Hyperlocal and SXSW
I've never been to SXSW. That's a confession of sorts given how big of a deal SXSW has become among the digerati and twitterati. But it always seems to conflict with my kid's spring break and family is first always with no exceptions. And this year is no exception.
I am already bumming out that I am not there. I'd like to go fishing with Ben Kweller and I'd like to meet and hang out with JLM. And I'd like to see our fantastic investors at UTIMCO Lindel and Mark and their colleagues. And I'd like to have breakfast at Las Manitas and I'd like to catch a show at Stubbs.
And I would have liked to see Steven Johnson's keynote on hyperlocal and news. Steven's partner Mark Josephson live tweeted the talk just now and I got the gist of it. And Steven is going to post the talk in its entirely on his blog tonite or tomorrow.
My favorite snippet from Steven's talk (as tweeted by Mark) is:
That is so true. Just look at my post last night for proof. One hundred and forty characters drives almost 10% of the traffic to the long form posts on this blog. And that trend will continue to grow.
Steven and Mark are building a very interesting company with Outside.in and I am excited to be part of it. For those that don't know, Outside.in aggregates all the content (long form, short form, and everything in between) that's out there on the web by geography so you can find out what's going on around you. And for SXSW they've created this cool map to see what people are tweeting about and where. I can't take advantage of it but hopefully some of you all can.
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Comments (Archived):
great post
Thanks buddy. I know you’d enjoy going fishing with me and ben
Fred – hate to tell you but Las Manitas is no longer there. Next time you are in town there are plenty of places to get some great tex-mex breakfast. Sorry you aren’t here, town is getting electric…
Holy shit. Another iconic establishment bites the dust. First uglesich’s in new orleans and now manitas in austin. I’m saddened by that news. But eager to try the alternatives!
Las Manitas, oh baby, you are mining some deep memories for this Austinite —I raised $$$ there — a shit pot (paid back every penny with interest),I plotted and planned the overthrow of the US government there [Uhh, NSA guys, just kidding but hey it could have happened],I dealt w/ unruly teenagers (mine) there,I ate the greatest breakfast tacos (BEC) there,I introduced people I love and respect to Tex/Mex there (second only to learning about sex in the firmament of useful knowledge mind you),I made good deals there on a damn handshake which I learned was more powerful than any contract ever written,I learned that my handshake and word were good there,I made damn good deals there,I made a few bad deals there and was more than happy to score them as tuition,I cemented a partnership that lasted 15 years and which had not a single cross word in the entire time and which hit some very, very, very good licks there,I got the word that a guy who owed me $2MM was not going to pay me there and when it came time to tell me, he knew it had to happen there,I met with triumph and wrestled with disaster there (won against triumph and tied against disaster LOL),I laughed w/ guys I went to the “pay window” with there the morning we went to the pay window (I paid that day),When our pockets were full, we met there again and again (cause I am very, very superstitous) and every time we slyly laughed at ourselves and the fortunes of life,I rented politicians there,I bought politicians there (sometimes the outright purchase is cheaper),I got talked into doing things by politicians there,I learned some very, very interesting things there from private detectives I had hired to investigate wrongdoings,I put in place actions to smote wrongdoers there (everybody in life should “smote” somebody or something which deserves a good “smoting” at least one time in their life)I met famous folks and had breakfast tacos there,I made up w/ my wife for some huge transgressions (don’t remember which ones) there,I drank watermelon and mango aqua frescas there,I said good bye to friends I never saw again live there, and YOU THINK YOU MISS LAS MANITAS?Thanks for the memories!
No contest. But I miss the place too
Unfortunately I tried to find it before I saw this comment – found another good breakfast place though called the ‘hideout’.
Fun Fact: Outside.in domain registered within APNIC host country – India, yet housed in United States…
.in baby!
Fred, we should start a North by North East (NXNE) in the summer for those of us with kids on spring break. I’m all over it. Maybe when the same kids are at camp during the summer. Let’s hold it in Wilmington, DE, the Austin of the east.
I vote for brooklyn, the coolest city in the world
come on…….I’m so sick of people jocking brooklyn……NYC and all of its boroughs are sooooooooo over [imagine that in a valley girl voice]Whartscape Baltimore ……..this post says it all.http://auralstates.com/2008…It’s really a fringe music festival and if you look at the lineup it set the tone for emerging indie acts for the rest of the year…… Beach House, Ponytail, Dan Deacon……I would love to organize a fringe tech day before the music festival portion……I’ll work on that…..anyone want to help?
Do you have the food and drink action to compete with austin?
