There's only 48 hours left in the voting process for SXSWi and we thought we would refresh your memory as to what to click on after you login to the PanelPicker. Last time we did this we were faced with such an overwhelming response we decided to do another round up. Except this time we culled ones that are particularly esoteric, and for SXSWi that's saying a lot. Here they are, in no particular order.

"Beers, Biking or the Bathroom? Where Do You Find Inspiration?"

As iPhone in the bathroom people ourselves, we're into hearing about the weird process habits of other digital creatives, especially 1Tim Street.

"Zombies, Vampires & Monsters: Fostering Loyal Genre Communities"

Is it the recession? Vampiremania is at an all time high and don't even ask about Comic Con. We wonder if there will be cosplay.

"Lifestreaming: The Next Great Social Media Frontier"

In a world where every minute detail of our lives is put on parade for all the world to see, the real question is "How do I get more publicly annoying, using current technology?" Lifestreaming? Why not...

"The Art of Shooting Tech: A Photographic Year in Review"

'Tis the season for SXSW panel Twitter deluge, or as one attuned tweeter put it, "How to Annoy Your Friends with Social Media Pestering to Vote for Your SXSW Panel."

Because we've also spent the better part of the morning slogging through the SXSWi panel goat rodeo (moment of Internet Zen: Yoga For Social Networkers anyone?), we've decided to post the top ten ones that have come across our radar, relevant to the L.A. Tech community and beyond.

Here they are, in no particular order:

• RIP Jeff Goldblum: Truth vs. Web BS
  With the LATimes' David Sarno as a possible panelist and Techmeme's Megan McCarthy as an organizer, this one is a must see for local L.A. news junkies.


• Trolls Suck. Anonymity's Fate & the Rise of Accountability
  On the Internet 2.0, everybody knows you're a dog.


• Can Marketing and PR Exist Without Competing?
  L.A.'s own P.R. maverick Nicole Jordan redefines the notion of P.R. Want more on the P.R track? Check out another locally focused panel Hooking Up with Hollywood: Riding the Studio's PR Machine
.

• Tweet-vivors: Social Media Conquers Cancer
  With prominent social media people like @drew and @jeffjarvis tweeting publicly about their health situations, social media and health care is definitely worth exploring.


• Social Media Marketing for Your Business
  Full disclosure, we're big fans of Yahoo's! Tony Adam. Want an alternative way to put your money where your tweets are? Check out "Making Money By Making Twitter Useful to Businesses" and "Social Media's Dirty Word: Money" and Secrets to Building a Thriving Business Through Community
  Show us the $$$$.
…More >>

Tags:

Austin, Die, interactive, P. Diddy, Panel, panelpicker, Pick, SXSW, SXSWi, tech, Texas, Vote

S. Taylor

Halo soldier reads up on Los Angeles at SXSWi ScreenBurn Arcade

Although we arrived back at LAX last night exhausted and missing Austin, we felt no symptoms of the dreaded SXSW SARS. Los Angeles was the new girl in town at SXSWi, and this was LAWeekly.com's first time covering Interactive. Judging from the barrage of tweets and the record number of people we recognized at the airport, both coming and going, it seemed like L.A. - a city which has taken a back seat traditionally when it comes to tech - won over the conference by sheer force of personality, presence, and goodwill. "Austin just became L.A.," as attendee Ashley Brown eloquently tweeted.

Not only did we seem to have the biggest presence, but also the most positive, which is not surprising when you consider that Los Angeles offers a fresh perspective as the new capital of content; our emergence as national new media force has built tremendous momentum over the past three years. While many other media outlets were all too ready to copy/paste "recession death knoll" sound bytes into their SXSW coverage, L.A. Times writer David Sarno compared his SXSW experience to the "beginning of spring," likening the resurgence of media to the change in the Austin weather from rain to sunshine over the course of the festival.

One of our favorite parts of SXSW thus far is that we got to meet and interact with the people that shaped our careers, hearts and minds (I'm talking to you Bill Wasik and Lawrence Lessig). Continuing in the same vein, we were thrilled at the chance to talk shop with tech ambassador and longtime Wall Street Journal reporter Julia Angwin (she wrote possibly the most endearing Twitter article we have ever read) after the panel on her new book, Stealing MySpace.

We've compiled some of the best moments below:

L.A. Weekly: So who exactly is "stealing MySpace"?

Julia Angwin: Well, MySpace stole the idea from Friendster so that's a given. What people don't know is that MySpace didn't know it was being sold to Rupert Murdoch. The sale happened behind their backs by their parent company Intermix. There was a complicated reason for it and it was a very fun and dramatic "down to the wire" negotiation.

