SXSW 2017 – American Gods is a new STARZ show based on Neil Gaiman’s novel of the same name. We were able to attend an advanced screening of the pilot episode, along with a panel with the cast and crew, which we covered here.

It’s 2017. The iPhone has turned 10 years old, and it, along with all of its Android friends, are all over the place, and in hundreds of millions of hands all over this world. Netflix is an established company and no longer a novelty. Podcasts play on voice-activated devices like the Amazon Echo. We could go on, but you get the point:

We’re connected. We’re tied in. We’re people with toys and gadgets and we’re possessive about those effigies of consumerism.

But Bravo knows it’s Lent. It’s time to give some of that stuff up. And while religion has nothing to do with their programming, it’s fitting that their new show, Stripped, is being promoted right now.

SXSW 2017 – Virtual Reality is everywhere. Earlier today we met Hauoli, a VR startup that seeks to solve the VR gesture recognition problem with audio.

#SXSW2017 – Right now, gestures are hard. Not so much in the real world, but certainly in virtual spaces. Ever since the heady days of Quake III arena, users who wanted to do some digital damage with their avatar’s fingers had to map a key that did little more than flip you off.

We caught up with Carvana here in Austin, TX, at SXSW 2017. The Phoenix-based used car company calls itself a start up, but the truth is that it’s been around for at least four years, having been founded in 2013. Carvana claims that they’re new vending machine technology, which was first reported on last month, allows users to find used cars easily and then make major life decisions in the form of a car purchase, hassle-free, via massive vending machine.

“Are you a God?” asked Shadow. The buffalo-headed man shook his head. Shadow thought, for a moment, that the creature was amused. “I am the land,” he said.

SXSW 2017 – DAY 1: As if focused on making those words manifest, the White Buffalo stands above the southwestern plains once more. Resplendent, humongous, and as white as the new driven snows of the west, the statue stands tall here at the American Gods display at SXSW 2017 currently underway in Austin, TX. A white bison, covered in furry hair surrounded by the boneyard, and some relatively subtle swag makes for a fan-happy scene here at South By SouthWest.

Check out the image above of the display, which you can visit at SXSW through Monday.