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TDavid

Broccoli Crew on Fat Princess Rushing - http://www.vtoreality.com/2009...

August 30, 2009 from VTOR - Virtual TO Reality - Comment - Like - Share

There's a reason I follow 100,000 on Twitter and 25,000 on friendfeed: I get to see patterns no one else is seeing. Here's some:

June 16, 2009 - Comment - Like - Share

Zu from AOD, zxspectrum, Fashion Picture and 179 other people liked this

I saw the Chinese earthquake while it was happening. 45 minutes before CNN. - Robert Scoble

115 more comments

I see that Bing is gaining steam today. - Robert Scoble

I saw that people were frustrated on Saturday with CNN. - Robert Scoble

Matthew: in a way, yes. - Robert Scoble

I see new software, services, ideas before most other people. - Robert Scoble

How do you deal with the noise? - Kevin Lim

How do you filter out all the noise? I find myself constantly unfollowing people to make Twitter more relevant. - Michelle

And I get to see how they react to news, like Opera's new browser this morning. - Robert Scoble

The Robert Scoble version of "Google Earth" - Pete Blackshaw

Big Brother style - Richard Lai

So that's like "Scoble trends" :) Like Twitter trends, but for emerging events. - Kirill Petrovsky

Jinx. - Michelle

Michelle: noise is like the lawn. It lets you see the flowers. - Robert Scoble

So effectively you start a topic on Twitter, and then use friendfeed as a chat room? - Richard Lai

i follow almost 60,000 on twitter now and love it. totally agree scoble. - Jason Pollock

Hoping for some improvements to Tweetdeck groups - just not enough yet - Kirsten Hamstra

yeah but how do you SEE the patterns, you cannot read them all do you? - Hans Mestrum

You should be talking about all the spammers on Twitter because that is the trend - paul mooney

Robert is our filter, we follow robert who sees the patterns and reports it back. - Ray Slakinski

Here's a hint: I don't always follow 125,000 people. In friendfeed I have lists of only 150 people. THEY HAVE VERY LITTLE NOISE. - Robert Scoble

He has a socket in the back of his head ;-) - Richard H

Also, in friendfeed I can remove noise by displaying only items that have gotten a like. Like this: http://friendfeed.com/search... - Robert Scoble

Thank goodness we have you, Robert, to do that, so we don't have to. - Jason Mayoff

make sense following "likes" - Hans Mestrum

paul: spammers don't bother me. They add about as much value as people who tell me they had a jelly sandwich for lunch. - Robert Scoble

Jeff Pulver Followers every p0rn site and spammer who Follows him, check his Following list - paul mooney

paul: here's a little trick: I do most of my following in friendfeed. Why? Better friend management. - Robert Scoble

I also have issues bc what I have to follow for work is very different from what I want to follow, but that is another issue. - Michelle

Twitter has gone the way of email, that's why Twitter Search doesn't work - the system is overwellemed! - paul mooney

Bill: actually you only need to follow a few people to get a pretty good look at the good stuff. Why? If something is good everyone talks about it. - Robert Scoble

Michelle - same issue here! work vs. professional following and juggling multiple accts - Kirsten Hamstra

paul: it still works for me. I just skip over the spam. My mind likes seeing spam and noise. It helps me see the news. - Robert Scoble

For the rest of us - just friend Scoble -- you might hear about stuff delayed 5 minutes or so. - Brian Sullivan

Where do I get one of these neat sockets in the back of my head, I get dizzy just trying to follow 2K people. - dabitch

All the Twitter marketers are auto-Following the spammers, it's a perfect storm - paul mooney

paul: in email I don't care about the spam either. I can always scan a page of spam and find my boss' emails for some reason. - Robert Scoble

reminds me of roy - I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the darkness at Tan Hauser Gate. - mike "glemak" dunn

Brian: that is true. My like feed at http://www.friendfeed.com/scoblei... is pretty good. - Robert Scoble

That's why people who don't follow others on Twitter are kinda of missing the point, aren't they? I love seeing when people are being followed by 30,000 people but following 2. - Curt Mercadante

BTW Robert, props on following the Iran elections. Hopefully this will open our eyes to what has been happening in Egypt, Russia, Pakistan and a host of other countries for decades. If Benezir Bhutto were alive and had been elected like she would have been, we'd live in a different world. - Michelle

so robert - could you be an android ;) - mike "glemak" dunn

Robert: so in a way, if you follows all that people, we actually needs to follow only one person, which is you. here's why: it is most likely that you'll post about the major stuff that you read about in your friends stream - which make you a better filter than any other service around :) (I'm following lots of people too because I simply like to find and read about new and exciting things) - Orli Yakuel

I totally agree with you Robert. It's like holding your hand into a jet of water and drinking from time to time. - nik

you need to have the spirit of sharing good stuffs to others, or the good only reaches you but does not spread out. - K.D.

I cannot get people to join FriendFeed. I even did a video showing them how great it is. I cannot seem to follow that many more on Twitter than 200 and keep up with them. I tried Tweetdeck, but it just used too much RAM for me. - Hummie

The REAL trick here is that you have a natural gift for scanning with your eyes. I would follow many more people if I could scan (and absorb) information as quickly as you do. Since I don't, I follow you. You are among my first line of defense. - Bettina Tizzy

All these fortune cookie Tweets are the work of spammers, sooner or later comes the link to the get-rich-quick site - paul mooney

Robert you are awesome! ★ - weirdchina

@scobleizer I want to see the matrix also... still several K from where you are. - Robert Freeze

i follow more on ff - junrxu

Sounds a little like Joey Osmond - Robert I see patterns Scoble? Definitely agree though - there is useful information that can be pulled from the right people's twitter/friendfeed that gives trends developing real time, as long as sea changes over longer periods - Tom Tubbs

Hmmm, why is http://friendfeed.com/scoblei... faster than http://friendfeed.com/public ? - Greg Byrne

holy shit robert... i just had my mind blown watching your live friendfeed. this whole time i've been trying to control the chaos... keep people organized into neat piles. wow... wowow - Eric Nakagawa

You are so right! - Thomas Chai

@Hummie: I had the same problem with TweetDeck. Try SeesmicDesktop, it has similar functionality but less RAM-greedy - Ashalynd

Robert do you have a link to the video you did showing 'how' you manage all this information flow? I would enjoy watching it again. - Matt Perry

here's another interesting search which will show all scoble's friends' items that have at least 1 like: http://friendfeed.com/search... only wish this were realtime - Mike Chelen

Robert - cool post, excellent comments - same exact reason I embraced FF in early days and stayed here!! Love it - Susan Beebe

Robert since I have been following you I have done a complete 180 on how I felt about social networking before. I mean the media is fast but social networking works at the speed of thought. Now if I could only figure out how to interact behind the Army & Airforce firewall... I felt lost today at work... LOL - Nathan McClain

Matt, I think that video is this one: HOw I Read Tweets: http://www.kyte.tv/scoblei... - Robert Scoble

Orli the problem with only following me is that I need to sleep once in a while and I also might not follow people you care about. For instance, if you are into celebrities and not technology I totally wouldn't be good for you to follow. - Robert Scoble

we know what I care about and I'm glad that I'm following you! but I got the point, and I agree of course. I was just kidding I guess.. - Orli Yakuel

Great video. Watching it again now... - Matt Perry

Yeah some wild connections are made by watching a lot more than a few friends. Wonder why most people don't "get" that? Researchers should follow a ton of people and sources. - Jack Humphrey

Jack: actually, people should do BOTH follow a ton of people and sources as well as follow just a very select group of people. I wish I could share my groups (er, lists of friends) with you all. THEY are going to be the secret to filtering in the future. - Robert Scoble

I'm lazy. I use your feed as my pre-filtered source of good/interesting general information. Thanks for doing a lot of the hard work for us (or at least me). - John Meagher

Robert I think you are 100% correct, but it touches on what people should have already been doing, and that's getting as much information as they can from as many sources as they can and putting the facts together for themselves. I think traditional media's days of fact-less reporting are thankfully numbered. This is truly Fair and Balanced!!! - Nathan McClain

