Every year, the South By Southwest music, film and interactive festival gets larger, and navigating the blur of panels, parties and shows gets more daunting. The girth of it all is enough to keep many SXSW old-timers away from Austin this year.
But the interactive part of SXSW is still an important place for many startups and industry illuminati. It is, after all, the tech fest where Twitter first "blew up" in 2007, Foursquare got a huge launchpad in 2009 and hoards of emerging entrepreneurs and technologies compete for new eyes.
This year's agenda is heavy on space exploration, wearable electronics, hardware like 3-D printers and the new work-life balance questions spawned by our ever-growing reliance on technology. Can we have it all, with the help of robots?
SXSW: Live From Austin