Speakers in the News »

3/31/06
MEG HOURIHAN

A belated congratulations to uber-bloggers Jason Kottke and Meg Hourihan (pictured above), who were married last weekend in New York. According to Rebecca Mead's story in the November 13, 2000 edition of the New Yorker, the two initially met at the 2000 SXSW Interactive Festival. See various photos of the ceremony, which was attended by a sizable delegation of web luminaries including Matthew Howie, Caterina Fake and Lane Becker. In their first week of marital bliss, the newlyweds have explored new ways to make use of the trunk-space in their compact car . Kottke served as a keynote speaker at the 2006 SXSW Interactive Festival, while Hourihan was a speaker at the 2002 event.

12:33pm CST | +

3/30/06
MARKOS ZUNIGA

Markos Moulitsas Zuniga

In Wednesday's edition of Salon, Scott Rosenberg writes about two new books written by political bloggers: "An Army of Davids: How Markets and Technology Empower Ordinary People to Beat Big Media, Big Government and Other Goliaths" and "Crashing the Gate: Netroots, Grassroots, and the Rise of People-Powered Politics. His review of the second book ultimately re-affirms the importance of personal publishing in shaping our nation's future: "So what should Democrats stand for? What's the banner under which the disparate elements can unite? That's a complicated question, but in addressing it, 'Crashing the Gates' never gets past clearing its throat. There's a lot of repetition of terms like 'people-powered' and 'progressive.' There are love letters to a handful of candidates, like Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer and former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner (whose presidential campaign Armstrong is now advising). There's talk of Democratic reformation, and cleaning house, and generational change . . . The political savvy in 'Crashing the Gate' is considerable. Anyone responsible for building a Web site as popular and loyalty-commanding as Daily Kos is clearly capable of inspiring people -- and organizing them. But for inspiration, I won't reread "Crashing the Gate"; I'll look to what I find on Daily Kos itself -- the continued ferment of ideas and conversation, of quick-hit updates and long-term thinking in post-by-post bursts of anger and triumph and head-scratching. I'm not sure what gate it is that Moulitsas and Armstrong think they need to crash: With their Web sites, they've already got the keys to the future." As noted in Reynolds' essay, the authors of "Crashing the Gate" are Jerome Armstrong of MyDD and Markos Moulitsas Zuniga (pictured above) of Daily Kos. Zuniga spoke on the "Revenge of the Blogs: Election 2008" panel at the 2006 SXSW Interactive Festival.

10:34am CST | +

3/29/06
MARK WALLACE

"Just like any community newspaper, the Herald has a duty to serve its readers," writes Mark Wallace in a story about the virtual newspaper the Second Life Herald that appears in the April issue of Wired Magazine. "Roaming an unremarkable neighborhood one night, I met a woman who said that she and her online boyfriend were being harassed by their neighbors. When I published my account of the nearby complex of gleaming mech suits, autoturrets, and other war machines trained on whoever happened to cross their sights, an organized vigilante group soon ran the offenders off." Wallace, who is co-author of the new book "Only a Game: Online Worlds and the Virtual Journalist Who Knew Too Much" spoke on the "Secret Sex Lives of Video Games" panel at the 2006 SXSW Interactive Festival. He also participated in a book-reading at the first-ever ScreenBurn Beta Festival.

11:06am CST | +

3/28/06
CATERINA FAKE

Caterina Fake

"Putting the We in Web " is the headline for the cover story of the April 3 issue of Newsweek. When not hyping the Web 2.0 bubble, co-authors Steven Levy and Brad Stone correctly reveal that the heart of the current Internet re-boom is community and usability, "What makes the Web alive is, quite simply, us. Our presence, most often conducted at the speed of broadband, is constant and mandatory. Thanks to our activity, the Web has replaced phone books, and is in the process of replacing phones. It's the place that answers our questions in four tenths of a second and ships us funny clips that mix the 'Back to the Future' guys with the 'Brokeback Mountain' soundtrack. It's the main news source for the non-arthritic population, and a megaphone for those who make their own media. As we keep offloading our activities to the Web and adding previously unmanageable or unthinkable new pursuits, it's fair to say that our everyday exist-ence is a network effect. That has made some splendid opportunities for smart, nimble new companies, and threatened the existence of old ones now afloat in the mainstream." The Newsweek article features several former SXSW Interactive Festival speakers including Tom Anderson (MySpace), Stewart Butterfield (Flickr), Caterina Fake (Flickr; pictured above), Mary Hodder (Dabble), Craig Newmark (craigslist), Joshua Schachter (del.icio.us) and James Surowiecki (author).

11:01am CST | +

3/27/06
PHILLIP TORRONE

Phillip Torrone

Who cares is the plastic in your wallet can earn you frequent flyer miles? Writing on the MAKE blog, Phil Torrone says that the credit cards of tomorrow will be geared towards real rewards from virtual worlds. "We're a nation obsessed with credit cards," he writes. "Seriously. Credit card companies and retailers all offer some form of loyalty program to commit to and encourage us to spend more of our hard earned dollars. Airlines pioneered these loyalty programs, convincing us to stick to a single carrier, and then rewarding with upgrades and travel. A company will do whatever it can to keep the churn down and spending high. . . .It's not a matter of if, just when - credit card companies, Pay Pal, Amazon, eBay and the individual 'gaming' companies eventually bridge the real and virtual currencies with loyalty programs and private label credit cards - there's too much money out there to -not- to do this. This 'demographic' is the battleground. The more you spend, the more you earn, sorta. Virtual $ isn't a crappy electronics doo-dad, it's just a number in a computer. Maybe you'll get some discounted airline tickets when you hit level 60 too, you deserve it! Earn your way to a new graphics card, why not." Torrone spoke on the "DIY Media" panel at the 2006 SXSW Interactive Festival. He also made headlines during his visit in Austin by steering his remote control Roomba robotic device through early morning Sixth Street traffic.