The drones produced by the University of North Texas were modified to create an aerial network providing wifi below.

Many of you readers have probably never heard of South by Southwest, commonly referred to as the abbreviated SXSW, a tech conference held yearly in the capital of Texas, Austin. I first heard of the conference in 2013. I had just arrived back in Mauritius but SXSW was already making waves through the digital portal I avidly followed: Mashable.

Through the present article, I will take you to the very heart of tech development in the USA. How thousands of people meet in Austin over a week to discuss, comment and showcase new developments in the technology scene. This year promised to be epic with the mention of J.J. Abrams giving a keynote on the future of entertainment, US Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx and hundreds of other illustrious thinkers and, a few days before the event, President Obama was due to discuss a keynote on encryption and data privacy.

Getting there and costs

Book your tickets way in advance!!!

I cannot underline this enough especially when attending such a popular event! Sign up to the event’s newsletter on their website sxsw.com to get the latest news on promotions and early bird deals. I had booked my ticket back in October 2015 when it costed $925.00. If you waited until the week before, like my unfortunate American friend did, the price went up to $1250.00.

Austin is literally on the other side of the world especially if you’re travelling from Mauritius; so, the first part of the journey costs Rs. 37,650 for an economy seat aboard Air Mauritius to London.

The SXSW tradeshow is possibly the most delightful and full of brilliant innovations.
 

 Since the end of 2015, the American government does not accept anyone without a biometric passport to enter the country. I am not sure whether you can get a Mauritian biometric passport but I am lucky enough to have a dual nationality and entered USA with my British biometric passport. You will also have to make an ESTA (Electronic System for Travel Authorization) which will cost you $14.00, make sure you use the correct website as they are many fakes: https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/esta/. This is the American version of a visa and can be completed rapidly on yourmobile, tablet or laptop. You will need one before boarding into USA.

The second part of the journey will take you another 11 hours or so and costed Rs. 30,500 return from USA to London.

This is where Uber really comes in handy for cheap transportation. A SXSW ticket will give you access to preferential hotel deals and make sure you’re in downtown Austin! I did the unfortunate mistake of booking an Airbnb that was in north Austin which costed me $494.74 for seven days. Additionally, you’ll probably require to spend an average of $20 with Uber and $50-100 per day if you’re having breakfast, lunch and dinner outdoors. I only had breakfast and dinner, as the American pancakes were more than enough even for a guy with an apparent healthy appetite. Thank you Denny’s!

 The conference experience SXSW has three main categories divided into Music, Film and Interactive. My interest was in the Interactive part of the conference but I was not prepared given the sheer volume of discussions all managed by a wonderful app. A warning to everyone wishing to attend: you will not be able to attend/see everything! Out of the discussions I wanted to attend, I managed only 50% of them, often because of long queues. There’s A LOT of people attending but do not fear, there is still plenty of amazing things you can find around the conference centre. Determined to go see J.J Abrams’ keynote, the queue to enter the room winded around two floors and that was an hour before the keynote. Do not let this discourage you, find something as quickly as you can within your schedule but remember that you may have to walk (or rickshaw) your way to the different locations.

The weather

While the weather for that time of year is usually a mild 20 degrees Celsius, it was heavily raining when I first arrived in Texas. You will require a light jumper and definitely a light waterproof coat as the weather can change very swiftly in the same day.

 When the sun does come out, temperatures can reach up to 32 degrees Celsius – a high temperature, but it does not have the same high humidity we experience in Mauritius. Make sure you’re ready with shorts and tee-shirts. A bottle of water will never go amiss to keep you hydrated during the day.

Virtual Reality (VR)

This year, SXSW Interactive was dominated by VR (Virtual Reality). Unsurprisingly, VR is still being hotly debated on how it brings a new form of storytelling to life, giving the user the choice of being able to look in any direction he wishes. This is a problem for classic storytelling in video, news or films. It is with no surprise that the gaming industry has embraced this technology whole-heartedly. Sony announced its new headset will be released in October 2016, during this year’s SXSW which I believe will be the biggest game changer in the entertainment industry in years.

 Samsung was also heavily present promoting its Samsung VR headset. This seemed logical as I found out that the Korean tech giant had a huge facility not far from Austin. It also made sure to give preferential treatment to users of its mobile devices while I was left in a long queue to enter its special Samsung Gear VR Lounge because I was using an iPhone.

VR has also found its way into less conventional areas such as pornography being championed here by the American porn giant Naughty America. The flyer given to me while walking around the conference centre encouraged the attendees to come experience what VR porn was all about.

