michael favia

sxswIf you've got a pass to South by Southwest Interactive, we invite you to stop by a couple of panels featuring Austinist writers.

At 12:30 pm on Monday, I'll be hosting "Freelance Isn't Free: The Twisted Economics of Writing Today". It's part of SXSW's Core Conversations series, which means that rather than a panel discussion backed by PowerPoint slides, it's a moderated discussion. I'll be there to ask questions and and delve into interesting points as they come up, but beyond that, it's a wide-open format.

We're going to be talking about a disturbing trend: The amount of money that companies are willing to pay for a writer's work has been in freefall. How did that happen, and what can we do about it?

The next day (12:30 pm, Tuesday), Carly Kocurek will be part of a panel titled, "Power-Ups & Press: How the Game Media Impacts the Gaming Industry". Organized by Karen Chu of PlayFirst, a group of gaming press forerunners will talk about how media advancements have shaped the way we talk about video games.

tbcpp writes "The Khronos Group has announced the release of the OpenGL® 4.0 specification. Among the new features: two new shader stages that enable the GPU to offload geometry tessellation from the CPU; per-sample fragment shaders and programmable fragment shader input positions; drawing of data generated by OpenGL, or external APIs such as OpenCL, without CPU intervention; shader subroutines for significantly increased programming flexibility; 64-bit double precision floating point shader operations and inputs/outputs for increased rendering accuracy and quality. Khronos has also released an OpenGL 3.3 specification, together with a set of ARB extensions, to enable as much OpenGL 4.0 functionality as possible on previous generation GPU hardware."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

• We hope to see you at our two parties during SXSW-- Local Music Is Sexy at the PureVolume House (504 Trinity St.) on Monday night and Gonna Gonna Get Down at The Mohawk next Wednesday during the day. RSVP here for the former; the latter is free.
• Mess With Texas unveiled its epic lineup yesterday. We’ve always considered MWTX to be a mini-Fun Fest in March. Now that the event has expanded to two days (19th and 20th), it might almost feel like a regular Fun Fest, despite the switch from Waterloo Park to its new location (1001 E. 6th St.). Gwar, Frightened Rabbit, Man…or Astroman?, Neon Indian, The Black Angels, the list of stellar acts scheduled to perform is nice ‘n’ hefty.
• Too many St. Patrick’s Day events on Wednesday the 17th to list here but we can offer a couple of highlights -- Club de Ville has put together a free St. Paddy’s Day show featuring The Lemurs, The Burning Hotels, and 'Til We’re Blue Or Destroy, among others. The First Annual Austin Fleadh, curated by Frank Murray, takes place at the 4th St. Fort (216 E. 4th St.) -- RSVP here.

To have your event included in our party guide, please send the info by Noon CST today to sxswist@austinist.com.

[Austinist SXSWist]
[Austinist SXSWist Party Guide]

Image via Round Rock Donuts.The Round Rock Donut has been one of Austin's best snacks and desserts for the better part of 70 years. While it flies somewhat under the radar, the devoted cult following has led to both distribution throughout the Austin metro area and widespread acclaim.

The latest chapter in this story comes from Bon Appetit's Foodist and "Iron Chef America" judge Andrew Knowlton, who named Round Rock Donuts one of "10 Best Places for Doughnuts Across the Country" in an article last week. For the record, Knowlton's limited comments lauded the bakery's low prices and cake-style consistency, and name checked the applesauce, chocolate, and blueberry as flavor favorites.

If you'd like to get your donut fix, the original location at 106 West Liberty in Round Rock opens seven days a week at 4am. They are also available at select convenience stores and coffee shops around town.

[Round Rock Donuts]

Google has added an iPad-friendly version of its RSS aggregator, called Google Reader Play. According to the Official Google Reader Blog, the new full-screen slide-show is for people who “aren’t interested in taking the time to get Reader set up”. It is also perfect for viewing on tablet PCs, including the upcoming iPad.

Image via Efterklang.net. Photo by David Sampson.Copenhagen's Efterklang have been performing together for over nine years. During that span, they've developed a sterling reputation for meshing beautiful melodies with strings, electronics, and vocals into a cinematic and cohesive whole. The group recently released their third album Magic Chairs, and will perform at SXSW next week to support it. We recently talked with Casper Clausen and Rasmus Stolberg from Efterklang about Austin, Grizzly Bear, and rotten fish.

Magic Chairs seems to be the most straightforward rock/pop album the band have ever done. Was this a natural evolution, or did you want to change to something a bit different sonically?

