype (but with no business plan).
That’s good for some companies (coughTwittercough), but Chasen says that for many start-ups, little attention is paid to the basics of business: working hard and becoming profitable as quickly as possible.
“Hype is good and hype helps but it’s very rare to have hype-driven companies actually amount to anything,” Chasen said. “What ultimately makes any business sexy is being successful.”
Ah, yes: The Sexy. It’ll be the topic of the South by Southwest Interactive panel “Unsexy & Profitable,” which will include Chasen, Hooman Radfar of Clearspring Technologies, Inc., Alan Martin of CampusBookRentals.com and writer Paul Carr from TechCrunch as moderator.
So why do companies like Twitter and Facebook — which have upended the tech industry but started off with no clear business plan — get the spotlight while smaller, more successful companies get written off as boring?
In the case of Twitter, Chasen says, “It was obviously very hyped and growing incredibly quickly. But it’s a great example of one that may or may not actually be a business. That really has yet to be determined. That doesn’t mean the founders aren’t going to make a lot of money. But hey, maybe some of us would trade our business for Twitter.”
As for uShip, the company, which auctions shipping services on its Web sites, was founded in early 2003, launched in 2004 and reached profitability in mid-2008. Chasen says the company focused on coming up technology that would improve an established industry and create a strong revenue model.
“Transportation is just about one of the most boring, old-school industries. But it’s an industry that in my mind was sort of overlooked during the initial sort of Internet revolution,” Chasen said. “I was looking for was an industry where there seemed to be a lot of opportunity. It was a growing problem: how do you get things from point A to B?
“It was also an industry that really had a lot of opportunity to make much, much more efficient using all the strengths that make the Internet great.”
The company is expanding to international areas, but, “we’re being as careful as we can to focus on not getting ahead of ourselves. We’re reinvesting profits instead of blowing a bunch of money in new markets,” Chasen said.
Because Chasen’s company is hosting the panel, he joked, “We’re feeling a tremendous pressure to stay profitable.”
Other panel participants include CampusBookRentals, which might also be considered a more staid kind of company in an established industry, while Clearspring, which focuses on Web site widgets, could be considered “Sexy but unprofitable.”
Chasen cites eBay as a company that focused on what might have been considered a boring area — flea market-type items and auctions for merchandise that might not sell anywhere else — and built a powerhouse business from what now seems like an obvious idea.
I think things can often look unsexy and it’s not until something is an obvious success or making money or goes public that it starts to look more sexy,” Chasen said.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment Categories: Austin, Internet, SXSW 2010
SXSW Interactive panel preview: Fundraising panels
Though many people attend SXSW in search of that next billion-dollar idea, nonprofit groups stand to benefit from the conference as well. Below is a list of a few discussions about how different groups can take advantage of new technology to serve their needs.
Crowd Sourcing Innovative Social Change. This discussion will focus on how nonprofits can use social media as a catalyst for change, with presenters from a variety of backgrounds.
Debunking the Myth of Social Media Fundraising A discussion of how to use Twitter, Facebook, etc. for successful fundraising, including a presenter from LIVESTRONG.
Will Kiva Kill Your Nonprofit? Donations 2.0 A discussion about how traditional nonprofits can adapt as direct donation organizations such as Kiva rise in popularity.
Funding Your Projects from the Crowd Some of the most interesting and innovative new ideas, including the journalism project spot.us, involve crowd funding. This discussion will discuss various approaches to raising people-powered money.
Valerie Casey Keynote Casey is the founder and executive director of the Designers Accord, which helps organizations develop new ways to affect social and environmental change.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: SXSW 2010
Kevin Smith vs. Southwest Air, Sarah Silverman vs. TED
Over the weekend, Twitter blazed brightly with not one, but two exciting feuds.
Helen Anders blogged about it this morning and linked to Smith’s podcast about the incident. I listened to the whole thing this morning (the benefit of having a long commute) and I would urge anyone who thinks Smith has been unfair to the airline to listen to the podcast first and then read the airline’s apology. If what Smith says in the podcast is even half true, the airline’s apology comes across as incredibly insincere and fails to address what Smith happened on the flight and why he was ejected.
There also seems to be a misperception that Smith buys multiple airline seats because of his weight. According to Smith on the podcast, this isn’t true; he says he and his (much slimmer) wife buy multiple seats on Southwest flights because the seats are so cheap and they would rather leave space next to them to stretch out, lie down and not bother other people. He says he’s flown many times on the airline and his ability to fit in an airline seat has never been an issue. Of course, he says it much funnier and much filthier than I can here. Most damning: Smith says that on the flight he was put on after the ejection, an overweight woman in his row was also warned that she might have to buy more than one seat in the future. True or not? Who knows, but it’s quite a story.
