Last year, my wife and I swung through Waco, Texas for a visit at the Texas Ranger Museum. The Rangers – not the baseball team but the lawmen – have enforced the law in the Lone Star State since its independence. They have achieved mythic status in and out of the state, and stories of the adventures have seeped into movies, television shows, comics, and more pop culture.

Here’s a series of photos I took during our tour.

Dedication plaque outside the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame.

The museum is full of weapons, Ranger-owned and seized.

AWESOME: A billy club with a hidden tear gas dispenser. The Rangers are often equipped with the latest in law enforcement technology.

Badges worn by various Rangers over time.

Rangers were often the heroes of old pulp novels and comic books.

A Texas saying that says it all.

With SXSW 2011 freshly wrapped, it struck me that I might put together a good tip guide to the event while it was still fresh in my mind. Here’s a 10-point guide for keeping your SXSW 2012 experience AWESOME.

Lodging – Get Your Own Place

The smartest decision I made during my stay in Austin for SXSW was getting a condo for the length of my stay. Now, a lot of people will tell you to book a hotel as early as possible, and there are several great hotels in downtown Austin that would be close to the action. I only recommend doing this if you’re going down for a few days. The longer your trip to Austin, the more a condo or vacation rental makes sense. I trolled Craigslist for weeks looking for deals on week-long stays and grabbed a condo north of UT in Hyde Park for only $1200. That ends up being MUCH cheaper than a multi-day stay in a hotel which will invariably also tack on parking fees and taxes.

The great thing about a place away from downtown Austin is that you have your own little oasis. The hotels get packed full of people during SXSW, and it’s not always easy to get away and relax when you need it. You may have to rent a car and drive between your rental and the convention center, but it’s worth it. Plus, this will put you in a new Austin neighborhood to explore, which is just as fun if not more so as SXSW itself.

Next year, I plan on going down with a group of people for the express purpose of sharing a large house that we’ll rent for the week.

Cars & Parking

If you choose to rent a condo or stay in one of the hotels that are quite far from downtown, you may want to rent a car. I heard a million horror stories about the SXSW shuttles, and me being me, I did not want to remain dependent on someone or something else for my own transportation. A car comes in particularly handy when you want to get out of downtown and party in one of Austin’s other fun regions like SoCo or the East Side. Many people balk at the expense of a rental car and associated parking, but for a week, I came out under $1000 with a Toyota Camry rental from Alamo. Trust me, this is worth the expense.

I found a couple clutch parking hacks in Austin that will save you some money. Most public lots will raise their standard rates of $7 a day to $15 and $20. You may end up having to duck into one of these lots on days when you haven’t planned well, but here are a couple better options:

• The Omni Hotel. The Omni in downtown Austin has $7 a day parking during SXSWi. Even better? The garage attendant leaves at midnight and opens the gates, so if you leave after that time, your parking is FREE. Be warned though: Omni jacks up parking rates during the music festival at SXSW (usually beginning on a Wednesday) and the garage attendant stays all night, so be wary.
• Residential parking. There are a number of residential and corporate areas near downtown where you can stash your vehicle. There’s a small but popular one close to the convention center and Magnolia, but it sometimes gets roped off. If you wake up early and do some hunting, you can find a ton of these hidden spaces all over town. Be prepared for a hike though as some of them end up quite far out from the convention center.
• Greasing the skids. I never tried this but heard it worked for many people in Austin. Valets at many of the hotels are all about the tips, and if you can guarantee them a certain amount of income from you during the week, they may let you park for free at the hotel. A slipped $20 does wonders if you do it right.

Shoes

You will be on your feet ALL DAY, EVERY DAY at SXSW. If you don’t do well on your feet or walking, I suggest swallowing your dignity and getting yourself a pair of orthopedic shoes. A lot of convention-goers recommended Converse as the official cool-looking yet comfortable and supportive shoe of SXSW. Lots of people wore these. I bought a pair of the Jack Purcell Converse and was mildly satisfied with them, but there wasn’t a day that went by that they didn’t start rubbing my feet the wrong way halfway through the day.

What did work for me (and always has) was a solid pair of Merrell clogs. I’m particularly a fan of the “Slide” versions of their shoes that resemble slip-on clogs. They’re lightweight and reinforced with all kinds of nifty foot-cushioning insole technology that won’t wear your feet out while you’re skipping about Austin. I own a stylish pair that they don’t make anymore; they’re super-comfy and under the cover jeans look pretty rad. Trust me. Grab yourself a pair of Jungle Moc Nubucks or something similar. You’ll thank me.

Comfortable Yet Cool Clothing

There is no way to look bad at SXSW because of the hispter influx the town gets during this festival. There are more bearded geeks bounding around than you’ll be able to deal with, so don’t worry about looking fancy all the time. Normally, you’ll be bounding between panels and free booze parties anyway, so plan your attire accordingly.

I highly recommend a pair of comfortable jeans or khakis and a solid selection of Quicksilver shirts. Quicksilver makes ultra-comfortable surfer shirts that are often found in beach shops. While they make a variety of styles, the most comfortable (and stylishly designed) ones I’ve found are the button-down short-sleeve shirts. They’re made for activity so they won’t bunch up or look crappy once you’ve been darting around in the Austin sun all day. I actually would wear Quicksilvers all day, every day if I could get away with it. My buddy Tyson introduced me to them on the island getaway of St. John’s, and I still own every one I’ve ever bought.

