To recruit jihadis, you don't go to the Mall of America. Anyone who thinks a marketing conference is the right place for a pro-privacy speech is equally delusional.

Austin, TX — Strip away the pretension of the panels, and SXSW is pure leisure time. This rowdy crew swapped contraband wine bottles through the end of the night at one of this week's high budget parties, commanding the room, Google lanyards swinging. Now just think: soon every bar will look just like this.

Austin, TX — Today, after weeks of media aggrandizement, millionaire tech investor Ben Horowitz sat down on a stage in Austin with the rapper Nas and made a large room uncomfortable.

Austin, TX — All the brands are here, and form a chorus of undignified pleas for your attention. But why are they bothering? Nothing will beat AOL's race to the bottom like Digital Prophet and escaped muppet David Shing, wobbling on a branded wrecking ball.

Google chairman Eric Schmidt and Jared Cohen, director of Google Ideas, just began their South by Southwest panel addressing "issues of technology and privacy, war and intervention, diplomacy and revolution around the world."

Presented without comment, a handful of excerpts from "Spring Break for Nerds: A skeptic learns the secret to South by Southwest’s success," which for some reason just went up on The New Republic's website.