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Tag: google village

  • SXSW 2012: Google Maps House Bids Farewell To Austin

    Hey, did you know that South by Southwest happened in Austin, Texas, last week? Of course you did! News of the festival attached itself in some way to nearly everything related to technology and pop culture for the past week. Google was there in force as it commandeered the entire residential roadway of Rainey Street last weekend to erect the Google Village, Google’s very own Googleplex-To-Go created specifically for SXSW. If you happened to be in Austin and made your way to the Google Village, you no doubt wandered among the different houses Google established to represent different corners of Googleness.

    One of the houses, Maps House, compiled a video of the few days from last weekend that, as if a gesture of thanks for taking over the street, features a local Austin musician, John Arley, performing his original song, ‘Shooting For Pluto.’

    Have a look to see you missed, what you didn’t see if you were there, or what you forgot if you kept your brain in a fume-infested state of altered consciousness the entire time you were at SXSW.

    I totally want that costume.

  • Google Maps SXSW, Erects Google Village Tomorrow

    South by Southwest 2012 kicks off today and, as planned, Google will be effectively taking over the residential avenue of Rainey Street in Austin, Texas, to erect their Google Village that will be opening up tomorrow. With these sorts of events, though, attendees can almost always count on the maxim that where Google goes, so goes a customized update to Google Maps. This year’s SXSW is no exception.

    Some of the Google tools that they’re rolling out include the mobile map for SXSW so all the altered beasts going to the festival will be able to find their way around Austin. Google will also have their Hogwarts-style colony on Rainey Street, the aforementioned Google Village, which will host the Developer’s House, Discovery House, Maps House, and Android House.


    View Google Village at SXSW in a larger map

    Google’s also helping you stay full and inebriated this year at SXSW by providing Zagat-hosted happy hours that will be available throughout the week, which will also give attendees the opportunity to rub elbows with some Google dignitaries.

    If you’re not able to go to SXSW, Google will be hosting several Hangouts for those of you who would still wish to virtually attend. If you will be at SXSW in person, however, Google also has the ever-reliable Street View of Rainey Street so you can visually plan your street-level trek through the Google Village. Or, if you’re the intrepid type, you can take a cue from the travelers featured below in the Google Street View sample of Rainey Street.


    View Larger Map

    As always, you can keep up with all the Googleness on their full schedule, but while that might be fun for the tech-inclined, don’t forget: there’s loads of live music happening that you really should check out.

  • Google Village: The Googleplex Goes To SXSW

    It shouldn’t surprise anyone that Google’s going to this year’s South by Southwest music festival. SXSW is cool, Google is cool (right?), so they play well together. What is surprising, however, is that Google decided it wasn’t enough to just send its envoys to the festival and have instead chosen to construct a makeshift Googleplex for the duration of SXSW.

    In a blog post, Google announced the creation of the Google Village that will be effectively taking over Rainey Street (cue the collective groan of local residents) and will house different aspects of Googleness. Honestly, it sounds like Google’s got a touch of the Hogwarts bug because the divisions will be as follow: Android House, Google Maps House, Developer House, and Discovery House.

    Other details from the announcement:

  • Interactive talks featuring Google luminary Vic Gundotra and self-described “software evangelist” Guy Kawasaki.
  • Over 25 panels of Googlers talking about Google things, like YouTube and WebGL.
  • Drinks!
  • Local artists showing off their wares.
  • Google Offers passport, which gets you discounts in various local businesses.
  • Lego-buildy madness
  • Marvel at the latest Android devices and platforms

    • Google will also be streaming live footage of concerts from The Shins, Gossip, The Ting Tings, and The Heartless Bastards (among others). The shows will be streamed on the YouTube Presents channel in case you can’t make it.

    You can see the full itinerary of Google Village madness on the official company’s official schedule for the SXSW event.