Thursday, March 11, 2010

SXSW Tips: Add These Crucial Numbers To Your Address Book

Just in case, I recommend adding the following numbers to your mobile phone’s address book.

The SXSW Headquarters line is (512) 467-7979.

I’d also enter in the phone number to your hotel’s front desk.

Don’t forget to add in entries for airline customer support if you’re flying in:

• Alaska Airlines: 1-800-252-7522
• American Airlines: 1-800-433-7300
• Continental Airlines: 1-800-523-3273
• Delta Air Lines: 1-800-221-1212
• Frontier Airlines: 1-800-432-1359
• JetBlue Airways: 1-800-JETBLUE (538-2583)
• Southwest Airlines: 1-800-435-9792
• United Airlines: 1-800-241-6522
• US Airways: 1-800-428-4322

I would also add a few Austin taxi companies into your phone:

• Yellow Cab: (512) 452-9999
• Austin Cab: (512) 478-2222
• Lone Star Cab: (512) 836-4900

In Austin, I’ve had bad luck trying to hail a cab from the street, so calling ahead is always, always recommended.

And in the rare instance that you want to call 411, use Google’s free 411 service, at (800) 466-4411.

Still Looking For Crash Space Downtown?

Checkout the Ride/Room share board, where two SXSWbaby users, Harris and Vas, are looking for roommates!

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

From the Austin Airport to Downtown for Only $1

A ride to and from the airport for only 75 cents $1? And it’ll drop you right along 6th Street? That’s right. If you’re trying to save money during SXSW, instead of taking a cab, you can take the bus!

The Route 100 Airport Flyer starts at the University of Texas campus, proceeds through Austin’s Central Business District and follows a direct route to Bergstrom. Here are some of the stops it makes downtown:

• 6th Street and Neches (Downtown Hilton Hotel)
• 6th Street and Brazos
• 6th Street and Congress Avenue
• 6th Street and Lavaca

More information about the Airport Flyer.

UPDATE: We’ve been advised that bus fare is now $1.

Get a Free Ride from the Airport Courtesy of the New Pornographers

Flying into Austin for SXSW Music? Matador Records and the New Pornographers have just announced a free shuttle from the airport for attendees! It’s only Wednesday March 17th and seats are limited.

The “Together Shuttle” will be providing complimentary service to the Austin Convention Center and several downtown hotels, with free cocktails and a sneak listen of the band’s new album.

Wanna ride? Sign up now.

Monday, March 8, 2010

SXSW Tips: Your Laptop

It seems like a no-brainer to bring your computer with you to SXSW. I don’t recommend you lug it around if you don’t have to, especially while you’re out and about having fun at night. This is my sixth time attending SXSWi and I’ve learned you have a much better time if you aren’t tethered to your computer. (I often ask colleagues to text message me if it’s truly an emergency.)

Many people who attend SXSW Interactive prefer leaving their laptops in their hotel rooms, preferring to focus on non-computer activities during the day. After all, you came all this way, didn’t you? Close the laptop, and you might end up learning more and having more fun! But if you absolutely must do some work, there is also abundant and free wireless throughout Austin, like the hotspot in the Downtown Hilton’s lobby.

At the Austin Convention Center during SXSW there will be one WiFi Network, called SXSW2010.

This is the only official wifi network for internet access at the Austin Convention Center, Hilton, Courtyard and Radisson. But personally, if you have time, I’d hike it out to Halcyon, Jo’s, Progress, or The Hideout instead. Way better atmosphere!

Other things to consider bringing: a USB thumb drive, blank CD-Rs or DVD-Rs, the display cable you need for your Apple laptop to plug into a VGA port, and screen wipes. Bring any other tech bibs and bobs you can’t live without.

Additionally, it might help to clear off some hard drive space and backup your files before you arrive in case you plan on downloading photos to your computer, etc.

Saturday, March 14, 2009

More bars in places other than downtown Austin for AT&T users

Smartphones may be beginning to outpace laptops as the communications tool of choice for SXSW Interactive attendees, but AT&T customers —including the teeming masses toting iPhones — are finding cell coverage to be severely lacking at the Austin Convention Center and environs.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Must-have mobile resources

Here are a few sites to consider bookmarking for your smartphone or other web-capable mobile device to help plan or navigate your SXSW experience.

• my.sxsw.com: If you’ve used the official planning application from SXSW to set up a schedule for yourself, the recently-launched mobile version will let you tote it around without keeping track of a fistful of paper. SXSW also offers a second mobile app, rate.sxsw.com, which is a bit vexing. It, too, lets you put together a schedule of panels and other events and, once they’re underway, to “rate” them. (Presumably, the folks at SXSW get this info. Maybe it is intended to replace or augment the panel feedback cards distributed after each session.) However, rate.sxsw doesn’t tie into the schedule you’ve created with my.sxsw, so you should stick with one or the other unless you want to construct your itinerary twice. my.sxsw has a richer feature set; of the two, it seems by far more useful.
• SCHED.org: The unofficial planning app from SCHED has one principal advantage over its SXSW-issued counterpart, in that it includes most, if not all, of the unofficial events and parties swirling around the festivals and conferences. The mobile interface is a bit spare and, on my iPhone at least, feels a little creaky. As SCHED grows and matures, though, I’d wager its on-the-go version becomes just as nifty as its web counterpart.
• B-Side Festival Genius: The new kid on the SXSW planning application block is Festival Genius, a step up from previous offerings from B-Side. Their mobile site is an easy-to-use reduction of the web version, although it lacks the feature that gives the application its name; it doesn’t appear you can use the mobile version to automagically search for and resolve conflicts among events happening at the same time.
• The Unofficial Pocket Guide: Offering schedules of panels and parties for quick reference, this application doesn’t allow you to create a personal schedule but does allow you to add public events not already included. The latter is accomplished by editing a publicly-accessible Google Spreadsheet, which ups the opportunities for mayhem but, hey, we’re all friends here, right?
• Razorfish SXSW Guide: A combination schedule reference (again, no facility for making a personal schedule) and city guide, this contains a nice variety of information, from panels and parties to news sources to shopping and survival tips to pointers about what makes Austin truly unique.
• MobileATX: Here’s one mobile site that doesn’t include a SXSW schedule, although it does have a nice quick reference to SXSW venues along with Google Maps links that’s easy to navigate and could be a vital resource when you’re rushing from party to party come the Music festival. There are quick links to mobile versions of other local sites too—including Show List Austin—plus social tools such as Flickr, Yelp, Upcoming and more. For the Music attendee, this is a winner.

