Trying to tell complex, visual stories on the Internet has traditionally been a costly process requiring specialized technical skills. Now, a new non-profit endeavor is hoping to make multimedia storytelling easy and available to all.

As we add more devices and gadgets into our everyday lives, the quality of user experience continues to grow ever more important. And yet it’s so easy for designers to screw it up.

Where do artists draw the line between creation and theft? Does there really need to be a line at all?

In 2007 at Austin’s South by Southwest Interactive confab, the breakout piece of technology was going to be something called Twitter. Two years later, it was Foursquare. As this year’s confab starts and while some of the KERA/Art & Seek crew is getting registered in Austin, we look at what’s buzzing.

“Congratulations, Your Brand Is About To Become Obsolete.” Or maybe it already has, and you don’t even know it. After all, look at once-proud brands like Kodak who still can’t figure out what happened. What was their tipping point? Massive, mind-boggling success.

Think about the worst website you’ve ever seen. Now think about your favorite piece of music. Are they related? Designers Cennydd Bowles and James Box think so – and say the creation of beautiful, easy-to-use interactive user experiences can be inspired by basic concepts of music theory.

As South by Southwest has grown into a beast that stretches far beyond the confines of the Austin Convention Center, so has the level of corporate interest. This year’s conference doesn’t present marketing to you so much as beats you over the head with it.

Day 1 of this year’s South by Southwest Interactive conference on Friday brought conversations about making the internet even more ubiquitous in America – and what tools could help make that happen.

I had the privilege of attending a fine performance last Monday by Neko Case and her versatile band, who pulled in a near-capacity crowd at Dallas’ venerable Granada Theatre. Plenty has been written about Case’s captivating voice, but she (and her capable backup singer Kelly Hogan) also kept the audience entertained throughout the evening with [...]

Miles Davis’ modal-jazz masterpiece Kind of Blue turns 50 this month, an anniversary marked with ruminations about its greatness, scattered disagreement over its legacy and, of course, a pricey box set. However, a different sort of tribute to the seminal LP has now made its way online, thanks to some artists in a lesser-known electronic music genre and a blogger willing to get behind their idea.