My take? Southwest has a major social media crisis on its hands and so far their response won’t quell Smith’s fans. We’ll probably hear much more about it when Smith visits Austin next month. He promised in the podcast to make the story of what happened a regular part of his frequent speaking engagements.
According to several reports, Silverman’s presentation at TED was full of bad language, sexually explicit material and the frequent use of the word, “Retarded.” In other words, it was a typical Sarah Silverman stand-up comedy routine.
Anderson was said to have criticized Silverman’s performance via Twitter, calling it “god-awful” (the post has since been deleted) and Silverman shot back via Twitter, predictably in a way I can’t repost here.
When former AOL co-founder Steve Case chimed in, posting, “The sad thing is you’re not that funny,” Silverman went after him, too, writing, “You should be nicer to the last person on earth w an aol account.”
So, this is where we are in social media. 2010 is officially the year of the Twitter Celebrity Feud.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment Categories: Internet, Movies & DVDs
SXSWi 2010 Web Award finalists announced
South by Southwest Interactive today announced the finalists for its 13th Annual SXSW Web Awards, an annual event that celebrates new and redesigned Web sites.
The 90 finalists in 18 categories including “Art,” “Educational Resource” and “Experimental” includes well-known names like Hulu and Mint (in “Classics”) and actor Jim Carrey’s personal site (“Film / TV”) as well as lesser-known Web destinations like Demotix (“Community”) and SeatGeek (“Technical”).
Austin-based Gowalla earned a spot on the list under the “Mobile” category. Other nominees with Austin ties include DJNR (“Personal Portfolio”), WolframAlpha (“Technical Achievement”) and the Web site for the documentary “Our Bombs,” nominated for “Activism.”
The winners of each category will be announced at a ceremony hosted by comedian Doug Benson Sunday, March 14 at the Austin Hilton Downtown.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Austin, Internet, SXSW 2010
SXSW panel preview: Networking at a Multi-Day Conference
Networking at a Multi-Day Conference 5 p.m. March 12 Hilton E
Thom Singer will be talking about networking at this Core Conversation. Before last year’s conference, he talked about the same topic in an interview for the Life Guide column. Here’s a reprint of that story:
Online networking gets all the buzz these days, but there’s still nothing like face-to-face networking to invigorate your professional life. Plenty of both kinds of networking will be going on next month as the South by Southwest Interactive Festival opens.
If you’re bound for Interactive, Thom Singer and Marny Lifshen have tips geared toward a techy crowd and general advice for anyone attending a large event or conference. Singer has written three books on networking and business relationships and blogs on the topic at www.thomsinger.blogspot.com. He’s also the director of business development for VCFO, a professional services firm, in Austin. With Singer, Lifshen is co-author of “Some Assembly Required: A Networking Guide for Women.” She is an Austin-based marketing communications consultant (marnylifshen.com).
Plan ahead * “Networking doesn’t happen by accident,” Singer says. He and Lifshen say planning ahead can make all the difference in how you make connections at the conference. Set specific goals for what to accomplish.
Make your goals realistic. If your goal for the conference is to leave with a new job or funding for your new venture, you’ll probably go away disappointed. “It’s important to remember when you’re attending a conference like this that you’re just making that first connection,” Lifshen says. “It’s your job to then build on that connection after the conference is over. It takes time for the rapport, the trust and the opportunity to really happen.” (More on how to follow up with your new connections later.)
Schedule strategically, Lifshen says. Find out the speakers you want to hear, the trade show participants who could help you, the social events that are likely to bring you in contact with the people you want to meet, she says.
And don’t leave meetings with your important contacts to chance, Singer says. If you think your old boss might help you get a job at her new company, plan now to have lunch together one day during the festival.
- Prepare your questions and answers. If your conversation-starting skills are a little rusty, think of some open-ended questions that will get people talking, Singer says. Besides the basic “Where are you from?”-type questions, you can ask people what speakers and events they’ve enjoyed, what they’re hoping to get out of the conference or what parties they’re planning to attend.
“If you just come in and talk about yourself, they don’t care,” he says. “The more you can ask other people about themselves or for advice, the better you’re going to do.”
Remember that most people at the event are like you - they want to connect. So they’ll be happy you took the initiative to start a conversation, Singer says.
At the same time, have your “personal tagline” prepared, Lifshen says. How will you answer when people ask you about yourself or what you do? “It sounds like an easy question, but people really stumble,” she says.
