The winner so far.....Foursquare

SXSW is known for the apps that have become hits by starting out here. Most notably, Twitter and Foursquare. Of all the apps vying for attention at SXSW, the winner so far is...Foursquare. They are working very hard to prevent a newbie app like Yobanga from taking their crown. First of all they upgraded to V 3.0 on Wednesday. This includes a commerce effort with Amex. Register your Amex card and you get $5 off the tab when you check in at a place and then use your Amex card. Pretty slick.

They also have a promo in combination with Pepsi Max, who has taken over a vacant lot a block from the Convention Center. And they have a party later today. But most of all the application has a lot of cool features including those friends who are nearby, a significantly updated interface and an explore button where you can find lots of things. A little early to try to margarita button but I might later on.

Karen finally arrived yesterday, after thinking her bag was lost (driver was clueless and steered her to the wrong baggage place), then the driver dropped her at the Hilton rather than the OMNI. But she got here eventually.

We went to the comScore party on the roof of Fogo De Chao which was very nice. Then on to SIX Lounge for an Internet Oldtimer's Group meetup, then on to the AllThingsD party at Momo's. Mossberg was not there. Not his kind of party. Kind of an indoor/Outdoor hip-hop barbeque scene. Did not stay very long. Headed back to the hotel and called it an early night. There are parties everywhere. Many are private but some are open. But one thing in common, they are all jammed. Some overly so. A recurring theme seems to be asking if there are too many people and whether SXSW is overly crowded. Time will tell.

This is Day 7 of my trip and Day 2 of the Internet conference. Looking forward to the trade show on Monday, interacting with some of the companies in the booths, but for today, it's walking around town, checking in on a few events that I'll recount tomorrow.