SXSWi 2009 So Far

Just a quick post, too many things to go see today.

Big winners of SXSW

(slang: ‘southby’ or ‘sxs dub’) in the first two and a half days:

Panels
I’ve been really impressed with the panels.  7/8 that I have gone to were well worth it.

People
Really amazing to turn around and meet so many amazing people.  Both up and coming ‘this is my first conference’ designers, lead editors of LifeHacker and publishers of Spin.  All open, accessible and willing to share.

Parties
The night life has not disappointing.  Every mornings hangover is a good indication of this.  Great music, food and atmosphere.  Places are packed (free does that, right?).

Big Flops

ATT&T
I wasn’t able to receive a call for the first two days of the conference.  Text messaging would sometimes be delayed 6 hours.  I’ve never seen such a failure from a phone company caused by 4000 hipsters.  A group of hipsters, on record, has not been able to achieve anything in the past five years (known fact).  How did they do so much damage?

Apple
Your iPhone monopoly contracts made it so there was no option to receive a call for two days.  Android is looking good, so is the Pre.  Can you keep up with the ‘we know what is best, what pays us the most’ policy?

All Location Based Services
They don’t work when your phone doesn’t work.  I really wanted BrightKite and FourSquare to take off in bigger ways, but still just in the early adopter crowd.  They are still doing well (amazing for what they have to work against), I just wanted to see them be a smashing success.

Not Much Else
I always recommend SXSW to anyone in the startup / design / ‘I like what I do’ space.  It is solid.

Now, time to rock the final two days.  If I have not met you and you want to meet up, please send me an email or twitter (brightkite is best!).