Boots and Texas-wear

The urge will strike you at some point to buy a pair of authentic Texas cowboy boots or a hat while you’re in Austin. If it doesn’t, ignore this section. If you’re cool, follow the subsequent steps to deal with your newfound desire to become a card carrying citizen of the Republic.

• Allen’s Boots. On South Congress, in the “SoCo” neighborhood, is a strip of vintage clothing stores, taco joints, and the site of Austin’s classic western wear store. Allen’s is a must-visit in Austin. They have an AWESOME selection of boots, hats, jeans, and shirts for men and women. If you’re a boot newbie, don’t puss out and go Justin just because someone tells you it’s affordable. Try on a couple pairs of Lucchese ropers. They are the finest boots made in Texas and receive the Must. Be. AWESOME!!! seal of approval.
• Straw hat versus felt hat. If you are just now shopping for hats during your first SXSW trip, do not buy a felt Stetson. You are not cowboy enough for that shit yet. Straw is the way to go. Expect to pay about $70-$90 for a solid straw hat that doesn’t look like it was made in China for mass sales to Targets and Wal-Marts. I bought the hat below for $86.

The Platinum Badge Gets You Into EVERYTHING

I bought a platinum badge for SXSW 2011 and had no problems getting in to see anything. Every place that has an RSVP signup will let in badge holders, so don’t waste your time RSVPing for parties you want to get into. It’s expensive, but if you want the full SXSW experience, it’s totally worth it. Plus, you’ll be getting into day parties all over town with free booze and free eats, so you may even be saving money that way. A couple days during my trip, my buddy Andy and I knocked into two separate day parties, got loaded on free Lone Star, chowed on free tacos, and exited that towards the evening shows already shored up and not a dollar spent.

Panels Are For Shit

Generally, you will be disappointed by SXSW panels. Panelists usually appeal to the lowest common denominator so there is very little originality to what you’ll see, particularly if you are already a Web-maven who hungrily sucks down content from places like TED.com. I was pleasantly surprised by a panel on futurism, but that may have been an anomaly. Plus, panels are spread out between hotels and the convention center so much so that you’ll spend your entire day shuttling between them if you’re not careful.

Instead, focus on the people. Curate and/or follow a Twitter list or two of the people you want to meet and talk to, and then stalk them around town. Everyone checks into everything at SXSW and shares it via Twitter. Gather yourself a solid group of people you like to hang out with then hang out with them. The Bloggers’ Lounge is usually a good stop to make where you can make some connections and build your street team. You will learn more and have better takeaways from building a strong core group of relationships than consuming panel content.

The Radio Day Stage Is AWESOME

When the music festival kicks off, the convention center sort of dies down. However, you’d be mistaken to avoid it completely. The keynoter halls are converted into massive day stages where local radio stations feature performances from pretty AWESOME bands. It’s a chill atmosphere with plenty of bean bag chairs in which to lounge around, and you’ll get closer to some of your favorite acts than you will at any other stage in Austin. This is where I discovered my latest music obsession Fitz and the Tantrums and bumped into Emmylou Harris.

Above All, Have Fun!

To me, the best SXSW experience is one of DOING. Get involved. Get moving. Join a scavenger hunt. Test out some new apps. Make a comic with the deviantART crew. Most importantly, get out of the SXSW scene for at least a day and see Austin. It’s a great city. There’s so much to do here, you’ll be doing yourself a disservice by just panel picking all day.

Related articles

• This City was Built on Rock n’ Roll and Jones Soda – SXSW 2011 in Austin, Texas (staticphotography.com)
• Everything About SXSW That I Wish Someone Had Told Me Before I Went (seattle20.com)
• Photos & Video: SXSW Interactive 2011 (laughingsquid.com)
• Kickin’ it at the Klout Krib Kloutup at SXSW Interactive 2011 in Austin, TX (staticphotography.com)
• On the Clothes Watch at SXSW (nytimes.com)
• Going to SXSW? Last-Minute Austin Travel Tips (mint.com)
• Takeaways from SXSW Interactive 2011: Winners, Losers, and a Remainder (xconomy.com)
• ★ The Evolution of SXSW Interactive (daringfireball.net)
• The Snooty Guide to SXSW: For Badgeholders Only (austinist.com)
• Your Guide To Metal At SXSW ’11 (stereogum.com)

I tried to document as many of my ongoing thoughts as I could over on my Posterous feed during SXSW, but I thought I’d take some time to try and make some coherent sense of the week-long insanity I put myself through.

Location, Location, Location

There didn’t seem to be any consensus on a single new technology or app that debuted or blew up SXSW this year. However, plenty of existing ones brought immense marketing campaigns to Austin, and the majority of those seemed to be location-based services. Gowalla, in my opinion, severely dropped the ball by not preparing local Austin businesses for the influx of SXSW geeks galvanized by the Gowalla passport scavenger hunt. Foursquare, on the other hand, ruled the day by deploying 2000 virtual “Golden Tickets” into specific checkin spots in Austin that unlocked free tickets to their Big Boi headliner show. So many more location-based companies littered the landfalls in Austin as well, each with some zany promotional campaign to get people to download and use their app.

