In what appears to be a first in the growing music festival arena, Lollapalooza recently announced HackLolla, an exciting opportunity for software developers to create mobile, web and desktop applications to enhance the festival fan's experience. The coding challenge began on Friday and runs through June 24, with the chance to win flights, a hotel room and VIP tickets for 2 to Lollapalooza! more ›

I've been lurking around SXSW Interactive for several years now, and I've definitely observed a higher than normal kilt-wearing to non-kilt-wearing ratio. I'd always figured it was just an anomaly of geekdom. Little did I know, there's actually a method to the kilted madness. And this year there's even a marketing strategy. Austin-based tech guys Alex Jones, Pat Ramsey, Tom Myer, Simon Salt and Baconator have banded together to form 5 Guys in Kilts, an unconventional marketing collaborative built on their massive online followings, their passions for sharing ideas, their rare, geeky extroversion and of course, their wearing of kilts. The goal? To promote some of Austin's most interesting companies in an effort to keep some of the big bucks in Austin after the SXSW-ers pull out of town. Oh, and to get free drinks, too. more ›

Qrank, the current-affairs trivia quiz that has become a social media sensation, has increased the head-to-head aspect of competition for version 2.0 of the game, which launched last week. more ›

The effort to redesign the City of Austin website has hit a significant milestone, and the team is now looking to the public for some feedback on proposed designs. more ›

An Austin technology company has teamed with the Round Rock Express to make it easier for you to get food and drinks while at the ballgame. You can now look at the menu, place your order, and pay without leaving your seat. more ›

If you're old enough to remember the video game systems of the 1980s (we are), then you'll be thrilled by these maps created by web developer Brett Camper. Best of all, our humble hometown is included in the set of zoomable city layouts. more ›

Samsung will spend $3.6 billion to expand the capacity of its semiconductor fabrication plant off Parmer Lane in northeast Austin, generating 500 permanent jobs in the process. more ›

For the second straight year, a group of local technology folks are working to provide Central Texas children with free computers. more ›

As Austin's Tanner Sandlin was reading a story about rare video games, one of the titles on the list jumped out at him: Air Raid for the Atari 2600. He had a copy of that game in his garage. "How much could it be worth?" he wondered. Try $31,600. more ›

The Austin Chamber of Commerce's Austin Now site has been nominated for a Webby Award, one of the longest-running honors for excellence online. more ›

Worldwide information technology company Unisys plans to close its Austin help desk center this fall, a move that will put 250 people out of work. The shutdown is planned for September 30, according to News8Austin. The station reported that the company said the closure of the location at 5700 South Mopac is part of its reorganization and a way to cut expenses. Some employees will be offered transfers to Salt Lake City and Rochester, NY. [News8Austin] more ›

The Austin Center for Design is holding a virtual open house via webcast from 6-7 pm on Thursday. Center director Jon Kolko will talk about this program, which teaches how to apply design thinking to cultural problems. more ›

We found this guy wandering around the SXSW Web Awards Pre-Party last week. He had his own badge and everything. You can follow his adventures on Twitter: @thetweeture. more ›

Last week at SXSWi, Nicholas Carr spoke about his new book, The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains. It's coming out later this spring. In total internet fashion, I asked him for a quick summary: more ›

Police have filed computer intrusion charges against 20-year-old Omar Ramos-Lopez after he used a web-based vehicle-immobilization system to disable more than 100 cars in the Austin area. more ›

Emergency alarms went off just after 5 pm at the Austin Convention Center. Officials quickly determined it was a false alarm, but many on the first day of SXSW Interactive took the opportunity to get an early start on evening parties. more ›

If you've got a pass to South by Southwest Interactive, we invite you to stop by a couple of panels featuring Austinist writers. more ›

Most folks come to South by Southwest Interactive to meet people, promote their business, drink a little bit and maybe even learn a thing or two. But for 32 young companies, SXSW Interactive represents a head-to-head competition to be the next big thing. 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 ›

City officials are preparing their official response to Google to illustrate why Austin is the best place for the high-speed service. Now there's a website - BigGigAustin.org - that gives the community a chance to chime in as well. more ›

Facebook is opening a 200-person sales and operations office in Austin, thanks to a $1.4 million investment from the Texas Enterprise Fund. more ›

Google is planning to test ultra-high speed broadband networks in select communities that would deliver speeds more than 100 times faster than most people get today. And you can nominate your city or neighborhood for as a test market. more ›

Your iPhone can help you find a local restaurant or bar, so why can't it let you pay your tab at the end of the night? Local software firm ATX Innovation proves that it can with TabbedOut. more ›

Some of Austin's leaders in the high-tech community take the stage tonight for a series of rapid-fire presentations as part of the initial Ignite Austin event. more ›

• California's gay marriage ban on trial
• Harry Reid's Obama comments, again
• Yeah, that Facebook bra color thing?

• Two senators and a governor said they would not seek re-election in 2010
• Yemen captures key Al-Qaeda chief as embassies reopen
• Google debuts Android-powered Nexus One ‘superphone’

The iPhone app of 2010 is like the website of the late 1990s: every entity worth its salt has one. As of today, count the University of Texas among those joining the iPhone app ranks. more ›

Tablet computers -- touchscreen devices that are larger than a phone but smaller than a laptop -- are the hot tech topic of 2010. Speculation is rampant that Apple will debut a tablet later this year, but Freescale isn't waiting around. They've debuted a design today that they believe can sell for around $200. more ›

IBM gave itself something nice for Christmas with a holiday acquisition of Austin's Lombardi Software, a company that makes software for automating functions such as supply chain management and human resources. more ›

The Statesman.com and Austin360.com website got a new look today. At the center of the redesign is a display that rotates throughout the top stories of the day and offers both photos and video. There are a few behind-the-scenes changes that should make the sites easier to use. Search functionality has been updated to include results from both Statesman.com and Austin360.com, and the commenting functions allow more options for social media, filtering and reporting abuse. more ›