“Having that all-important answer to ‘What do you do?’ ready can really ignite some great conversations and make everybody feel comfortable.”
Work the conference * Make it easy for others to approach you. If people might know you from your blog’s title or your Twitter handle, putting that on your name tag could be a conversation starter, Singer says. Your body language also sends signals to others. “Keep your electronics put away during the breaks if you want to talk to people,” Singer says. When you take out your laptop or BlackBerry, you send out a vibe that says “I’m busy.” Fellow conference-goers are less likely to approach you because they don’t want to be rude and disturb you.
Don’t focus on the big names. Lining up to meet a celebrity speaker probably isn’t the best use of your networking time, Singer says. You’re probably just another face in the crowd to the celeb, and not much will come from the encounter. It’s more beneficial to focus on your fellow attendees, he says.
Get to sessions early to give yourself time to talk with others. “Saying hello to the person sitting next to you is an important thing,” Singer says. Once you’ve made that connection, you can build on it the next time you see the person - and he might introduce you to other attendees you’d like to meet.
Don’t prejudge. “Take an interest in everybody you meet and find out about them,” Singer says. “You never know who could end up being the good connection for you.”
Mix and mingle * Attend outside events such as parties and happy hours, Singer says. “That’s where you meet people,” he says. “If you run to your hotel room to write your blog and you wonder why you didn’t meet anybody, that might be the reason why.”
It’s also helpful to show up early at parties, Singer says. If you arrive when the place is already packed and you don’t immediately see anyone else you know, it can be hard to start talking to people. Conversational groups have already formed. But if you’re one of the first people at the event, it’s more likely that people will start talking with you.
If you are trying to enter a conversation, pay attention to the body language of its participants, Lifshen says. Does it seem like an intense conversation? Are they avoiding eye contact with you as you approach? Then it’s probably not the right group to try to enter.
Follow up * Lifshen and Singer are both big fans of sending a handwritten note as a follow-up gesture after you meet someone at a conference.
“The handwritten note will stand out because people will get so few of them,” Singer says. To stand out even more, Lifshen says, mention in your note something that you and the other person talked about when you met. This shows you were paying attention (it helps if you jot down a few notes about people right after you meet them).
“It’s a surefire, quick, easy and inexpensive way to set yourself apart,” she says.
If the person is blogging or otherwise creating something online, read her stuff, Singer says. This opens the door to follow-up conversations, and people are always happy to hear that their content is being read. “You made them feel good about themselves, which makes them feel good about you,” he says.
Add with care. Don’t immediately try to add someone you met at a conference as a connection on social-networking sites like Facebook or LinkedIn, Singer says. Some people don’t mind adding more-casual acquaintances to their networks on these sites. Others prefer to limit them to closer friends and associates. Ask the other person how he or she uses a community and whether linking seems appropriate, Singer says. (It’s usually fine to follow someone on the micro-blogging site Twitter even though you don’t know the person well, Singer adds.)
But whether you use a handwritten note or a direct message on Twitter, the important thing is to make a follow-up gesture, Lifshen says. Singer adds: “Whatever medium you use, telling somebody ‘It was a pleasure to meet you’ always has a positive effect.”
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: SXSW 2010
First impressions of three big video games
Who has time to finish video games these days?
I certainly don’t, at least not some of the big triple-A-list titles that have resuscitated gaming after the flood of holiday games died down.
But I do try to partake as much as I can, even if I haven’t played far enough into any of these three games to offer you a full review. Here’s some first impressions of “Mass Effect 2” “BioShock 2” and “Bayonetta,” three of the more high-profile releases of January and February.
“Mass Effect 2” — Despite raves from hardcore gamers for the first game in the series a few years ago, I was doubtful this one would do as well since the first one seemed a little too brainy and narrative-heavy to spawn a hit “Halo”-sized franchise. Well, I was wrong on that score. The epic space role-playing/action game from BioWare is big, bold and expertly crafted, with fewer obstacles to get into its headspace than the first game, at least in my experience. I didn’t get very far in “Mass Effect” because I really didn’t like the combat system and my dislike of the combat system and inability to get past that made it impossible to complete the necessary missions in the game to progress.
“ME2,” on the other hand simplifies the gameplay to make it accessible to anyone who’s played third-person console shooters without dumbing down the (very complex) narrative or skimping on the games deservedly praised graphics, sound design and overall vibe. The dialog trees are still well-written and expertly voice-acted and animated. Everything just feels spot-on. All this becomes clear after just a few hours of gameplay.
