Are you tired of reading about people enjoying themselves at the 2012 SXSW convention while you slave away in cubicle hell? Is your Twitter stream filled with tweets from your friends who could afford the trip the Austin, Texas and the jealousy is overwhelming your ability to focus? Well, Jack Archibald (@jaffathecake) has just the browser extension for you.
Let’s face it, reading about other people’s good time at SXSW while you’re toiling away sucks, and Archibald realized this as well, and, the developers at Lanyrd.com decided to come up with a solution, which manifested in the form of an aforementioned browser extension. The widget then hides tweets from those who are fortunate enough to be attending SXSW, “leaving you with tweets from people who are having the same not-at-SXSW experience as yourself.”
The extension is available for all the major browsers, including Chrome, Firefox, Opera, and Safari. According to the description, the “Not at SXSW” extension will become inert after March 16th, when the coolest convention you’re not attending closes its doors until 2013. No word if the extension will become active when the next SXSW rolls around. In case you’re still not sure why there’s a need for such an add-on, allow Lanyrd to explain:
It might be tempting to simply tolerate a Twitter stream like above, but unfortunately prolonged exposure to this brand of gushing joy, in-jokes and camaraderie (Click for an example of the tweets one might expect to see) can lead to violent emotional and/or physical outbursts.
At Lanyrd, we worried about how this may affect your loved ones, so we locked our science boffins in a room and refused to feed them until they developed an antidote.
There’s even a Not At SXSW Twitter account, and considering Lanyrd links to it, it’s not a stretch to assume they are responsible for it. Naturally, the account is pushing the #notatsxsw hashtag:
#NotAtSXSW . Just to clarify . 😛
I am@MackCollier That’s it. I’m wearing a hat and eating tacos during the #NotAtSXSW chat on Friday. #Allhat
#NotAtSXSW and already jealous of those at #sxsw
For those of you who aren’t at SXSW, do these tweets sum up your feelings about missing out? Or is this just another one of the many conferences you won’t be attending this year?