Likes & Launch

Every March bloggerheads and tech-lovers alike gather in Austin to check-out some of the best emerging music, film and interactive ideas. SXSW is the festival where great new companies make the leap from nobody to the next big thing. In order to prepare for what will surely be a whirlwind of great ideas, I’ve picked the top 3 companies I’ll be watching at this year’s SXSW festival.

Glass – How many times have you shared a website, an article or a picture online? Blogging and micro-blogging sites like Twitter or Stumbleupon have made this a lot easier but what if you could write notes on the items you share? Glass is a new company that allows users to “write on top of the internet.” Beyond just adding notes in a comment section like you do today, you’ll have more flexibility to share thoughts as you would on a piece of scrap paper in a boring meeting. Glass would be a great tool to see what exactly the expert thinks of an article. What if you could see exactly what Guy Kawasaki thinks of a marketing article? What would advertisers pay to see all the noted reactions of their online advertising? Glass has a lot of potential if they can show users the power of real-time notes; definitely a company to watch. Learn more at www.writeonglass.com.

Solvate – I think one issue that’s been on everyone’s mind from the President to the owner of your neighborhood dry cleaner is unemployment. Everyone has a friend, a relative or a former colleague who is currently looking for work. There is so much talent that is ready and willing to work but just can’t get connected to the opportunities out there. In comes Solvate. Solvate is a staffing engine that connects companies with talent quickly and easily. Companies like Elance.com already dominate staffing on larger and long term projects but the project-talent matching pie is big enough for a company like Solvate to be successful. The major difference is their focus on administrative tasks. Talent can help you sync your blackberry or research e-cards for a principal at a marketing firm. Talent may or may not be able to make a living off of these small tasks but it’s a step in the right direction. If Solvate finds a way to seek talent in low-income areas this could be a great opportunity to bring outside income into some of the areas hardest hit by the recent recession. Learn more at www.solvate.com.

Placethings – I love seeking advice and recommendations on where to eat and what to see before I visit a new city. As a frequent traveler myself, I’m always excited to return the favor but sometimes the task can be overwhelming. I’m currently tasked with helping plan my sister’s honeymoon in Paris. I’ve been to the city four times so I have a lot of great recommendations to share but I couldn’t decide the best medium to share with her. A laundry list of locations is helpful but you’ll need to navigate a map or a GPS to put the information to good use. In enters the Richardson, Texas based Placethings. Placethings is a mobile media platform that enables users to connect stories and advice to real world locations. Using Placethings I could lay video, text, pictures or audio overtop of a map of Paris to help guide my sister to the best restaurants, the museums she shouldn’t miss and even provide the soundtrack I recommend listening to in the elevator ride to the top of the Eiffel Tower. The best part, once I share all of this information it would be easy to share it over and over again. I could then cross-reference with other users to create the best personalized interactive guidebook a traveler could want. Hopefully they’ll have an Austin “virtual guidebook” up before SXSW! You can check out Placethings as part of the Microsoft BizSpark Accelerator presentations during the conference or online at www.placethings.com.

I look forward to seeing how these companies and more fare at one of the largest interactive conferences in the country. To stay up to date on my findings at SXSW please follow me on Twitter @blocks8.