Fear and Coding on the StartupBus: Wired.com reporter Keith Axline was embedded on a StartupBus bound for the South by Southwest conference in Austin, Texas. It was one of six such buses filled with coders competing to turn bright ideas into startup prototypes during the 48-hour road trip. The buses have arrived at SXSW, but the journey continues.

AUSTIN, Texas — Though the StartupBus finalists for Monday’s judges' panel have already been decided, many of the companies that didn’t make the cut churned out interesting products.

Four teams from the Silicon Valley bus carrying "buspreneurs" from San Francisco made it to the semifinals at the South by Southwest Interactive conference, more than any other StartupBus. Our high-speed business incubator had its fair share of technical problems, which brought us all closer together as a community.

"Essential Wi-Fi only — if you're watching YouTube videos I'll shoot you in the face," said SpeakerMeter team member Pamela Fox wryly at a particularly spotty leg of the trip. Oddly, it's moments like these that make the whirlwind coding marathon memorable.

The teams that appear in the photo gallery above no longer have a chance to win the 2011 StartupBus competition. (My team, WalkIN, will be representing our bus at the finals.) But in many cases, this year's crop of buspreneurs created functioning products that don't need the judges' anointment to be viable. They're free to pursue investment on their own with the not-insignificant credibility of having survived the StartupBus.

Which teams would get your vote? Meet the rest of the Silicon Valley StartupBus' occupants and decide for yourself.

Above:

This service aggregates information about pregnancy, from conception to birth, and sends users timely text-message updates about what they should be doing and planning for at each stage.

"It's texting from the womb," says the service's slogan.

The open source information is vetted by a small team of doctors. Push Baby Push also has an OB/GYN and pediatrician lined up as advisers. Just text your due date to the service's number and begin receiving tips.

Team members (left to right):

• Joseph Skerbec, system analyst at American Medical Systems
• Dave Cascino, software developer at Knewton.com in New York City
• Mat Wiemann, entrepreneur from Germany

On the web:Push Baby Push website, Tumblr blog and Twitter: @pbabyp