Legal Commentary

O.K., this will totally date me ? but one of the dumbest mistakes I made as a 20-something was to pass on the opportunity to go see the Monterey Jazz Festival because I wanted to go visit a potential boyfriend in Berkeley. Yes, that one ? 1967 ? where the likes of Janis Joplin and Jimmy Hendricks took the stage.

After reading Joe Maglitta's account of South by Southwest 2011, I'm definitely wishing that I had foresaken the miserable Northeast weather for a quick jaunt to Austin earlier this week. 

Say Maglitta at IBM-sponsored smartertechnology.com blog: No event better captures the mad American mashup of music, film, new media and emerging technology than the annual South by Southwest (SXSW) conference and festivals. Held each March in Austin, Texas, the 10-day hipster geekfest wrapped up its 25^th year on March 20."

A clue that it was definitely the place to be: Rocket Matter's hipper-than-hip top guns Larry Port and Ariel Jatib were there. Another hint: Sponsors include Microsoft, Google, Apple, Adobe, Samsung, and other household names, reports Maglitta. 

"Never heard of SXSW? (For heaven's sake, don't tell anyone, especially your 26-year-old boss.)  Even if you're not into celeb sniffing (Is that Jake Gyllenhaal? Danny DeVito?), striver panels ("What Would Lady Gaga Do?"), buzz-hungry bands (Yuck), awesome fantasy films ("Dragonslayer"), hoodies, chain smoking, skinny jeans or projectile vomiting, you need to know what's happening here, Gramps," observes Maglitta.

Hmmmm.... Maybe on second thought I'm glad I wasn't there. But then, take a look at some of the winners of the 2011 SXSW Interactive awards:

? Best in Show: GrouponWorks ? online discount coupons for collective buying (never mind the absolutely weird Super Bowl ads, this is a kewl concept. And while not necessarily congruent with our legal world (except possibly for the ambulance chasers and TV advertisers among us), Maglitta suggests the idea could go beyond getting discounts for manicures and happy hours: "Have you considered how Groupon (or similar) could bring your company's goods (or even IT services) to a wider (or targeted) geography or B2B community?  Resellers, partner programs, branch offices, this means you."

? Breakout Digital Trend: GroupMe - group messaging and conferencing. Now THIS is right up the alley for our crowd: "Somewhat ironically, GroupMe is basically a retro "friends and family" calling/texting app. You plunk out a message on your cell phone. Only those in your predefined inner circle can read it, check each other's geo location and photos, or hop on an automatically dialed conference call. Kind of like Facebook, only with people you actually want to communicate with ? and it's easier/cheaper than unified communications. Possible IT applications: ad hoc team collaboration, disaster recovery or emergency communications, Happy Hour planning, etc."  I see that an instant hit at any firm or corporate law department with more than one venue. In fact, in any shop big enough that you can't just wave or shout at your peers. 

? Community: iFixit: Love this one, kinda a combo help-desk and wikipedia for repair manuals.  

? Business: Get Satisfaction:   "Get Satisfaction offers a neat online community builder that helps you soothe customer gripes. The Enterprise version features domain aliasing, SLAs, integration with CRMs and more," explains Maglitta. Come to Mama!!

Read Joe Maglitta's full report here. 

Larry Port on the "little-understood and uner-appreciated role of design in software."