Alltop CEO Guy Kawasaki gave a shout out to L.A. Weekly, the Village Voice and SF Weekly right before his March 17 SXSW keynote with Wired editor Chris Anderson regarding Anderson's upcoming book, Free. In Kawasaki's pre-keynote video interview above with Viddler.com, the interviewer (referring to Clay Shirky's treatise) asked Kawasaki how the concept of "free" applies to newspapers which she refers to as "essentially dead." Kawasaki said favorably of the Village Voice Media papers:

"I know a guy at the Village Voice in New York who, apparently between the L.A. Weekly and the San Francisco Weekly and the Village Voice, they're doing quite well. So there is a model to be had there... 'Quite well' there means record sales, so it's something to look at. It can be done. I don't think it's a situation where everything is going to die."

Erin Broadley

Kestrin Pantera in the {RV}IP lounge.

Some of the best discussions at SXSW Interactive happen in the corridors, where visionaries in their respective fields talk shop between panels and during cigarette breaks. I had the fortuity to be a party to one such conversation between Los Angeles musician and {RV}IP Lounge Executive Producer Kestrin Pantera and our own L.A. Weekly Web Editor Erin Broadley on the future of creative content. Quickly pulling out the TapeMe app on my iPhone, I managed to capture the spontaneous late night exchange between the two media minds (as well as a really poorly executed karaoke version of Nine Inch Nails' "Closer," if you know what I mean) on an Austin street corner outside the {RV}IP "party on wheels."

Erin Broadley: Why do you think [the entertainment community] has gotten itself in a position where ignoring the tech community is doing them a disservice?

Kestrin Pantera: It's a double-edged sword and a two way street. What is happening right now is that we're opening a channel of communication and figuring out how it works. Everyone has been hiding and trying to protect their content but it's the [tech] companies that have the platforms for distribution who are giving it away.

What: Inside view of Austin's only Rock & Roll Party Cab.

Location: Picked us up at 7th and Congress, travel time approximately 10 minutes in traffic to Magnolia Cafe.

Why we loved it: You can spot this cab easily because it's probably the only yellow Eurovan in all of Texas. That, and there's the music booming from massive speakers inside the vehicle, the black lights and the palm tree interior decor. We rode listening to Jay-Z but there are plenty of options for patrons to pick from on the cab's touchscreen jukebox.

Follow us on Twitter at @alexiatsotsis and @laweekly. Also, check out Village Voice Media's SXSW Festival site for more coverage.

It speaks volumes for the nature of a media industry event when, along with the requisite Diet Sodas and veggie plate, there are mini Colgate wisp toothbrushes given out at the concessions table. While we'll leave you to consider the implications of why you would need a mini toothbrush at a tech conference (their slogan is "Anytime, Anywhere") we also don't want you to miss out on the other random baubles we've managed to accumulate on our trip. Here's a list and pics of some strange things we found at the bottom of our handbags.

1. A URL stapled to a $1.00 bill
We haven't had time to go to the site but if you want to fall prey to their pretty brilliant marketing scheme then check out www.jdsxsw.com.

2. A nipple button (!!!)
Which reminds me of my favorite OH convo at SXSW:

Guy: How does it feel to be pretty and smart?

Girl: I'm more "smart and pretty." I don't have the boobs for "pretty and smart."

2nd Guy: It's all about the nipples anyways.

Erin Broadley

Mashable.com's Pete Cashmore

We were at it again last night, and the party pings did not stop coming. Bumping into Fast Company guru Robert Scoble and PR impresario Brian Solis in the Hilton Hotel lobby after listening to an enlightening Core Conversation organized by Digg's marketing muse Aubrey Sabala, we asked every tech luminary "where's the best place to go?" so you didn't have to.

The consensus was that the Mashable party at Six Lounge was where it was at so we put on our best shoes and plugged 117 4th street into our iPhones. The line for Mashable was crazy long (to no one's surprise) as Social Media phenom Pete Cashmore is somewhat of a hot property in the tech scene. The weather in Austin unexpectedly turned beautiful on Monday morning so the roof of Six Lounge was where most people congregated and we downed free drinks with the best of the best from L.A.'s tech scene and beyond, including TechZulu's Amanda Coolong, Rubicon Project's Nicole Jordan, tech paintball superstar Paige Craig, the aforementioned Brain Solis, Doug Campbell from Mindshare and the lovely Macala Wright from 1928 Jewelry.

Courtesy of Mashable.com and Wm. Marc Salsberry, @wmmarc

Julia Allison behind the decks at the Facebook party

After a full day of paneling and working hard to bring you fresh SXSW daily, we decided that it was time to play hard. Convening in the TechSet blogger lounge to debate where we were going to go we heard many a suggestion; the Google party, the Gawker party, the Facebook party and apparently a Guy Kawasaki party where you needed a special red bandanna to get in (we considered going to CVS to buy one and then decided just to wing it).