Robert: People still won't get it. Seeing patterns is a talent or a skill. You can aid it, however, by showing or demonstrating how you filter for patterns. How do you scan messages and discern a pattern? How do you focus on a few without missing the patterns of the many? Might make a good presentation/blog. You probably already did it, right? - Alan Eggleston

I don't think it requires following 125,000 people to be aware of the same trends. - stretta

stretta: it does not, but I get to see small things that many people don't. - Robert Scoble

Robert - and I appreciate those "small things" :) --- they look like startups! and new bright shiny tech toys! - Susan Beebe

imagine an AI system that can analyze all that data for you and generate illuminating reports... - Matt Jaunich

Matt: I can and lots of geeks are working on building just that. - Robert Scoble

Thanks for the post. I immediately added the "like" search to my saved searches. - Sean Powell

I follow 60,000 and I see a white light at the end of a tunnel. It's getting closer... - Rick

You must do this by o s m o s i s....no other way? Intuition and speeed reading. - Ziona Etzion

Yeah. Robert, I don't read your stuff and I don't know if you're going to read this. But regardless, I know you're well famed and this is the first thing I skimmed across of yours that would indicate that it's deserved. I follow options in the same way., eg almost literally. I have TD StrategyDesk open right now, ThinkOrSwim, Power E*Trade Pro, OptionsXPress, and the regular TD Ameritrade website open as well. Doing this allows me to view and be ware of data and turning points in many views and levels - Matt Kaufman

Robert: If you could follow all 100,000+ people from Twitter in real time within friendfeed would you? - Garin Kilpatrick

Twitter is a helpful automatized hammer for the main engine, which is friendfeed ; - ewing2001akaNicomedy2010

I don't see why you couldn't just save a search on everybody's posts with likes on FF though and still follow only those you actually read daily + any protected accts? Even build smarter searches than that. You increase the number of people following you by lots more your way of course. - ɯɥøq sɐɯoɥʇ from BuddyFeed

Sorry. The trend watching and analytical part would be the same, wouldn´t it, except that I now see that the saved searches don´t update in realtime. Yet. - ɯɥøq sɐɯoɥʇ from BuddyFeed

No doubt... - Thor

Nice post :-) Two questions though: - Patrick Mackaaij

1. What sets apart the 100,000 people you "follow" to glance at once in a while from the everyone feed? - Patrick Mackaaij

2. (a Friendfeed question): Do you still read this since I posted this comment a few hours after the initial conversation. - Patrick Mackaaij

How did you find so many people to follow? How does an average user find so many to follow? - Bas

Patrick: I was on stage and couldn't be on friendfeed. - Robert Scoble

Patrick: the people I follow are usually much more tech interested and demonstrate early adopted behavior than the larger public audience. - Robert Scoble

Never mind all this. How's Opera? Got a link this morning and thought I might try it (what a surprise, me trying something). - Francine Hardaway

Scoble Earth(TM), Pete Blackshaw? ;) - Tyson Key

Robert: Is this a Mandelbrot pattern? The chaos has a look, a feel and a taste, as in the jet of water analogy. You're the freakin' hydrologist with the dousing rod. - Phil Boiarski

Robert: I was not expecting a real time response but was wondering how you keep track of all conversations you engaged with on FF. How can you see where comments are added? - Patrick Mackaaij

I'm with Robert, just not with such a big of a scale. My point: I am noise and you are noise. Let's not forget there's a baby in that bathwater before one takes a blanket anti social network view of social networking! - Mike Lewis

makes sense 2 me - momonalona

OMG Robert I agree 100% BEFORE Twitter screwed with the @replies censoring us from seeing all that people tweeted... I could scroll through my home page and get the pulse of the world on Twitter! A beautiful site! Comparatively now: Twitter is silent. - Arleen Boyd

Robert, I'm having a jelly sandwich for lunch tomorrow. ;-) - Ken Stewart | ChangeForge

All major television networks/news outlets should hire Scoble and heed this advice based on this weekends events in Iran. They need to learn how to listen, filter and understand how social media can deliver real-time information around the world. - E-Advocate Network

böring - yazarcizer

What tools are you using to keep track of the all that flows past? - Inbox2 Team

Yeah, Robert is an Androïd! Each time I'm gotta 'like' 1 of his entries, comment, or visit links, I ask myself if I'm doing this because he is Scoble! Of course not: it's just because he's always pointing on valuable infos. And this is good for IT stuffs, for early adopters, for business. - Thierry R. Andriamirado

So, Scoble proves that the best search & filter engine is Human. (Nah.. I'm not a 'groupie', never will ;-)) - Thierry R. Andriamirado

Curt, pple who don't follow others and hope to be followed & heard are obviously wrong. Social Media is not "Ego Media" ;) - Thierry R. Andriamirado

Patrick, IMO Robert uses FriendFeed's search to find infos, & FF's email features to keep track of conversations & updates - Thierry R. Andriamirado

or maybe you also miss some important ones because of the noise: like the patterns known by 99% of the users that have less than 1000 followers? does that make sense? - Ouriel Ohayon

isn't that a little too much? do you even have time for anything else? Is it worth knowing about an earthquake some 30-40 minutes earlier than most people than spending some time with your real life friends? - stefan

Stefan, the point is: if you want to spend as much time as possible with your real life friends, you have to be as efficient as possible during the time you spend in front of the computer. The more information you drink in a short time, the faster you can identify patterns. - Brome

Best answer I've heard for why I'm also ok with following and listening to a ton of people on various platforms: "noise is like the lawn. It lets you see the flowers. - Robert Scoble" - Leslie Poston

Wow, that's a clever use of the platforms! - Il gareth in Milano

We need information so we can decide while staying in touch with reality. -> Filtering skills, Good Human filter, Good filter tool (FriendFeed). - Thierry R. Andriamirado from email

Thierry: thanks I was looking for that indeed! Have changed my settings to see how e-mail works out there but I thought maybe there would be an easier way... - Patrick Mackaaij

hey it was great to finally personally meeting you and hung out at the diner ; my weblog about the evening now at http://ff.im/45HR3 plus infos about WE LIVE IN PUBLIC premiering now in L.A. and my new video "PERU" @ http://www.youtube.com/watch... ; all the best for the conference today and building43 ; - ewing2001akaNicomedy2010

Another FF question: I was under the assumption FF would merge duplicate imports so that conversations like these would remain in one place. If I do a search on a tending topic of today this does not seem to be the case: http://friendfeed.com/search... - Patrick Mackaaij

@Brom, yes. but there is only so much information one can absorb at a time. 100.000 twitters and 25 FFs? Even half of it is too much for a normal person to take in that fast. Robert MUST be a robot O_O - stefan

@Andy: I'd rather not see any duplicate URL's and have the conversation take place in one thread. Google Translate can solve the language problem. But my question at the moment was what the current status is. I see it's already discussed here: http://friendfeed.com/susanbe... - Patrick Mackaaij

how do I follow thousands of people without clicking follow over and over - Kyle Weller

Kyle: Use friendfeed and click "subscribe" - Garin Kilpatrick

Kyle: its still required to click subscribe for each user, but those clicks are well spent, and FF also will show posts from friends-of-friends. another good option is to join some groups for subjects that interest you - Mike Chelen

Leo Laporte

Cell Phone Execs Will Face Questions On Text Messaging Price Hikes | NEWS JUNKIE - http://mynewsjunkie.com/2009...