Ok, I’ll be honest the food in baltimore sucks if you’re comparing it to fancy schmancy new york or even the barbeque in boston……but the music, art, and tech startups that are brewing in Baltimore right now would more than make up for it.In fact I think I’m going to reach out to the Wham City/Whartscape organizers and try to organize a mini tech/art/design day before Whartscape. Stay tuned….
as someone who has family in houston and austin, and now lives in baltimore, i am comfortable saying yes.baltimore has a great eating scene and is a foodie’s wet dream (especially in the wallet). relatively scant on the ultra-high end ambiance, but heavy on home-cooked, traditional and authentic quality.
Ok. I’ll come to baltimore this summer but we have to go see an O’s game
right on target — a couple of our little answerjam.com crew are down there, and their tweets, together with the little “new post” link tweets from the (long form) site itself seem both addictive and indicative for the future and steven’s point
That’s weird. When I click the Outside.in link above it keeps on redirecting me to http://outside.in/Eastport and wouldn’t let me change it.
Yeah. Outside.in is not available outside the US but it geolocates you when you login. That needs to change
Oh ok, too bad…
I feel your pain of not being in Austin, I for other reasons. So this is why we age going to hold something a little bit different on April 21st. Check out http://blockbustergraffiti.com
We’ll miss you. SXSW got off to a great start yesterday. Saw one presentation, interviewed twice, and made it to 2 parties — overdid it a bit I think. 🙂 My panel is Monday at 3:30 pm – called Building a Web Business After Hours. http://sxsw.com/interactive….There’s always next year!
Austin has some great places. We’ve lived here several years and have never been to SXSW with what they charge to see it all…I know it’s crazy. Did go to pubcon here this year. Great flow of information. For great Tex-Mex, I suggest Kerby Lane or Chuys (especially the chicken quesadillas..).
You want Tex Mex? You want Tex Mex? You can’t handle Tex Mex!But you can give it a try at —Gueros (SoCo out on the patio or on the street), Vivo (patio — long way out), Ciscos (breakfast at dawn or on the way home at night), Santa Rita (old Tres Amigos site in w Austin across from Seton Hospital), Matt’s El Rancho (the King of Mexican Food, S Lamar Blvd), Azteca (east side), Fonda San Miguel (fancy, fancy, fancy), Maudie’s (on Lake Austin Blvd), Oasis (mostly for the Lake Travis lakeview at sundown — best in Texas — and beers and nachos), Rosie’s Tamale House (on the way to the lake), El Arroyo (on far W Fifth St over the “ditch”) — if SXSW were longer I would tell you some more names but these will keep you fed good for a week.BBQ: Green Mesquite (Barton Springs Road, outside on the patio w/ music on Friday and Saturday nights close to Zilker Park), Artz Rib House (where all the musicians go), Uncle Billie’s (new joint on Barton Springs Road), County Line (homegrown Austin, kinda corporate like Starbucks but the best damn ribs according to my Labrador and Shih Tzu, they cut out every other bone so they’re fat and juicy)Pizza: Home Slice (So Co), Salvation Pizza, Mangia (on Lake Austin Blvd and next to UT), Milto’s (next to UT)Burgers: Dirty’s (next to UT), Hut’s (W Sixth St), the Tavern (w of Downtown, potato rolls), Hill’s (S Austin, potato rolls, Friday night music w/ great country big names picking — Willie sometimes), MightyFine (N Austin — like 5 Guys but maybe better)Ice cream: Amy’s — no comps hereGelato: Central Market in Central AustinBon appetit, y’all!
That’s is a killer blog postI am going to reblog this when I get to a computer
This is now officially reblogged at fredwilson.vc
how big a deal is geolocating going to be, and how accurate?
Its a huge deal and its very accurate if you are using gps and its working. Its less accurate if you are using cell tower triangulation but I have hopes that wifi access point triangulation can make that approach much more accurate
I kind of hope every year I can go down, I’d like to tour the music venues…always like Austin City Limits. I’ve been down in that region 2x to visit Dell & Netsolve(Cisco ROS)…I’d also love to see the bats at the bridge, but alas not this year either.
love that this comment stream morphed into a las manitas tribute. feel fortunate to have experienced it after reading that.Fred and Laz, agree with you on the NxNE in Brooklyn idea.
Abby and I both went to represent Tipjoy. We have a 2 year old son. Instead of deciding which one of us would go, we flew in my Mom from California, and made a vacation out of it. Austin is a delightful town and this was pretty much the best tech conference either of us had ever been to.Next year, take your kids to Austin for Spring Break.