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NEW YORK Increasingly, the media zoo that is SXSW looks more like todays overlapping media world.

The annual South by Southwest Conference and Festival, which begins Friday, gathers thousands of creators, performers, media and industry members for 10 days onto the boozy downtown streets of Austin, Texas. Its really three festivals Interactive, Film and Music in one, but each bleeds into the other.

The annual buzz word at SXSW is always convergence. Just as the tech and entertainment worlds physically descend onto Austin, media forms, too, are diverging. Many of those technologies and companies that might be found at SXSW Interactive have greatly altered those at SXSW Film (video-on-demand, Netflix, Hulu) and at SXSW Music (Apple, Spotify, Pandora).

Its a place where the question is always whats next and one has the impression of meandering hordes traipsing the streets of Austin searching for answers to a confusing and ever-evolving media landscape. There will be hundreds of panel discussions, countless predictions and even man vs. machine competitions that pit algorithms against curators.

Its like stepping into a temporary world for one week where youre maybe two or three or five years in the future, says Amber Case, wholl be making her fourth trip to SXSW as a keynote speaker for Interactive. Shes a cyborg anthropologist who studies the relationship between humans and machines, and founded the location-sharing platform Geoloqi.com.

Each realm of SXSW will have its own superstars. None will be bigger than Bruce Springsteen, this years music keynote speaker. (NPR Music and SXSW.com will live stream the event.) Interactive, though, will have its own rock stars, including Napster co-founder Sean Parker (famously portrayed by Justin Timberlake in The Social Network).

Many others will be there, too, often promoting new projects, including Jay-Z, Willem Dafoe (The Hunter), Richard Linklater and Jack Black (Bernie), Jack White, Joss Whedon (The Cabin in the Woods), Lena Dunham and Judd Apatow (HBOs Girls), comedy podcast star Marc Maron, the Magnetic Fields and a few thousand more.

SXSW, effectively a trade show for industry and media members, has been around since 1987 and has historically been primarily a music event where labels showcase their acts and young bands seek their big break. Film and what was then called multimedia were added in 1994.

After some lean years supported financially by the music side of SXSW, the Interactive part of SXSW has in recent years swelled to become the largest aspect of the event.

Its not all that apparent what were doing different now, but knock on wood, says Hugh Forrest, director of SXSW Interactive. Theres lots of reasons for the growth, but the general reason that encapsulates it all is the growth of social media and social networks.

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As digital, film and music worlds gather for SXSW media zoo, ‘convergence’ is annual buzz word

GENEVA (AP) Alliances are the buzz word of European automakers' struggle for survival.

PSA Peugeot-Citroen chairman Philippe Varin said Wednesday at the Geneva Motor Show that a new alliance with General Motors will allow the French automaker to return to long-term profitability in Europe.

There is hardly a potential ally that Fiat and Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne will rule out.

"We are open to everything," Marchionne said, even as the fresh GM-Peugeot alliance complicates Fiat's search for potential new partners.

While alliances have been around for a while some more successful than others the brutal European car market characterized by plummeting sales, idled factories and fierce competition is pushing many automakers to look for partners for new technology and access to fresh markets without reinventing the wheel.

Industrial tie-ups are becoming even more urgent as the European market continues to contract. Sales were down 200,000 units, or 9 percent, in the first two months of the year, and the car market has lost some 2.5 million vehicle sales from its peak in 2006-07, according to figures from IHS Automotive.

"This requires more and more investment that nobody can do except through acquisitions and alliances," said Carlos Ghosn, head of the 13-year-old Nissan and Renault alliance. "If Nissan were alone and Renault were alone there were many things we could not do."

Targeted alliances are driven by the logic that a good four-cylinder engine is a good four-cylinder no matter who builds it, and no driver cares about what platform the car is on. Only when it comes to more powerful engines, does brand identity come into play. Maserati and Ferrari, for example, strictly restrict their powertrain technologies to those brands.

The Peugeot-GM alliance is somewhat broader. GM becomes the French automaker's second-largest shareholder with a 7-percent stake, behind the Peugeot family, whose stake drops from 31 percent to around 25 percent.

"It represents an opportunity to build a strong and more profitable business not just in Europe, but in other parts of the world," Varins said, allowing Peugeot to address tightening emissions targets in Europe and strengthen its position in emerging markets in a way not economically feasible on its own.

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Auto alliances the buzz word for survival

From Groupon

The trick, the Mad Money host explained, is to forget about anything that seems the slightest bit sexy. He would avoid the red hot dotcoms, especially the Internet initial public offerings that generate a lot of hype.

When you've got an Internet IPO that's got tons of hype, yet not much in the way of earnings, the only way to profit is by getting in on the actual deal, and then selling into the initial spike, Cramer said. I know I've said this before, but I'll keep repeating it either until I'm blue in the face or people stop making the rookie mistake of paying up for these names after they've begun trading.

Investors should, however, look for overlooked and undervalued dot-coms that have been around a while, he continued. Take IAC/InterActiveCorp

The recent Internet IPOs are still trying to figure out their business models, but IACs formative years passed long ago. Since founded in 1986 by billionaire Barry Diller, the company has been through numerous incarnations. It was one of the hottest growth stocks of the 1990s. The company made a number of acquisitions and became so large and complex that few people could wrap their heads around it, Cramer said. In 2008, the company broke itself up into five separate public companies: a home shopping network, a travel and leisure business, Ticketmaster and Lending Tree. IAC kept its core and high-growth Internet business, though.

