Having attended both Ad Age’s Digital Conference here in New York (#AADigital) and South by Southwest Interactive in Austin, TX (#SXSWi) we thought we’d share our thoughts comparing the two conferences. As a preface, keep in mind that SXSW was a MUCH larger conference, with three separate sub-conferences—Music, Film and Interactive, all wrapped into one. It lasted for 9 days and had over 36,000 attendees. AADigital on the other hand, was a two-day event with less than a thousand attendees. That said, we felt a comparison was warranted since both events focused on the marketing, technology and the confluence between the two.
Sick of your Twitter profile picture? Try this site that lets you design your very own 8-bit avatar, EightBit.Me. It’s a cool little tool that lets you transport yourself back in time to the age of Super Mario Brothers—well at least your Twitter profile picture anyway.
You can customize just about everything from head to toe in an effort to make it look just like you. Or just have fun with it and create a quirky character to share with your friends.
The site also has a web app that you can access by going to eightbit.me in safari on your iPhone. It’ll let you check in to places using Foursquare and the makers behind it even had a cool promotion during SXSW that allowed users to check-in to different venues for a chance to win an NES cartridge-shaped hard drive. Try it out today and join the Eight Bit Revolution!
Since the earthquake and tsunami that recently hit Japan, a vast amount of aid has arisen on the web. Facebook and Twitter were (and still are) huge components in allowing communication between families and their loved ones when cell phone services became too congested and failed. In an effort to help you help them, we are providing you with a ton of different ways you can do just that.
The Japan Society, a large American non-profit organization is holding a Concert for Japan on Saturday April 9th and all of the proceeds will go to the Japan Earthquake Relief Fund. So far almost 5,000 people have donated over $1 million to help the people of Japan. Lou Reed and Philip Glass are amongst a few of the artists who will be performing.
The interactive community and SXSW have also gotten in on the relief effort and created SXSW4Japan.org, a fundraising page where you can donate to the Red Cross to support disaster relief efforts. Their original goal was $10,000 but have since raised over $100,000. You can help too by donating through the site directly, sending a text that reads, “Redcross” to 90999 (to make a $10 donation) and by spreading the word on Twitter and the web with the hashtag #sxsw4japan.
Lady Gaga is also doing her part by selling “Pray for Japan” bracelets through her website. All proceeds will go to Japan disaster relief efforts and although they are just $5 each, you may make an additional donation if you want.
Fast Retailing—the company behind the Uniqlo clothing line—is not only donating over 700 million yen worth of clothing to victims of the disaster but their CEO is also making his own personal donation of 1 billion yen. You can help too by donating clothing. Just drop it off at Uniqlo which is located at 546 Broadway New York, NY 10012.
ShelterBox is an international organization that responds immediately to disaster relief with boxes that contain items that can provide shelter for up to 10 people as well as other valuable life-saving supplies. You can donate online via their website and even track your package all the way to its destination to ensure your money is going where it’s supposed to.
Global Giving connects people to causes around the world. So far they have raised $1.7 million for victims of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami. By donating through their site your contribution will be distributed amongst organizations providing relief including International Medical Corps and Save the Children. You can also give a gift donation or make one in honor of someone.
Lastly, Zynga—a popular game developer behind games like Cityville and Farmville—is allowing users to contribute to relief by purchasing in-game items. 100% of the virtual goods purchase prices will be donated to the Save the Children’s Japan Earthquake Tsunami Emergency Fund. You can also donate via Zynga.org
With all the technology we have today, unfortunately some natural disasters still take us by surprise and they are no less devastating. However, at the same time new technologies and the power of the social web have allowed us to mobilize and organize our relief efforts much faster than ever before. By helping to spread the word, and giving to organizations that provide the most direct relief, we can do our small part towards helping the recovery.
SXSW is one of the largest annual Music/Film/Interactive events in the U.S. and Squeaky and Crowdbeacon are excited to take part in it again this year. On our last trip down, we were in awe at how many awesome venues Austin had to offer (way too many to try them all). So this time we figured we’d better prepare for the sensory overload that will invariably occur.
After asking the good people of Austin (via Crowdbeacon) the places that must be tried while attending SXSW, we came up with an extensive guide to everything from the best karaoke bars to the best 24 hour spots with omelets at 2 am. Besides, who knows Austin better than the locals?
The Squeaky team had a lot of fun meeting some really cool and interesting people at SXSWi. We wanted to share some of this with you, so we decided to interview some new friends. First up—Josh Karpf, Manager of Digital Communications for Pepsi. Josh was kind enough to share his thoughts on SXSW and the interactive industry—as well as his Flip cam! Thanks Josh, next round’s on us!
We are digital enthusiasts with an affinity for art, culture and everything in between. Occasionally we see things we like, work that wows us and ideas we wish we came up with. Here’s the beef.
