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.

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.

I’m quite notorious for passing on new technology stuff to my friend, Liz, but today, she returned the favor and sent me a link to slydial.  Have you ever wanted to leave someone a voicemail but it’s late at night and you are afraid of waking them up or you just don’t want to avoid an awkward conversation?  Well, here’s your answer!  Basically you call this number 267-SLYDIAL, and then at the prompt, enter the person’s phone number and it takes you directly to their voicemail.  It might be a bit tricky for some people whose phones aren’t sophisticated to allow you to search your contacts while you are on a call, but other than that, it’s fairly straightforward.  So… the next time you find yourself getting a voicemail but are wondering why your phone didn’t ring, don’t be surprised.

Update: Allison and I did some testing yesterday and we discovered that this did work, although we’ve had some reports it did ring once on some phones.  You can call from any phone (landline or mobile) but this only works calling TO mobile phones.