March 2007 Archives

As we head into the weekend.... If you're in town for the Final Four, and looking for a great burger, the Wall Street Journal recently ran an article profiling the best burgers in the country. Not only were three Atlanta restaurants featured, one of them was selected as having the best burger in America.

In addition to WSJ's picks, I can suggest George's in the Virginia Highland neighborhood and Vickery's in Midtown.

More: AOL City Guide "Atlanta Best Burgers"

From the Wall Street Journal article:

I think the best burgers in America are...in Atlanta.

The Vortex, a pseudo-biker joint that you enter through a human mouth, serves an estimable burger, as good as any in Tinseltown. Even better is the well-charred number with beautifully crisped thick-cut bacon at the Earl, in East Atlanta.

But the outstanding hamburger experience I found in an odyssey of several months and thousands of miles was at Ann's Snack Bar, a justifiably renowned little diner on a broken-down industrial stretch of highway.

Miss Ann, as habitues call her, is a woman of commanding style and ready banter. She works alone at her grill, patting each ample patty lightly as she sets it down. Her masterpiece, the "ghetto burger," is a two-patty cheeseburger tricked out with bacon that she tends closely in a fryolator.

Observing Miss Ann in action would be enough of a show, one perfected over many decades. But while she demonstrates the extreme economy of motion of a superb short-order cook, she simultaneously carries on a running dialogue of lightly sassy repartee with customers she knows.

Then Miss Ann dusts your almost-ready patties with "seasoned salt" tinged red from cayenne pepper. It looks like a mistake, too much, over the top. But when you get your ghetto burger in its handsomely toasted bun envelope, you regret doubting the lady for one second. The big burgers stand up fine to the spice. This is the next level in burgerhood. And it just barely fits in your mouth.

I have seen the future of online video and his name is Justin Kownacki.

Kownacki, Director of the online episodic show "Something to Be Desired," presented his new approach to video production to a capacity audience at the Video on the Net conference in San Jose.

Since November 2003, Kownacki has produced 100 episodes of the show - with a cast of 25 - at the ultra-low cost of $200 per week.

His secret? What Kownacki calls "Open Source TV Production", similar to the open source magazine production model I developed for Inside Carolina in 1994.

Kownacki's 25-person cast volunteers, keeping cost low.

The people in the cast, many of them aspiring actors and actresses, volunteer because they believe it is good for them to be seen - and because they believe in the show.

"If you have a good product, good talent wants to attach to you," said Kownacki.

Kownacki spends most of his time coordinating the cast and producing the show.

Why an episodic approach? According to Kownacki, snack-based content is not sustainable. It isn't engaging, doesn't tell you a story that grips your mind or heart.

In addition to the show itself, the STBD blog gives a behind the scenes look at the production of the show. Looking ahead, Kownacki believes the way to make the show even better is to open up the creative process to fans, open up the scripting process and allow the audience to have a say.

But the bottom line isn't just the low cost of production, it's about why people watch the show.

"People don't subscribe to online shows, they subscribe to people and personalities, interesting characters who engage you," Kiwnacki said. "And a story you want to see where it goes."

(Photo credit: cirne)

News.com has a good Q&A with Caterina Fake, co-founder of Flickr [credit for the assist to Peter Gruman for pointing me to this article]. In 2005, Fake sold the start-up to Yahoo. Now, as leader of Yahoo's technology development group, Fake's mandate is new products, innovation, culture and rapid development.

Points I found interesting in this article:

I attended and spoke at the Video on the Net conference in San Jose last week.

Video on the Net was an outstanding conference. Not only were the speakers thought leaders in their fields, there was an engaging mix of speakers ranging from executives at major media companies to independent show producers. The conference sessions were fast paced, energized, and professional in every regard. Something I always appreciate: there were ample opportunities for business networking. I'm looking forward to attending Video on the Net in Boston this fall.

Here is a round up of the most interesting things I heard and learned from the presentations at VON2007.

Related Video:

Next week I'l be speaking at the "Video on the Net" conference in San Jose, on the panel titled "A New Look at Content."

If you're a video producer or video blogger, I'd like to get a chance to meet you, hear about what you're up to, hear about your experiences, and talk ideas. If you're interested in meeting up, please get in touch with me via the contact me page here.

A great article in newest edition of The McKinsey Quarterly entitled, "Coaching innovation: An interview with Intuit's Bill Campbell."

In this Q&A, CEO Campbell talks about the role of innovation in stimulating growth, as well as the management challenge of building and sustaining an innovative corporate culture.

Points I found compelling: