South By's newest spawn will climb out of the waters next week for it's shot at taking the hugely successful conference franchise in one more direction. Over the middle of next week, Eco plans to focus on the challenges of our environment and its sustainability. Their 50 panels and keynote speakers will cover everything from local conservation of private land in Texas, to solving the global food and water problem and even features a panel about reshaping the lexicon of the movement(which interestingly features a panelist from Walmart). The words the panel has claimed are failing? Why, the very two we used in this article to describe the conference: environmental and sustainability. 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 ›

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 ›

Angela Chase said it best in My So-Called Life: "There's something about Sunday night that really makes you want to kill yourself." Well you know what she didn't have? The 16th Annual Austin Film Festival. Here are our picks for the AFF Sunday happenings that will make you so incredibly thankful to be alive today. more ›

Excitement and anticipation was thick in the air last night as Austin Film Festival goers began to claim their badges and passes. Today is the first day of AFF 2009, and while it starts a little bit later than all the other days, there is still a lot of content to pack in this afternoon. Here are the things we think you should ink in on your schedule. more ›

The people-powered side of selecting panels for next year's South by Southwest Festival opened today as the SXSW Panel Picker came online. more ›

Those are the issues that will be explored at the South by Southwest Interactive panel discussion: "Is Privacy Dead or Just Very Confused?" One of the panelists, Siva Vaidhyanathan, who earned his undergraduate and doctoral degrees from the University of Texas, answered a few questions via email in advance of Saturday's session. (Disclosure: Siva and I worked together at The Daily Texan back in the mid-1980s.) more ›

The folks on Monday's SXSW Interactive panel discussion, "Building a Web Business After Hours," will try to answer that question. All of the panel members have co-founded a company while facing the same pressures of time, money and family that all of us encounter. more ›

David Wain is perhaps best known for directing the cult classic Wet Hot American Summer and working on the short-lived Comedy Central series Stella--both of which, Wain didn’t mind telling us, were “financial disasters.” (Released in 2001, Wet Hot American Summer just managed to turn a profit this year, through DVD sales.) Wain was in town to promote his Paul Rudd-Sean William Scott comedy Role Models. more ›