Image courtesy BarCamp AustinIf the phrase "tech conference" conjures up images of PowerPoint slides, droning presenters, and dreary snacks, then BarCamp Austin feels your pain. BarCamp Austin is an "unconference" -- an event that flips the traditional meeting setup on its head. Everything in an unconference is planned, set up, and executed by the participants. If it sounds like a model for chaos, it turns out it's just the opposite. "People always want to ask......

The story begins in New York in the year 2011. This is John McCain's recession-riddled America, where gas has edged above 8 dollars a gallon, the best-selling video game is Infidel Massacre: Los Angeles, and, with 10,000 troops still in Iraq, the war is still going strong....

Photo by Will Pate on flickrInteractive + ScreenBurn The preliminary list of Interactive panels has been released, and includes topics like "The Great Debate: Is Web 2.0 Bulls#!t?", "The Porn Police: Know the Rules," and "The Suxorz: The Worst Ten Social Media Ad Campaigns of 2007." [Preliminary List] Additional, several panels for the gaming-centric ScreenBurn fest have been revealed. These include "The Future Virtual World Game Development: Rise of the Indies," "You Are Here: Gaming......

Banner week for SFist as the site's new editor introduced himself -- hooray for Brock! While the NY Times weighed in on SF's mayoral race, only SFist had the (insert tongue firmly into cheek) hard-hitting latest on candidate/activist Josh Wolf. Coverage of a protest vs. gentrification spawned a fantastic debate amongst SFist's readers. Finally, from the sublime to the ridiculous: video of a man that confused a Board of Supes meeting with "open mic......

What with Memorial Day or Labor Day coming up this weekend, we've teamed up with the lovely folks over at BlogBurst to host an Austin Blogger Happy Hour on Thursday, over at Club de Ville. The product of local tech company Pluck, BlogBurst syndicates some of the internet's top blogggers onto major media sites (think The Washington Post, SF Gate) and other "top-tier online destinations." For bloggers, it represents a tremendous opportunity to have their......

What with Memorial Day or Labor Day coming up this weekend, we've teamed up with the lovely folks over at BlogBurst to host an Austin Blogger Happy Hour on Thursday, over at Club de Ville. The product of local tech company Pluck, BlogBurst syndicates some of the internet's top blogggers onto major media sites (think The Washington Post, SF Gate) and other "top-tier online destinations." For bloggers, it represents a tremendous opportunity to have their......

The highlight of SXSW Interactive Day Two, apart from a confounding mock cosplay battle outside the front entrance to the Convention Center (promotion for a documentary screening at SXSW Film), was the morning's Tagging 2.0 discussion. With all this buzz surrounding the so-called Web 2.0 -- which, we're loath to admit, we still don't actually understand -- moderator Don Turnbull thought it prudent to use a similar catch-phrase, as both emerging technologies (or concepts)......