My List of Essential Apps for Attending SXSW

My must-have app list for SXSW 2014:

This year I haven't seen a ton of new apps, so thought I'd write up what I'm using to keep up with what's happening at SXSW and see if any of you have any recommendations.

• GroupMe is a MUST HAVE. Already I have about 100 friends sharing party and event info with me.
• Others I have in this folder? Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, Facebook and Facebook Messenger, Quora, Highlight (which is most useful at SXSW), Google+ Hangouts, Skype, Pulse, and Facebook Paper).

• Camera+ is a MUST HAVE. Best camera app around.
• Snapseed, for photo editing, is a must have.
• Instagram, for all those selfies.
• Others in this folder: iPhoto, YouTube Capture, YouTube, Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, Comcast X1 Remote.

• A good calendar app is a must have. I like Tempo the best.
• Good note taking app, Evernote is my favorite, if you go to sessions.
• Moves, for tracking your walking.
• A good business card scanner is a must have. I use CardMunch.
• Others in this folder: EasilyDo, Amazon Kindle, Rackspace Cloud, Google Authenticator, IFTTT, Google MyGlass, LifeLock, LastPass, and Google Voice.

• Your airline app (I mostly fly United).
• Tripit to keep track of where your friends are, and all those travel details.
• Uber, to get rides at SXSW, is a must have.
• Others in this folder: Hipmunk, Hotel Tonight, Workday, SeatGuru, KAYAK, Concur.

• Must have? Foursquare, to see tips about where you are, and see where your friends are checking in.
• Must have? Google Maps. The best.
• Must have? AroundMe. Great for finding things you need near you.
• Must have? Get your team on Life360 , and/or Glympse, to tell others where I am.so you can see where they all are in real time.
• Others in this folder: Waze, for traffic, and Glympse, to tell others where I am.

• MUST HAVE? Yelp, Foodspotting, Urban Spoon, and OpenTable for dealing with restaurants.
• Others in this folder? TalkTo, ParkNow (only for SF), Amazon, Starbucks, Fandango for movies, Delectable and Vivino for wine.

• Must have? Not much in this category but I have a Nest thermostat at home, so if I forget to turn down the heat I can do it from this app.
• Others in this folder? Revolv (the home automation system I use), PayPal, Wells Fargo for banking.

• Must have? SXSW2014 app (the official one).
• Also Must have? Eventbrite (most parties now book on Eventbrite).
• Others in this folder? Soundcloud, Spotify, Syzzle (for finding local music), Sonos, Applauze (also lets me find local music).

• MUST HAVE? For me? It's the Breaking news app and Flipboard. I just don't get enough value out of the rest to keep them on my phones, particularly after watching Twitter and Facebook all day, which is where I get my news.

• Must have? Facebook app. So many people are comparing event notes with me right now it's nuts.
• Gmail. You do use Gmail, right?
• Google Chrome.

Keep in mind I just deleted all the apps I haven't used in more than a month, so these are all apps that I actively use. How about you? Which apps are you taking to SXSW?

Oh, and why show you my iPhone screen? Because. I have mostly the same apps on my Android devices too that I'm carrying with me.

Robert Scoble is Startup Liaison for Rackspace, the Open Cloud Computing Company.

The best place to contact Robert is on his Facebook page: www.facebook.com/RobertScoble