Lenovo Global Digital Marketing Manager Gary Milner opened the Programmatic Insider Summit in Scottsdale, AX, with a pretty compelling proposition for brand marketers: Survival. Milner kicked things off by sharing an anecdote of a conversation he had with a big insurance marketer -- a brand manager who should know something about using data and technology to manage risk.

Turning a modern precept of industrial design on its ear, designer and technologist turned venture capitalist John Maeda late Sunday told a roomful of SXSW Interactive festival attendees here that design not engineering has begun to take the lead in digital media innovation and market valuation. In truth, Maeda said designers are beginning to get an equal seat at the table, but based on an analysis of recent venture funding, the biggest recent plays -- companies ranging from Instagram to Pinterest to Airbnb to Vice Media -- have been conceived and led by designers, not engineers. In fact, an analysis …

As I'm heading back from Downtown Austin, how I wish I could just throw what I'm starting to write from my phone to my laptop by simply waving at it like a magic wand. I can't, but it's really a matter of time. It's the age of The Internet of Things (IoT), one of the buzzwords of the moment around SXSW, and a lot has been spoken about the confusion, awkwardness and lack of focus on the overall approach to it. There are obviously amazing, awe-inspiring realizations of the concept out there, but there could be more, and they could …

Couldn't make it to SXSW for our galaxy of 21 brand marketers speaking over two days? You can get their insights without having to step over SXSW bloggers choking the aisles in our Sheraton ballroom. the videos are here.

Academy Award-winning producer and Hollywood ledged Brian Grazer took the stage at South By Southwest (SXSW) to bridge the gap between curiosity and creativity. He told a packed room Sunday that Hollywood does not breed ideas, but rather curiosity does.

Forgot your password? Yahoo released an on-demand one-time sign-in option for users who cannot or do not want to remember their password. The announcement made at South By Southwest (SXSW) Sunday means anyone with a Yahoo account can request an on-demand password texted to their mobile phone.

AUSTIN, TEXAS -- In a setting that combined some of world's best barbecue with some of world's bleeding edge virtual reality technologies, Giant Spoon and Wired magazine played host to a discussion of the role new experiential technologies are playing in telling stories for fun and for brands.

AUSTIN, TEXAS -- In a conversation that spanned the spectrum from "mind clones" to "immortality" to "transhumanism" to "cyber psychiatry," genetic engineering tycoon and futurist Martine Rothblatt tackled some of the most fundamental issues facing mankind in the very near future, mainly because they are redefining who and what we are. Many of the themes, which would have seemed like science fiction not too long ago, are on the cusp of reality and are only a matter of progression, Rothblatt told SXSW Interactive festival attendees here Sunday afternoon.

Resolution Media, FleishmanHillard, and Annalect have created a real-time newsroom dubbed StoryConnect at South By Southwest (SXSW) to see what people search on and talk about online specific to the festival. The data comes from about 55,000 traditional media resources, as well as hundreds of thousands of social media insights across the Web.

This is all about ME, not about YOU, says Pinterest's head of branding. Except, of course, it was the sharing mechanism that allowed the company to grow so quickly. It sure wasn't the company's ad spend.