David Armano's Allhat3 at Guero's.

For my money, Foursquare was the clear popularity winner here. Their partnership with Pepsi – where they created an actual competitive foursquare court near the Austin Convention Center – culminated with an AWESOME party at the Seaholm Power Plant, where all sorts of people got to chill with Dennis Crowley and his Foursquare army to the tunes of Locksley, The Sounds, and Big Boi.

App Discovery of SXSW: Roqbot

Roqbot is an app-based service that allows you to take control of online-enabled jukeboxes in bars, clubs, restaurants, and other locations featuring these types of music services. Once you download the app, you develop a DJ profile of your favorite music and check into whatever location you happen upon that has one of these net-enabled jukeboxes. From there, you’re able to control the music playlist emanating from the box. Don’t like Lady Gaga? Spend a couple Roqbot credits to put some Oasis on higher in the music queue. You also earn free credits to play by unlocking various checkin rewards or you can just connect Roqbot to a Paypal account and buy songs directly. It’s SUCH a great a control solution for jukeboxes in places. I can’t wait till they expand their services into the DC/NOVA region.

DC Represents

I was caught off-guard by the massive DC presence at SXSW. From government rockstars like Amanda Eamich from USDA to nonprofit supercolliders like Tammy Gordon of AARP, DC’s varied social media community descended on Austin in force. I hung out with Mike Schaffer, Director for Social Media at iostudio the most, and lamented that despite having met and living near DC, we never hang out like we did at SXSW. I’m making a pledge to change that behavior on my part now that I’m home, and I want to invite any and all DC/NOVA peeps to call me on any antisocial leanings I may display from this point forward.

Margie and Dave Newman, masterminds of the DC Flacks Meetup group, created an on-the-fly “DCxSW” Twitter handle and hash for all of us while in Austin. They also organized an impromptu meetup of these DCists at the Driskill Hotel one night where I had the best networking conversations of the week. I met a lot of folks i only knew through Twitter here, and I am super-excited to build upon those relationships in the future.

So here’s a big public shout-out to all my DCxSW peeps: Margie, Dave, Schaffer, Gabe Hilado, Amandare!, Alejandra Owens, Peter Corbett, Tammy Gordon, Tammy Portnoy, Lisa Byrne, Patti Shea, and all the rest of you AWESOME DC peeps. It was also great meeting a bunch of non-DC folks like Jeff Esposito, Teresa Cantwell, and old friends Anne Weiskopf and Tonia Reis (formerly of TWTRCON fame, now The Realtime Report

"You may all go to hell, and I will go to Texas." --Davy Crockett

).

Walking in Your Footsteps

Much of the research I performed in prep for this massive undertaking panned out well. I intend to do up a fuller post on the travel hacks I came with on the fly, but the basics came down to comfortable shoes and clothing at all times. I can’t tell you how many times I just had to sit down because my feet hurt so bad from walking around so much. People recommended Converse as the go-to shoes for SXSW, but I have to put in a plug for the much comfier and supportive Merrel’s that I brought.

Panels & Speakers

For the mot part, I found SXSW panels pedantic and freshman. The only ones that piqued my interest and delivered a good conversation were a panel on The Singularity and another with John Hagel III on shaping the future. The Singularity panel brought together experts like Michael Vassar from the Singularity Institute and Natasha Vita-More from Humanity+ for a SUPER-AWESOME discussion about the ethical limits of transhumanism and posthumanity. I’m stll processing a lot of the info from this panel, but be sure to check out the convo archived on the #singularity hashtag. That conversation is still going on, so feel free to jump in and add your thoughts.

Seaholm Power Plant, site of the Foursquare/PepsiMax party.

I missed Seth Priebatsch’s keynote on the gamification of marketing and education, but I heard it was cool. I also missed Christopher Poole, aka moot of 4chan, who gave a keynote on social communities online and how their influence will continue to grow in the future. I heard good things about both of these keynotes but just couldn’y sync schedules to make them

Getting Your Groove On

I was most disappointed by the party situation. I RSVP’d for several parties specifically to hang out with or meet people that were throwing them. Unfortunately, every party is oversold, leading to massive numbers of people often crowding into small clubs, all trying to figure out who’s there that’s important or famous. What’s worse, I got the distinct impression at many of these parties that pre-existing community relationships led to a degree of “cliquey-ness” that isolated a lot of outsiders. This bothered me mainly because a lot of folks like myself stood in these long-ass lines for long periods of time to get into cool parties that only turned out to be fun for the cool kids.

Ogilvy Notes, a cool attempt to make visual sense out of all the information overloading SXSW's attendees.

There were literally so many people at many of these parties that you would get interrupted talking to someone of note, and they would never come back to you due to successive interruptions. It’s damned hard to connect with someone in this fashion, and you can damn sure bet I’ll be working on a SXSW Guide to Party Ethics for 2012.

Even worse, most of the Interactive parties featured some of the worst, most annoying DJs on the planet. Note to party organizers of the future: they don’t call Austin the “Live Music Capital of the World” for nothing. If you want to throw a SXSW party next time, do some fucking due diligence and get a couple of inexpensive but AWESOME live acts instead of a bunch of douchy DJ pricks.

