As Shankman explained, the free service creates a platform that lets casting directors and agents find talent and also that helps talent find work. The interactive community also has a social media-based contest element called MediaBlastr that allows friends and family to vote for their loved one on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+.

Shankman told us that the entertainment industry is trying to embrace technology better than the music industry did. Even though there are challenges, especially in terms of monetization, he said that Hollywood was determined to make it work.

Scott told WebProNews that he believes the cloud phenomenon that is currently happening is nothing more than a marketing gimmick. The term is used in so many different contexts that its real definition is blurred.

As a historian, he is working to clearly define and provide proof for what the cloud is and what it’s not. Scott also told us that individuals and businesses should be proactive in understanding the truth about it.

As she explained, the company’s team of journalists looks at the top headlines of the day, creates a script, and from there takes it to their team of animators. Since there is really no limit to the type of content they produce, they have animations covering multiple industries including tech, entertainment, sports, and politics.

Many of the animations are humorous, but the company also creates hard news productions. Wu told us Next Media Animation believes that their animations help consumers better understand what is happening in the news.

Websites such as CaringBridge has helped this development by creating an outlet for family and friends to stay up to date on a loved one’s condition. As these types of support groups have expanded online, patients often go to them for information instead of going to a healthcare professional.

For this reason, Sona Mehring, the CEO and Founder of CaringBridge, told us that social media has changed the healthcare industry for the better. She believes that patients have more support, which helps them to heal more quickly.

Oliver Johnson, the CEO of Point Topic, spoke with us and said that the real growth would be in services such as Skype. He also told us that this growth should be taken with caution since there are many challenges in the space. For instance, the VoIP market faces technical and mobile challenges as well as pushback from regulators.

Despite the challenges, Johnson expressed optimism about the future of VoIP.

Avvo has received questions such as, “Is a verbal partnership agreement for a startup binding in California?” and “How do I fire the co-founder of my startup?” and has seen 30 times more pageviews for these types of questions in the Silicon Valley alone.

Whether or not this is any indication of a tech bubble is debatable, but it definitely shows that people are curious about the legal structure of a business, which cannot be a bad thing.

Mullenweg explained to us how 3.2 meets this goal in everything from the core to the design of it. He is especially fond of the “distraction-free writing” feature that allows users to see only their text.

He also addressed some recent security concerns and competition with Google and Tumblr.

What are your thoughts on WordPress 3.2?

As Anthony Palermo, the creator of cloud back up provider Dolly Drive, explained to us, iCloud serves as a very effective syncing service for iOS devices. However, it does not back up information as Dolly Drive does through Apple’s Time Machine.

He told us that if Dolly Drive users were to lose their hard drive, they could easily connect an external hard drive and pick up right where they left off.

“I’m really excited to be a part of this movie,” she said.

The film tells the story of an American soldier played by Gyllenhaal that becomes trapped in another person’s body as part of a government experiment. During the course of the experiment he meets Monaghan’s character, Christina Warren.

As she explained to WPN, Gyllenhaal, as Captain Colter Stevens, inspires her to become a better person. Even with all the intensity and the action, Stevens and Warren fall in love.

Monaghan also discussed the social gaming aspect of the film that allows users to really connect with it. She calls the game “amazing” and said it gives the film a special uniqueness.

Source Code opens in full release on April 1.

Source Code is about an American soldier who finds himself in the body of a stranger as part of a government experiment. He is tasked with the mission of finding the bomber of a Chicago commuter train.

The stars of the film are Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga, and Jeffrey Wright. In this interview with WebProNews, Jones called these actors “amazing.” He also pointed out how the science-fiction elements add to the intensity of the film.

“From someone, like myself, who’s the science-fiction fan, it was really fun to sort of try and take those elements… put them in the background a little bit, but sort of introduce them in a way that people who aren’t necessarily purely sci-fi fans could also start to get into it and start to understand some of the things that make me passionate,” he said.

Because SXSW attracts people that really love film, Jones wanted to premiere the film during the show. He premiered Moon at SXSW as well and said he really loves the show.

Source Code opens in full release on April 1.

Alistair Goodman, the company’s CEO, told WebProNews that they wanted to build something that wasn’t an app. They wanted to provide a solution that didn’t drain phone batteries but gave users location-based alerts that businesses could scale as well.

As a result, Placecast developed its ShopAlerts platform that drives users into physical locations from their mobile devices. It is an opt-in service and lets users customize their preferences.

Placecast recently signed a deal with AT&T to bring the service to its customers. Goodman said that the company hopes to expand in other areas of the world and also said that it would be “aggressively” embracing the daily deals space.

WebProNews had the privilege of talking with Bonin Bough, the Global Director of Digital and Social Media at PepsiCo, about these endeavors as well as the impact of innovation. According to him, it is important to pay attention to technology because it is changing the world.

“The technologies here are not just changing marketing communications, but, in fact, changing the entire spectrum of business,” he said.

To illustrate the significance of these changes, he went on to say that, this month, there would be more apps downloaded from the App Store than there would be songs downloaded from iTunes. He further stated, “If music used to represent culture, digital truly is culture.”

Bough also indicated that social media would continue to play a large role in PepsiCo’s marketing efforts.

Is your business embracing these technologies to their full potential?

Groupon, however, is much more than a service that offers deals. Patty Huber, the company’s leader of social innovation, told WebProNews that the platform is also a tool for social good.

According to her, Groupon attracts users to its site with its “daily deal.” Once the users are there, the company promotes a cause that looks like a deal but is actually an initiative for a local charity or non-profit.

While the couponing space has seen enormous growth in its short tenure, it is already facing challenges. Huber indicated that Groupon would continue to develop its platform and see that it reaches the needs of both its users and businesses.

How do you see Groupon maintaining its leadership role in the deals space?

“Qwiki is an information experience,” said CeCe Cheng, the Communications Director of Qwiki.

Cheng spoke with WebProNews at SXSW and explained that users want to receive their information in the interactive way that Qwiki offers. Even though the service launched a couple of months ago, she said that the results have been “incredible.”

In hopes of keeping its popularity up, Qwiki is already preparing to release an iPad app in the near future. In addition, the company indicated that more features are coming.

Even though Qwiki is young, how much potential do you think it shows?

Huh says Sketchy Bunnies focuses on people in bunny suits and how kids react to them.  Skinny Bunnies is more of seasonal website with a focus on Easter.

Huh says Skinny Bunnies gives  people  traumatic nightmares about their childhood.

He also talks about a new book coming out in April called “There, I Fixed It,” which is based on website about home repairs gone wrong.

The Cheezburger network recently raised $30 million in venture capital. Huh says they raised the money so they could have room to experiment.  The company plans to hire more people, try out new ideas and in some cases fail.

The Cheezburger network is looking to mix games and humor with the money it raised as well.