June 16, 2009 from delicious - Comment - Like - Share

Michael Hansel, Scott Hubble, LPH™ and his dog P™ and 37 other people liked this

Those cell phone companies will have a lot of explaining to do Tuesday when they testify at a U.S. Senate committee hearing on rising text messaging costs. Representatives from Verizon, AT&T, and Cricket will be faced with questions on why those short 160 character SMS messages are costing the consumer too much. - Leo Laporte

26 more comments

Leo, I believe it was you who reported that based on AT&T's text messaging fee SMS messages cost consumers somewhere around $1500 per MB of data? - JCunwired

The painful pricing structure of these companies is why I don't really use my cell phone for anything more than the occasional call. I'm not prepared to risk the assorted extra charges that come with SMS, or web use. - Eoghann Irving

any guesses on what they say will be the reason for these prices ? - Kashif Khan

http://mobilejones.com/2007... My article on SMS charging hit the front page of digg in 2007. The high cost of SMS has been a known in the mobile industry for a long time. I remember being shocked that many of my web friends hadn't thought of the costs per MB, - Debi Jones

Not only do they charge absurd prices, but most don't even include texting in the unlimited data plans. I pay 30 dollars a month for iPhone data and pay 15 more on top of that for 1500 texts. THat is outrageous. - Grant

Interesting that they are questioning Cricket at the same time as the larger carriers. We have Cricket here and they offer unlimited calling including unlimited text messaging for only $40/month. Maybe they want to know why Cricket can offer reasonable pricing while the larger, national carriers continue to gouge their customers. - Joshua Blevins

They should also be grilled about the cost of data plans. - Kashif Khan

I don't use text messaging, so I don't have it on my iPhone. That saves me $20 every month. A small victory! - Paul Ring

I don't have texting either, but got stuck paying 60 cents for two porn spam messages! - Sandy Curry

I could be wrong, but I thought the reason SMS was so expensive was because they want to discourage people from using it, since texts can saturate the network. You can't really compare it to email, because SMS works like a phone call and doesn't use the data connection. - Daniel Sims

SMS does use the control channel, but that's it. It doesn't really saturate the network since it doesn't create a connection like an actual phone call. It's a 1-way message and it's not a guaranteed receipt either. Oh, and those that actually look at the cost per MB are incorrect since it's that channel itself isn't used in the same fashion as data connections. SMS uses control channel... more... - Ben Hwang

You have to pay to receive SMS? Which Dodo brain though of that one? There would be a revolt in Europe if they tried that! - David Wright from twhirl

New Zealand has two networks, one gives 500/1000 texts 'free' for $10. the other gives free weekends if you spend a certain amount during the week. - Robbie Steele

actually there are that kind of things in Europe. Some service providers (ringtones for example) may charge your phone bill by sending SMS. You can for exmple have a monthly subscription for ringtones and they are charging you by sending two SMSes. This is ofcourse problematic, as the consumer can not easily deny from paying and in a case of dispute the operator stands in between. - Jani Kenttälä from IM

True, but those are subscription services, not "normal" SMS messages. - David Wright from twhirl

@Ben: If the SMS uses the control channel, which is in use and always active anyway, why should there even be a charge for SMS? The network infrastructure is already there, so really the extra data does not make an impact. - Nils Sandin

On an additional point, as mentioned above, regular incoming SMS are not charged in Europe (unless roaming abroad), and outbound SMS can cost as little as 0.09€ (13 cents) on a pre-paid plan (w/o commitment for 500 or 1000 messages you might never use). - Nils Sandin

It's called Capitalism. No government intervention necessary. If the consumer doesn't like it, they should stop paying for it. In other words, move to a company that doesn't charge so much or stop using the service. The market will then be forced to change. - Chad McCoskey

Chad, because of that system we also have the most primitive cell phone networks and system in the 1st world. Unfettered capitalism isn't always what's best. - iTad from fftogo

I think that's part of the problem -- they've all raised their prices at once, so there's no alternative provider. I used to have a sensible option in the US which didn't charge me for incoming messages, but that's been long gone. - John Flinchbaugh from IM

I mentioned the Pre but I think I got away with it! - Kevin J Hatton

Chad, since the government sells the spectrum licences, they can put some restrictions. Do you remember that http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007...? - Jérôme

Tad, so what? We forget that cell service and a whole host of other things we take for granted now are luxuries not necessities. I love my iPhone but if I felt the prices weren't acceptable or if another option was better either a phone or pricing plan, I'd go there. My point is that it's all well and good to complain, but protest with what companies value most: your money. - Chad McCoskey

Chad, can you list necessities, beyond air, water, food and security? The issues at stake are the four characteristics of the market http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki... and the government role in preventing tacit collusion. Also, take a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki.... - Jérôme

Jerome, you're right about the necessities which is exactly my point. We don't all "deserve" high quality cell service for free and in the case of a non necessity, if all companies offering that product charge the same amount then maybe the populace should decide if they should really spend their money on it. If you don't like the cost of text messages then don't use the service and if the majority of people does that companies will either stop the service or lower prices. - Chad McCoskey

I have an iPhone with no text plan because they are obscenely priced. I'm not happy about $25/mo for unlimited data but I'm doing my best to get my money's worth. I'll just call or send an email rather than pay $.50 for a text - Daniel J. Pritchett from IM

Daniel, thank you for proving my point. More people should follow suit if they don't like the cost. By the way, I have text on my phone and make sure I don't go over my limit. - Chad McCoskey

Leo Laporte

AT&T rep tells me the Applecare plan covers accidental damage. His manager tells me it does not. No sale. Rep i's pissed. ☺

January 23, 2009 from Twitter - Comment - Like - Share

Ben Hwang, xero, iSteeve and 4 other people liked this

Wow, nice sales rep. Hope he gets in trouble for telling you a lie. - Endorphine

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My co-worker says AppleCare covers accidental damage, as long as it isn't water damage. I dunno. - MiniMage, enterRUPPted

From Apple "iPhone excludes coverage for damage resulting from accident, disassembly, unauthorized service and unauthorized modifications. Please review the warranty for further details." Dropping and breaking is a user fail and warranty fail too. http://www.apple.com/support... - iSteeve

And now I know. So glad I bought a protective case for my 2G. I know iPhones don't bounce, but mine does in it's DLO! No, really, it's fallen at least two or three times, and it's been fine every time. Given that these puppies shatter if you look at them too hard, I'm quite pleased. I'd be really screwed if I killed mine; I don't know where I'd get another used, contractless one. - MiniMage, enterRUPPted

Louis Gray

@Scobleizer when you are being followed by 50,000, there is never a time when everyone is sleeping. Your TweetDeck proves that.

January 24, 2009 from Twitter - Comment - Like - Share

Kol Tregaskes, Moses Kpetigo, Gavin and 5 other people liked this

I thought he upgraded to the USB external brain just for TweetDeck. - FFing Enigma

Tina: the 'Brain Pack 3000' went out for Beta testing but the USB connections where deemed 'clumsy and intrusive' due to position of the plug. They have now skipped to the 'Brain Cloud 4000'. Initial testing has been positive but some testers have mentioned that the antennae implant should be rmoved from it's current position. - WoH: Minding her Steves

Louis Gray

TechCrunchIT: The API Wars - http://www.techcrunchit.com/2009...

January 23, 2009 from Bookmarklet - Comment - Like - Share

Daniel Rowley, Kevin Gamble, Sarah Perez and 37 other people liked this

"As Paul Buchheit proved with his simple Javascript experiment, FriendFeed’s APIs already allow him or anyone to create a simple Twitterish UI in a few hundred lines of code. While this particular take doesn’t do everything he or I’d want it to, it does viscerally prove the underlying point — that FriendFeed can shapeshift into Twitter while Twitter can’t return the favor. If the user can get all the benefits of Twitter plus those of FriendFeed, why use Twitter?" - Louis Gray from Bookmarklet

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I think we all see where this is going. I like it. Keep going Paul and crew! - Jesse Stay

nice - cjmart

Louis is doing Friendfeed and Socialtoo NO favors by making this a pissing contest. Wrong approach. Apparently, there are no Obamanarians in business. - Ed Shahzade /NextInstinct

Ed, that quote from Louis is actually from the article itself, so blame Steve Gillmor. Louis is just the one who shared it. - Rob Diana

Thank you for the correction Rob, appreciated, noted Louis :) - Ed Shahzade /NextInstinct

Ed, it is one of the problems of having shares/bookmarks in the stream. Everyone gets confused on who wrote what. We will figure it out eventually. - Rob Diana

I see the confusion happen all the time. I also wonder about GReader shares and a FF member's RSS feed from their blog. One can see the "2 related entries from Steve Gillmor and Dave Winer " written below. I follow lots of people on FF that seem to get lots of GReader shares as well. Not sure what I think about it, but it does require sorting through the same content multiple times (maybe because I have these people in separate lists?). - coldbrew

Check out Adaptive Blue's. Their technology is phenomenal. - Mona Nomura

Louis Gray

Twitter is limiting API access again, which will see many of the apps you like weakened or dead: http://blog.socialtoo.com/2009...

