This year, South by Southwest Interactive - the tech expo that precedes the SXSW music and film festival in Austin, Texas - was just packed with startups vying for attention and funding as ever. Here's a rundown of the winners among the crowd.
He's one of the most dominant drug lords of all time, making Forbes' list of Most Powerful People, and before the culmination of a 13-year manhunt, Mexican kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman ("Shorty" Guzman) had maintained his freedom by building escape tunnels under bathtubs, hiding in sewers and using sophisticated high-tech tools to perform counterespionage measures.
Casting multiple villains in a superhero movie is a dangerous move as fans sometimes feel the movie is spread too thin while their favorite villain gets diminished screen time. Marc Webb, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 director, however, is confident that he's got the formula down.
On Monday, the ex-National Security Agency contractor who leaked a trove of more than a million top-secret documents to the press in 2013 - leading to an avalanche of revelations about the U.S. cyberspy agency's activities - took the (virtual) stage at South by Southwest.
Latinos in technology had a presence at South by Southwest Interactive this year, with varying degrees of turnout and success. Sessions at the SXSW Latinos in Technology pre-conference focused on how modern technology affects Latino communities, while at the same time feeling a little left out of the SXSW community.
Mariachi music is an essential part of Mexican life and culture; it tells the story of heartache, anguish and involves the craft of storytelling, but with this traditional genre comes a lot of male pride and ownership, a challenge that talented female musicians have faced since the 1950s. SXSW 2014 is featuring films that highlight the powerful females in Mariachi movement.
Often, Disney Channel stars go out of their way to show they are no longer children entertainers. The stars of High School Musical, however, are an exception and are apparently not too big, old or famous to do a reunion movie.
On Saturday, the Veronica Mars movie premiered at SXSW. The film, which is a continuation of the The WB's 64 episode 2004-2007 television series, was funded by excited fans, but perhaps none are more excited than director Rob Thomas.f
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange kicked off the South by Southwest Interactive conference on Saturday with a Skype-powered video chat with the tech geeks gathered in Austin, TX. Speaking from his imposed house arrest in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, Assange talked with SXSW attendees about his life, the National Security Agency, and the new era of journalism and activism.
South by Southwest Interactive has always been seen as the hip place to go to learn about the next big Silicon Valley startup, but the tone and focus has changed a little this year. The festival is toning down the "trendy" and enlarging its international focus, along with taking on some serious issues in technology.
SXSW Interactive is becoming more international, but this time other countries don't just want to report back to its citizens, instead they want to show off what they are made of from start-ups to new, innovative ideas -- thus making for more competitive contenders on a global scale.
After almost three decades, SXSW (South by Southwest) has taken over Austin, Texas, in a funky, niche-driven celebration of the arts and technology in a creative way, bringing a medley of music, film and comedy to the masses to those who can afford a ticket.
But if you are unable to pony up the dough for the entire line-up, there is a new angle that just might change your mind, especially if you are Latino/a and you are into technology and/or have launched a start-up. A new day-long event that precedes SXSW 2014 has been added to the mix and focuses on Latinos and technology.
