South By Southwest: What You Missed
A roundup of the interactive media at this year’s SXSW festival.
Every year, the biggest names and movers and shakers in tech descend upon Austin, Texas, for the cultural smorgasbord that is the South by Southwest festival. Though its offerings are so varied that it can be difficult to discern just what SXSW is at times, it has a history of setting industry trends across tech, music and film, and for being a harbinger of what’s going to be big in the following year. What’s more, the connections and collaborations initiated at SXSW often end up having a cultural impact far beyond the festival or even the United States.
This year’s instalment has been no different, with bloggers, journalists, technologists, artists, and hackers rubbing shoulders in the southwestern United States for the week-long event. As the place to see and be seen—not to mention launch your new app—it’s easy to feel a major FOMO if you can’t attend. So, as one of the biggest weeks in tech, music and film winds down, there are lots of takeaways, trends and announcements to be gleaned from Austin’s SXSW this year:
Ikea wants to charge your phone: Swedish retailer IKEA’s unveiling of wireless charging solutions that are built into furniture was met with much praise as it has the potential of ending the charging cable conundrum forever. Though it was nominated, the invention didn’t win the SXSW innovation award, but it’s not hard to imagine these wireless charging docks in everyone’s home—not to mention restaurants, workplaces and bars—in a year or two.
Obama talks security: The first sitting president to ever deliver a speech at SXSW in the event’s 30 year history, the President certainly added some gravitas to the event this year (as did his wife who also made a speech). But the topic of his conversation may have not been too pleasing to technologists and privacy activists. The President addressed the issue of security and privacy in tech, and pointed out that citizens have always been willing to give up some of their freedom in exchange for security in other areas of life (airport security lines, for example), and that mobile phones and the data they contain should be no different when it comes to combating terrorism. His remarks were relating to the recent battle between Apple and the FBI to create a “backdoor” to the iPhone.
Who’s next? With major apps like Twitter and Foursquare unveiled at SXSW in years past, there is always wonder in the air about which major app will announce itself at the festival and achieving mass adoption soon after. This year there were no clear front-runners,though not for lack of effort. YouTube co-founder Steve Chen launched an app called “Nom”, and Andrew Jarecki – notable for making HBO’s series “The Jinx” – gave a keynote about his new social media video app called “KnowMe”.
Online harassment: The festival gained a lot of criticism—as well as threats of boycotts—in the run-up this year for cancelling panels about harassment in gaming after threats were made online. To combat this, and to show they were serious about this issue, SXSW devoted an entire day to the topic, with experts delving into best practice when it comes to responding to trolls and harassers online.
Urban transportation: US Department of Transportation Secretary Foxx presented the finalists for what’s called the “Smart Cities Challenge at SXSW”. The cities named—which include Austin, Columbus, Denver, Kansas City, Pittsburgh, Portland and San Francisco—are tasked with coming up with solutions for the challenges of urban transportation, with a focus on autonomous transportation. Mayors of these cities gave speeches outlining their plans in the hopes of being awarded the prize money.
What were your favourite moments from the weekend? Let us know on Twitter @UK2.