January 21, 2009 from Twitter - Comment - Like - Share

Alexandros Georgiadis, Alex Howard, Igor Poltavskiy and 38 other people liked this

*cough* Friendfeed's fault? :) :) - Bwana ☠

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I'm not a techy person at all, but I can say with confidence that this whole API thing is really ticking me off. What's the point of limiting tweets...we are on Twitter to chat. Just get that back-end stuff fixed already (like I said, I am sooo not a tech person). :) - Jennifer Windrum

The comments on that post pretty much said it all: a quick addition or two to the API calls and the load problem vanishes. Can't imagine why they're adamant they won't do that. Strange stance to take. - Mark H

I haven't been too impressed with the tone I've seen taken by Twitter in many of the e-mails and threads. What this does is mean that every service that taps the API in this way will be restricted to working "sometimes" or for "some people". Socialtoo, which Jesse runs and I help out with, might be closed to big users who would use their unfair share of API accesses. Another alternative is for developers to reduce features or frequency. - Louis Gray

Is it possible they've got nobody there who can form an SQL query more complicated than "select * from users where id = X"? That would explain a lot. - Mark H

ROFL Mark! - Jesse Stay

I suspect the monetization pressure is starting to mount. Free flowing API helps growth and userbase, but after a point they'll likely sacrifice growth and userbase to monetize some of what they already have. - mikepk

so will this affect FriendFeed? - Thomas Hawk

There are already ample opportunities to monetize by removing the cap for developers who pay. But as Jesse's post and comments show, they're uninterested in that, or in any other methods to start earning money. - Chris Charabaruk

Thomas, I can't speak for FriendFeed, but I believe they still are one of the XMPP partners and are outside of this issue. - Louis Gray

Why wouldn't Twitter just set fees on developers using high levels of the site's API? - Sonya Smith

#failquest twitter is limiting APi access? Sigh. - Drew Lucas

@Kevin They could easily acquire the resources by working out deals both with high API users, and with the bodies that fund them. They aren't bothering to do that. - Chris Charabaruk

Works to the advantage of friendfeed and other such services. - Richard A.

we posted on the subject here http://www.readwriteweb.com/archive... - Marshall Kirkpatrick

Thanks, Marshall. - Louis Gray

hmmm so sad (sarcasm here) - The Real sofarsoShawn

Thanks Marshall - very well done post! - Jesse Stay

Socialtoo blog whitescreens on my iPhone. - mjc

good reporting Marshall. - Thomas Hawk

I'm confused. What's wrong with using multiple IPs? If you do more than 5 requests a second, get another IP. Heck, you could even jerry-rig a server so you didn't even need to buy another one. - Mark Trapp

Well, I have recently noticed that things on FriendFeed getting to twitter has been slower in the last few weeks or so. - Wizetux

if Twitter follows through on the API query limits. Will those apps written on their platform be grandfathered? or does the cap apply to all comers, current and those "on the come"...? - Gregg

I think they're shooting themselves in the foot here - Jaemi Kehoe

I think we should wait to see what Twitter is going to do here. API limits may mean they have somthing in the works. - Roberto Bonini

ouch. - Francisco Kemeny

I find it interesting that previously Alex talked about how it is his job to enable opening up the system ( http://al3x.net/2009... -- "I open up as much of Twitter’s functionality as I can without (hopefully) making the system insecure"), and now twitter makes the system more closed by setting limits on the very tools/features that define the twitter experience. - Andy Bakun

Robert Scoble

To people who don't like high flow twitter accounts, sorry, you won't like me. I'm following 20,000 in TweetDeck and I'm going to talk back.

January 18, 2009 from Twitter - Comment - Like - Share

Morton Fox, Will DeLuca, India Feeds and 26 other people liked this

that's for sure - Colin Clark

22 more comments

And thus the reason I don't follow Robert on Twitter... Last thing I want to see is half of 20,000 conversations. - FFing Enigma

Yeeeeea! Let's the lottery begin :) - Sasha Kovaliov

do you have a life outside twitter...? - Joe Buhler

Tina, but you won't see them unless you are following the people Robert replies to. - Sasha Kovaliov

Just turned my full twitter stream on in IM. went away for 20 minutes to have a phone conversation; came back to 500 messages! still, i enjoy reading the full stream when I have time to do it. it'll get filtered again on Wednesday, I'm sure. - Karoli

That assumes every reply starts with @username which isn't always the case - FFing Enigma

He does have a tendency to retweet ;) but that's not that much noise. - Sasha Kovaliov

I prefer to follow Robert on FF - in fact I prefer to follow most ppl on FF. Those I follow on Twitter are usually those who aren't on FF. - WoH: Minding her Steves

BTW, Happy birthday. I can't think of a better day for someone to do what they love. Enjoy! - Michael Fidler

Oh, I'm perfectly fine in TweetDeck ;) And I have no probs with that. On frf - I put everything into one feed - too lazy to have to click one more time ;) - Sasha Kovaliov

*Hide all Scobleizer tweets unless they have likes or comments* - Mitch

Mitch: works for me. If you have time, all the hidden tweets are at the bottom of my screen. Personally I don't worry about a ton of tweets. friendfeed hides most of them anyway, and makes you already click on them to see more. - Robert Scoble

I follow as many people as I think will offer me good info. I may only be able to read it a few hours a day because of my paying gig, but when I do it keeps things interesting. Too much is never enough! :D - MarkCarras

I get the same uneasy feeling of seeing "47 more" on Friendfeed as I do seeing "1000+" in Google Reader, so I just choose to hide all the heavy twitter users (and also unread counts in Reader). - Mitch

They'll get over it. - Bwana ☠

Robert, Have you written a post on different Twitter tools, e.g. TweetDeck? Compare real-time stream vs FriendF thread feature. - Martin Lindeskog

Martin: I would be VERY interested in an article on that. Someone should do it. - MarkCarras

Agreed. Which of his 20,000 doesn't deserve a reply? Enough said! - Ed Shahzade /NextInstinct

Hey, just curious - do you know what your talk-back rate is? That is, your percentage of @ replies you respond to? I admire your prolific communication, but don't see how you can possibly talk back to all. Maybe some aren't saying things you find worth covering? - John "Boz" Handy Bosma

John on friendfeed it is close to 100%. on Twitter? Probably 30% but only because people get pissed about my noise there (but not here). - Robert Scoble

Someone once tried to insult me by saying "you tweet like @scobleizer does - all noisy!" and my reply was "no, I tweet twice as much as he does daily about considerably less of interest - because I answer all of the stupid folks who @ me too rather than just the interesting ones - but I take it as a compliment when you say that, as he's the one that taught me the value of listening on Twitter... so cool!" I don't think that was the response he expected. Ah well. :) - Lucretia Pruitt

Scoble. You use Tweetdeck. Trying to make the switch, but not being able to read the tweet in the popup notification like I can in Twhirl is a big thing. Thoughts? - alexander horre

Don't worry. I love high flow twitter accounts. It's what keeps me interested in the Internet - Bryce Roney

Robert Scoble

Robert is having a fun weekend with family celebrating my 44th birthday on Sunday. Thanks to everyone for the kind wishes!

