With the endless to-do of today threatening to smother you, any help is certainly appreciated. How about a network of people bidding to take care of some of your day to day? In March (just in time for South By) the online marketplace will launch in Austin, after building their presence in Boston, Chicago, and on the West Coast over the past 3 or so years. So how does TaskRabbit work? more ›

The bad news for Austin-based security intelligence company Stratfor began on Christmas Eve, when the hacker collective Anonymous hacked their servers and posted 4,000 stolen credit card numbers. And now, a suit has surfaced against Stratfor for $50 million, directed to the 2.7 million customers whose information was hijacked. Stratfor has, in return, offered the plaintiff a firm $349, the cost of Stratfor's services. This huge dismissal may have something to do with the fact that the lawsuit was filed in New York, something Stratfor disagrees strongly with (we assume because they make terrible salsa?). They filed a countersuit Monday to have all hearings moved to Texas where the hack "occurred." more ›

Though getting a job at the interactive festival used to involve a little luck and more legwork than it was often worth (sort of like being a Private Eye at the circus), the grooming and handshakes can now be saved for the first ever Tech Career Expo at SXSW. The official expo will be held at Austin Music Hall on March 9th and 10th and will be available to the 20,000 plus attendees as well as any locals who won't be throwing down for a badge this year, but are looking for work nonetheless. Engage Digital, who is putting on the event (they also do the excellent GDC) has confirmed 24 companies have joined so far and expect 10 to 20 more by the curtain. There's a boatload of jobs on their already (that's MR. Data Scientist to you) and only two companies have posted so far. more ›

The hardworking dads fighting to "take back paternity" now have some hardware to help them in their quest. DadLabs can now put (fasten securely) their IAWTV award on the coveted mantle space. The International Academy of Web Television Awards presented the Austin-based show with their Best Educational Series award (a bronze-casted series of tubes), the very first IAWTA award given by the newly formed academy. DadLabs formed in 2004 when a group of filmmakers who happened to be fathers (or is that the other way around) decided to take their parenting experience to the Internet in an attempt "to be the voice of the new fatherhood," through a plethora (800+ to date) of funny and short instructional videos on everything from baby gadgets to swear alternatives. more ›

At the Apple live education event today, the tech giant announced three major items: iBooks2, iBooks Author, and iTunes U. Here's a quick rundown. iTunes U offers full courses with video, documents, apps and book. Users can see a syllabus and follow assignments while teachers create posts and update tasks. Its integrated with iBooks notes. iBooks 2 (free) is Apple's attempt at "reinventing the textbook". Citing the iPad's already astounding impact on teachers and students (1.5 iPads in schools, over 20,000 apps used), the app enables you to "read in a text-heavy portrait or picture-biased landscape mode and there's also the option to have random pop-quizzes appear to keep you on your toes. Annotations is an integral part of the system: you can add stickies to individual pages and aggregate them into virtual 3 x 5-inch note-cards for revision during finals. You'll also get the same purchase, download and re-download rights you enjoy in the company's other stores." iBooks Author (free) allows you to start with a simple template and create an iBook with minimal tech know-how. Users will combine their templates, photos, presentations, widgets and videos using HTML5, JavaScript and publish to the iBookstore. Follow the conversation about Apple's announcements this morning and learn more about the new education-focused applications at Macworld, Slashgear, TechCrunch and Engadget. more ›

Pages on the internet looked a little different yesterday - blacked out images and text ran rampant, in an attempt to emulate what might happen if two major bills pass through legislation. SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (Protect IP Act) are broad approaches backed by the likes of RIAA, MPAA, Sony, and other large entertainment companies seeking to protect creative content under copyright, especially from foreign websites that make licensed content like movies and music available for free. more ›

Thomas Dolby has been busy: his latest album, Map of the Floating City and its accompanying game, FloatingCity.com have inspired a new tour which will kick off at this year's SXSW Festival. On March 16 (no word on venue yet), Dolby will roll into town to perform, but he'll have a unique contraption in tow: his time capsule. Fans at the show will have an opportunity to “make their own fully produced and effected digital 30-second video clip”, a message to the future, which will be uploaded to Dolby's YouTube channel. Prizes will be given for the clips with the most views. The capsule itself is a "chrome- and brass-plated road trailer that seats three. With handcrafted leather and wood fittings, and complex electrical wiring that could have been designed by Nikola Tesla, it resembles a Jules Verne/HG Wells-inspired time-travel machine." Inside, however, it's nothing but modern technology, hosting a "high-tech" video recording suite. The clips will be combined at the end of the tour to create an over-arching montage of messages to the future. Sounds fun, and as Dolby says, "Our species may not be around on this planet much longer, so you might as well leave a welcome message for the next guys!” Read more here. more ›

You've definitely never seen a movie like this. Even if you've already seen this movie when it premiered at Austin Film Festival in 2009. That's because directors Rafael Antonio Ruiz and Lowell Bartholomee have re-edited and repackaged their release with a daring new strategy in mind. You can download the first 15 minutes of their film Holy Hell for free. That is to say, legally and straight onto your iPad. After downloading the Holy Hell app, you can watch the first 15 gratis, and if you like what you see, buy the remaining five of what they call chapters (but sound a bit more in line with the idea of episodes). more ›