“As soon as the user wears a headset it immediately becomes Virtual Reality.”

 I was not quite sure what to make of the invite, the thought of being in an open space with an erection while being unable to witness what was going on in the real world made me somewhat uncomfortable. Probably that’s why they were supplying free beer to relax the viewers. I’m sure this type of experience will be hitting Mauritius very soon considering xvideos.com is currently ranked 15th most viewed site on the island according to the Alexa Rankings.

While VR tech is being exploited in many different forms, during the discussion ‘Ultimate Empathy Machine: 360 Storytelling in VR’, hosted by SubVRsive with speakers from Google, GoPro and StoryUp studios who specialise in VR news content, they explained the impact of VR in education which I found gripping.

 This had been part of a project by StoryUp studios that filmed the famous Michelangelo painted Sistine Chapel in 360 degree video. After filming, they took the content back to America and went to a school where a teacher had in her curriculum the history of Italy. Students were given VR headsets and could walk around the chapel while being in the comfort of their classroom in America. No need to say the kids were completely blown away and repeatedly wanted to keep the VR headsets on because the experience was so realistic.

As amazing as VR can be in the education sector, like any new technology it does come with its own specific problematic:

• Wartime VR reporting: the experience being so real, how can we moderate it? Post traumatic stress a big issue.
• Audio recording and lighting become a real problem, framing a shot disappears completely.
• Preproduction/planning become more important to report a story, stories require careful choreography.
• The cameras overheat easily, compressed air canisters help to cool the equipment and are stored in fridges while on location.
• Creating VR content requires huge amounts of storage space, StoryUp mentioned 3 terabytes of video recorded weekly to produce their reports.
• Editing VR content is very different, transitions are only in fades so as not to shock the user between sudden cuts.
• If VR is so realistic, how will it impact the travel industry?

Now for the benefits of VR:

• Interviews become exceptional, one being able to see anything at any stage including the whole set and environment.
• Just because you can VR doesn’t mean you need to VR content.
• Average time spent looking at a VR video is currently 8 minutes, nearly four times more then conventional video.
• Engagement increases 7.5 times.
• Product placement becomes easier within VR video.
• Facebook/YouTube already let you place VR video within their systems.

One of the key questions asked was what is the difference between VR and 360 degree video? For Sarah Hill of StoryUp:“Personally, as soon as the user wears a headset it immediately becomes VR”. Sarah’s perspective on the subject made me realise that the use of this new technology would define its terminologies.The Verge produced its first VR interview with Michelle Obama during SXSW where one can see the results. A completely different way of creating an interview with a level/type of interaction never seen before.

Personally, as soon as the user wears a headset it immediately becomes VR

SXSW Tradeshow

Quite possibly the most delightful trade show I’ve attended full of brilliant innovations. The stands were divided in global regions including: UK, Germany, France, Ireland, Japan, Korea, Brazil, Argentina, etc. Most of these tech products have just been created and are not available for mass consumption just yet. Mauritius was not present. Out of the numerous countries presenting their new services and/or technologies, a few really caught my eye.

Drone beaming wifi signal

Produced by the University Of North Texas College Of Engineering, the technology caught my eye. When I spoke to Shengli Fu, associate professor of electrical engineering, he explained that the drones were modified to create an aerial network providing wifi below especially for disaster zones and/or helping refugees. You can find more information on this new drone technology from the UNT’s website: https://research.unt.edu/article/creating-drone-networks

Lume Cube

Beautifully packaged and so easy to use! Lume Cubes are small, waterproof, lighting boxes which can be wirelessly controlled from your Smartphone via their app. A real delight as these can be placed in different places, controlled individually from your mobile but the real advantage is their power. All information can be found via the website here:http://www.lumecube.com

You can imagine all the tech I was looking at while walking through the trade show with my iPhone in my shirt pocket.

 Conclusion

My first experience of SXSW was nothing short of overwhelming.This article could easily have been 20, maybe even 30 pages long to help describe just the amount of information I had to process during our brief visit in Austin. Things that were also extremely relevant such as: Big Data, the #womennotobjects campaign, interviews with the guys from the show Silicon Valley, creating a Smart City, Driverless Cars, design for platforms that don’t exist yet, Media in the modern age, Barack Obama’s keynote on privacy and encryption, Online advertising and adblock, the tech world’s self obsession, the list is literally endless! The key point I took away from the exhibition was not necessarily technology or innovation but what can we do as individuals to better one another’s lives. Nothing will encapsulate this better than my accidental meeting with Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia, and the challenges he faced creating the now 7th most popular website in the world.