|
SXSW: Cool Kids Need Gadgets, Too |
|
|
|
Dr. Samuel Says -
Arts & Science
|
|
Written by Dr. Samuel Centralia, Ph.D., D.D.S., Esq.
|
|
Thursday, 20 March 2008 |
Just spent an exhausting weekend at the extremely annual South by Southwest (SXSW) music festival in Austin, TX. You might wonder what a man of my credentials is doing at a beer-soaked indie rock celebration. Well, bear in mind that some of the festival's main sponsors are Microsoft, Dell and DirecTV. Corporate America likes nothing better than to co-opt youth culture, and they often need a man like me "in the field" to infiltrate the hipster masses.
Actually, I was there for a bachelor party. One thing that occurred to
me, as the weekend progressed, is how utterly reliant we are now on our
wireless devices -- generationally speaking. Half the rock kids packing
Sixth Street had cell phones to their ear, arranging rendezvous and
often using GPS to navigate the cramped streets. I saw quite a few
punked out specimens sitting cross-legged in the shade, balancing
MacBooks and 40-ouncers with equal aplomb. Even in our little band of
friends, we were constantly using the pair of iPhones in the group to
get maps, make calls, take pictures, and instantly post them to our
venerable Yahoo Groups page.
 I met up with quite a few industry folks, and it really is remarkable
the degree to which technology and gadgetry has infiltrated all aspects
of the festival. Many of the journalists I met were live-blogging via
their Blackberries or other PDAs. Photographers were rocking various
digital cameras, with additional gadgetry to wirelessly upload their
photos on the fly. Sound guys were running the boards through Mac
laptops. Fans were recording everything with their cell phone cameras,
and the more ambitious bootleggers had mobile recording equipment that
was as small and concealable as it was sophisticated and powerful.
SXSW is making some strides toward going carbon-neutral, as well. The
festival purchased Renewable Energy Credits from the city to help
offset their carbon footprint, and is funding a plan that would finance
solar power stations throughout the downtown area. The charging
stations would initially be designed to provide power for, yes, small
electronic devices like laptops and cell phones. Rock on.
Trackback(0)
 |
TrackBack URI for this entry
Show/Hide comments
Show/Hide comment form