January 17, 2009 from Facebook - Comment - Like - Share

urdumania1, Iggy Mwangi, Daniel W. Crompton and 98 other people liked this

Happy Birthday Robert! - Dave Gambrill

103 more comments

Hey, we continue to celebrate a week apart. My son Doug beat you to 44 in December. I achieve 70 week from Sunday. Enjoying myself over that. - Dennis E. Hamilton from twhirl

Tomorrow's your b-day? Happy birthday, Robert! - Chris Charabaruk

Happy Birthday Robert! Maybe I should create a FriendFeed room for this? ;) - Michael Broukhim

Happy Birthday!! Does this mean you're taking the day off? - Devlin Dunsmore from twhirl

Have a great birthday weekend! Hope it's geeky and fun! :) - Daynah

have a good one!!! - Richard Binhammer

no s#*t ... not only is my birthday the day after yours, I'll also be 44. Happy Birthday! - Vicarbott

Happy Birthday, Robert! I hope you and your family have a great weekend! :-) - Anna Haro

Happy birthday, Robert! Have a great one! :) - Dee @ Holycool.net

Good times! Enjoy! - Josh Haley

Happy Birthday and here's to many more (lifts martini)! - Susan Dennis

Just turned 44 myself! Happy Bday. - BEX

Happy Birthday !!! - Nir Ben Yona

~~~ HAPPY 44TH BIRTHDAY ROBERT !!! I hope you have a really fun birthday and get lots of cool new toys!! :D - Susan Beebe

Best wishes on the day! Looks like its gonna be a very decent day in HMB tomorrow! :-) - Bo Stern

Happy Birthday, Robert!! - David Cook

Ahh...what to do? Robert said there was no need to wish him a happy b'day, but I do this for others; why should I exclude him? and everyone else is doing it...I know; happy Scoble's birthday, fellow FriendFeeders! - MiniMage, enterRUPPted

Happy Birthday, Robert!! Hope you enjoy your day and weekend. :) - Lindsay

Happy birthday. - Eric

Happy 44th ... hey we almost have the same birthday :) - Robert Couture

Happy Birthday! have fun with the family...that's what it's all about. - Troy Malone

Wow you're 44?! Time is damn good to you!! Happy Birthday and stay unplugged before Maryam drags you to a place with no cell service! ;) - Mona Nomura

Happy Impending Birthday! - deusdiabolus

Already 44? Happy Birthday and wish you a webfull of 44th year ;) - Özkan Altuner

Happy 44! - webosapien (Burcu Tüzün)

Happy pre-Birthday, Robert. I wish you many, many more. :-) - Mathew A. Koeneker

Happy Birthday, Robert! So glad you're having fun with your family. Cheers! - Cathryn Hrudicka

Excellent! Happy Birthday Robert. It's already Sunday here :) - Ange Recchia/angesbiz

Happy Birthday Robert! - Holger Eilhard

Happy birthday - Duncan Riley

Happy Birthday ^__^ - Neya

Happy Birthday - Charlie Anzman

Scobleizer, Happy Birthday! - Mike Fruchter

Many Happy Returns and blessings to you Robert! - Melanie Reed

Happy Birthday Robert. Hope the coming year is a great one. - jjprojects

Happy Birthday - Sharron Field from twhirl

Happy Birthday - Kyle

I thought you were 34, have a great day! - paul mooney

Happy Bornday - rokhayakebe

Happy Birthday! If you were in Atlanta it would have been a snowy (predicted) birthday, not to mention a kewl place to celebrate in, home to Coca-Cola, CDC, Lockheed Martin and our very own Ted Turner's creation CNN. :-) [edited] - Moushumi Kabir

Happy 44 !!! - Rocky

Happy birthday! - Morton Fox

May I say Best Wishes on your Day... - bcultral

Happy Birthday, Robert! - Heidi Jeffers Thibodeau

Happy birthday! - Naser Farzinfar

Happy Birthday! - mandyvan

Happy Birthday - Leslie Poston

Happy Bday Robert! - Kelly Johns

Happy B-Day!! - Jeff P. Henderson

happy birthday I am offering you a like as present :) - Loic Le Meur from twhirl

happy bday!! - ::Kristen::

Have a Happy!!! - Seth Greenblatt

Have the best birthday ever! - JCunwired

happy bday - Zafarali

Happy Birthday Robert, Have a Great Weekend! - Michael Fidler

Happy birthday old man!™ - Larry Kless

Happy Birthday, Robert! Have a great day. - Andrew Terry

happy bday! - Zafarali

S dnem Rozhdeniya! (happy b-day!) - Olga Rasulova

Happy Birthday! - Pankaj from twhirl

You're 44? Herzlichen Glückwunsch Robert! - Gaby K. Slezák

A happy Birthday to you from old Europe - Donald Townsend

Congrats to your 44th! You look much younger though! :-) - Alex

Happy birthday :) - Carolyn Chan

happy bday! - Zafarali

Happy Birthday! - Ladyepiphanybug

Happy Birthday. Great seeing you in Las Vegas. - Steve Garfield from twhirl

Happy Birthday! - Didi Chanoch

Cumpleaños Feliz! - Steven Livingstone-Pérez

Happy Birthday! (isn't it Prager's as well) - Marcus Beagley

Happy birthday, Robert! - Thierry R. Andriamirado

Happy birthday! Thanks for being the real first adopter and showing the rest of us new ways and places to explore. - Heather

Happy birthday Robert! Keep up the good work your'e doing! - Marc van Waardenburg

Happy birthday! - Robert Banghart

Happy Birthday Robert!!! The Queen sends her birthday wishes too :) London, United Kingdom - Justin Stevens

Happy Birthday Robert (Man, you're just a kid ! :) - Charlie Anzman

happy birthday - Travis Parsons

Happy birthday! • From Moscow, Russia - Лёша

Happy birthday Pal!!!! - Thomas Hawk

Happy birthday. - Svartling

Happy birthday Robert! - Martin Bryant

Happy birthday, dude! - Michael VanDervort

Happy birthday, dear Robert! Happy birthday to you! :) - Lora Lufark

Many happy returns. - Mike Lewis

Happy B-Day, Robert. - Michael R. Bernstein

Happy Birthday, Robert! - ravi karandeekar

Happy Birthday from the island of Montreal! - Michael Forian

Happy Birthday Robert! Enjoy your day! - Laura Zickus

Wait. I thought you were 10 years older than me. Then I realized you were 10 years younger!! Now I find out you're my age? I am suddenly hopeful! Yes we 44yr- olds can! .......Hey Robert, seriously, I wish you another 56 healthy years. Happy Birthday! ♫ - Ed Shahzade /NextInstinct

Happy Birthday, Robert!!!! :) - Mol, FF Music Lover

Happy Birthday! http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3493... - glfceo

Happy Birthday Robert. - Daniel Rowley

Happy Birthday! - clp

Wishing you a great one Robert. Thanks for all you do for the Internet. I loved your interview with Seth Godin, you 2 were great together. - Jeremy Campbell from twhirl

@Jeremy Campbell - do you have a link to that interview? - Peter Warnock

Happy Birthday! Hooray for 1965! (My birthday is still a few weeks away, in March.) - vicster

Scobleizer, time to CELEBRATE-You have so much ahead of you, b/c what's behind you was great!! Thanks for all the great insight!! - Harold Cabezas

Happy birthday Robert! - Andrew

Happy Birthday Robert! - Parth Awasthi

Happy B1rthday Rob3rt - iSteeve

Happy Christmas Robert! (Didnt wanna say the same thing as everyone else) :) - Simon Wicks

happy bday robert - MG Siegler

Happy Bday!! - Sarah Perez

Happy Birthday! Have a wonderful year until the next :) - Pilgrim Five

Leo Laporte

The real cause of the financial crisis - http://www.semyon.com/crisis...

January 14, 2009 from Bookmarklet - Comment - Like - Share

Scott Loftesness, Kevin Goldsmith, Steve Rowles and 4 other people liked this

From the MIT Blackjack Team - an excellent analysis of the financial "Martingale" that fooled the investment industry. "as long as managers are paid a percentage for managing other people's money, they will compete with each other based on the returns they appear to generate. The pressure to create out-sized returns will eventually force them to invent the latest complex scheme which will have the same effect: eventually the investors lose it all." - Leo Laporte from Bookmarklet

Alan Le

Ford's New Prototype Dashboard Concept - information aesthetics - http://infosthetics.com/archive...

January 13, 2009 from Bookmarklet - Comment - Like - Share

Bill Romanos, Kol Tregaskes, Simone Lovati and 27 other people liked this

Tested? Stats, anyone? :) - directeur

10 more comments

When I did UI work for GM, they had a mantra that 'human attention is the scarcest commodity'. As much as I like Ford's dashboard concept, its visual complexity would divert a lot of attention from the road. GPSes are bad enough. Did you know that drivers who use a GPS nav system devote more than 19% of their visual attention to it when the car is in motion? - Kevin Fox