Perhaps became of tis contused legacy, Cramer said IAC has largely been dismissed or ignored by most investors. Even so, the stock is up 248 percent since the generational low in March 2009. It rallied 49 percent in 2011 and has posted a 10 percent gain year-to-date.

Cramer thinks IACs stock has more room to run because the company has a proven ability to turn a profit. Match.com, for example, is a subscription-based business model that attracted 1.7 million core subscribers last quarter. In turn, Match.coms revenues were up 46 percent year-over-year last quarter.

(RELATED: 12 Unique Dating Sites)

Meanwhile, the company also has a strong search market, where search revenues increased by 35 percent year-over-year last quarter.

So IAC might not be as exciting as some of the red hot dotcom names out there, but Cramer thinks it will likely produce solid profits for your portfolio something every investor can get excited about.

Continued here:
Cramer: IAC/InterActiveCorp Is a Buy

NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire -03/08/12)- China's internet stocks have taken a beating of late. On Tuesday alone, TickerSpy's China Internet Stocks Index (CHDOT) collapsed more than 4 percent after Chinese officials cut the country's 2012 target growth rate to 7.5 percent -- the lowest year-on-year growth projection in eight years. The Paragon Report examines investing opportunities in China's Internet Sector and provides equity research on Sohu.com Inc. (NASDAQ: SOHU - News) and Ctrip.com International Ltd. (NASDAQ: CTRP - News). Access to the full company reports can be found at:

http://www.paragonreport.com/SOHU

http://www.paragonreport.com/CTRP

China's Premier called "expanding consumer demand" one of his priorities for the upcoming year. The move comes after a decade in which building vast infrastructure projects and boosting the country's exports took center stage in the Chinese economy, Reuters reports. Last year, China's gross domestic product (GDP), or annual economic output, grew by 9.2%. In 2010 gross domestic product grew 10.4%.

"I wish to stress that in setting a slightly lower GDP growth rate, we hope... to guide people in all sectors to focus their work on accelerating the transformation of the pattern of economic development and making economic development more sustainable and efficient," Premier Wen Jiabao explained.

The Paragon Report provides investors with an excellent first step in their due diligence by providing daily trading ideas, and consolidating the public information available on them. For more investment research on China's Internet Sector register with at http://www.paragonreport.com and get exclusive access to our numerous stock reports and industry newsletters.

In the internet sector, the number of people online in China stood at 513 million by the end of 2011, according to a recent report from eMarketer. Although the report predicts growth to slow, with the internet reaching a majority of people only by 2015, China still has the world's largest population exposed to online ads.

Despite a lack of Facebook, China's social networking population reached nearly 257 million in 2011. Meanwhile half of internet users have been attracted by local weibo and other domestic social networking sites, with the proportion expected to rise to nearly two-thirds by 2014.

The Paragon Report has not been compensated by any of the above-mentioned publicly traded companies. Paragon Report is compensated by other third party organizations for advertising services. We act as an independent research portal and are aware that all investment entails inherent risks. Please view the full disclaimer at http://www.paragonreport.com/disclaimer

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China's Growth Targets Slide -- Shares of Sohu and Ctrip Fall

NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire -03/08/12)- China's internet stocks have taken a beating of late. On Tuesday alone, TickerSpy's China Internet Stocks Index (CHDOT) collapsed more than 4 percent after Chinese officials cut the country's 2012 target growth rate to 7.5 percent -- the lowest year-on-year growth projection in eight years. Five Star Equities examines investing opportunities in China's Internet Sector and provides Stock research on Sina Corporation (NASDAQ: SINA - News) and Renren Inc. (NYSE: RENN - News). Access to the full company reports can be found at:

http://www.fivestarequities.com/SINA

http://www.fivestarequities.com/RENN

China's premier called "expanding consumer demand" one of his priorities for the upcoming year. The move comes after a decade in which building vast infrastructure projects and boosting the country's exports took center stage in the Chinese economy, Reuters reports. Last year, China's gross domestic product (GDP), or annual economic output, grew by 9.2%. In 2010 gross domestic product grew 10.4%.

"I wish to stress that in setting a slightly lower GDP growth rate, we hope... to guide people in all sectors to focus their work on accelerating the transformation of the pattern of economic development and making economic development more sustainable and efficient," Premier Wen Jiabao explained.

Five Star Equities releases regular market updates on China's Internet Sector so investors can stay ahead of the crowd and make the best investment decisions to maximize their returns. Take a few minutes to register with us free at http://www.fivestarequities.com and get exclusive access to our numerous stock reports and industry newsletters.

In the internet sector, the number of people online in China stood at 513 million by the end of 2011, according to a recent report from eMarketer. Although the report predicts growth to slow, with the internet reaching a majority of people only by 2015, China still has the world's largest population exposed to online ads.

Despite a lack of Facebook, China's social networking population reached nearly 257 million in 2011. Meanwhile half of internet users have been attracted by local weibo and other domestic social networking sites, with the proportion expected to rise to nearly two-thirds by 2014.

Five Star Equities provides Market Research focused on equities that offer growth opportunities, value, and strong potential return. We strive to provide the most up-to-date market activities. We constantly create research reports and newsletters for our members. Five Star Equities has not been compensated by any of the above-mentioned companies. We act as an independent research portal and are aware that all investment entails inherent risks. Please view the full disclaimer at:

http://www.fivestarequities.com/disclaimer

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China Cuts Growth Rate -- Shares of Sina and Renren Retreat