Panel: Browser Wars:Representatives from Internet Explorer, Firefox and Opera discuss why the hell they can't get along and figure out a standard.. or something like that - IE8 will have Javascript debugging - The Firefox founder created Javascript - Javascript 2.0 will be coming out soon! - There is no word if there will ever be a standard for having padding and margins be the same across browsers.. hopefully, it'll happen someday (IE8? maybe?)
Panel: Your Mom 2.0: Discussing how to make mom friendly websites - Their generation asks "how?" We ask "why?" - Basically, make your site understandable by anyone. This should hold true if you're a good designer to begin with. No one wants to go through several layers of links to get to the information they're looking for. And there's no need to "dumb it down" for a prior generation.
Went to the trade show and got lots of goodies. Talked to a few reps. Went to get dinner on the outskirts of Austin and saw the sunset while eating good ole Tex Mex. Afterwards saw the comedy show. Went to sleep far too late and had the most drowsy Tuesday.. All in all, visit Austin if you get the chance!! If you do, you *must* visit Magnolia Cafe. Ask for the breakfast burritos.
This is the conclusion of the SXSW reviews. Whew! That was quite a bit to catch up on.. if you want to read a highly distinguished review, go over to the Banana Boy Productions blog to get the other side of the story :)
Panel: Keynote with Mark Zuckerberg My notes: "Sucked" All I remember from this talk was Zuckerberg saying "platform, efficient, community" and Lacy just crossing and uncrossing her legs while twirling her hair. I left 15 minutes before the end. Apparently, the crowd went a bit crazy when it was Q&A time towards the end. The best part was when it as mob rule and they gave her a lashing. Ah well.
Panel: Human Rights in Virtual Worlds: discussion about whether or not you own what you make in a virtual game - there is no such thing as group rights as of now. There's still work being done for individual rights online - ULAs (User Licence Agreements) are not always as liberal as marketed
Should you own what you make? If it's on their server, perhaps it doesn't fall into "your" possession. Curious what the gamers in the audience think of this one.
Panel: Icanhascheezburger We were promised free burgers. While we were inside the room, passersby ate our burgers :( I still can't believe the company staffs 9 full time employees - all off ad-based revenue from funny cat pictures!
Sunday was the most partied out night of all of them. Went to a pre-party for the Adobe Web Awards. Then the awards show hosted by Eugene Mirman. Lots of laughs. The 'ask a ninja' guy came out to receive awards for participants not present. Went to the Etsy/Threadless/Moo party - which sucked. It was crowded, hot and no movement space since there were 3 pool tables with active games going on at the time. Gawker party at Emo's: Met John Coulton who sings "Code Monkey". Bumped into Eugene Mirman there who let us know of his comedy show the following night. Then went to Blogger party and met Cheeseburger from Icanhascheezburger. Partied hard.
Most memorable moment at the Blogger party: Met an Irishman and asked where I should go when I visit Ireland some day. Instead of the usual way of making a list, he drew out an accurate map of Ireland's coastline and pin pointed the cities I should see. I love the geek way and not the 'normal' way :)
All in all, it was a great set of panels. Learned quite a bit here and there. Oh and there was Bloghaus which housed free beer, brownies, fruits and veggies all day at the conference. That may have been my favorite room there.
I don't want to bore you with all the details and I'm sure you can find long, well written explanations of the panels on professional blogs. Here, I'll just note what I found interesting from the ones I attended.
In true slacker fashion, I will write up the first day. More to come.
Panel: Horrible Ads: A panel with Jeff Jarvis and others discussing last year's worst advertising campaigns - Rules #101 : When making an ad, make sure your audience can remember your brand name - Don't mess with Wikipedia because you will be found out - Don't make up socialibility where it doesn't exist (The Cisco "human networking" example) - Vespa: Started a blog and let it die after a few entries. If you start it, finish it! - Whole Foods CEO: Don't lie about your competition - Whatever you do, don't insult your audience's intelligence
Panel: Steven Johnson & Henry Jenkins:An optimistic view on collective intelligence - How is it that people find the time and devotion to fan sites? - Most pink collar workers need high levels of expertise to get the job. Once they have it, they are only required to use a small portion of their knowledge at work. They then seek out respect and a reputation outside of the office - this is possible in an online space. Hence, the motivation for hours spent creating online communities - Harry Potter has enabled kids to seek out larger text to read as well as learn about the legal process and fair trade when they try to publish their own works. - There's a shift from "I" to "We" - A large reason why Barack Obama is popular amongst younger voters: he is the stub in the Wikipedia entry and we are all filling out the entry together (interesting wording that caught my attention)
Panel: Voting - "miracle of aggregation" - In a betting market, there is a cost to be wrong. If there's something at stake, does a voter with a 'wrong' vote stay quiet? - If you don't know enough about a subject, don't vote! (brings up the question of how informed are we as a society about the current issues and our presidential candidates' take on them)
Panel: Worst. Website. Ever: A complete riot. Some of the most hilarious moments at SXSW. Loved it. - What makes a horrible website? It is: Inane. Derivative. Evil. (derivative example: Facebook for Senior Citizens. Threadless for Pants - Pantless) Sites presented: Presca.st, Flockd Up, HappyNetBox, Sickr, Mmomerce, PeopleIPO.
