I'll be reporting from the nerdfest known as South by Southwest Interactive over the weekend and into next week. You can follow my updates on Twitter, on wavLength and here on the Future Tense program site.

Here are some the SXSWi panels that pique my interest (sadly, many are concurrent):

-Kill Your Mouse: Kinetic Computing Arrives Main Stage
-What Teens Want Online & On Their Phones
-Just Over 50 and Not Dead Yet
-The Future of Virtual World & Game Development: Rise of the Indies
-The Suxorz: The Worst Ten Social Media Ad Campaigns of 2007
-Online Extremism - And the Muslims Who Fight It
-Core Conversation: Adult Conversations: Sex, Intimacy & Online Relationships
-Go For IT! Attracting Girls to Technology
-Managing the Media Blur
-Core Conversation: 10 Easy Ways To Piss Off A Blogger (And Other Mistakes Marketers Make)
-Friend Me! Vote for Me! Donate Now!
-Textbooks of the Future: Free & Collaborative!
-The Real Dragon: Understanding the Web and Digital Media in China
-Core Conversation: "I'm Internet Famous": Status in Social Media
-Human and Property Rights in Virtual Worlds
-Core Conversation: Are You Smarter Than A Wired Teen?
-A Critical Look At OpenID
-Mobile Phones: International Devices of Mystery
-Judo Moves for Defending Your Reputation Online
-Transforming Hospital Systems: The Digital Future of Healthcare

RealAudio - MP3 - iTunes

In the March issue of the Atlantic, Beijing-based writer James Fallows explains how China's vast Internet censorship system works, and reports that it's quite easy to circumvent the Great Firewall using readily available tools such as proxy servers and virtual private networks. Fallows says those tools, however, are out of reach for most people in China.

"Whats more than clever about the Chinese government's approach is that it has made going outside the firewall just enough of a nuisance that most people won't bother," Fallows said.

Here's a longer version of my interview with Fallows.