Back in November, SXSW Interactive announced that Jeffrey Zeldman would be the inaugural inductee into the Interactive Hall of Fame at the 2012 SXSW festival. For us, Zeldman is a natural choice and we're always happy to see his influence and insights recognized. Zeldman has been online since 1995, and his blog, Jeffrey Zeldman Presents the Daily Report, is one of the longest running continuously published personal sites on the Web. He also publishes A List Apart and acts as executive creative director at Happy Cog, a digital agency with three offices in the US. Oh, and Business Week calls him the "King of Web Standards."

The rest of the winners (in categories like Film/TV, Music, Business, Art and Community) will be announced this month. In addition to these categories, special honors will be given to sites for things like digital trends and people's choice. There will also be an award for the speaker of the festival who has the "biggest impact on the digital community." We'll keep our readers posted on the winners and more news around SXSW Interactive as it unfolds. more ›

SXSW updates abound here in Austin. First the bad news - prices are going up, most notably for the Interactive portion of the festival. more ›

If you’ve been in the Convention Center for South by Southwest even once in the past few years, you probably saw and maybe even talked to, a lot of panels (and dudes behind booths). It can be an exhilarating and incredibly useful set of inspiring individuals and just as easily turn to sleep-inducing sludge (you can always blame the beer). Perhaps this is why South by Southwest, being the innovators they are, give the audience the opportunity to tell them what panels to put on. more ›

After a late start to the morning due to the much discussed Daylight Saving Time debacle, it was worth the effort required to get to the convention center to see Paul Lamere from The Echo Nest present on Visual Music Discovery. We are currently in the midst of a digital music revolution - generally we are only 3 clicks away from any song, and pretty much anyone with a laptop can now make music. This gives music consumers a paralyzingly large amount of choices, making it hard to actively seek out good new tunes. Lamere shared results from a study he did with 5000 listeners, who had on average 3500 songs each. A stunning 65% of each person's library was never listened to! This led him to the realization that there needed to be a better way to explore your own musical library as well. more ›

A combination of hungover veterans and bright-eyed newcomers swarmed the Austin Convention Center Saturday morning for day 2 of SXSW Interactive. Another blustery day was met with excitement as more panel discussions and networking loomed ahead. Kicking off with The Last Broadcast: Entertainment is Social the panel was comprised of Intel employees as well as other smaller tech companies. The discussion fluidly switched topics from branding to current trends to implementations. The first key takeaway: Don't wash all negative comments on Facebook/Twitter/etc away. more ›

If you've ever been interested in the inner workings of the South by Southwest festival, or if you'd like to attend but simply don't have the cash for a badge, the festival has just issued their annual call for volunteers. Volunteers are a backbone of the festival, and the fest will trade you some perks (passes, wristbands, and the like) for working volunteer shifts during the event. more ›

The latest keynote speaker added to the lineup for South by Southwest Interactive is also the most adorable: actress, writer, and geek crush Felicia Day. more ›

The 2011 South by Southwest Interactive Festival gave fans their first glimpse at the upcoming program as it released the names of three keynote speakers and the first 200 panels. more ›

South by Southwest is a year-round phenomenon - especially to the organizers who work to put together the hundreds of discussions and panel presentations at the festival. So although it seems like SXSW just wrapped up, it's time to consider ideas for the 2011 event. more ›

Austinist photographer Steve Hopson has been running around town to give us a visual update from the SXSW Interactive conference. Enjoy! more ›

The South by Southwest Interactive Festival doesn't begin for another three days, but a theme is already emerging: tools that tell your friends where you're at and help you find other interesting folks around you. more ›

B.J. Novak (Ryan Howard on NBC's The Office) has been added to the lineup of the March 14 panel: "Comedy on Television and the Web". Organized by collegehumor.com founder Ricky Van Veen, the panel also features Sean Mills (the Onion), Keith Richman (break.com) and Meredith Scardino (Colbert Report). more ›

Are you familiar with micro-blogging? We weren't, until we took the time to Google "Twitter," the word that seems to be on everyone's busy lips. Twitter is a social networking site that enables users to quickly (and briefly) update their blog and subscribers via SMS, IM or third party application. Updates are 140 characters or less, and while many Twitterers utilize the service for relaying meaningless information regarding their day to day life, a few of them have found that passing along information in the form of short link-based posts, event notifications or emergency situation news items. The Los Angeles Fire Dept. uses Twitter as a means of communication - a lesson they learned after the 2007 wildfires. Democratic presidential candidates John Edwards and Barack Obama both use Twitter, too. more ›

SXSW is now accepting volunteer applications for 2008, and this year, veterans will have to update their records on the site in order to file. The site offers a simple three step process for starting or updating your volunteer information. more ›