In Case You Missed It: May 18-19

Some of the best stories you might have missed over the weekend:
(Photo by Rodolfo Gonzalez / Austin American-Statesman)

• South Lamar area’s transformation continues: ManyAustinites watched sadly the demolition of Lamar Plaza - which once housed The Highball and businesses like Heart of Texas Music - and the construction going on now to build the new Lamar Union is one of the most visible signs of change. Construction crews are now in the midst of excavation work, making space for underground parking garages.
  
  
• Love’s Last Resort: An investigative piece in the Statesman on Sunday looked at one last resort method that some Texas parents use to get their children expensive mental health care. Last year, parents of 130 children claimed to have abused or neglected their children in order to get them into state custody. 
  
  
• Austin’s tech scene: Fewer workers but healthier ecosystem: Austin’s tech scene was on a high in 2001, before the tech bubble burst. By some measures, Austin still hasn’t fully recovered from its dot-com excesses - but the overall picture isn’t all bad.
  
  
• Missing the real story in Iraq: A reporter reflects on covering the U.S. invasion of Iraq a decade ago: The Statesman’s Robert W. Gee describes what it was like being a reporter in Iraq in the early days of the U.S. invasion of Iraq:

“Whether it was a reluctance to question government in a time of patriotic fervor, or a reckless push for scoops no matter how flimsy the sourcing, we failed.”

• Stubborn long-term unemployment weighs on Texas’ economic growth: While Texas has enjoyed a climate of robust job creation and lower jobless rates than the nation as a whole, the number of people unemployed for 27 weeks or longer remains a persistent thorn in the side of the economic recovery here and around the country.
  
  
• Summer travel forecast: Winging it with tighter seats, higher fees, delay uncertainties: Traveling by air this summer may mean playing things a little fast and lose as you try to anticipate scheduling quirks.

Austin company rolls out ‘robotic barista’ on UT campus

Have your coffee made by a…robot barista? With a few taps from your smartphone or at the kiosk created by Austin-based Briggo, you can have coffee in minutes. The company is gearing up for an expansion that will put several more machines around Austin.

Photo: Laura Skelding/American-Statesman

UT researchers demonstrate vulnerability of civilian drones to hacking

After a dress rehearsal at Royal-Memorial Stadium, University of Texas researchers traveled to New Mexico last month and demonstrated for U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials how an unmanned aerial vehicle, or drone, can be commandeered by hacking into its navigation system.

“The dirty fact is it’s an open signal, and easily hacked.”

- Todd Humphreys, assistant professor in UT’s Cockrell School of Engineering

Photo: Cockrell School of Engineering

austin360:

Apple refreshes its MacBook line with a few surprises

The new MacBook have a lot more power and the Pro models are thinner and lighter.

What do you think about the WWDC announcements so far?

Looking for parking downtown? New app could help

ParkMe is a free iPhone app that uses parking “heat maps” which receive real-time information from the City of Austin’s “smart” parking stations.

The app doesn’t take it down to the individual space, but the map refreshes every five minutes.

austin360:

Apple says there’ll be no pop-up store at this year’s SXSW

Apple has confirmed to the American-Statesman that it will not be repeating its downtown pop-up Apple Store for South by Southwest Interactive this year.  

Photo: Alberto Martinez AMERICAN-STATESMAN

UT professor leads research into autonomous intersection technology

Cars that drive themselves? For this group, been there, done that. Now they are working on developing autonomous intersection technology.

Photo: Thao Nguyen FOR AMERICAN-STATESMAN

Attending a conference? Decide how lightly you want to pack on the gadgets front

What do you need when you attend a conference, especially one geared toward the web and tech like SXSW?

Omar Gallaga, our tech reporter, has three approaches on what to pack.

Photo courtesy of Monster

10 conversation-starters for SXSW Interactive

If you plan to attend the fest or at least lurk around the edges of it, you might be wondering what people will be talking about.

Check out our list of 10-conversation starters.

Photo: Jay Janner AMERICAN-STATESMAN