Spotted at this week's South by Southwest (SXSW) conference: Bloggers, vloggers, engineers, the team from up-and-coming startup Twitter, star Apple developer Buzz Andersen, Podtech host Robert Scoble, Digg founder Kevin Rose, vloggers Ze Frank and Amanda Congdon...but no investors. Forget the Web 2.0 expo; this is the place to meet the techies with some truly clever ideas. Not only are there a good number of startups from outside Silicon Valley, but everyone's in a good mood thanks to the constant libations at several open-bar parties each night. Granted, most folks worth meeting here would rather not see SXSW filled with besuited venture capitalists. An angel investor, especially one who made a fortune in their own startup, would have better luck finding willing investees. If a VC firm insists on coming, they'd best curry favor by holding their own open-bar party. Geeks will thank their drink-buyers. (photo by Scott Beale)