Music vs. Interactive

SXSW should really be broken up into two conferences for Music and Interactive because virtually everyone from the Interactive festival popped smoke when the Music festival began. It was SUCH a sea change in personalities too: I joked to a buddy that all the Interactive geeks stayed inside the Convention Center for Interactive where Austin had to shut down streets to accommodate the influx of Music nerds.

What’s funny about the disparity between Music and Interactive attendees (and the lurking Film festival geeks too), is that they could all stand to spend time in each other’s sessions. So much inspiration flowed out of musical performances that I think would have benefited Interactive attendees, particularly the PR and marketing types who were hard-charging the entire time selling and jiving versus soaking up the people’s culture.

Emmylou Harris performing solo on the Radio Day Stage.

I’ll do up a separate post later on the musical discoveries I made. Those are stories in and of themselves.

Omni Hotels Continue to Rock

Not only did my lovely friends at Omni Hotels hook me up with a couple free drinks and grab bag of SXSW necessities, I also found that the Omni’s parking situation far outweighed any other in downtown Austin. Where other lots were jacking prices up to $10 and $20 at a time, the Omni kept a moderate $7 a day parking charge for SXSWi. What’s more, you could avoid that charge completely if you returned for your car after midnight, where they opened the garage. GREAT customer service from Omni, especially for people who weren’t even staying at their hotel for SXSW. Thanks again for the stops along the way!

(Pro-tip: The Omni also had the cleanest bathrooms in town. At about midnight when those tacos are kicking in, ain’t nothing better than a spotless and empty bathroom!)

Where Do We Go From Here?

The Macallan 15, proud sponsor of SXSW and drunk-asses everywhere.

SXSW was a worthy event, but I’m not sure I can do it all in one sitting again. It was a great time, and I enjoyed it, but had it not been for the people I met there, it could have been a big old bust. I brought back with me a ton of great ideas and content that I have to work with, so I hope to see some heavy return on investment soon. In that vein, keep your eyes peeled for successive posts about different SXSW aspects that I couldn’t fit into this one.

Related articles

• Roqbot Reinvents the Jukebox as Social Game (wired.com)
• Notes from Austin part two (liesdamnedliesstatistics.com)
• Who Will Win the SXSW Location War? (ghdialogue.posterous.com)
• Instagram and Foodspotting most popular iPhone apps at SXSW (thenextweb.com)
• SXSW’s Next Big Thing Summed Up in One Word: ‘Us’ (adage.com)
• Who Won the “Battles” of SXSW? [INFOGRAPHICS] (mashable.com)
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• Seth Priebatsch on Gamification, LBS, Education & Meaning at SXSW (downtheavenue.com)
• SXSW 2011 “Winners”: Foursquare and Hashable (cash-bandit.com)
• Final Thoughts From A SXSW Newbie (blog.jessicamalnik.com)
• Mastering social media saturation at SXSW (cnet.com)
• Foursquare’s SXSW Plan: “NEW APP + NEW BADGES + PARTIES + CONCERT + MOAR” (techcrunch.com)
• Foursquare Not Wasting Any Opportunities To Tease About Its SXSW “Plans” (businessinsider.com)

I specifically waited for Telltale Games‘ episodic Back to the Future game to come to the iPad. I had heard great things about the PC and Mac desktop experiences, but when the studio announced that they would also adapt this continuation of one of my favorite movies to the iPad, I knew I had to experience that. What I got, unfortunately, was a game port rife with bugs and glitches.

The Story

I do, however, want to emphasize the AWESOME of this game. BTTF: The Game picks up the BTTF mythos where they left off. It’s now 1986, and Marty McFly is worried about Doc’s disappearance after the end of Back to the Future III. The city is selling off the contents of Doc’s lab, much to Marty’s chagrin. All of a sudden, the DeLorean (once thought destroyed) reappears with an audio note from Doc telling Marty that he’s in trouble. What follows is an earnest thematic sequel to the BTTF franchise where you play as Marty trying to discover where Doc has disappeared to and how to rescue him.

One of the things that I love about Back to the Future is the on-the-fly screwiness of everything. Doc and Marty are never adequately prepared for the adventures they get into, so they have to improvise as they go along: using a 2015 hoverboard to sneak up on Biff’s car, rigging a pair of walkie talkies with giant batteries in the Old West, etc. This theme gets pricelessly reflected in BTTF: The Game. Marty – a character that, let’s be honest, is kind of a dumbass when it comes to science – has to cobble his way through the game’s plot, and this leads to really fun gameplay that involves engaging zaniness. It’s no surprise that this game feels like a Back to the Future sequel: Bob Gale, who wrote all three movies, acts as a story consultant to Telltale’s developer crew.

Episode 1 begins with a curious twist on a classic BTTF scene.

You can tell that the Telltale crew are rabid fans of BTTF, from the spot-on use of Alan Silvestri‘s original movie score to A.J. LoCascio’s eerie dead ringer impersonation of Michael J. Fox (complete with a “WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!” moment in Episode 1). It’s that kind of fan-favorite attention to detail that makes BTTF: The Game such a rich and fun story experience. And before you ask, yes, we do get to the bottom of how all these paradoxes are possible after BTTF3‘s seeming end to everybody’s favorite time machine.

The Tech Specs

All of these positives make it such a shame that the iPad port clunks along. Framerates are choppy and skippy right from the opening menus. Video integration is just as bad: character dialogue often skips like a scratched CD between scene and level changes. What’s worse is the dizzying degree to which some of the character and art rendering doesn’t measure up to the iPad’s HD resolution. Characters’ clothes in particular look jagged around the edges. For a $6.99 app, Telltale could have spent MUCH moe time ensuring a bug-free port from the desktop version of the game.

Image via Wikipedia

The Value

Is BTTF: The Game worth it? If you are a fan of the Back to the Future franchise, absolutely. The obvious technical limitations of the iPad app are far outweighed by the fun and engaging story. Each episode will be released as a $6.99 app, so you’ll be looking at around $35 for the entire “season.” It’s about $10 less to buy the entire season online for desktop play AND a better gameplay experience, so your mileage may vary. IPad apps for subsequent episodes will be released quite a while after the desktop versions (Episode 2 is out now). I for one have to believe that Telltale will see the mass of criticism over the iPad port for Episode 1 and endeavor to fix many of those problems for its Episode 2 port. I really enjoy the interactivity of the iPad version of the game; it’s much more of an interactive movie than a hardcore shoot-em-up or driving game, so the story is allowed to breathe more.

If you’re not a huge fan of BTTF, I’d wait for the entire series of episodes to be released. It’s possible Telltale will release a “game pack” of the entire season at a discount, either through the iPad app store or online.

Either way, this was a tremendously fun game for me, and I really enjoyed revisiting the BTTF characters. It’s a damn sight more entertaining and cooler than that awful cartoon they did in the ’90s.

Related articles

• Back to the Future ’4′, now playing on your PC (news.cnet.com)
• “Back to the Future Episode 1 made for the iPad” and related posts (mobilewhack.com)
• Back to the Future for iPad: A welcome addition to the present (reviews.cnet.com)
• “Telltale Games developing ‘Walking Dead’ video game” and related posts (ohnotheydidnt.livejournal.com)
• First In A Series Of Back To The Future Games Arrives In The App Store (appadvice.com)
• This is Heavy, Doc! ‘Back to the Future: Episode 1′ Now on iPad [Must-Have Game] (cultofmac.com)
• All the stuff we’d like to buy at the Back To The Future prop auction [Bttf] (io9.com)
• Trailer: Back to the Future: The Game (slashfilm.com)
• New Back to the Future Games Nab Original Film Talent [Great Scott] (kotaku.com)

The Omni Royal Orleans in New Orleans

Over the last couple years, my preponderance for travel has shot through the roof. Thanks to the AWESOME occasion of my wedding in New Orleans last year, I started spending quite a bit of time at the Omni Royal Orleans Hotel. While this experience was pretty fantastic on its own, it provided a launch pad into a rewarding relationship with the totally rad people at Omni Hotels.

Not long after my then-fiancee and I surveyed the Royal Orleans as a potential hotel for our wedding guests, Omni’s digital marketing team was all over me. I tweeted about how great the Royal Orleans’ sales manager, Ben Picone, treated us while we were in town. The next thing I knew, I was getting all kinds of attention from Omni’s official Twitter account. This wasn’t just your standard conversation marketing either. Instead, the people behind the account were genuinely interested in how our stay went in New Orleans. That’s a personal touch for which I really give Omni Hotels credit: they made us feel WELCOME.

As these conversations continued, I asked about other Omni hotels and if the Twitter team would ever consider hooking me up at any of their other properties. What followed was a year of me literally cajoling employers and clients into letting me stay at Omni Hotels so I could take advantage of the perks. From the New York City Omni Berkshire to the San Antonio Omni La Maison del Rio, I made every effort to stay at as many Omni properties as I could. In reciprocation for all the excellent treatment from the digital team, I made sure to share my experiences – positive and not-so-positive – on Twitter and Facebook. Not every hotel stay was perfect, but for the most part, Omni went out of their way to make me feel like a luxury guest.

Omni’s Select Guest program enables you to get free coffee, water and other goodies every morning. Once you reach a certain level (they count stays AND nights), they’ll also try to upgrade you to any empty suite for nothing. It’s a truly compelling loyalty program that I adore because EVERY member of Omni’s guest relations team is dedicated to making sure you have a great experience.

I should have written an individual post about each hotel experience but unfortunately, I lost a lot of notes over the last year. However, I have no doubt I’ll be back at every one of Omni’s properties I’ve had the pleasure of staying at as well as some new ones in the near future. Omni Hotels is the OFFICIAL hotel of @Du4.llc and all things AWESOME.

To call the iPad merely an e-reader shortchanges all the great things this platform can offer to consumers. However, I originally bought my iPad to have all my e-reading experiences in one place. With apps for Kindle and Nook ebooks and a limitless range of options to connect to social networking services I use for reading (i.e., Goodreads), the iPad satiates my OCD “all-in-one” mentality.

