ANTHILL TV

Anthillian, Rentoid.com founder and 2009 Cool Company Awards judge Steve Sammartino yesterday had the good fortune to meet Jerry Greenfield, co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. He asked Greenfield for his number one tip for entrepreneurs starting up a business. Greenfield, generous guy that he is, offered two. Sammartino videoed it.

Anthillian, Rentoid.com founder and 2009 Cool Company Awards judge Steve Sammartino yesterday had the good fortune to meet Jerry Greenfield, co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. He asked Greenfield for his number one tip for entrepreneurs starting up a business. Greenfield, generous guy that he is, offered two. Sammartino videoed it.

For those who haven't quite gotten their heads around what Google is up to with it new Chrome browser and future web-based operating system, the search giant just released this video explaining it all in very simple terms. This accompanied Google's announcement today that it is releasing the Chromium OS open source project.

Motivational speaking is often seen as the trade of phonies and eccentrics -- think Jim Cunnigham (Patrick Swayze) of Cunning Visions in the film Donnie Darko. While prolific on both the business and public circuits, genuine motivational 'visionaries' are few and far between. Fortunately, we have David Brent's inaugural 'life lessons' speech to remind us that it's easy to think outside the square and empower ourselves to kick goals if we just believe.

Here's an example of a small business driven by his love for soft drinks. What's remarkable about John Nese, owner and founder of Galco's Soda Pop Stop, is that he has unintentionally created his own blue ocean strategy, selling something as simple as 'sugar water'. Thanks to the Startup Melbourne blog for bringing this to our attention.

Here's an example of a small business driven by his love for soft drinks. What's remarkable about John Nese, owner and founder of Galco's Soda Pop Stop, is that he has unintentionally created his own blue ocean strategy, selling something as simple as 'sugar water'. Thanks to the Startup Melbourne blog for bringing this to our attention.

Earlier this year, Digg users were invited to submit questions they would like to hear Branson answer, then urged to rate (digg) the questions of others. Then, socialite-turned-media-mogul Arianna Huffington put the top ten most dugg questions to Branson on the inaugural Virgin America flight from San Francisco to Orange County, California. Some people find the experience of listening to Arianna Huffington a bit like fingernails down a blackboard, but Branson's dulcet tones and the hum of the jet engine help to balance things out.

These three amusing sketches are courtesy of the BAFTA-award-winning comedy sketch program Harry and Paul, featuring Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse. While clearly lampooning the regular UK Dragons, who won't be familiar to most Australians, there's also much mirth to be found in their portrayal of the shows endless line of absurdly optimistic entrepreneur-pitchers.

These three amusing sketches are courtesy of the BAFTA-award-winning comedy sketch program Harry and Paul, featuring Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse. While clearly lampooning the regular UK Dragons, who won't be familiar to most Australians, there's also much mirth to be found in their portrayal of the shows endless line of absurdly optimistic entrepreneur-pitchers.

Here's an interesting idea from Mahalo founder and Silicon Valley insider, Jason Calacanis. A couple of weeks ago on This Week in Startups, he floated a strategy that would enable Microsoft to seize a chunk of search market share from Google and the big media companies to make more revenue from their digital content.

This sweeping new Guinness ad is more than just a breath of fresh air. It marks a departure from the marketing strapline "Good things come to those who wait" that those at the helm of the famous Irish stout brewer have clasped closely for the past decade. The TVC, titled "World", features the new strapline "Bring it to life", playing to the idea that Guinness looks like it comes alive when poured into a pint glass. Brilliant.

I had the pleasure of participating in Burrowes' latest product extension, the Mumbo Report, when in Sydney last Friday. It was in many ways flattering to be interviewed from the same seat recently occupied by media doyen Harold Mitchell and SMH editor Peter Fray. However, I'm still undecided about whether I should have had that third espresso before stepping before the camera. (I'll let you be the judge.)

I had the pleasure of participating in Burrowes' latest product extension, the Mumbo Report, when in Sydney last Friday. It was in many ways flattering to be interviewed from the same seat recently occupied by media doyen Harold Mitchell and SMH editor Peter Fray. However, I'm still undecided about whether I should have had that third espresso before stepping before the camera. (I'll let you be the judge.)

With all the chatter about the wave of soon-to-be-released tablet computers, and with the newspaper industry foraging around for a viable digital replacement for paper, it's good to remind ourselves that this is just the beginning. Pretty soon we could be rolling up our laptop and tucking it under our arm like a yoga mat. Check out this conceptual "Rolltop" from www.orkin-design.de.

A couple of weeks ago Pollenizer's Mick Liubinskas put in a video call to Rentoid's Steve Sammartino to pick his brain about the concept of startup momentum. Fortunately, Mick recorded it for the benefit of us all. Watch Steve discuss his views on the important role iteration plays in emerging businesses.

It's a subject that is not often written or spoken about, particularly in the first person, leaving most entrepreneurs with only one option for learning how to shut a company down... the hard way. Special thanks to AIMIA for making this footage available and 'hats off' to Brendan Lewis for this enlightening presentation. To quote the speaker, "You won't find this in any accounting or legal textbook.")

This funny (and strangely catchy) mashup of television footage from Carl Sagan's Cosmos and Stephen Hawking's Universe series (with the aid of some masterfully applied Auto-Tune singing technology) was created as a musical tribute to honour the two great men of science. It also begs the question, 'Why can't science be cool?' (Or so uncool that it becomes cool... like Sagan's skivvy.)

The latest Gen Y viral video trend is something called "LipDub" -- where large groups of youngsters choreograph elaborate one-take videos in which they take turns lip-syncing a few lines each of a popular song. It might sound quite trivial to you and very YouTube, but the ones that are done well are actually quite infectious. And boy do they go viral. Here are two popular recent examples, one of which has a commercial purpose.

US telco Verizon seems to have settled on the open warfare tactic on behalf of Motorola's yet-to-be-released Droid handset. This ad, dubbed "iDon't", runs through all the things the iPhone doesn't do (that Droid does... or will).

US telco Verizon seems to have settled on the open warfare tactic on behalf of Motorola's yet-to-be-released Droid handset. This ad, dubbed "iDon't", runs through all the things the iPhone doesn't do (that Droid does... or will).