It’s a game I want to spent weeks and weeks playing, a story worthy of getting lost in. Very few studios can pull off something as ambitious as this and the good news is that there’s still “Mass Effect 3” to look forward to someday.
“BioShock 2” — My sequel to my 2007 game of the year, this title has everything to live up, and almost no choice but to disappoint. And so it does. I loved the undersea ruin of Rapture and finished the first game feeling as if I’d entered a completely unique, fully realized world. The opening scene of “BioShock 2” and the first few hours feel like visiting your high school long after you’ve graduated: much of it still looks the same, but after a while you begin to feel you have no reason to be there.
That’s a crushing disappointment because the world created in the first game stands apart from the usual Marines In Space shooter paradigm, even though the actual gameplay is rooted in first-person shooter territory. Maybe it’s that the sense of mystery is gone or that the start of the game fails to draw you in the way the stellar plane crash opening of its predecessor did. Instead, you’ve got the Big Daddys, Little Sisters, Splicers and no real glue to hold them together in a way that makes for great storytelling.
I’ve read reviews that the game picks up and forms its own worthy storyline in the late-going, but I was hoping “BioShock” would stun and capture me from the first minute. That hasn’t happened and apparently I’m not alone. Yes, we had very high expectations.
The sequel was handled by a different studio than the original and, while that’s not an enviable task, it’s telling that when handed something as rich and as the “BioShock” universe, the developers fail to set the mood and capture the imagination in the early-going. That’s not a good sign.
“Bayonetta” — A new action/fighting game that’s not a sequel or completely derivative? Well, that’s news. Sega’s fighting game looks like something cheap and tawdry — an impossibly proportioned heroine who shoots with guns at the ready (oh, and also with guns strapped TO HER FEET!) takes out demons with stylish, over-the-top combos.
What’s surprising is how over-the-top the incredibly silly storyline is and how much fun the fighting is to engage with. The game doesn’t even try to make sense, nevertheless, there’s some amazingly silly storytelling going on and a sense of wild abandon in the combat, as in the game’s spiritual cousins “Devil May Cry” and “No More Heroes.” Blood gushes, Bayonetta (who, probably not by accident, looks like a tall, busty, butt-kicking Sarah Palin) prevails and the gamer goes away wondering, “What the heck was THAT?!” But not in a bad way. “Bayonetta” takes the worst cliches of action games and somehow makes them fresh and fantastical. That’s quite a feat.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Videogames
SXSW panel preview: Using Social Media to Score … a Job (Obviously)
Using Social Media to Score … a Job (Obviously) 5 p.m. March 12 Courtyard Brazos 2/3
We talked to Dave Peck, organizer of this Core Conversation, about some of the ideas he expects to cover.
Peck will discuss building your personal brand online. Your brand is your knowledge, your skill set, what you do best. You can’t rely on your resume to show that you’re an expert in your chosen area — your online presence has to back that up.
“I personally don’t have a resume,” Peck says. When people ask him for one, he sends to his LinkedIn page or his Web site. “They’ll learn more about me there than they’ll ever learn on a piece of paper.”
Your online presence more vividly shows who you are than a resume. If you’re a photographer, for example, you need a Web site of your work. It sounds like common sense, Peck says, but it’s a step he often sees people neglect. You may even want to use online videos — say, a cooking demo if you’re an aspiring chef — as a way to show your expertise. “You’ll come across more in a video than you will on piece of paper,” he says.
Your social-media activity also contributes to your career brand. People can learn about you from your conversations and links. Peck says a great way to make connections is to ask a question on Twitter or LinkedIn (where there’s a whole section for Q&A). He’s gotten strong response when he’s done this, and plenty of offers for help. And the people who answer will often go check out your resume.
Search Twitter for people who are looking to fill jobs in your field, Peck says. See what keywords they use. And don’t use social media just to connect with prospective employers, Peck says. It’s also a great way to deepen your ties with your current co-workers — who might then be more likely to remember you after they move on to a different job.
While you’re adding good stuff to your online presence, don’t forget to manage the stuff that could make you look bad. You’ve heard the cautions against posting boozy pictures, but it’s even more crucial now that our social media presence draws more attention than ever. Peck even knows of a company where employees communicate and conduct business over Facebook. Yes, they’re a hassle, but take some time with Facebook’s privacy settings or even create different profiles for different spheres of your life, he says
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: SXSW 2010
3-D in the classroom
Yesterday, I briefly visited the Texas Computer Education Association’s 2010 gathering at the Austin Convention Center. Educators at the expo got to see some examples from Texas Instruments of how the DLP technology in some of its projectors can be upgrade for 3-D.