On average, my reading experience encompasses the following activities:

• Reading the actual book
• Listening to music to accompany the book
• Commenting on specific things I find interesting in the book on Twitter
• Rating the book on Goodreads and writing a short review

The iPad is the only device to offer those all-in-one capabilities. Sure, the nook’s secondary color touchscreen features an Android-based browser, but the online experience is slow and meandering. The iPad is BUILT for an integrated e-reading experience.

The main drawbacks come in the form of size, weight, and screen type. The iPad is a bit more unwieldy to hold than the Kindle or nook, primarily due to its weight. Furthermore, I have found that I get terrible eyestrain from reading too long on the iPad. It is, after all, a big interactive computer screen and does not feature the smooth, ink-on-paper quality that E-Ink technology brings to the Kindle and the nook.

What the iPad REALLY brings to the e-reader experience, however, is the promise of multimedia integration. A great example of this is Smashing Ideas’ The War of the Worlds app. This downloadable app takes H.G. Wells‘ public domain novel into a unique bookreading experience by adding interactive, animated chapter breaks. These interpretive pieces sometimes depict the alien tripods from this epic, and readers can tap the screen which causes the tripods to animate and shoot laser beams, complete with sound effects. Granted, this particular app is somewhat limited in its imagination for the format, but consider the potential: with each page swipe, you could blend audio readings of the text or an actual conversation between characters, animated or live action video, and even puzzles and games that readers can solve to unlock different parts of the narrative.

The possibilities for this method of storytelling are endless and bound only by authors’ and developers’ imaginations. I personally would enjoy re-experiencing older works like The War of the Worlds as new, interactive iPad stories. This is what makes the iPad a much more powerful experience than its E-Ink confined competitors. Eventually, someone will design a truly limitless reading experience that incorporates audio, video, and interactivity in such a fashion that it may even become a new standard for personal consumption of stories and books. I also like the concept of nonlinear storytelling on the iPad, something that books simply cannot do well in their current configuration.

Finally, I’m intrigued by the potential for the iPad as a comics reader. Digital comics finally make sense given the color capacity of the iPad. This will be fodder for a subsequent post on digital comics.

Related articles

• What happens to Kindle, eReaders if iPad 2 uses Mirasol? (ireaderreview.com)
• Top 5 eReader events of 2011 (candidates) (ireaderreview.com)
• Kindle Vs Nook Vs iPad (pctechmojo.com)
• Can You Read Ebooks From the Library on Your iPad? (brighthub.com)
• Nook Color vs Kindle vs iPad – comparison of the reading experience (ireaderreview.com)
• eReader Showdown: The nook Experience (mustbeawesome.com)

Much has already been written about the Kindle and its evolutions. I, however, have a found a lack of attention to the increasing levels to which Amazon designs new versions of the premier e-reading device. Instead of tricking out new Kindles with new bells and whistles, apps, and other distractions, Amazon seems to have hyper-focused on the Kindle’s simplicity, portability, and cost. The result: a super AWESOME e-reading experience in the Kindle 3.

Amazon made an interesting choice with the Kindle 3 by choosing not to compete along the same evolutionary path as Barnes & Noble‘s nook or other multi-screen, multipurpose e-readers. In the submarine sonar war that is the modern e-reading technology competition, Amazon’s Kindle is the cheapest device on the market. For a mere $139, you can get the lightest, most unobtrusive, and simplest of e-reading experiences. The abundance of these devices has made it easy to lower prices and market them to the Everyman, something I think is missing from other e-reader companies’ offerings. Sure all of these companies WANT to sell everyone their own e-reader, but Amazon has lowered the most barriers to purchase for consumers of all types.

What does this mean for future Kindle sales strategies? Consider these scenarios:

• Organizations like the U.S. Agency for International Development purchase hundreds of thousands of e-readers for developing communities in Afghanistan, Nigeria, Senegal, etc. The effect: instant access to learning material in a variety of languages.
• Green movements force more and more companies to quit printing technical manuals to new devices and instead transmit those manuals to buyers’ Kindles upon purchase. The effect: Kindle sales emerge into more retail chains.
• Auto-makers include Kindles with new car purchases (perhaps cars that generate wifi) not only for easy technical manual access but also for emergency communications. The effect: drivers have more easy-to-find aid in emergencies.

We’re already seeing a trend towards disposability in Kindles. At ever decreasing price points, these devices will become more and more ubiquitous as time goes on. As the pioneer in E-Ink technology application, Amazon knows that this device can revolutionize several different private and public sectors. They key to that success is continued innovation and design excellence along the Kindle’s main value areas: ultra-portability, ultra-simplicity, and super-affordability.

I believe that within the next two years, we’ll begin seeing Kindles move into more retail chains like Target. It’s not inconceivable that you’ll see future versions for sale on the paperback rack in the checkout line at the grocery store. Because the Kindle experience is so unlike other e-readers and so appealing to a mass consumer audience, get ready to see its hyper-ubiquity instituted all over the world.

