By Mae Anderson, Technology Writer
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) --A live-streaming app called Meerkat, calls to online activism and pedicabs with a "Game of Thrones" Iron throne seat were the top topics of conversation at South by Southwest over the weekend, as 33,000-plus members of the technology, marketing and media industries poured into Austin, Texas.
"You never know what's around the corner at South By Southwest, it could be a small thing or it could be life changing," said David Rubin, Pinterest's head of brand, at the social media company's annual barbecue on Saturday. He said the festival is a good place to schmooze with clients and do some recruiting.
"Pinterest is about creativity and the employee base is quirky and interesting, so it's a good place to meet potential employees," he said.
The five-day festival is not yet half over, but buzz-worthy trends are already emerging. Here's a look at top topics so far at the annual gathering of the Technorati.
LIVE-STREAMING APPS
An app called Meerkat is dominating conversations. The simple app allows people to live stream anything at the touch of a button. The app used to let users automatically Tweet live streams too, but that came to a stop after Twitter confirmed Friday it acquired Periscope, a Meerkat rival, for undisclosed terms and limited Meerkat's access to Twitter.
At a panel Friday about government patents, U.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker had used Meerkat to stream her official swearing in of the new chief of the U.S. Patent and Trademark office Michelle Lee on Twitter. "Being the first @cabinet official to share key events on this exciting new platform," she tweeted. Countless others streamed other panels and events.
Meanwhile, rival live-streaming app Stre.am is a finalist for SXSW's innovation awards.
ONLINE ACTIVISM
Some major political figures are using the festival to call for online activism. Former Vice President Al Gore gave a rousing talk about the need for urgent action on climate change on Friday. Gore called upon SXSW attendees to get involved in supporting climate change legislation ahead of environmental talks in Paris in December.
"We are at a fork in the road, we can win this, but it requires passion," he said.
In a keynote on Saturday, Princess Reema Bint Bandar Al Saud of Saudi Arabia discussed her efforts to bring women into the workplace and announced a new breast cancer awareness campaign that will rely on social and mobile media to spread the word in the Middle East, including the Twitter-ready hashtag #10ksa.
Often in the Middle East, "a woman doesn't want to admit unhealthy status," she said. "There are larger cultural issues involved to talk about breast cancer."
CORPORATE STUNTS
Promotions are everywhere. HBO's "Game of Thrones" is employing pedicabs with Iron-Throne seats and hosting "SXSWesteros," an event site that serves a "Game of Thrones" beer and allows fans a chance to sit on the show's Iron Throne.
Meanwhile, smartphone battery pack maker Mophie created buzz with St. Bernard dogs that "rescued" more than 300 festival-goers low on batteries when they tweeted a plea for help to Mophie. The dogs, all locally owned by people in Austin, are part of the St. Bernard's Rescue Foundation, which was created to raise awareness about rescue dogs.
"People don't get exposure to St. Bernard's ever," said Mophie spokesman Kevin Malinowski. "People get them as puppies when they're so cute, but once they grow up they can't handle them, so this is almost an education."
RUSSELL BRAND'S NO-SHOW
A documentary about actor Russell Brand, called "Brand, a Second Coming," was a headliner for the film portion of the festival. Brand was set to appear at the Friday premiere and give a talk as well as discuss his daily YouTube show "Trews," in which he talks about news topics. But that day Brand announced on his blog that he wouldn't appear at the festival, saying he was uncomfortable with how the documentary turned out, and backed out of the talk.
"I apologise sincerely to the organisers of SXSW for my non-attendance, especially Janet Pierson, Brian Solis and Rynda Laurel from the interactive festival who were responsible for the keynote talk that I was due to do," he wrote in the blog post.
Google Opens Its Defense In Antitrust Case Alleging Monopoly Over Online Ad Technology
Google opened its defense against allegations that it holds an illegal monopoly on online advertising technology Friday with witness testimony saying the industry is vastly more complex and competitive than portrayed by the federal government.
"The industry has been exceptionally fluid over the last 18 years," said Scott Sheffer, a vice president for global partnerships at Google, the company's first witness at its antitrust trial in federal court in Alexandria.
The Justice Department and a coalition of states contend that Google built and maintained an illegal monopoly over the technology that facilitates the buying and selling of online ads seen by consumers.
Google counters that the government's case improperly focuses on a narrow type of online ads — essentially the rectangular ones that appear on the top and on the right-hand side of a webpage. In its opening statement, Google's lawyers said the Supreme Court has warned judges against taking action when dealing with rapidly emerging technology like what Sheffer described because of the risk of error or unintended consequences.
Google says defining the market so narrowly ignores the competition it faces from social media companies, Amazon, streaming TV providers and others who offer advertisers the means to reach online consumers.
Justice Department lawyers called witnesses to testify for two weeks before resting their case Friday afternoon, detailing the ways that automated ad exchanges conduct auctions in a matter of milliseconds to determine which ads are placed in front of which consumers and how much they cost.
The department contends the auctions are finessed in subtle ways that benefit Google to the exclusion of would-be competitors and in ways that prevent... Read More