3-D seems to be on everyone’s mind of late, but I haven’t heard much about how the technology wowing people in theaters and soon to arrive in home theater systems could be used in the classroom.
TI says that many of its existing projectors can be upgraded with a software update, making them capable of projecting 3-D content onto practically any screen. Active-shutter glasses that are compatible with the upgrade can view 3-D imagery used in the classroom.
The examples that were shown — asteroid debris in an astronomy presentation, rotating molecules, models of human organs — had the same “Oh, wow. Huh…” feeling as most 3-D we’re seeing that isn’t projected on an IMAX screen. It’s interesting, a bit compelling, but not exactly anything to knock your socks off.
However, a representative I spoke to from JTM Concepts., Inc. (in the video below) says that in studies done in Illinois, students were found to be more engaged by 3-D content and scored higher in tests where 3-D models had been used for tricky subjects like math and science, where visualization of concepts like volume and depth can enhance understanding. (You can see a brochure of the JTM Concepts case study here in PDF form.)
Dave Duncan, who works in Texas Instruments’ education market development, said that it’s not just a matter of novelty, but of keeping up with the kinds of media schoolchildren are being exposed to.
“It’s keeping up with what’s happening with kids in their everyday lives,” Duncan said.
Many feel 3-D is gimmicky, and this might not do much to change their minds, but I’ll be curious to see how 3-D can be used in the classroom and whether it can really enhance the way students learn.
Thoughts? Post them in the comments.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Applications, Austin, Gadgets
TEDxATX to be streamed online for the non-invited
A few weeks ago, many of Austin’s social media elite howled in outrage on their respective online channels about not being invited to TEDxATX, the inaugural Feb. 20 Austin event spinning off from the popular technology, entertainment and design TED events.
This one, independently organized by these individuals, sent out invites and some who didn’t make the cut accused the event, which costs $50 to attend, of being elitist and antithetical to what makes Austin great. (What makes Austin great, apparently, is overcrowded rooms and free admission).
Nevertheless, some took the snub in good humor and organized their own “TedxATX Rejects” parties.
For those who are still curious about the event and wish they could be there, there’s another option: a live feed of the day’s talks will be broadcast, thanks to the Texas Evening MBA Program and the Texas Executive MBA Program at McCombs.
The Web page cheekily suggests ways to throw your own TEDxATX viewing party.
Do you plan to tune in, attend, or attend a “rejects” party? Let us know in the comments.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment Categories: Austin, Internet
SXSW Interactive panel preview: Music panels
SXSW Interactive panels deal with every subject imaginable, from food to death. Below, in no particular order, are a few scheduled panels (and one keynote) dealing with music and the music industry.
14,000 Songs in 28 Days: A Case Study. February Album Writing Month (apparently inspired by NANOWRIMO) founder discusses building an online community, which is more or less a necessity these days for people in the music business.
Artists, Labels Embrace Virtual Worlds. The description of the panel mentions how “virtual worlds” are creating new revenue streams, or “how to sell stuff online,” which is also crucial for musicians.
Daniel Ek Keynote Conversation. Ek is the co-creator of Spotify, the popular online music service that has yet to launch in the United States. This could be a big deal, given the popularity of Pandora and MySpace.
How the Internet is Disrupting the Concert Industry. An interesting subject in a city that defines itself both by its live music scene and by its focus on technology.
Music Licensing for Emerging Media: Apps, Widgets, Viral Videos. This panel will tackle the question of how musicians can profit off of their music through new media. Again, an important issue for local artists.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: SXSW 2010
All right, SXSW Interative 2010: bring it on!
It takes my editor Sarah Beckham and me a good two or three months, at least, to prepare for the maelstrom that is South by Southwest Interactive.
But, with my recent leave, I’m playing major catchup and doing the usual pre-fest dance in double-time. Today, I went through the festival schedule and tried to build a preliminary list of panels and events I’d like to attend — it was an exercise in futility and frustration, not unlike changing a newborn’s diapers for six weeks. Much of the programming information (especially for Friday) is currently unscheduled and many others on the official site lack descriptions or panelist information on the big schedule. It’s not at all easy to browse and commit to anything at the moment.
To make matters worse, my usual go-to scheduling too, sched.org, doesn’t have anything up yet for SXSW Interactive 2010.
Nevertheless, we keep on trucking and are going to start posting panel previews, interviews and other SXSWi 2010 information on this very blog so you can start gearing up, too.