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• Amazon: Tablets Aren’t Kindle-Killers After All (dailyfinance.com)
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• Kindle Is Amazon’s Best Seller, Even In an iPad World (gigaom.com)
• Will Nook Color owners read Kindle Books? (ireaderreview.com)
• Amazon: iPad owners buying Kindle, too (intomobile.com)
• Amazon: Kindle 3 Our All-Time Bestseller (pcworld.com)

Image courtesy of Barnes & Noble

The very first e-reader I purchased was Barnes & Noble‘s nook. Despite how much I loved the e-reading experience, I almost immediately regretted the purchase. Since the nook‘s release, TONS more companies have jumped into the e-reader market, all competing for the best experience, the most dollars spent, and the loyalty of millions of customers who are now entering this burgeoning market. Within the year, prices had dropped on the nook dramatically, and Amazon retaliated with the release of its cheap, easy-to-pick-up Kindle 3.

That said, the nook demonstrated one key thing that many tech reviewers have ignored: the propensity for cheap simplicity in the design. In the last year, consumers have proven out that they want an affordable e-reading experience: cheap books, cheap devices. We have already seen several e-readers fold due to overcomplicated designs and limited access to inexpensive books. The thing I enjoy the most about the nook is how SEAMLESSLY it fits into my existing lifestyle.

The nook FEELS like a disposable device. It’s heavier than the Kindle and lighter than the iPad, still ideal for one-handed reading. I immediately took to using it at the gym, where it received more than a fair share of bumps and dings. Despite the rough treatment, the nook still performs exactly how I want it to: as a handy-dandy, easy-to-use mechanism for delivering printed content.

I LOVE the e-reading experience. It’s a blast for me to be able to rapidly switch between books on a single platform that I can carry around with me. (The Kindle beats out the nook for ultra-portability, however.) I find myself reading more and reading faster due to the simplicity of the experience. I can power through half a book in a 1-hour workout, and I often finish engrossing reads on flights or train rides. The nook really makes for an AWESOME e-reading experience. The E-Ink display of the nook is easy on the eyes and never tires me out. The color touchscreen (now a little outdated) is a great method for book shopping. My biggest complaint with the device has to be the glitches in the software. To be fair, most of this has been ironed out by now, but it made for some pretty annoying times for the early adopters.

Barnes & Noble did a great job thinking about user experience when designing the first generation nook. I was very intrigued to learn that within 1 year, B&N had announced their next generation nook, the Nook Color. This device looks (and costs) more like a stripped down tablet — fully touchscreen and wired for internet use right out of the box. This is an interesting choice for B&N. In effect, they’re giving up on inexpensive and simple and trying to compete more in the tablet arena. I think this is where Amazon is going to win in this market (seemingly confirmed by the insane sales numbers for the Kindle this holiday season).

Daniel Pink wrote about how “abundance” will drive prices down on goods to such a degree that consumers will focus more and more on aesthetics and design. B&N was on to something with the nook’s simple yet elegant design. However, the Nook Color signals B&N’s intent to be all things to all consumers… but is this really possible at such a low price point and design spec? Time will tell.

{Note: I write this post (while long overdue) to meet the requirements of Gizmodo’s eval criteria for a new staff writer. Any tips, connections, or advice in my pursuit of that goal would be appreciated.)

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• Amazon says Kindle holding its own against tablets (financialpost.com)
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• Nook Color Review (web2learning.net)
• Could Nook sales be within striking distance of Kindle sales? (ireaderreview.com)
• Amazon: Tablets Aren’t Kindle-Killers After All (dailyfinance.com)
• Barnes & Noble’s New Nook Color: Comfortably Mainstream (dailyfinance.com)
• The Best Handheld eBook Reader: Holiday Gift Guide (brighthub.com)
• Which Is the Better eReader: Nook or Sony? (brighthub.com)
• Kindle is Amazon’s all-time best-selling product; Kobo and Nooks sell out during holidays (techvibes.com)
• Amazon: many iPad owners also buying Kindles (news.cnet.com)

I don’t like the term “nonprofit.” It describes organizations with a negative instead of a positive. Sure, they’re not in it for profit. But what ARE they in it for? ”Nonprofit” is a shorter way of saying “cause-based organization.” Since causes are often emotionally based, there is a huge well of contributory power found in many of these groups not immediately evident in for-profit endeavors. One such cause-based organization that I’ve become a rabid fan of is Sister Cities.

The DC beltway community likes to throw around policy and cocktail convos about concepts like “citizen diplomacy” and “cultural diplomacy,” but in truth, the true implementers of great person-to-person exchange are organizations like Sister Cities. For those who don’t know, Sister Cities is a concept that President Eisenhower introduced back in the 1950s: American cities reach out to foreign cities – be it through their mayors, business leaders, teachers, or other interested citizens – and establish a personal city-to-city rapport. (There’s a lot more that’s interesting about how Eisenhower saw collective citizen diplomacy as a bulwark against the Soviet Union as part of his Overseas Internal Defense Program, but that’s fodder for another post.)

These rapports vary from city to city. In some cases, Sister City relationships can be as simple as parents who organize exchange programs with families in other countries. In others, American businesses organize massive conferences aimed at empowering minorities in oppressed societies with the tools they need to create their own businesses.

Today, individual Sister Cities programs conduct their own programs and raise money in their own fashion. Some are extensions of local city governments. Others are 501c(3) nonprofits in their own right. There is also a global coordinative body, Sister Cities International, that lobbies on behalf of local programs, seeks grants for citizen diplomacy programs that Sister Cities can implement, and provide training and other support for individual city programs. I guarantee if you Googled your city, you’d find a Sister City program.

