An aerial view of Boston in 4k
Incredible.
Holy heck, SXSW was awesome
I went. I saw. I experienced the sights, sounds, and the swag of South by Southwest Interactive 2011.
As mentioned in a previous blog post, SXSW is an event I’ve wanted to attend for quite awhile. Even without a conference badge, it totally lived up to and exceeded all of my expectations. While I would have loved to listen to some of the best in the biz speak during the conference, I still feel like I learned a lot. You can learn so much and get inspired just from interacting with and speaking to fellow designers, developers, and entrepreneurs at some of the non-conference events.
There’s something really great about talking to and interacting with peers in your profession. In a time when it feels like we’re drifting further and further apart, while we text, Tweet, message, and “poke” each other, nothing quite compares to a completely non-digital conversation over a beer. For me that was one of the best parts of SXSW. I left Austin on Monday feeling somewhat exhausted, but completely inspired and ready to take on the world.
What SXSW blog post would be complete without at least a small mention of the parties. Because without those, it’d be tough to meet some of these great people face to face. Blocks and blocks of parties thrown by some of the coolest companies in the world. Free drinks, free food, free swag for what seems like miles.
After having such a great time this year, I’m already looking forward to visiting Austin again in 2012.
A few SXSW-related shoutouts go to: My girlfriend Lori, my good friends from Boston, Chris and Andrew, Fast Society, Ignite, Groupon, Gowalla, Foursquare, Media Temple, Squarespace, rdio, Loopt, Yobongo, CNET, Mashable, Revsion 3, Zappos, and Crowdtap.
Check out a few of my photos, over on Flickr.
MobileMe: The Next Great Social Network?
Yesterday Apple unveiled a brand new AppleTV, a slew of new iPods, the 10th edition of a little application called iTunes, and a new social music network called “Ping“.
While Ping has a built-in user base and some exciting features, I think Apple could do much more if they really wanted to enter the social networking arena, currently dominated by Facebook. Sure, it’s going to be great to follow our friends and see what they’re listening to. We’ll be able to discover new bands and expand our musical horizons, but what more is possible?Read More
My Favorite Podcasts
Ok. I’ll admit it. At times, I can be somewhat of a podcast junkie. So much, that I usually prefer to listen to podcasts in-place of music, on my 45-minute commute to and from work.
There’s something great about podcast that NPR (another love of mine) and other radio stations just can’t offer. That “something” is niche conversation. While NPR does a fantastic job bringing me the world and local news, they’re probably not going to talk for hours on end about topics like design trends, home theatre upgrades or Macintosh computers. So what I do is balance my listening between talk radio, podcasts, and music. As I wrote about a few months ago, music is very inspiring and effects all of the design work that I do.Read More
My Favorite iPhone Apps (So Far)
I bought my iPhone the first day it was available, stood in line, waited for the Apple Store employees to let us through the doors and plunk down (at the time) six-hundred bucks. When the iPhone 3G was released, I decided I’d stick with my original. It still works great, it hasn’t taken too many bumps, plus I prefer the silver backing over the black or white choices of the 3G.Read More