To us this was more like an experiment, just like every album is. We wanted to make a simpler album, focusing on fewer elements and most of all being capable of playing the songs together as a band before entering the studio. This was something we'd tried to avoid for a long time, and therefore it was a fun challenge.

We're hearing there have been some lineup shuffles due to an injury - tell us more, and how are things going so far?

Our good friends Balmorhea were supposed to support us on this tour, but unfortunately they had to cancel due to a family emergency and then same day Peter Broderick (our violinist) also canceled due to a knee that won't heal from surgery. This all happened a few days before our tour started, so we had to quickly come up with rearrangements so we could perform as a six-piece. We have been doing so for the last seven concerts and it works fine, but we do miss Peter.

The usage of strings in indie rock has been popular lately, but with Efterklang, doing so seems like it has always been at the core of what you write and play. What do you see as the purpose of strings in your compositions?

We for sure like working with strings. You can use them in many ways, and they have a huge range of techniques. Generally speaking, we like the ambiance that strings can create. They also fit the rest of the sounds that we're using quite nicely. Also, they're quite good at combining the acoustic and electronic elements that we like to use.

How did you connect with Grizzly Bear to release their music on your label?

They asked us to remix a song for them, and we said yes - if we could release their debut album in Europe. That's basically it. Then they came over and supported us on a Scandinavian tour, and we became good friends. They were the first band we signed to our record label and it was a great start.

Finally, thanks for coming to visit us in Texas - anything you're excited to do or see while in town next week?

We are excited about the Margaritas, and I think the Danish Day Party will be a lot of fun. Basically we just hope to be able to play some good shows for good people. We like Austin - we played at The Mohawk outdoors in May 2008 on our first American tour, and it was just magical despite an incredible stink from some fish restaurant garbage.

Efterklang will perform at the 4AD/Bella Union showcase at Buffalo Billards on Thursday, March 18th and at the Danish Dynamite party at The Music Gym on Friday, March 19th.

Efterklang: [official] [MySpace]

• Health insurance lobbyists meet at the Ritz Carlton to discuss backing GOP reform. (How appropriate.)
• Sixteen months later, the tab to support Fannie and Freddie is over $125 billion. (FYI - That buys a lot of health insurance.)
• Ex-Toyota lawyer turned whistleblower.
• Female WWII aviators honored with Congressional Gold Medal.
• Right now, Austin's hipster crowd is smirking at Beijingers using [gasp] ELECTRIC bikes.
• PETA is gonna be pissed: Canadian politicians eating seal meat to make a point of some kind.
• We're buying a puggle to help detect bedbugs.

itwbennett writes "In a 45-minute press conference at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, Sony announced its motion controller, officially named the Playstation Move. The Move, consists of the Eye Toy (a camera pointed at the player) and a wand-like controller with a lighted ball at the end and a range of buttons on the shaft, writes blogger Peter Smith. 'Alternatively games can use two of the wands, or one wand and one "sub-controller" that has an analog stick (the camera is always required),' says Smith. 'If this is sounding very much like the Wii's Remote and Nunchuk well, you aren't far off (though at least there's no cable between the two parts to smack you in the face when things get heated).' Here are Smith's thoughts on the demo: 'All in all, the demos seemed OK, but I, at least, wasn't really blown away by any of them. That said, it's always hard to tell how well these systems work without actually trying them for yourself. You need to feel the connection (or lack thereof) between what your hands are doing and what's going on on-screen in order to be sure. For example, in the boxing demo the player did a quick spin move that led to a roundhouse punch. It's hard to say if his motion triggered a pre-set action (a 'combo') or if the system was able to track the controller that accurately, and was able to 'connect the dots' from when his body briefly occluded the wand to when it reappeared.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Five paragliders are flying and hiking the length of the Himalayas all the way through Nepal, and they’re sharing the once-in-a-lifetime experience with anyone who has a computer.

Paul Taylor noted a story that I would have thought to be an april fools day joke a few weeks from now, which makes it only seem more tragic. A 3 year shot himself with a gun after mistaking it for a Wii controller.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Some folks who don’t seem to listen may just have a lazy ear. A new study in rats shows that short-term hearing impairments at any stage of life can lead to rewiring in the part of the brain that processes sounds, making the ear seem as if it is loafing on its duty to make sense from noise

alphadogg writes "Riding surging prices of his various telecom holdings, including giant mobile outfit America Movil, Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim Helu has beaten out Americans Bill Gates and Warren Buffett to become the wealthiest person on earth and nab the top spot on the 2010 Forbes list of the World's Billionaires." I'd still let the guy buy me dinner if he's ever in my town. He's probably still good for it even tho he's fallen on hard times.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Conservative activist and guerrilla filmmaker James O'Keefe has a habit of posing as someone he's not in order to get "news" about politicians and others he wants to paint as dirty. Yes, he's the same guy who taped Acorn workers, so Andrew Breitbart, the ex-Drudge crony and conservative media provocateur, could smear the organization.