Keep an eye out for posts from other American-Statesman staffers in this space who are also covering the festival.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Austin, Internet, SXSW 2010
Google Buzz
I haven’t quite had time to wrap my head around it yet, and it hasn’t shown up in my Gmail yet, but if you’re wondering about Google’s latest product, “Buzz,” you can check out CNet’s live blog, which details today’s product announcement.
In short, Google is incorporating more social networking features into its core services — with Google Buzz, your Gmail inbox will contain more options to share information to social networks and will also alert you to items that your friends are sharing.
Information you post will also automatically post to your Google profile. It’s far too early to tell how useful it will be and not everyone has access to Buzz yet (it should roll out over the next few days), but here’s hoping it doesn’t suffer from a slow interface and waning interest the way Google Wave has in recent months. Most interestingly is that this seems like something that will be especially useful in its mobile format. No iPhone app is yet available for Buzz, but it will most certainly integrate nicely with Android phones, among others. It will also incorporate “Recommendations” which sounds similar to what Yelp.com does with user-generated reviews.
Google’s move into more people-centric services like the Nexus One phone and Buzz are a pretty good justification for their Super Bowl ad, as I said in yesterday’s post.
Here’s a screenshot Google sent us to give an idea of how Buzz will be incorporated into the inbox. Click on it to see the large version.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Internet
Clean your computer out already — today
Yes, it’s a completely artificial “holiday” which had its origins with the Institute for Business Technology, but I can’t help but advise you to take heed of Feb. 8 as “Clean Out Your Computer Day.”
Because, let’s face it, if your computer(s) are anything like mine, you are a disgusting digital slob.
For more than a year now, I’ve been trying to wrangle my digital photos all into one collection, but the task is so daunting that I usually just curl into a ball and photograph THAT, creating one more photo that’s scattered on a hard drive somewhere.
Iolo, a company that makes a piece of software called System Mechanic, gave me a heads-up about the holiday and offered these sobering stats about our messy data habits:
- The average American adult has 1,800 digital files, according to the Consumer Electronics Association.
- Americans waste nine million hours per day searching for misplaced items. On average, people spend a year of our lives looking for lost items, according to the National Association of Professional Organizers.
Gross!
So, tonight, I plan to at least clean some icons off my desktop and really think about how I might merge my photo libraries (which include photos across three computers, two iPhones and multiple copies of Picassa, iPhoto and Aperture.
Wish me luck and if you’d be so kind, post in the comments how you deal with digital clutter across multiple computers, hard drives and mobile devices. I’ll post some tips this week as I come across them.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Computers, Internet
Google scores with Super Bowl ad; GoDaddy not so much
Last night, after seeing Google’s Super Bowl ad (below), I tried to remember a better, more well-executed tech-related ad that has aired during the year’s biggest football game.
All that came to mind was Apple’s “1984.” Sure, there were some creative ones during the dot-com boom (and some awful ones, too), but Google’s ad does so much in 30 seconds, that it became one of my favorite tech company ads of all time. It’s sweet, smart, conveys an amazing amount of information and gets to the heart of why Google’s important.
I was asked this morning why Google would advertise a search engine that everybody is already familiar with and at least two tech journalists I know expressed cynicism about the usefulness of such an ad.
Let’s think about that — Google this year introduced its first hardware product, the Nexus One smart phone, has been making moves in the netbook and tablet market and is incorporating more social media information into its bread-and-butter, search results.
Google wants to be your buddy — a company you trust and rely upon every day — and a Super Bowl ad is one of the ultimate ways a company can try to ingratiate itself to the general public. The ad’s quality is high and I think the company scored.
I also thought Austin-based HomeAway’s ad (above) was quite good — it played like a short movie trailer for a new “National Lampoon’s Vacation” movie — I got two big laughs out of it, and it made me want to watch the full 14-minute version. (I haven’t yet.) A Chevy Chase comeback? I never would have imagined that. (Read how that ad came to be in this story.
Less successful for me were Motorola’s only-slightly-amusing Megan Fox-in-a-tub ad, Vizio’s TV apps ad (which was busy and visually interesting, but also confusing) and the always execrable ads from GoDaddy.com, which are typically among the worst every year (and not worth a link). This year proved no exception. I’ve seen people post online that they were outraged by the Web hosting/domain registration company’s risque Danica Patrick ads, but they’re no worse than the ones in previous years. They must work in some way because cringing at GoDaddy’s witless, smutty, soft-core-for-beer-hat-wearers ads is becoming an annual Super Bowl tradition.
