File sharing has long been a part of the internet discussion. The sharing of music, movies, books, and other forms of media are common place, although legally murky. Attracting a lot of attention recently is Cody Wilson, Director of Defense Distributed (DD), an organization committed to sharing weapons designs to be fabricated through 3D printers. […]
Richard Garriott’s Father, Owen, was an astronaut. The neighbors on either side of his childhood home, Joe Engle and Hoot Gibson, were astronauts. “Going to space,” Garriott said at SXSW on Monday, “seemed like something everybody just did.” Garriott has since made millions developing video games (famously inserting himself into the Ultima series of role-playing […]
Julie Urhman might be a great fundraiser, but she’s no saleswoman. The CEO of OUYA — the Kickstarter-funded wunderkompany that raised more than $8.5 million dollars to build an independent, developer-friendly video game console — thinks her product is incredible. But if you press her for details on why you, the consumer, might actually purchase […]
Raucous applause greeted guests of the 100 Year Starship panel at SXSW as they took the stage. It seems little introduction was necessary for this crowd to heap praise upon the panel, but the moderator Benjamin Palmer (of the interactive marketing firm The Barbarian Group) introduced the panelists anyway as: Dr. Mae Jemison (astronaut, first […]
Sci-fi fans and computer users are always fantasizing about ever more advanced computer interfaces and Leap Motion is more than happy to provide. Leap Motion is a new 3D motion control sensor designed to put usability quite literally in the user’s hands. Compatible with both Apple and PCs, users need only to plug the three-inch […]
What is one to make of Al Gore? The former Vice President (introduced stumblingly by Austin Mayor Lee Leffingwell as “Former President”) spent his SXSW Interactive address exhibiting a fire in the belly that has only manifested itself during his post-election career. To the democratic faithful, Gore was the profoundest of disappointments 13 years ago, […]
Ariel Waldman thinks that no matter how much you know about space, you can learn a thing or two more. And she’s right. Waldman has made her mark as an interaction designer and also as a research affiliate at the Institute For The Future, a group with the lofty goal to “turn foresight into the critical […]
From March 8 to 10 at South by Southwest, NASA will exhibit a full scale model of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), the space angency’s latest project and successor to the Hubble Space Telescope. The gargantuan piece of equipment is a sight to behold standing over four stories tall and weighing a total of […]
Festival goers have packed the Austin Convention Center’s Exhibit Hall 5, waiting for the official kick off to SXSW Interactive when Director Hugh Forrest makes his first appearance. When Forrest does take the stage, he claims the rain currently drizzling on Austin is a geek innovation. There’s a short welcome speech and a mention of […]
Outdoor location awareness, otherwise known as GPS, has become ubiquitous. It started out as a way for the U.S. military to have location awareness and then spread to the rest of the world, literally. Whereas in-car GPS navigation used to be a luxury, it has become commonplace and has spread to smartphones. Between map apps […]
