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Companies to watch, from the SXSW trade show floor

Victor Agreda, Jr. — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 20:00:00 EST

After a tour of the SXSW trade show floor, here are some of the companies we'll be profiling in the coming weeks. Of course, there's always a mix of companies at SXSW: some film, some music, many web services -- but far fewer social media companies than last year.

We've covered RedLaser and LaCie in the past, and while LaCie has new products (more hard drives, surprise!) and RedLaser has gone local, I'm going to focus on a few mobile apps and accessories you might not have heard of yet.

On the hardware front, there's a portable second monitor solution called CINQ on display. The CINQ attaches to your laptop screen with a sort of clamp, and it only needs a USB port to get video and power. It supports 1280x720 resolution and weighs a mere 15 oz. For a 10.1" secondary screen, that's not bad. I felt the backlight was a bit weak, but as someone who often enjoys working with two screens, it might be a portable solution for frequent travelers. Then again, at US$249 (and not available until a few months from now), it won't be cheap.

Perhaps the most intriguing and useful product I saw was from a company launched a couple of weeks ago. LifeProof enters a shockingly small market of durable, water-and-dirt-proof iPhone cases. Nowhere near as bulky as similar offerings from OtterBox and Griffin, the LifeProof case is shockproof (tested to 2 meters), waterproof down to 6 feet and keeps sand, mud and grit away. Based on the demo units sealed in with various elements, and my examination of the case, I would say this is an excellent "every day" use case for people who work outside. It also looks ideal if you climb, mountain bike or swim regularly. Shipping in a few weeks, the LifeProof case will cost $69.95.

I also had a quick chat with one of the three indie developers of TapCity, what looks to be a fun game ~~coming soon~~ available now on the App Store. You're able to "take over" locations, earn "rent" as people check in, or conduct battles for locations -- all with cute cartoon graphics of real places around you. No word on how many cities will be supported at launch, but we'll try to get a look at it soon.

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Companies to watch, from the SXSW trade show floor originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 15 Mar 2011 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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AT&T plans for SXSW 2010

Mike Schramm — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 20:00:00 EST

Happy March! The super hip and trendy South-by-Southwest music and tech festival is coming up this month, and like many tech conventions these days, AT&T is working on a plan to keep their network up and running as thousands of iPhones descend on Austin, Texas to send around voice, texts, and data.

GigaOM has a little insight into how they're planning to do it this year, and if you're interested in the nuts-and-bolts of keeping a cell phone network up and running (or at least trying to -- this is AT&T, after all), it's worth a read. They're beefing up the cell towers in the city's vicinity, setting up a whole new system around the convention center itself, and putting money into the backend as well, to try and increase bandwidth coming into the region. I don't know if they've done anything like this before (I can't really judge with Macworld -- while my iPhone worked fine most of the time, I still only have a 1G, and I was using Sprint MiFi on my Macbook most of the time), but it sounds like a pretty comprehensive setup.

Of course, the other reason AT&T is pushing to get ready for SXSW is that the convention has become sort of an unofficial testing ground for the next big social apps. A few years ago, Twitter made its first big push around SXSW, and last year, Foursquare was the app to use (which has since spawned a brand new genre of app, the "check-in" network). So what's going to be the app pushing data through the AT&T network this year? The buzz so far is around Twitter's coming ad platform, though it's hard to think that an ad platform could be a killer app. My money's on some sort of location-based social game -- while Foursquare has gaming elements, I think an app like MyTown could take the concept even farther, and we still haven't really seen an actual GPS-based RPG or MMO break out. Even those of us who aren't at SXSW this year will be paying attention to what people are doing on their iPhones there, because odds are good that the app that clicks with attendees there will be what we're all playing with in a few months.

AT&T plans for SXSW 2010 originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 01 Mar 2010 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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TUAW: On the ground @SXSW

Chris Ullrich — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 15:30:00 EST

Over the years, Texas has been associated with many things: big guns, big hair, big hats, big hearts and pretty much big everything else. In recent years, Texas, and in particular the city of Austin, has also been known for hosting one of the fastest growing film, music and interactive festivals in the country. That festival is, of course, South by Southwest. Or, as its more commonly known to those "in the know": SXSW.

Along with our pals at Download Squad, TUAW will be bringing you some of the sites, sounds and Mac-related news from the Interactive and film parts of the fest starting today and running through next week. So, check back here at TUAW and at Download Squad for all the latest.

Also, be sure to follow our team of intrepid bloggers on Twitter to get even more scoop on the fest. Here's the details: Nik Fletcher - @nikf, Christina Warren - @film_girl, Grant Robertson - @grobertson, Victor Agreda, Jr. - @vagredajr and me, Chris Ullrich - @chrisu.

TUAW: On the ground @SXSW originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 13 Mar 2009 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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