Do you have a favorite SXSW or Austin-related mobile site we’ve left out? Or a favorite tip for using one of the above to its best advantage? Let us know in the comments!

Monday, March 9, 2009

Get ready, get set…get packed!

Baby! Sitter Kathryn is taking a break from SXSW this year, but I’ve taken a stab at updating her most excellent “What to Pack, To-Dos, Tips, Tricks, and Things to Remember” guide from last year. Check it out after the break.

In addition, Franco-Canadian UK blogger That Canadian Girl has a few tips of her own that might be especially useful for international visitors to SXSW.

Continue reading "Get ready, get set…get packed!"...

Friday, February 6, 2009

The “notels” of South Congress (and beyond)

Baby! pal Jessica has posted a great Flickr set of photos of signs belonging to “notel"-motels along South Congress and elsewhere in Austin. Included are SXSW-time faves such as the Austin Motel (also known as the “penis motel”, thanks to its...er, distinctive sign) and the hip Hotel San Jose.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

There’s no place like OM

It was a big hit last year with attendees wanting a tranquil and mindful start to the day, so it’s good news indeed that morning yoga will be back at SXSW Interactive 2009.

Friday, October 3, 2008

Follow that bird! SXSW on Twitter…

As the rest of the world did (it seems), the folks at SXSW signed up for Twitter back in 2007, when the micro-blogging/messaging service had its unofficial coming-out party and first real stress test at the Interactive conference. But for a long while, the SXSW account had but one brief, lonely tweet.

Over the past few weeks, though, SXSW has been answering Twitter’s “What are you doing?” query fairly frequently, with updates on discount registration, panels and keynotes and more. They seem to be listening to their “followers” too, and using Twitter to provide quick answers and feedback. If you’re planning to attend SXSW and you use Twitter (c’mon, who doesn’t?!), you might want to follow “SXSW”.

And while we’re on the subject, you do follow the Baby, right? In addition to notes whenever we add a significant post to the blog, we tweet other insider tips and info from time to time too.

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Win a week in a downtown Austin hotel for SXSW

The kind folks at SXSW are offering the opportunity to win a sweet place to bunk during the 2009 event, and all you have to do to enter is make sure you’re registered for the event—film, interactive, music or the whole deal—by November 14. One lucky registrant will receive five complimentary nights at the downtown Residence Inn Austin, just footsteps from the Convention Center headquarters.

Rooms there in the SXSW block go for $217 a night plus taxes, which means the prize is valued at over $1,200. Some of the Baby-sitters have stayed at the Residence Inn in the past and it’s a fine crib to use as a home base for the conferences and festivals. Every room has a queen bed, a sleeper sofa and a full kitchen area for those extremely rare times you might tire of Tex-Mex. There’s also free internet access, tasty, free hot breakfast buffet and a downstairs Starbucks.

Learn more about the giveaway.

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

‘Dillo may go pay-o

Capital Metro, the agency that runs public transit in Austin, is floating a fare increase proposal that, among other things, would make the popular, now-free downtown ‘Dillo trolley service 50 cents for a two-hour pass. Of course, that’s still a great bargain for SXSW visitors, who can use the ‘Dillo service to scoot around to various venues during the conference. The proposal will be voted upon later this month and, if approved, would take effect in October.

Friday, May 23, 2008

Austin C&VB launches new visitor site

Our pals at Austinist tipped us to a new website for visitors to Austin from the Convention & Visitors Bureau. A lot of the info might be old hat to regular readers of the Baby (and the section about SXSW is...um, a bit spare), but there’s still plenty to discover.

For example, here’s a neat interactive map of Austin, with clickable overlays for amenities such as hiking and bike trails, parking, shopping, Dillo routes and more.

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

SXSW baby…literally

Perhaps you didn’t notice, but several of your peers are...well, let’s just say that none of us is as young as we were and some of us are starting families. Which means some of us—a lot, actually—are having to choose between attending SXSW Interactive or staying home with our kids. Or trying to juggle both opportunity and obligation.

After spending much of this year’s conference tending to his wee one, Jeffrey Zeldman puts forth the idea of SXSW Parents Cooperatives:

SXSW Interactive is the annual gathering of the tribes. Many of the tribes now have younguns. Attending a two-day educational conference without your kids is not a huge deal, but SXSW lasts a week. The choices are not good: See the whole show but miss your kids for a week? Bring your kids and miss practically the whole show? Attend for only a couple of days, missing your kids and most of the show?

On the third day I found myself in a costly hotel room across from the conference center, skipping a keynote to play with Barbie dolls, it occurred to me that groups of parents could band together to create a more optimal experience.