Since this is my first time at South By Southwest (SXSW), I figured it would be a good idea to write about my experiences for others who are contemplating going in the future and also, make sure I don’t forget anything that I picked up during my trip.  If you’ve never heard of SXSW, it’s an interactive, film and music conference and festival every year in Austin, TX.  As someone who works for a .com and made the first 7 years of my career as a web developer, I came here specially to attend the interactive part. Let me sum up the last 4 days with one word: exhausting. And that’s with skipping the first full day!

Our technology team has what we call “Think Days”.  Essentially, it’s one full work day every other week where the developers are allowed to research any topic that may or may not be related to the current projects that they are assigned.  The best way that I can explain SXSW is that it’s Think Day on crack.  It’s definitely a place for information overload but in a good way.

During the day, you have a number of choices of different sessions that you can choose from at various locations in downtown Austin.  It’s a little bit of a challenge to pick which session is the right one for you.  It reminded me alot of what it was like to pick classes during my undergrad days.  Since some of the locations were much farther than the others, you had to decide if you had enough time to hop between locations and if it was generally worth the time and effort.  I found that the shuttles that were supposed to take you to the various hotels was not very efficient so I kept my sessions down to only three locations.  There were definitely more than a few that were at one location that I wish I could have attended but it would have basically cost me 2 additional sessions, one before and after, with just the time it would take to travel back and forth.

Despite that, overall, I would definitely recommend going… and it’s not just because it was a nice break from the Chicago winter.  It was quite an experience.   For someone who likes to be creative and whose job is to come up with new ideas, whether it be for new ways to improve existing products or to come up with totally new ones, it felt fantastic to be surrounded by people who shared similar interests (i.e. big geeks) and were able to stimulate my mind with a thousand new ideas that I can take back to my company.

Because there’s way too much information to share for one, it’s probably best if I split up my writeup of each day as a separate post.  Some days were better than others but I can say without hesitation that every single session generated some new thought.

Oh and one more thing, I used Twitter more in the last few days (you can follow me at @okaychamp) than I have in the first so many months that I have had an account.  It was without a doubt the communication channel of choice for the conference without even being sponsored by them.

Yeah, I was one of the many people who was a little upset that Motorola would only say that the 2.1 update for the Droid would be “soon”.  Fortunately, one of my co-workers showed me DroidMod a little less than a month ago and I was able to root my phone and flash it .  The DroidMod version is not the full feature set that is available on the Nexus One, but should be all the features that will be on the official one for the Droid such as live wallpapers, new gallery, new weather/time app, 5 panels, etc.

So, if you are impatient like I am, here are the instructions:

http://forum.droidmod.org/index.php/topic,73.0.html

I’ve downloaded a lot of music over the years but even I get sick of hearing the same songs over and over again on my iPod.  I generally can’t stand morning radio since it’s mostly talk (other than the Eric and Kathy show on 101.9fm from back home in Chicago – but obviously, I can’t listen to that show away from my computer and it’s not on all day).  So how do you get to listen to songs that you actually like, with limited talk and commercials, and that you can listen to while you on the go?  Enter Pandora.

Pandora is a different kind of internet radio.  First off, it’s free to sign up.  Although you can upgrade for a paid version to get rid of commercials (but I find they are few and relatively short so I don’t find them annoying) and a few other perks.  Unlike other internet radio sites, you can create your own personal stations.  You simply start out with choosing an artist or a song that you like.  Pandora then plays that artists and also recommends songs from other artists that are similar.  How does it know what to recommend?  Well, in a recent article I read in WSJ Magazine, Tim Westergren, the founder of Pandora, said, “We try to break down every dimension of a song to its most basic building blocks – like melody, harmony, rhythm, instrumentation, vocal performance.”  Basically they map the DNA of the song and thus can predict what you might like based on the common elements.  Plus, with each song, you can rate it as a thumbs up or thumbs down so that Pandora can continue to learn which songs to play on your station.  Sound cool?  The free version also has a limit though in the case you may not dislike a song but may want to skip it – they only over 6 skips in an hour.

