I’m in Austin, TX at SXSW Interactive, the mecca of all things tech/social media/web2.0, blogging on the fly in a hallway lined with bloggers, twitterers, and podcasters in the humongous Austin Convention Center. Simply stated, this conference is unlike anything that I’ve ever experienced in my life. To be surrounded by so many people who share my passion for the web is exhilarating! And what’s more is that there are so many dope things to be had, and experienced at just about every turn here–from the latest and greatest web apps and services, to films, games, parties and schwag (tons of it)! It’s only my second day here (first full day of panel discussions) and, while this may sound kind of corny, already I’m beginning to feel rejuvenated. I’m remembering why I fell in love with blogging, why I created Gureala, and most importantly, the power and possibilities of the web. It’s beautiful.

Space Tourism
Video Teleconferencing
Holographic Teleportation
Robot Companions
WWW
Flying Cars
Hoverboards

Does that about sum it up? Let me know if I missed anything.

Unbelievable! My jaw literally dropped to the floor in disbelief when I caught this during last night’s broadcast. I mean, I know we’ve made tremendous leaps on the technology front in recent years but, holograms, like this, never saw it coming.

Will.I.Am speaking to Anderson Cooper via hologram:

Check out the results I got when I ran a search based on Gureala’s color palette:

Interesting stuff.

[H/T: Flwrpt]

Netflix will place its Watch Instantly streaming-movie service on TiVo’s HD-compatible set-top boxes, furthering the technology industry’s goal of sending television shows and movies over the Internet — instead of over traditional cable and satellite networks — to ordinary TVs.

Seriously, I don’t know who should be more afraid of this–tv networks, cable providers, the Blu-Ray squad, or all of the above. Either way, it’s gonna be interesting to watch it all go down (no pun-o).

Let’s see, we’ve got Gears of War 2 dropping at the top of the month (Nov. 7th), followed by Call of Duty: World at War (Nov. 11th). And although COD isn’t exactly a 360 exclusive, PC aside, we all know where its true home is.

Then of course there’s the long overdue dashboard update, the New Xbox Experience as it’s called, dropping on the 19th. Which, in addition to a new interface design and community features, adds the ability to stream movies from Netflix in HD. I, for one, am looking forward to this new feature the most. As it stands now, if you don’t own a tv-top Netflix player, you’re stuck watching movies on the tiny confines of your computer screen. As you might expect, this doesn’t make for the most enjoyable viewing experience.

Peep the New Experience at work:

More where that came from.

For those of you who aren’t yet familiar with Alltop, think of it as a public rss feed of sorts, or a “virtual magazine rack” with all the best reads of the web laid out at your disposal. It’s pretty cool. Peep this visual to get a better idea of how it works.

Sharpie, paper, video camera, dj software (TRAKTOR in this case), and no high-tech touch surface whatsoever. Who woulda thought? And to think vinyl purists thought Serato was the absolute worst that could happen.

[via Engadget]

Interesting feature in the New York Times on Macrumors.com founder and senior editor, Arnold Kim, and his decision to stop practicing medicine and pursue blogging full time. The kicker: his popular blog now nets him a hefty six figure income (the same amount he made as a doctor):

Stepping away from medicine felt somewhat strange, he admits. Dr. Kim was bringing home a six-figure income as a doctor, but he recognized that blogging was becoming more lucrative. He says the site also yields a six-figure income for him.

About three years ago, through a combination of Google text advertising, banner ads and commissions on product sales, MacRumors started turning a substantial profit. While Apple is obviously not an advertiser, other technology-oriented companies are, including Verizon, the online audio-book store Audible.com and the information technology products company CDW.

Still, he hesitated to make it a full-time job because he enjoyed medicine — and he had invested almost $200,000 in his education. But he finally concluded that “on paper, it was an easy decision.”

Just goes to show you that content (plus traffic) is king!

(via NYT)