Yeah, I got rid of my Sidekick phone 5 years ago because I found I was IMing too much at stop signs. - Kevin Fox

Kevin, that's a scary stat. Have a link? I'd like to use it for a preso. - Kawika Holbrook

Kevin, I agree that it's visually complex. I do however like the concepts of ambient awareness. I also like the fuel gage design as well. - Alan Le

this shit makes me wanna kiss scotty monty, talk about cool - sean percival

Oh I love ambient and 'glance' displays as well, but this particular one has relatively low contrast and a lot of unnecessary visual complexity. I'd love to see Tufte take a pass at this (followed by a second pass from a visual designer to make it more visually pleasing but retaining Tufte's directness of information. - Kevin Fox

Kawika: It was a stat used a lot at GM. I'll see if I can find a link. - Kevin Fox

This was probably the paper, but only the abstract is public: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science... - Kevin Fox

I wonder how long the "game" metaphor lasts for hybid owners. Those of my friends who have them seem to say the same thing at first, but over time the novelty wears off. Does building your infographic display around a concept that may not be evergreen make a lot of sense? - The original Kevin

I do like the tank appearing half full/empty :) It would be cool if it sloshed around and tilted on turns. - Andrew Smith

I still play 'the game' and I've had my Prius for 5 years. I do wish that the car did a better job of telling me *why* my mileage is good or bad. Turns out I was losing 5mpg because one tire was low. - Kevin Fox

TheNextWeb Forum: alphaxion

Salesforce.com outage exposes cloud's dark linings • The Register - http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009...

January 7, 2009 from Bookmarklet - Comment - Like - Share

Tyson Key, Susan Beebe, Roney Smith and 4 other people liked this

"Exposing the dark side of cloud computing, Salesforce.com suffered an outage that locked more than 900,000 subscribers out of crucial applications and data needed to transact business with customers." - alphaxion from Bookmarklet

3 more comments

The cloud certainly has a place (prolly more with startups) but when you get to a certain level, the cloud is too unreliable to trust and the in-house solution is where you should move to. Items like this brings the inherent weaknesses of SaaS into focus, many of which are out of the control of both the ASP and the client. - alphaxion

Seriously though, how many outages do internal architectures have? I'm guessing at least 1 or 2 every year. Is the cost to companies to maintain that architecture really worth the odd short outage? - Devlin Dunsmore from twhirl

Salesforce definitely has less downtime than internal systems at most companies I've worked for. - Dave Motheral

@devlin the difference being you have far more control over your internal systems - there are a million devices in between you and an ASP, any one of them could fail and you, not necessarily anyone else, could lose access to your critical systems causing millions of lost revenue depending on the industry. @robert "cloud computing" is decades old, it has never been suitable as a single answer and never will. Those who preach so have little experience running corporate IT infrastructure. - alphaxion

Veronica

Woohoo! We've got wifi on this Virgin America flight! See you soon San Francisco.

January 11, 2009 from Twitter - Comment - Like - Share

Dan V, Ben Hwang, Sylvain Nadeau and Fee501st liked this

You going to tweet your way across the US? - Stephen Pierzchala

Thomas Hawk

The Angry Whopper, Preferred by Angry Rioters Everywhere - http://thomashawk.com/2009...

January 9, 2009 from Thomas Hawk's Digital... - Comment - Like - Share

Ben Hwang and Andre Maltais liked this

Robert Scoble

Cut, copy, paste on Palm Pre

January 8, 2009 from email - Comment - Like - Share

Tyson Key, David HC Soul, Brandon and 78 other people liked this

Just one of the reasons I want one. - Robert Scoble from email

54 more comments

Amen to that. - Nicholas Kreidberg

Awesome...amazing we all think it's so great yet it should be a fundamental feature in every smartphone. - Jonathan Brown

does it feel good in the hand? - Jay

<whisper> My G1 has been doing this since I first turned it on </whisper> - FFing Enigma

Maybe this will finally get Apple to raise the priority on this feature ... - Patrick Jordan

After watching someone from work try 3 times to enter our 64-char-long wifi passwd on an iPhone, lack of copy/paste seems like a security hole, since it encourages you to use short passwds. - Richard Walker

@Richard haha.. you are so damn right about that statement :P - @LarsenTweet

Well, just like in my iPhone... oh wait. - Sebastian

I really love my iPhone. While I'm not above switching to something superior, I would be satisfied if they just up the ante for Apple as suggested by @Patrick and compel them to deliver some much-needed functionality. I would like it to be a bit more open too. - Devon Campbell

As badly as copy&paste, iPhone needs better, slicker ways to switch between apps and organize and work with home screens - hopefully Palm may sort of embarass Apple into some greater efforts ... - Patrick Jordan

It's going to be interesting to see if apple has a better solution up their sleeves. Or perhaps it will just melt away with inter-app integration such as URLs and data detectors. - Robin Barooah

hahahahha - Mona Nomura

DO EET ALREADY, APPLE - Live4Emma (L4S)

Woot! Palm! :-) - Mathew A. Koeneker

Way to go Palm! Competition raise all boats. - Clarence Chiang

I won't believe it until I see that its better then my old palm pilot. - Colide81 (James)

Isn't that lovely..? :) - Daynah

Apple: I don't care if you have to PR spin this and make it look like you just added the most innovative feature ever on the iPhone, JUST ADD IT. - Brad Butner

heard anything on pricing? - Yolanda

Quick question on the iPhone... So they update it tomorrow with Cut & Paste... What do we complain about then? - Johnny

Inability to multi-task, push, and its stupid stupid cables! - Mona Nomura

@Johnny - lack of video recording, nothing in the way of organizing our ever-growing numbers of apps and our home screens, lack of some sort of launcher app ... - Patrick Jordan

oooh cut & paste! what about a legit Qik app or the MMS function? - Courtney Engle

Cool... I would like to be able to drag and rearrange my home screen icons via my computer - Johnny

There is no need for MMS - I can email. Qik, I am waiting for. And truth be told, lack of copy and paste doesn't bug me. I just want PUSH. - Mona Nomura

the need for MMS is more about friends sending me messages and having to log in to at&t website to see them. more on the receiving than the submitting end - Courtney Engle

@Johnny - yeah, something like that, or that plus better way to do things on the iPhone in this area too - wiggly icons were cute when we first saw them, but with 5,6,7 etc. screens of apps, they suck - you get one fave onto a page you want and the knock-on effect is clumsy / knocks others off were you want them ... - Patrick Jordan

That keyboard sure seems tiny. But not really compared to the portrait mode iPhone keyboard. - Ari Braginsky

Palm is turning japanese, finally. - Greg

Excellent. Copy and paste just like Windows Mobile has been doing for longer than the iPhone existence, and I think that includes secret existence. I wonder if copy/paste was even possible in 2000 on the first widely available Palm-based phone, the Kyocera QCP6035. - MiniMage, enterRUPPted

What does that mean, Greg? - Mona Nomura

So people want copy/paste more than native apps? - Bwana ☠

No way, Bwana; I want EVERYTHING more than a few things! - MiniMage, enterRUPPted

Personally, I've never used copy/paste on a mobile device. - Bwana ☠

I don't need copy and paste because the iPhone enables me to do everything I needed copy and paste for. (used it a lot on the Curve). MMS? Who needs that when most people have email... :( - Mona Nomura

