by Joe Gillis, Mar 13 2012 // 10:00 AM
It isn’t just movies and music at the South By Southwest event, there’s also comics. Comics and technology, to be exact.
That’s right, at SXSW in Austin, TX yesterday Marvel announced a new initiative, in the form of an iOS and Android app, and the first of many steps in its Marvel ReEvolution called Marvel AR. This new app, developed in conjunction with Aurasma “brings the world of print and digital media together for a comics experience like never before.”
Sound exciting? Well, if you want to know more, check out all the info below from the official press release.
Yesterday, at the SXSW Interactive Festival, Marvel Entertainment unveiled Marvel AR, the first major augmented reality app from a comic book company. As part of the recently announced Marvel ReEvolution, which brings the world of print and digital media together for a comics experience like never before, the Marvel AR app powered by Aurasma will be released on April 2 for iOS and Android devices. Fans can first discover the power of this new app in Avengers VS X-Men #1, arriving in comic stores on April 4 and kicking off the comic book event of the year in which the world’s most popular Super Heroes go to war!
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Posted in: Android · Apple · Comics · Marvel · News · Tech
Tagged: Android, Apple, Aurasma, Comics, iOS, iOS 5, iPad, iPad 2, Marvel, Marvel AR, Marvel ReEvolution, Smartphones, SXSW, SXSW Interactive
by Joe Gillis, Mar 12 2012 // 3:15 PM
Given the proliferation of smartphones with decent to very good cameras, it made sense that what followed was a whole lot of camera and photography apps for those smartphones. Among the most popular for iOS devices, with over 27 million registered users, is Instagram.
But what of Android and its users? Are they supposed to sit on the sidelines and not be able to enjoy all that Instagram goodness?Not much longer, apparently. As we previously reported, the app was announced for Android in December but not specific release dat was given.
However, at the annual South by Southwest conference in Austin, Texas, Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger of Instagram hinted that the Android version of their app is coming “really soon.” In fact, Systrom briefly showed the app running on his Galaxy Nexus and claimed that “it’s one of the most amazing Android apps you’ll ever see, in some ways, it’s better than our iPhone app.”
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Posted in: Android · Mobile · Mobile Apps · News · SXSW · Tech
Tagged: Android, Google, Instagram, iOS, iPhone, iPhone 4S, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, Mobile, Mobile Apps, Photography, Samsung Galaxy Nexus, Smartphone Photography, Smartphones, Social Media, SXSW, SXSW Interactive
by Chris Ullrich, Mar 4 2010 // 11:00 AM

If you’ve never been to Austin, TX during South by Southwest (SXSW), let me assure you AT&T’s network pretty much sucks during the fest. Sure, it has something to do with the sheer number of users concentrated all in one place but still, that doesn’t make it any better. So, to prevent a repeat of last years’s problems (To put it mildly) AT&T is going overboard to ensure a similar wireless network debacle doesn’t happen again this year.
To avoid a second such disaster, AT&T is pulling out all the stops (Well, most of them anyway) and bringing in a lot of additional equipment for the SXSW conference including:
• Bringing in three temporary cell sites that are positioned in areas expected to see high traffic.
• Installing a Distributed Antenna System (DAS) at the Austin Convention Center. The DAS is comprised of 50 antenna nodes that provide the equivalent coverage of eight cell sites.
• Improving the cell sites in the surrounding area by utilizing 30MHz of spectrum for 3G instead of the standard 10MHz and upgrading the system to include the 850MHz band and HSPA.
• Improving the backhaul by beefing up the fiber optic connections that serve the eight cell sites of the DAS and the three temporary sites.
These all seems like great steps in the right direction for the company but still, you have to wonder if it will be enough. Even with AT&T’s recent victory in a PC World survey of network performance, many of us who use the network every day haven’t really seen much of a difference. It still kinda sucks.
When you’ve got thousands of power users with iPhones all in one square mile and all trying to use the network at the same time, will it be able to handle the load or will it fail once again? I guess we’ll find out next week. Any bets?
Posted in: Apple · Gear · News · SXSW · Tech
Tagged: 3G, Apple, AT&T, iPhone, Network Problems, Networks, Smartphones, SXSW, SXSW Interactive, Tech