More thoughts on the big game’s commercials? Read a Super Bowl ad roundup from our TV writer, Dale Roe.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Austin, Internet, TV
3-D is a giant question mark in our future
Over my long break, I had a little bit of time — in between diaper changes and trying to function without basic sleep needs — to think about the coming wave of 3-D products that will attempt to infiltrate our living rooms and, more importantly, to go see “Avatar” with my wife at a 3-D-equipped IMAX theater.
Whatever you think of the movie itself (and I have mixed feelings that get more mixed the further away I get from my initial awed reaction), the damage is done: the movie had made so much money that it’s going to be the linchpin of the argument as to why we should care about 3-D entertainment in the home. (If you want to hear me ramble on about 3-D in the home, you can listen to me and David Cole on this podcast, though I warn you it may contain some salty language.)
When “Avatar” makes its way to DVD/Blu-ray, people will want to have that same experience at home and will be inevitably disappointed when the 2-D presentation of the movie is lacking. (They might also notice more plotholes the second time around, but I’ll leave that to the movie critics). Will the need to see the movie in its full glory be enough to push sales of new 3-D HDTVs, Blu-ray players and glasses? It reminds me of the old computer game days when a single video game like “Wing Commander II” could spur sales of new PC hardware, including sound cards, so that gamers could enjoy the fully realized version of the game.
If you talk to people who’ve seen the movie, as I did today with a group of friends I was having lunch with, you’ll find that even in the relatively controlled environment of a large theater, the experience varies widely. Some people I know enjoyed the movie despite getting a headache. One friend stopped wearing the glasses entirely about midway through the movie. Others thought the CGI looked terrible and cartoony, although to my eyes, it looked like the best computer-generated imagery I’ve ever seen on the big screen.
Take that kind of widely varying range of experiences and multiply it by the millions of living room configurations — TV sizes, proximity of the couch, viewing angle of the 3-D technology employed by the TV — and you’re going to see headaches that have nothing to do with wearing the glasses for too long. 3-D at best feels like an imprecise form of entertainment that will degrade depending on your home setup in myriad ways.
I’m not sure that our tolerance for glitchy tech — we drop phone calls and expect spam to fill in our inbox every day without much complaint — will extend to these products that, at least at the outset, will cost thousands of dollars.
Which makes me wonder… who is 3-D for? Certainly the early adopters, but what about everyone else? Who’ll have the patience to try to jump through the attendant hoops?
“Avatar” is now the highest grossing film in movie history, and with every set of $100 million the movie makes, you have to guess the number of fans who can’t wait to recreate that experience for themselves only grows.
I just hope the technology matures quickly because it’ll be a short window between now and the time “Avatar” arrives, ready for home viewing.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment Categories: Austin, Movies & DVDs, TV
Why digital media distribution needs to happen yesterday
Or, “Come on, get your act together, Netflix.”
Permalink | Comments (5) | Post your comment Categories: Internet, Movies & DVDs
Further ruminations on that iPad thing
Here are some lingering questions I still have about the iPad, ones that I don’t have any clear answers to share. Macworld recently did an excellent job recently rounding up almost everything we know about the iPad. My questions are the ones not answered in that piece.
- Can the iPad print documents and Web pages to a printer (via WiFi, I would imagine)? This is actually a dealbreaker question for my wife, who would like to buy an iPad, but won’t if it has no print capabilities. The inclusion of iWork suggests it will, but we’re not sure.
- Would the iPad have been a better e-book reader if it included an OLED display instead of LED? If you’ve never seen an OLED screen up close, they are beautiful to behold. The colors are far more saturated than on an LED or LCD screen, but they are very pricey. When it looked like the iPad would be $1,000, an OLED screen seemed like a possibility.
- Why no iTunes TV service? The rumor going around a while back was that iTunes would roll out a cable-TV-like subscription service for a monthly fee. That didn’t happen. Wouldn’t that have made the iPad a more attractive product, positioning it to have almost DVR-like capabilities?
- Why did Apple opt for ugly dongles instead of a dedicated SD memory card slot? That would have made the iPad a great media player for digital photos and camcorder footage shot on SD cards. The Macbook Pro now has an SD slot and it should be a standard feature on all future Mac products that aren’t iPhones or iPods.
- How soon might we see other 3G providers for the iPad than AT&T? The iPad requires no 3G contract, so you could presumably use it with other wireless providers, but its insides are probably not compatible with Verizon, say, or others, since they use a different kind of 3G network. My guess: not very soon.