where's the app market / store - Bob Sonin

So is a cup holder "mission critical"? - Bwana ☠

I'm buying stock...Don't tell Alex though, or he'll whine about it. - Geoff Schultz {TF}

Ok Matthew....you win.... cup holders don't mean a thing to me. - Bwana ☠

Wow, MMS is used for business? I had no idea, since I've always been in email environments. Now I see where you are coming from. Thank you for taking the time to explain. :) - Mona Nomura

If the multi-tasking works, I think this thing will be a giant step in the right direction. It's a pain point on smart phones. Just about all of them stink with multi-tasking. Matthew, I don't even try to impersonate him, it's just my normal voice :) - Bwana ☠

hahahhahah no worries! FriendFeed is one of the few places different ideas are exchanged amicably, and this is definitely not the place where threads turn to spam, porn, hitler, or into the Dark Space. Though a picture of spam+porn+Hitler+bacon combination is known to show up... in LOL cat form. ;) - Mona Nomura

Do you really think this could finally deserve the name, I PHONE Killer? - RALPH

Competition - perhaps. Killer? No. (at this time) - Mona Nomura

With that type of logic, one cannot disagree. One can say further Matthew that inspiration for the PRE came from Apple in the first place. - RALPH

I agree Mon N... let me change the terminology.. Lets talk about it finally that we have competition. - RALPH

Haven't we established that labeling anything an X-killer is destined to actually kill the thing that is labeled? Think of the halls of recent tech history strewn with the corpses of so-called "iPod-killers" - Victor Ganata

I *love* copy-paste in my Sony Ericsson W830i - Toni @ NavinoT

I've got copy/paste on my nokia 6130. woohoo! - Jason Shultz from twhirl

I for one applaud Apple for showing strong character and not adding this obvious, relatively easy-to-implement, immensely useful feature despite popular demand by loyal fans. - Yaniv Golan

@Yaniv it's for your own good. You really didn't need it, otherwise it would have been there from the begining. - Jason Shultz from twhirl

on SE P1i too and a list of most used term - Raphaelo Casanova from twhirl

You've been able to do this on Nokia's for years. ;-) - Kol Tregaskes

can you drag highlight? That's something I really wish the iphone had. - alphaxion

Scoble, every smart phone has had copy and paste EXCEPT for iPhone. - David Andrzejewski

Robert Scoble

If you had $3,000 in your pocket, which would you buy? Canon 5D MKII or Apple 17-inch MacBookPro. Discuss here:

January 6, 2009 - Comment - Like - Share

americanm, Mol, FF Music Lover, Aaron Draczynski and 78 other people liked this

Neither - MiniMage, enterRUPPted

252 more comments

We are arguing about that on the CES bus. Geeks! - Robert Scoble

Canon 5D MKII hands down. - Andrew Hyde

pro for sho - Bradley Will

Canon camera. I need a great camera more than a Mac - Keith - @tsudo

5d Mk II - Scott Loftesness

5D MKII, since I've already got a Mac Pro. ;) - Cory OBrien

Have a Nikon D300 and my old MBP is on the fritz, so this woud be a slam dunk for me - Gregg Gallagher

17 inch MBP because I love it. Then I'd buy a cheap 40D. I get more use out of a laptop than I do a camera. - Michael Yurechko

Apple 17-inch MacBookPro with a matte screen. - Arturo Puente

People who get a good cannon keep them forever, I go through a macbook every few years - Michael Struening

Macbook Pro. Only because I'm a Nikon fan. D300 is definitely my choice of camera ;) - Tamar Weinberg

mac - David Banes from IM

Mac - Jeff (Team マクダジ )

Would have to be the MacBookPro - Jason Townsend

The Canon. A solid peice of hardware and I'm after a camera - Mo Kargas

5D MKII of course. - Jeremy Franklin

The Canon. I'd have so much more fun with a zippy camera than a Big Mac. - Mike Neumann

Probably the computer. I'm happy with the first gen 5D I'm about to buy and as awesome as the camera is, the MBP doesn't need another $5K in lenses. - Derrick

Neither, you need at least twice that for glass & equipment to get the "rig" you should want for a Canon MKII - sorry, 3K isn't enough for that toy; and spending 3K on disposable technology (Mac equipment) isn't a wise investment. - Enrique Gutierrez

MBP....i miss my macs! - Brian Bufalo

5D MKII hands down. I can hold onto the memory cards until I get to a desktop :) - Austin

Without question: 5D mark II - Rodney L.

MBP - it's a means of production for me, once i make some extra cash with it I can always buy the 5D ;-) - Warren

which are you going to get more utility from? I'm guessing the Canon. - Peter Warnock

I already have a 5D MKII but I would take another one in a heartbeat, or a couple of nice L glass - Bill Pennington

5D Mark II..... no doubt. - Albert K

Canon, without a doubt. - Brad Butner

Definitely the MacBook Pro...but then again I'm not a photographer. - Charlie Flowers

Canon - Tyler (Chacha) from IM

Neither, I'd use it to buy food for a year. - Will Higgins™

Considering I can make quicker cash with my Photography work I would say the Canon 5D MKII and then I would buy the Apple 17 inch MacBook Pro with some of my earnings! - Patrick Greer

5D Mark II. And then throw the remaining towards some new glass. - Andy Hannon

2k into the bank, 1k for computer upgrades and other stuff. - Grant Bierman

5D Mk II everytime ... unless I don't have a Mac at that particular time ... - Stephen Taylor

I would go for the Macbookpro - Troy Malone

5D MKII...already have a MacBookPro and I'm willing to ditch my Nikon gear! - Dan Shust

Canon 5D MKII since I already have the 15" MBP. - Alan Le

I don't need either one--but I think the Canon would have much better resale value--so given the choices: Canon. - Rob Michael (Atmos Trio)

Canon 5D MKII - for sure! - I really want one.... :( - Brad

MBP - not a photographer - Matt Faulkner

A 50D and a fast lens. ;-) - D. Lambert

I've already got the 15" unibody so I'd go for the 5Dmkii - Sparky, lurking

If I didn't have a laptop, then I would get the 17" MBP. If I already had a lappy, then get the camera... - William Sellers

Well, I recently moved from a 30D to a 5DMII because it was a huge upgrade for my "system". With a 2 year old Macbook Pro still serving me well for my needs, it's an easy decision. Additionally, I can't see using a 17" notebook over a 15 for portability sake, I'd just as well get an iMac and keep using my Macbook Pro for mobile use. - Ryan

Aren't you in Vegas? I think there are a few other options in front of you.. - LA Snark

5D!! - Wil

The camera. I have a new macbook already. - Jim Williams

The 5D is more than a $3k investment. It's $3k upfront but thousands in lenses, flashes and other gear over the years. - Michael Yurechko

Canon 5DMIII... - Greg Kamer

MacBookPro 17-inch. I am a Nikon guy. So, Canon 5D MKII if I had $7K for all the lenses, too. - Chintan Zaveri

The camera! I already have the 15" MBpro. 17" is just too big. - Sherry Main

My 1 yr-old MacBook doesn't thrill me; it sits on the desk unused, and I just couldn't pay more than $200 for a camera, unless I was dreadfully rich. - MiniMage, enterRUPPted

5DMKII - sell some images on istockphoto, and then buy an MSI Wind and install OSX. It is faster than my 15" MBP! - Darren Mak

Definitely the 5D MkII - Christopher Chan

$3,000 worth of NOODLZ - Bwana ☠

100 shares of CRM ;D - barl0w

What would I do with a Mac? - drsPIX

5D MkII - want! I already have a Mac, iPhone, 2 PC's and a laptop. <sigh> gadget budget is small right now though. - Jim Bergman

canon 5d. already have a 15 mbp - Kiran Patchigolla

5D MK II You can always get the Mac later. - Yu Yu Din

I'd pay my bills and buy some groceries. - ::Kristen::

What's an Apple 17-inch MacBookPro and why would a person need one? - Michael Krigsman

Mac book pro - Randy

MacBook Pro because I have neither a mac or digital SLR and the Mac does many things where as the canon does one thing well/ - BRҰANSAҰS

Canon 5D MKII - Mαηsòór

I'll take the MacBook Pro - Rob