After this, we'd gone to Spaghetti warehouse. Because where do you eat the best Italian food? In Texas, of course. And how do you know it's the best? Your food has a tiny plastic Italian flag on it to remind you of the cuisine in case you'd forgotten.
Good times on 6th street afterwards. Got a cowgirl hat. :)
Okay, so the comedians weren't even part of the official line up for SXSW. And their performances weren't necessarily tech related.. although, they are geeks and we love them even more for it :)
I got to see 2 great comedians, Eugene Mirman and Mike Birbiglia, on Monday night at Emo's on Red River Street in Austin. They were so funny that I nearly peed myself and my friend laughed so hard that he felt his dinner coming up. Such great times.
This was a clip Mirman showed the crowd:
And after much chanting for it, Birbiglia did the "Cracka" skit:
Notes on the panels, parties and sites coming next! :)
I'm back from SXSW Interactive - it was a blast! I had such a great time with my friends Ben and Josh as well as catching up with ITP classmates.
This is what was waiting for me when I got back to my desk Wednesday morning... thanks Ulina for the cute welcome :)
Upcoming posts: - A "best moments of Austin SXSW 2008" - Podcasts review - Lifehacking: cutting down on time spent online. (in response to Haasome's latest post) - who knows what else.. stay tuned!
It's a few hours before liftoff and I just got my luggage out. Talk about last minute packing, eh? There's something very calming about doing it at 3am. It gives you a little quiet time to think, write, and perhaps write a post ;) This upcoming trip brings me back to Austin, TX. I'm not all about finding a cowboy this time though (wasn't very successful at that the first time hah). Last visit was for Maker Faire. This time it's SXSW - South by Southwest. A huge music, film and interactive conference. Considering I have limited vacation days due to say oh.. work and a thing called thesis.. I had to cut my trip down to 4 days and will be seeing the Interactive portion. I'm pretty psyched about it. It's one huge geek fest + lots of booze + partying. What could be better?! I hear BUST magazine will be there and hosting a day long crafting + relaxing booth. I won't ramble too much now and will fill in details as the days progress.
Btw, I've never bought KnitPicks yarns but this ad from Ravelry is making me both hungry and craving something sweet.. like a yummy shade of alpaca yarn.. :-p
Just testing out Pictobrowser which I just discovered..
.. if you view the last page, you'll a photo of Avani, myself and Vickie Howell! I was so stoked to have met her in person. Not sure if she was creeped out that I nearly followed her for a minute to get a picture haha.
Ah, the significance of 42! Now may I have the pleasure of telling you that 42 is the Answer to Life, the Universe and Everything? Okay, if you know me - you've heard that one a few dozen times by now.. otherwise, it's in reference to Hitchhiker's Guide by Douglas Adams.
It's too bad this post is significant in number and yet the content isn't all too eventful.
Some things of note: - New blog look! I've *finally* integrated my blog with the new site look.. and you can even now navigate through the incomplete (not launched) site. You may notice it's located at craftic.com/mb which is where I'm temporarily hosting my files until I finish everything and move it over to mellowbeing.com. All in due time.. (or rather, I'm aiming for Nov 1st launch date. 2 days before my birthday! whoohoo!)
- I'm off to MAKER FAIRE!! I will be in Austin, TX. Hellz yeah! I may be bringing back some cowboy stuff.. like a cowgirl hat, some boots and maybe an actual cowboy ;)
I seriously need to stop procrastinating and start packing for it.. bringing my camera, laptop, sunblock (it's 90 there now.. how crazy..) aaaand business cards because you just never know.
Will post a ton of pictures when I get back. This blog has been photo-less for a while now so it's time to remedy that.
If you'll be in the Philadelphia area this Saturday, make a stop by the 40th Street Summer Series' Alternative Craft & Art Fair! This will be the BIG finale to the summer series so expect lots of good things such as food, poetry readings, face painting and more.
Yours truly will be showing off her latest wristwarmers, pins, cozies, notecards and maybe even brooches.. sharing a booth with Haasome and her adorable pouches, aprons, wallets and I've heard - wristlets! So stop by and say hello :) If you mention that you read this blog entry, then maybe you'll get a little freebie ;)
I think there are still openings for artists - it's a bit last minute but totally worth it. We were at the Brooklyn one a few months ago and it was a good time for all.
All in all, visit Austin if you get the chance!! If you do, you *must* visit Magnolia Cafe. Ask for the breakfast burritos.
