Lost Vegas: The New Old Las Vegas

[music playing] Next, another in our On Technology series.

Steve Goldbloom brings us inside the brand-new South by Southwest tech conference in Las Vegas.

STEVE GOLDBLOOM: Hey, Jordy.

It's Steve.

Noah and I are ready to go to Vegas for the South by Southwest conference.

And thank you for renting us the car.

We got it.

And I just wanted to know legally if you knew it was OK to take this thing on the highway.

[music playing] The Sin City isn't always known for tech innovation.

But this year, South-- you guys can keep going.

It's cool.

Sin City's known for many things.

But tech innovation is not always-- It's time to start running.

--is not always one of them.

What did he say about muffins?

The South by Southwest tech festival is known for, uh-- I feel like this is not a good place, actually, at all.

How are you doing?

I'm founder and CEO of Pristine.

Pristine's developing apps for surgery for Google Glass.

What I do now is I do executive leadership training and presentation coaching.

I'm a connector, so I-- You're a connector?

I'm a connectors.

We're networking.

What's that?

Oh, networking.

We're networking.

The South by Southwest V2V event is very, very focused on innovation and entrepreneurs and startups.

It's called Birdies.

And we help people to identify birds using smartphone technology.

We run a company called Wearshare.

It's the friendship bracelet of Instagram.

Wearing and sharing.

I was like, oh, this is gonna change medicine.

So I always say I'm like Obi-Wan Kenobi or Yoda.

And I may show you how cool the lightsaber is.

But then I'm gonna give it to you and tell you how to use the Force.

[music playing] STEVE GOLDBLOOM: I can't hear myself think.

Do they ever play, like, NPR on the thing?

Do you know?

What's that?

National Public Radio.

Is it like a-- It's a little different from this.

Like country?

I have no idea how to get out of here.

Near the exit sign down the escalator.

What's the closest place to get out of Vegas?

You should go check out downtown.

OK, downtown.

Yeah, I got to get out of here, Noah.

I got to get-- we just need to drive.

I can't-- I can't stand it anymore.

[music playing] Ooh, bike lane.

It's delicious, Noah.

I feel relaxed here.

I don't feel as much pressure.

I didn't know there was this side of Vegas.

This is interesting.

We should talk to people.

What is this?

There's so much going on.

We don't know where we are.

Well, this is downtown Vegas.

For the last couple of years, we've been working on downtown projects with Zappos.

I think it's about really creating a place that works for locals, which has never been done in Vegas before.

So Project 100 is one of the biggest things we've announced to date.

It's a company focused on changing the way people move in a city.

So these are two of our 100 Teslas.

We, uh-- [whistles] We took delivery of them early to give us a chance to test them out.

One, it'll be a vehicle that will come pick you up with a driver and take you from point A to point B.

Equally available to you will be the opportunity to drive yourself, just like you'd see in a shared car system anywhere in the country.

This is the story.

We'll scrap all that stuff at the Cosmo and the strip.

We'll just focus on downtown area.

[phone chiming] Hello?

JORDAN SMITH (ON PHONE): Steve?

STEVE GOLDBLOOM: Hey!

Did you see the package?

JORDAN SMITH (ON PHONE): Steve, the seats are terrible.

I told you to get South by Southwest.

What's this Vegas stuff?

I thought you would like it.

Well, we pivoted everything, because we saw the story was downtown.

So we went downtown.

I-- JORDAN SMITH (ON PHONE): It's South by Southwest, Steve.

That's all I need-- two souths and a west.

I need it by midnight tonight, Steve, or we're never using you again.

Yes.

JORDAN SMITH (ON PHONE): Is that clear or not?

I, uh-- I'm actually at a Starbucks right now.

So I can probably fire up my 3G.

JORDAN SMITH (ON PHONE): OK, fine.

Bye.

These people have no idea what they're doing.

They have no idea what they're doing.

It's ridiculous.

JORDAN SMITH (ON PHONE): What, Steve?

Hey.

No, no, no, no, no.

JORDAN SMITH (ON PHONE): You called me me an idiot?