How Andrew Breitbart -- Matt Drudge's former right hand -- infiltrated the media machine and fought the vast left-wing conspiracy.

www.greenlit.orgIn this documentary-about-filmmaking, a cast and crew is tested when they try to “go green” during the production of their movie The River Why. Apparently good intentions and the hiring of an environmental consultant don’t guarantee success, and the well-meaning subjects of this doc soon find themselves caught up in an ethical and logistical quagmire illustrating the conflict between ideals and reality.

Directed by Miranda Bailey (who served as executive producer of Noah Baumbach’s The Squid and The Whale), Greenlit appears in the Documentary Feature category at this year’s SXSW film festival. Bailey decided to take on the project out of curiosity and due to her own environmental consciousness, and what results are a few surprises, a few frustrations, and a contentious battle between water bottle users and those who malign them.

The film being observed, The River Why, stars William Hurt and Zach Gilford (Friday Night Lights), and even though it’s not exactly a big-budget affair, it paints a clear picture about the environmental damages caused by filmmaking as well as the financial costs required to behave more responsibly.

This behind the scenes look at the movie industry is sure to be an eye-opening experience for the film-loving community. Many of us buy organic, recycle and avoid unnecessary driving, yet have no problem shelling out cash to see the latest multiplex offerings - thereby supporting one of the most wasteful industries around. And think about it, if even indie flicks create a huge amount of waste, what about the blockbusters? There’s some hypocrisy there that shouldn’t be ignored, and Greenlit is here to educate (and hopefully inspire some change).

Greenlit premieres on Saturday, March 13 at 4:45 at the Alamo Drafthouse on South Lamar. If you miss this showing, it plays again on Friday, March 19 at the same theater. Check out the full SXSW film schedule here.

Ninjakicks writes "Although they won't hit store shelves for a few more weeks, today Intel has officially unveiled the new Core i7-980X Extreme processor. The Core i7-980X Extreme is based on Intel's 32nm Gulftown core, derived from their Nehalem architecture and sports six execution cores. The chip runs at a 3.33GHz clock frequency, that can jump up to 3.6GHz in Intel's Turbo Boost mode. This processor has a max TDP of 130W, which amazingly is the same as previous generation Core i7 quad-core CPUs. Of course, it's crazy fast too. Some may say that the majority of applications can't truly take advantage of the resources afforded by a six-core chip capable of processing up to 12 threads. However, the fact remains there are plenty of multi-threaded usage models and applications where the power of a CPU like this can be put to very good use."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

CWmike writes "Two insurance organizations in upstate New York said on Wednesday that they will offer their members and employers virtual physician visits beginning this summer, making New York the fourth state to provide these types of services. BlueCross BlueShield of Western New York, BlueShield of Northeastern New York and technology services provider American Well said the Online Care service will allow members to talk with physicians in real time through a private online chat network or through a voice-over-IP phone call. The service also offers video chat and instant messages. Members can sign on to the insurer's Web sites and look for physicians who are available online in various specialty areas."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

c0mpliant writes "IGN and Gamespot have each released a preview of the recently announced and eagerly awaited Civilization V. Apart from the obvious new hexagon shape of tiles and improved graphics, the articles go on to outline some of the major changes in the game, such as updated AI, new 'flavors' to world leaders and a potentially game-changing, one unit per tile system. No more will the stack of doom come to your city's doorsteps. Some features which will not be returning are religion and espionage. The removal of these two have sparked a frenzy of discussion on fan-related forums."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

c0mpliant writes "IGN and Gamespot have each released a preview of the recently announced and eagerly awaited Civilization V. Apart from the obvious new hexagon shape of tiles and improved graphics, the articles go on to outline some of the major changes in the game, such as updated AI, new 'flavors' to world leaders and a potentially game-changing, one unit per tile system. No more will the stack of doom come to your city's doorsteps. Some features which will not be returning are religion and espionage. The removal of these two have sparked a frenzy of discussion on fan-related forums."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.