• by Gavin O'Malley , Staff Writer @mp_gavin, March 8, 2013

What does SXSW 2013 mean to Bill Gates? “Useful data. Education data,” Geek Wire reports. It was an obvious -- but no less pressing -- pick for Gates, considering his role as co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the fact that he was headlining SXSWedu, the newest SXSW event. Yet, “In his keynote Gates talked very little about the U.S. education work of the Gates Foundation,” Geek Wire reports. “Instead, he laid out a grand view of where technology has been applied in education in the past, why it has stumbled, and how he now sees the need.” This is “a special time for technology in education,” according to Gates. Ever the realist, however, Gated added: “We try not to be naïve about how complex it’s going to be.”