But what about when you’re on the go?  Well, if you have either an iPhone or Android phone at least, you can download their app for free.  As long as you have internet service, you can listen to it just as you were sitting at your computer at home or work (obviously, you are going to need an unlimited data plan since you will be streaming a lot of information).  I’ve found that it doesn’t really drain the battery on my Droid that much either if you keep your screen inactive.

So what stations do I have currently going?  I have one for the Muse (related bands: the Strokes, Coldplay, the White Stripes, Oasis,  Keane, etc), one for Jimmy Eat World  related bands: Smashing Pumpkins, Dashboard Confessional, Incubus, the Killers, etc) and one which I used Madonna’s Like a Prayer as the start (plays a lot of 80′s music).

While it’s not completely open to the public yet, I recommend you request an invite to Google Voice.  What is Google Voice?  Google Voice basically allows you to add services to your mobile phone.  It depends on which of the two options you choose as far as what services you get.

The first option is to you use your existing phone number.  With this option, you get the ability to transcribe your voicemails and have them email and/or texted to you.  You can also forward, embed and download messages too.  You can also vary what voicemail message plays based on the person who is calling you.

The second option offers the same options as the first but much much more.  With this option, you obtain a new Google phone number.  (Don’t worry, your existing phone number will still work as normal)  However, when your friends and family call this new phone number, you can have it ring multiple phones at one time like your cell phone, home land line (although how many people have one of these anymore?), and work.  You can also block and record calls, along with conference calling.

Here is a video for some better explanation:

Be careful though when you first sign up.  I didn’t read the instructions correctly and used my existing phone number.  I wished I had chosen the second option instead and there currently isn’t a way to go back and get a Google number now.  Hopefully, Google updates that soon.

UPDATE:  Apparently, now if you are using a non-Google number, you can get a Google number now.  Go to your Settings and in the Phone tab, hit the “Get a Google Number” link.

Also, the voicemail transcribe isn’t exactly perfect but it does a decent job and I can this being a very handy feature especially in a situation where you are in a crowded/noisy bar or restaurant and can’t hear your voicemail but now you can see the text that your friend who is meeting you is running late.

It’s been almost 2 months since I got my Droid and I know I already wrote a post about Google Goggles, but I thought I would share some of the other apps that I have so far given my thumbs up to (in no particular order):

FXCamera

This trust app lets you choose a variety of styles for your mobile photos including toy camera, fisheye, warhol, and my favorite, polaroid.

TV.com

This app lets you watch free episodes and clips from multiple channels including showtime and CBS.

FlickrDroid

This app lets you search images from flickr to easily save and use for your desktop image on your phone.

I should probably add that these 3 I mentioned are all FREE.  I also recently downloaded Gmote (allows the ability to use your phone as a remote control for your computer) but have yet to try it out.  I will update you as soon as I do.

Does anyone else have any other suggestions for android apps?

Check out this new way of searching that was just released by Google called Google Goggles.  Basically, it allows you to a photo with your mobile phone, analyzes the photo and conducts a search based on it.  It works currently for objects such as landmarks, books, contacts (like business cards), and logos.  Unfortunately, it’s only available to users of Google’s Mobile OS, Android.

I tried the new Google Maps Navigation on my Droid today on my way home for work… pretty sweet.  The directions were clear and gave ample time before I needed to make any turns.  It also seemed to adjust really quickly to whenever I would deviate from the original route.  The only negative was that it did seem to suck a bit of the battery during my half hour commute because the screen obviously has to be kept on the whole time.  But it does turn by turn directions with street names.  Makes me pretty glad I didn’t buy a standalone GPS that I was looking for a couple months ago.  Looks like I’m going to need to buy the car dock and possibly a car adapter for longer road trips.