Image via Wikipedia

I bring Sister Cities up because through the course of my work, the only sustained and effective influence America has delivered overseas has come from Sister Cities programs. Insurgencies rarely happen in societies that look forward to sending their kids to an American city for a semester of school or in foreign regions that regularly welcome delegations of plain old PEOPLE to their home. From youth to women to city government, this concept promotes global harmony and equilibrium more than any other community-building initiative I’ve seen. And I think that’s damn AWESOME.

My own personal experience with Sister Cities began when my mom, Mae Ferguson, became the Executive Director and now President of Fort Worth Sister Cities International. Mom started traveling all over the world to Fort Worth’s Sister Cities, and she brought back amazing stories that changed her life. Through her, I learned about how cultural exchanges really work and the barriers we need to break through to make them successful. Mom eventually ran for and was elected Chairperson of Sister Cities International’s board of directors where she ROCKED OUT the organization. I also have met some incredible people through Fort Worth Sister Cities, people who should be receiving medals from the White House for the AWESOME things they have done for Americans and their friends in their Sister Cities. I am really proud to now volunteer for this organization, and I have my Moms to thank for that.

If you would like to learn more about Sister Cities or contribute, I have a couple suggestions for you:

• Go to http://sister-cities.org to find and join your local Sister Cities program.
• Start a Sister Cities program of your own. You’d be amazed how easy it is.
• Attend Sister Cities International’s next annual conference in Arlington, Virginia, on March 3-5, 2011.
• Volunteer for your local Sister Cities program, the international organization, or any one-off event.
• Donate. No, seriously: DONATE.

Since this is a cause I believe in, I have joined the board of Sister Cities International and my local Sister Cities association in Arlington, VA. I’m heading up the conference planning for March’s annual conference and helping out where I can. I would really, REALLY like to talk to anybody who may be interested in helping me out. We need everything from volunteers to large corporate donations with which we’ll underwrite our conference. So give me a shout. I promise you it will be the most rewarding community-building experience of your life.

The Sister Cities of Fort Worth, TX

As regular readers of this blog know by now, I had quite a journey getting to present at the Gov 2.0 Expo this year. I’ve spent enough time talking about that preso. Now it’s time to talk about the Expo itself.

There have been metric shitloads of wrap-ups, reviews, commentaries, and think pieces following the Expo. I’ll try to sum up my experience there without repeating too much. (See links below to some of the better wrap-ups.)

First and foremost, I have to give Laurel Ruma, J.B. Wheatley and the rest of the O’Reilly staff huge props for hooking it up for me. Laurel greeted me with a great big hug when I arrived, and her enthusiasm never wavered. The speakers’ lounge gang was a delight as well, providing a great place to meet new connections like David Hale from the National Institute of Health and longtime Twitter pals like Chris Rasmussen.

I expected a lot of cogitation, pontification, and general assholery from this conference… par for the course of most govvie conferences in DC. However, I was pleasantly surprised that the gov in Gov 2.0 was better represented by hyperlocal government (cities, counties, townships) than the federal monstrosity here in DC. While we eventually got to see presos from Price Floyd (Defense Department) and Alec Ross (State Department), their remarks were not near as inspiring as the things coming from local yokels like Joshua Robin (Massachusetts Department of Transportation), Steve Corbett (iStrategy Labs), and Melissa Jordan (Bay Area Rapid Transit). It was really AWESOME and inspiring seeing these representatives and enthusiasts of city and township government speak about crowdsourced apps, programs and ideas that are revolutionizing the way their local governments are engaging with and supporting citizens.

These combined perspectives on citizen engagement of local government really speak to me given my work with Sister Cities International. If it’s one thing my mom taught me (she’s the president of Fort Worth Sister Cities) it’s that the relationships that matter most to government change are those between citizens. And it’s important to remember, government employees are citizens too. People at the Gov 2.0 Expo showed me how true and effective that can be, especially when you activate those citizens’ AWESOME and let them come up with some really badass shi’ to help their local communities and governments.

There were some really great presos that I won’t go into too much detail here, but you should check as many of them out as you can on the Expo’s YouTube channel. I particularly enjoyed the mashup of marketing, Maslow, and media sciences that Dan Zarrella used to scientifically study social media. Kathy Sierra’s talk about passion (and call for a LOLcat Translation Project for the Federal Acquisition Regulation) was much more fun than I’d expected, and surprisingly cooler than Gary Vaynerchuk’s keynote.

Finally, the Expo’s social events were great places for me to connect with people I’d only engaged with online. It was AWESOME drinking beers and shooting the shit with Steve Radick, Chris Ramussen, Steve Ressler, Andrew Krzmarzick, and Steve Lunceford; and meeting new friends like Chris Bennett, Chris McCroskey (hmmm, AWESOME Gov 2.0 peeps seem to go by the names Chris and Steve….), Jacque Brown, David Hale, and the boys from Palantir. As a social animal myself, it was pretty rad to hang out with these cats and others that felt like “fellow travelers” in our particular, individual quests for AWESOME government.

In closing, the source of inspiration for any good Gov 2.0 discussion… TENACIOUS D.

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