- Is there really a camera in there? I doubt it very much. Though it would be nice for Apple to spring a surprise on that for customers, there’s no way they wouldn’t have mentioned it in their presentation if it was going to be a feature. The iPod Touch has a space for a camera, but so far we’ve seen no camera in it. This is probably Apple’s designers just planning for the future when an iPad might include one.
- What kinds of apps will we see specifically for the iPad? If the iPhone has taught us anything it’s that app developers are incredibly creative and will find ways to use the hardware in unexpected and brilliant ways.
- How will it feel to type on the iPad when you’re not sitting down comfortably? I can’t see typing on one of these things and moving at the same time. Will this create a whole new kind of public safety issue? Will walking-while-iPadding be the new texting-while-driving?
- Will we see iPads at SXSW Interactive? Steve Jobs’ timeline for the iPad’s release (60 days for the WiFi version, 90 days for the 3G) places it sometime in late March, weeks after the fest. But it’s possible some key tech reviewers might get early access to an iPad or that Apple itself might show off the device at the festival (very unlikely, but possible). I doubt it would be the 3G version, though, because it’s going to be hard enough for AT&T to keep up with iPhone voice and data at the fest.
- Is it too late to change the name? Seriously, Apple. Think about this one.
Got your own questions? Post them in the comments.
Permalink | Comments (4) | Post your comment Categories: Computers, Gadgets, Internet
The official SXSW iPhone app is naughty
As part of my month-and-a-half-long gearing up for South by Southwest Interactive, today I downloaded one of the festival’s official iPhone apps, called, “my.SXSW.”
The app includes a map of the festival’s events, a full schedule and even a QR-Code-based bar code scanning tool that will allow you to exchange contact information with other badgeholders (hey, who needs a Poken?).
One surprise, though, is that the iTunes page for the app says that “my.SXSW’ is rated 17+ for reasons that include, “Infrequent/Mild Profanity or Crude Humor,” “Infrequent/Mild Sexual Content or Nudity” and “Drug Use or References” among a laundry list of naughtiness:
When you download the app itself, you get a pop-up window with the following warning:
Now, we’re sure the SXSW app isn’t going to be downloading Internet porn or sexting you at all hours of the night (though that would be interesting). It probably has to do with SXSW’s notoriously dirty band names that sometimes pop up or descriptions of panels or films dealing with sex or other adult content.
We’ll let you know if we hear about any incidents where anyone was scandalized by this app. Won’t somebody please think of the CHILDREN!?
Edited to add: Thanks to reader Michael Bartnett for pointing out that there is a second official SXSW app called “SXSW Play.” That app contains the same warning and is also Rated 17+.
UPDATE: 2:54 p.m. — it seems that any App Store application that includes an embedded Web browser or allows access to third-party content is required to be rated 17+, according to the Web site tuaw.com.
However, I just looked up “Tweetie 2,” which also contains its own Web browser and allows access to third-party content (Tweets, Twitpic images, etc.) and that app is only rated “4+” (Ages 4 and Up). Wow, inconsistent and useless ratings on the App Store? Who would have thought?
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment Categories: Applications, Austin, Internet, Phones, SXSW 2010
Revealed at last! The secret of how to get more followers on Twitter!
Post good stuff.
Permalink | Comments (3) | Post your comment Categories: Internet
The Linkdown for Monday, Feb. 1
The Linkdown has returned after a long leave of absence in which tiny babies were born, iPads were revealed and everyone became a tech geek wearing 3-D glasses to see the biggest movie ever made.
Eventful couple of months! Here’s some of what you might have missed while I was gone. We need to catch up!
- A few SXSW Interactive updates: RSVP early for parties (including Mashable), check out the finalized list of keynote speakers (including Evan Williams, CEO of Twitter) and check out the most recent panelist/session list update.
- CNN says: “Inventor unveils $7,000 talking sex robot.” His wife (and yes, he’s married): “You said you were trying to cure CANCER!”
- While I was away, AT&T and Verizon both announced improvements they’re making to their wireless networks. The pipes, they keep expanding.
- Logitech introduces free iPhone/iPod Touch app that turns your device into a wireless mouse/trackpad for Mac or PC. And it’s free. I’ve seen other apps that do this, but still — free app!
- Austin-developed Android app SocialMuse was one of 30 Best Mobile Apps for Android as chosen by Google.
- Connected Texas gets about $3 million to improve Texas broadband.
- Conjunctured Coworking turns a year old.
- Computer Club of Austin hosts a talk about privacy by tech expert Gary Chapman tomorrow night.
Got an item that should be featured is in The Linkdown? Post it in the comments or e-mail it here.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment Categories: Internet