With help from internet support around the country, Austin start-up White Whale games has raised the funds needed to see their 2.5D side scrolling fantasy epic through to its fantastic and epic conclusion. And the developers haven't let their all-consuming obsession with designing keep them from being cordial. On Thursday January 12th, they will pack Dive Bar with dancing shoes (boots?), as "God of Blades" composer Justin Kovar plays retro fantasy dance numbers, as well as some of his work from the game. More importantly, White Whale will be holding a public preview of the build (so far) for the patiently waiting. more ›

Great news KLRU fans! You can now take a piece of KLRU with you wherever you go with their recently released iPhone and iPad application. Watch over 1,000 videos, including full episodes, and a schedule updated daily. Yes, you can watch full episodes of some of your favorite locally produced programs like Austin City Limits, The Daytripper, Arts In Context, Central Texas Gardener and Overheard with Evan Smith. Grab the app here (no word on Android availability yet). more ›

The Austin Chamber of Commerce plowed through all the local startups and picked a 2012 A-List. Check out the slideshare above with their choices, or grab the PDF here. Inspired by Leonardo DiCaprio's "Black List" for hot film ideas, the chamber hopes that their A-List will become a similar guide for investors. Some standouts we know of from this list include TabbedOut, Invodo, Adlucent and FanTrail. For more information on Texas startups, visit Startup Texas. more ›

If you're feeling like a sub-par geek because you haven't been invited to speak at TEDx this year (Feb. 11 at Austin Music Hall), fear not. Stacy Weitzner and her team have devised a simple way you can weasel your way in. Simply take the theme of this year's event to heart: "Beyond Measure." According to TEDx, the theme is meant to help us consider “the implications of an ever-accelerating pace of innovation in technology, information and the way we live our lives.” What does this mean to you? Find a creative way to share it in an 18-second video, and your efforts could be rewarded at the event. Watch the video below for more information, and don't skip this part: “Think about what BEYOND MEASURE means to you, and then use your phone, camera or web-cam to record an 18-second TED talk and post your video to youtube. VERY IMPORTANT: make sure to tag or title your video with the keyword tedxaustin18, and we’ll make sure to feature it either on our website or at our live event!” Follow the jump to watch the video. more ›

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 ›

Next time you’re flying from Houston to Amsterdam, KLM will have an extra incentive for you. Starting next year, the airline will give passengers the option to use Facebook and LinkedIn to choose seatmates. Combined with complimentary wine at each meal and digestifs after each meal, this could be an easy ticket into that exclusive mile high club. Obvious perks such as choosing a seat next to that Ryan Gosling or Adriana Lima lookalike aside, we can think of other ways this can work advantageously. more ›

Want to go out and drink but don't want to waste any time at bars that aren't full of hunks or babes...or maybe you've decided your usual haunts aren't nearly as Cougar- or Dilf-ish as you'd like? SceneTap aims to fix all this confusion and save you the time bar hopping so you have longer to put out the vibe. more ›

After a week of crumbling stock and mergers and American Airlines stepping from behind the curtain, it's time for a pick me up. Samsung's Northeast Austin complex, which is responsible for the production of silicon microchips, looks on target to set a company record. Their system chips for mobile devices are in high demand as the race to make the first phone to pass the turing test heats up. Their main customer? Yet another big tech company in the area, Apple. more ›

Though Facebook isn't yet commenting on the matter, CNN is reporting that Austin's Gowalla has been acquired by the social media giant. According to CNN, most of the local team, including CEO Josh Williams, will move to Palo Alto to help Facebook develop their new Timeline feature. Despite raising millions in recent years, Gowalla wasn't able to knock rival FourSquare out of the ring, and has recently redressed itself as more of a discovery tool rather than a simple check-in service. An unidentified Gowalla insider reported, "It's a perfect match. As far as the big picture, Gowalla's vision is about people telling stories, and Facebook's vision for Timeline is about stories about important moments in life." Maybe so, but by connecting with Facebook, it feels like the purchase is more of a bid to re-ignite competition with FourSquare. Especially considering Facebook's seeming impotence in the check-in world. By combining check-ins with a more robust day-in-the-life timeline application, Facebook positions itself as a more powerful option for users willing to set aside a certain amount of privacy in order to document their lives. Does any of this mean something special for Gowalla? It remains to be seen, but the purchase -- whatever the amount -- might be a cause for celebration tonight for the fledgling business. Regardless of how anyone dresses it as a win for the young start-up, it's always a shame to see talented minds and best-in-class developers leave Austin for supposed greener pastures. more ›

If you've yet to see the painstakingly gorgeous backgrounds of Austin's newest game developer's God of Blades, then you owe yourself a gander. more ›

Back in September, the annual Facebook f8 conference gathered internet gods and tech geeks alike to discuss the latest products that will transform the online social life of Facebook users. One of this year’s hot topics was the Open Graph scheme, which has changed the way Facebook user’s share and discover new content. more ›

