Read about iMedia students' SXSW experience
Students sound off about their favorite panel and most rewarding experiences from SXSW.
SXSW, A First Timer's Tale: SXSWi: Top 5 Buzz Report
So I made it back alive. After successfully surviving my first SXSWi, I wanted to share a brief recap of some of the top trends & themes from this year’s event. Here are the Top 5, in no particular order:
Location, Location, Location
Foursquare (launched at SXSW ‘09) was still the dominant…
Great SXSW Recap! We’ll have some takeaways of our own up by end of the day!
Sights from SXSW - round up 2
The program from the Interactive Awards, one year #imedia365ers will be competing.
Photo: A Q&A with Pinterest founder
Ben Silbermann, co-founder of Pinterest @ SXSW talk today.
Nerd War: Native vs Web Mobile Applications
Great discussion at 9:30 this morning about what’s the right app to have: Native or Web. There was some full out disagreement and lively back-and-forth on the panel + a bat decided to liven the event with a fly by.
Panelists:
Buzz Andersen, Dir of Mobile, Tumblr
Jacob Bijani, Prod Engineer, Tumblr
Majd Taby, Software Engineer, Facebook
Matthew Delaney, WebKit Engineer, (formerly at Apple)
Tom Dale, Sr Software Engineer, Ember.js
Some take-aways:
- Hybrid applications may seem like a great solution, but really they are “a road fraught with danger” according to Taby. If you are trying to make an app quickly and update-able, Hybrid still has all the difficulties of Native.
- PhoneGap is not the answer. Uncanny Valley effect with web apps that have native looking controls. “Let mobile web apps be proper web apps, native scrolling is tough to emulate,” said Dale. Taby actually agreed and said when people open mobile safari/web browser they understand that it is going to be a different experience.
“It’s like getting served steak dinner in a bathroom, context matters,” said Dale.
Al Gore and Sean Parker discussing new democracy and Internet.
“Our democracy has been hacked,” Al Gore said to start the talk.
More encouragement than content
It was supposed to be a look at Content as a Means for Social Change, but this session turned into more of a pep-talk and life advice seminar than anything else.
Words of Advice from Biz Stone, co-founder of Twitter:
- Change is not a triumph of technology it’s a triumph of humanity.
- Opportunities can be manufactured.
- Creativity is a renewable resource. (There is no end to how much creativity you can bring. Every challenge at work, school, managerial, becomes fun like a game if you think about laterally and all the ways you can solve something.)
- To succeed spectacularly, be ready to fail spectacularly. (If you are a start-up stop hedging and go for it, if is something you believe in.)
- There is a compound interest in altruism. (The early you get involved the more impact you’ll have overtime. If you are job hunting, go volunteer. It’s better than daily rejection and it builds confidence and networks.)
