6 Tech trends + gadgets to watch out for at SXSW 2019

Another year, another exciting SXSW event. The tech/music festival is off to a great start with day one offering plenty of exciting tech trends and gadgets. From social media news to wearable musical instruments, read on to catch up on all the best updates from SXSW 2019.

• What is SXSW? For those of you who haven’t come across any SXSW event updates before, South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomerate of film, interactive media and emerging technologies surrounding this side of the industry.
• Where and when will SXSW 2019 take place? SXSW 2019 takes place between March 8th 17th in Austin, Texas.
• Where can I get the full schedule of SXSW 2019? From film festivals to keynotes to gaming fests, here’s the schedule you need to follow in order to make the most of SXSW 2019.

In case you didn’t know, SXSW is a beautiful amalgamation of a tech conference and a festival. While amazing bands and singers headline each day, we also get a glimpse of even more technology that’s headed our way and hear from journalists, authors, actors, members of Congress, comedians, and more.

This year is no different – over the course of nine days, festival-goers will not just get to see the Game of Thrones Pop-Up but also have a first glimpse at emerging technology. Check out our favorites so far right here:

Foursquare’s Hypertrending Feature

Ten years back, Foursquare launched at SXSW. They’re back this year to make their tenth anniversary even more special with the new Hypertrending feature. This feature uses Pilgrim Technology to show where phones of users are in real time over the course of SXSW 2019. The results are displayed by dots on a map. You can easily find out which places are super popular with arrows to guide you whether they are trending up or down.

So, if you’re at SXSW this year, Foursquare is the app you need to check Hypertrending to keep up with all the popular events.

Foursquare’s Hypertrending Feature

Facebook merging Whatsapp, Facebook Messenger, and Instagram

We’ve been hearing a lot about this merger since January and SXSW might just reveal a little more about the upcoming Facebook launch. Based on reports, the idea of this merger is to allow users to communicate easily across platforms, regardless of the platform they use. So, instead of logging into all these apps separately, you could manage all of it from one single place.

Now, apart from tech updates, SXSW also features tons of music gadgets every year and this year is no different. So far, our two favorites are:

Sphero Specdrums App-Enabled Music Creation Rings

Along with teaching STEM, these wearables use motion and color sensors to bring you the audio of the world. The Specdrums deliver a variety of sounds based on different surfaces. When placed on a color, the system produces the accompanying audio. In a sense, the Specdrums turn colors into sounds. All you have to do is tap. Users can choose to use a single ring on its own or wear two for more layers of audio.

Kaiku Music Gloves

If you love making music, these are the gloves for you. They come with 18 programmable capacitive sensors that can trigger midi-sounds on command. Additionally, you can also use the gyroscope and accelerometer to produce tunes. As they rightly explain,

With KAiKU’s patented musical scale mapping system, the future of music creation is literally in your hand.

SXSW Edu

And for those interested in the future of education technology, the SXSW has a special section called SXSW Edu that will keep you informed with the latest classroom tech and other smart tech for education. From adding augmented reality to the classroom to launching more online hubs for sharing education tips, SXSW Edu aims to improve the future of education with technology. Here’s a quick look at some of the best stalls in SXSW Edu.

Of course, SXSW 2019 has only just begun. Running through March 17th, there are plenty of updates yet to come. Share your favorites that we may have missed in the comments below.