It’s a tough time to be a bank, but even more so when a major social network launches business pages that it seems anyone can create. more ›

Mass Relevance has partnered with the indomitable internet force(light or dark?) that is Twitter. The Austin-based company has been working with Twitter for months now, but Monday marks a huge step forward in terms of the scope of their business, as their partnership will allow them to offer their services with the official stamp of approval. more ›

"I'm Getting Arrested" is an (Android only, for now) app that enables users to notify contacts that they're being arrested at an Occupy protest. It was created by a developer in Brooklyn as a gift to protesting friends. The process is simple: a user can use the app to send a message to people letting them know they're being arrested. The user will have created a distro list in advance -- their lawyer, mother, etc. -- and the message will automatically go to those individuals. It's designed to move fast: just one button and a message goes out, so many folks can get to work on your bail before the cuffs go on. If you're not an Android user, you might want to check out YNN's suggestion, v.SOS, which costs money but can send out messages to a list of contacts in case of emergency as well. more ›

Austin-based DMX has announced a partnership with Pandora to offer personalized internet radio for businesses. The announcement today comes after years of companies reaching out to Pandora for a commercial solution; a part of their business that Pandora was not quite ready to move into on their own. That's where DMX comes in. For those who aren't familiar with DMX (no not that one) they are a brand enhancing company with a long history working in video, system design, promotion, and most intensely, with music licensing. more ›

The first-ever mobile version of the festival schedule, which always seems destined for ruin in its paper form, was released on Tuesday. And with the festival growing to three days plus the addition of FFF Nites, the timing couldn't have been better. The app features the standard fare, scrollable version of the schedule, organizable by time or stage and the crucial custom schedule that makes festival apps so great (especially for the easily distracted and easily intoxicated). In addition, the app features a pretty extensive list of taco spots in Austin, a transportation guide to get you to said tacos, and a photo feature that allows you to share pictures of the aforementioned using Instagram (or anything FFF related). It's smart, it's easy but mostly it's the best tool you've got for making this the smoothest fest yet. It's available for download from the iTunes store, and you can expect more surprises from the hardworking festival before November. more ›

The little company that could has been blowing up over the past few years with highly rated, small team developed games like 'Maw' and 'Mr. Splosion Man'. But it was the recent dropping of the kinect shooter 'Gunstringer' that must have really caught the eye of Microsoft Studios, who own the developers as of yesterday. Little is expected to change (except the funding). Twisted Pixel will stay in its South Austin Location and doesn't plan to rework it's design tactics much, though they will benefit from the long arm of distribution. Expect more of the same quirky Xbox Live games you have become addicted to, with an emphasis on more. Read more at the Austin-American Statesman here. more ›

Almost a month ago now, Netflix users received the email that very nonchalantly informed them that they would be paying the same price for each of the now separate services they were offered only days before. This seemed at the time to be a very confusing and backhanded way of charging everyone double for nothing. Roaring was generally directed upward. People left Netflix. Things got weird. Now early this morning, CEO Reed Hastings quickly upped the crazy ante. Those of us who enjoyed the dual nature of Netflix enough to just suck it up and pay double will now be thwarted as well. Netflix will now split into two companies, changing their namesake DVD-by-mail company into the horrifically named and misspelled Qwikster, while their relatively new (though incredibly popular) streaming service will keep the enormous name recognition. more ›

When most people think of green energy and growing, they probably do most of their thinking on dry land. This is no surprise. in fact, it's quite easy to forget about our autotrophic friend, algae, peeking out from the water to say hello. Especially when in extreme cases, algal floods and their abundant decomposition in the pond or lake kills all of the fish, tadpoles and worms within(but don't blame the algae, phosphorus and nitrogen runoff invited them to the party). Algeternal, located just outside of Austin in Weimar, hopes to reconnect the people with algae in a big way. They are soon to open a facility in the JJ Pickles Research Campus at UT, where they plan to grow a large amount of algae in a small space, using a vertical method that involves glass tubes, a process reminiscent of restructured mushroom farms with just a handful more of the precise technology needed with carbon fixing phototrophs (temperamental photosynthesizers). more ›

Monday marked the whimpering death of the heavy-handed lawsuit of Facebook against local comedy blog Lamebook. The two companies have settled out of court with the stipulation that Lamebook add a disclaimer that there is no affiliation between the two. The site is just one of a handful targeted by Facebook in the past year including the educational Teachbook and the pornographic Facebook of Sex and Shagbook. And has even tried to trademark words like "face" and "book" (both of which were terribly unpopular before the company), and Apple has been of a like mind with the attempted trademark of the prefix "i." more ›

The company with the irrepressible tag-line and the adorable logo announced a new studio in Austin this week. We are told the new location will not act as a branch of their Mountain View headquarters, but as an autonomous development team tasked with working on Evernote's soon-to-be expanding family of programs (like the almost unbearably cute and addicting Evernote Peek.). Many of the company's developers have lived and worked here earlier in their careers, so after raising a staggering 50 million for acquisitions and buying sketch app Skitch a couple weeks ago, this new location is a sign that everything's going to plan for the note-taking engine. more ›