For more information on some of the features, watch this video:

Yep, I finally got a new phone after more than 2 years since I got my T-Mobile Dash, which is surprising for someone who works in technology and always seems to be purchasing some new gadget.  I was never sold on the iPhone despite it’s hype by everyone and my company was moving to no longer support Blackberry’s so I’ve been patiently waiting for something to peak my interest.  The basic features I needed a phone to have were 1) Exchange support and 2) a full QWERTY keyboard.  As much as I wanted to like the iPhone just like everyone else, I just couldn’t get used to the non-tactile keyboard after having one with my original blackberry from 4 years ago and again with my dash.   I tried it out at the apple store and was quickly frustrated at the inaccuracy of the text as I typed (and I do not have fat fingers!)  Everyone said it’s something that you get used to and you just have to trust the system but yeah, that annoyed me.  While I had a few friends at work who got the G1 and then the myTouch and seemed to enjoy them, I wanted to wait for at least a 2nd version before I jumped on the Android bandwagon.

So when I started reading more about the Motorola Droid on Engadget and Boy Genius Report, yeah I finally got excited.  I’ve had T-Mobile for 7 years because when I was in college, it was either them or Sprint and after hearing my best friend gripe about Sprint basically everyday, I was like nope.  As far as service, I was pretty satisfied with T-Mobile.   However, when I traveled to the Carolina’s or up in New England, that’s when I was definitely experiencing the limitations.  I could get cell phone service but internet was non-existent.   I was definitely open to switching providers.  This was the break down I got from most people:

• T- Mobile: Good service in major cities and cheap
• Sprint: Pretty good service but poor customer service
• Verizon: Best service but not a good selection of phones
• AT&T: Shoddy service but they have the iPhone

So, Verizon plus Android Phone that had Exchange support, QWERTY keyboard and wasn’t a huge brick… I was all about sold.  To add to it, I’ve also been debating buying a GPS and then I heard there was going to be turn by turn navigation through Google Maps.  Awesome.  Yes, Verizon is more expensive and I had to do some research into how not to spend $120 a month on service.  After hunting around and actually looking back into the number of minutes used and the number of text messages I sent in a typical month, I put together a plan that was maybe $5 more than what I was paying with T-Mobile.  (Yes, I barely used half of my 1500 anytime minutes)  It also helps the person who I used most of my minutes on (other than my parents) was on Verizon so that would no longer matter as Verizon has unlimited calling and texting to anyone on their network.  450 minutes (w/ unlimited nights and weekends), 250 text messages and the $29.99 internet plan for PDA/smartphone internet seemed all that I would need.

You bet I went to Verizon when it opened at 7 am the day the Droid was released.  There weren’t any huge lines.  Everything was very organized and the people were very nice there.  They didn’t try to upsell me to the $45 internet plan or 900 minutes.  The rep simply asked me if I had taken a look at their plans and I told him exactly what I wanted and that was that.   I did ask about if I ever wanted to expand the amount of minutes on my plan and he said just to give him a call if I ever thought I was going to go over my plan in a month and he would adjust it in advance so that I wouldn’t go over.  Cool.  Also, the porting of my phone number was quick and had no issues.

So far after 4 days of use, I’m pretty satisfied with my purchase.  My only gripes, other than apparently Sears was offering the phone for $50 less ($149.99) and did an instant rebate so you didn’t have to send one in and wait unlike what I have to do since I went directly to Verizon (Best Buy I hear was also doing the same sort of deal), Android 2.0 doesn’t allow me to search my company directory through my exchange account and there isn’t a current slingbox app.

Some upgrades from my previous phone that haven’t been mentioned yet:

• Copy/paste
• Multiple select to delete emails
• 5 MP camera with flash
• Threaded text messaging
• Different ringtones for all my different email accounts and text messages

Yes, the battery life is quite good (which you can interchange) and it is awesome that it already came with a 16 GB microSD card that you can expand.  The battery does seem to get a little hot when you are charging it.  I am still getting used to the keyboard not being as compact and some keyboard shortcuts aren’t the same such as if you hold down a letter, that it capitalizes it (or with my blackberry, it was the alternate character), but minor things that I will get used to with time.  I only have a few apps downloaded so if you have any recommendations, let me know.

I haven’t tried the navigation piece yet but planning to in the next couple days.  I will try to update after I use that feature.