MacBookPro...or a Martin 12 http://guitars.musiciansfriend.com/product... and use the difference to buy a copy of logic pro for my 15" macbook pro - Armen Chakmakjian

I'll go for the MacBook. My heart beats nikon so.... - studio_juan

5D MKII - do you want to lug around that 17" beast? - nicholas einstein

MBP - already have a nice Canon - but my Mac sits firmly on my desk - shaun mclane

MacBook Pro, but I would need another $1200 for the 8GB of RAM. - Shawn Hickman

5D MKII. Even though I already have one. - Kathleen McGivney

Neither. Maybe 3 coins :). I have a Macbook Pro which I don't use often comparing to my PC. I am not into the consumer electronic stuff, only got a digital cam last year :). - dexin

Canon. Can't believe Apple ditched the matte screen on the 17" - FCP users and photographers don't want a glossy screen - the idea of the 17" is the ability to use it out in the field for photo/video editing. - Peter Clayton

So limiting, Robert! If I could pick whatever I wanted, I'd get one of those sweet Asus multi-touch netbooks coming out - and then use the rest to buy Yahoo! stock. :P - Shawn Farner

MB 13'' and the external cinema display. MBP17 is huge to carry out - Jean-Charles VERDIE

canon - jtothea

17" MBP FTW! You should create a poll on SocialToo.com Robert, then we can see graphed results! - Joseph

Craigslist in Cincinnati - 5D for 1200: http://cincinnati.craigslist.org/ele... - D. Lambert

Wow, what a great argument! 82 comments in 17 minutes! - Robert Scoble

Camera. Droooooooooool. - Lix

Well part of it would have to go towards fixing my car, http://preview.tinyurl.com/9dz2kz. Then the rest would go towards buying a second camera body to be my main and at least one lens if not two. Then the rest would go towards bills. - Mathew™ aka Youngblood

Robert: Apple products plus awesome SLR cameras...response is a given :) - Mo Kargas

the camera is nice - especially all the HD video. friend of mine in the movie post-production business reckons this sort of Camera will KILL the movie camera business in a few years time. especially at the low-budget movie (<$30 million) of the movie business. RED already making big inroads. much cheaper than an ARRI. - Scot Mcphee

The MK II as I already have the MBP 17 inch...older but it works. - Semipro

Canon 5D is the winner for me. Great digital photography is the gift that keeps on giving.... ;-) - John Uppendahl

Well.... Given that I have 4 PC desktops, 2 PC laptops, and 1 iMac, all of which are operational and regularly used, AND that I suck at photography, I'm going for what's behind door #3: A whopping big HDTV -- which will get hooked up to the living room PC, of course. ;-) - Joanmarie

17" Mac. Already have a camera. . . - Scott Whitney

Nikon D3 - Bill Sanders

Macbook Pro for me. Would be my first Mac. - Jim Bednarz

Nikon D3 - ThePicMan

MacBook Pro. Don't need such a super-duper crazy camera. Not a real photographer. But a very real Mac geek. - Louis Gray

5D for sure! - Daniel Pourasghar

I'd go the MacBook - but I'd also load it up with the full 8gb of RAM I see as an option (and not many people mentioning). Sadly, a nice 17" MBP setup it just over NZ$10k :( - Mark Derricutt

MacBook Pro. Hands down. I'm a computer engineer, not a photographer. - Logan Leger

well since I've already got a Canon 5D Mark II... hmmmm... - Thomas Hawk

I'll buy neither. What I would rather do is try to buy one share of BRK-B if it gets to that price. :) - imabonehead

The 17" Mac Book Pro, I already have a 5D MkII ;-) - Jeff P. Henderson

I'd buy the camera, I have always loved photography and wanted to learn. - R. Ferguson

The Canon, all the way man!! - Finding The View

Apple! I don't like the fact of the hd video recorder on the 5D and I want the Sony alpha! - Brandy Lea

Canon. 15" MBP is the largest I'll go. - ronin

I would take the cash and build an ultimate gaming PC !!! :D - ralphsaunders

When you buy an inexpensive camera, you really sacrifice quality, and that lack of quality endures (you want to keep your photos forever, right?). When you buy an inexpensive computer, that's not the case (I don't need a unibody case :) - David Andrzejewski

Canon 5D - easy answer! - Susan Beebe

Ouch, this one hurts. I suppose I can't opt for a Nikon equivalent to the Canon? If this is the choice, I'd opt for the MacBook Pro. But if I had 3K, I'd buy myself the Nikon D300 - Karoli

The Canon. A 17" laptop is too big unless you plan to use it as a desktop. - Hartley Spurlock

Mac for sure.I have a first generation Macbook and I need a new one. Kaya Singer - Kaya

I'd pay off my credit card. For all that stuff I, like, already bought. - Jandy

the Macbook pro but only because I need to upgrade my computer. - Anna Lynn M.

the Camera for sure - Tai

5d Mark II - jho

None - a super-gaming rig. :) - carrotmadman6

Definitely a Canon 5D. - Maria Colacurcio

5D Mark II - Hands down. - Seagate

I would save it until I had between $8-15K for a CO2 laser cutting machine. I like my macs small, and while full frame sounds nice, I know I'm not nearly hungry enough to go pro in photography, so 40D suits me just fine. - Jason Wehmhoener

That's a tough one because I have been wanting to get my first Mac (have to start somewhere, right?!) but am a hard core Canon fan/user. So if push came to shove, I would have to go with the Canon. - Laura Zickus

Mmm, CO2 lasers. - Mo Kargas

That would be either a trip to another continent or a Fujitsu LifeBook P1630, but it would not be either of the options in the question. I seriously cannot understand $3k for a camera, unless you're going to make that money back in a month or two WITH said camera. - MiniMage, enterRUPPted

Neither, I would invest in the stock market. - DGentry

I'd prefer a D300, however no matter what brand I'd take the camera in a second over the MBP. Save up another $500 and get a Windows Notebook as well. - Kenton

The Canon 5D MKII for sure. Cameras bring me a lot more joy than flashy computers. Though a 17-inch MacBookPro would be nice to edit those new photos on too ;-) - Ian Holton from twhirl

Probably the Mac. I would never carry around a DSLR. Too big. - Rodfather

Neither. The new full frame format with HD Movies (wow! Woopee *rolls eyes*) is crap - only 3.9 FPS?! Who are they kidding?! - Adam

Seeing my Macbook Pro is 5 months old. I would buy neither...but I would buy a MacPro with more RAM. - Ryan

I take a cruise with Lindsay - big ass stateroom. - iTad

Neither, I'd get a Canon Rebel XTi and build a new gaming PC, anything left over would go toward the new home NOC - xero

I would take my lover to Italy :) - Maryam Scoble

The Canon 5D, I find the photographic process calming, a welcome diversion from the ones and zeros. - cornedbeefgents

Awwww :) - Mo Kargas

Nikon D700 - Rod Bauer from twhirl

There's one in every crowd. - Rod Bauer from twhirl

If I had the $3,000, Canon 5D and a larger donation here http://tinyurl.com/daniela Pros: it's more portable, takes better pictures, and connects to my more compact 15" Macbook Pro. Of course, it doesn't work with my Nikon lenses, so... - Lee Dale

Canon 5D MKII only cause I have a Macbook Pro. If I didnt it would be the Macbook. - Bob Maltais

Nah. Patrick's college fund. 5D Mark 2 or the Macbook isn't all that exciting. - Joshua Hayworth

cannon.I kill computers, so not worth spending 3 grand on one. Plus I have a (beat up) macbook pro already. - InPerpetualMotion(Gina k)

Photos shoot at 3.9 fps, video shoots at 30 fps. @AdamGiovane - Jim Bergman

The MacBook of course. - Rob Fahrni

mac - Vishy

5D, but I wish it had XLR audio. - Gus

the new MBP, without a doubt ... my current ones needs a refresh (I'm accepting donations btw) ;-) - Jeffrey Canton

Since I'll be getting the new MBP anyway, I'll take the 5D. BTW, is anyone keeping score? - Brad Kligerman

Blatant self-promotion, but if Robert used re-searchr.com it would keep score for us... I wrote it to suck down inline multiple choice selections so no ne would even have to leave ff - James Ostheimer

Robert, you're asking the question that's been pondering in my mind from some time (albeit it used to be with the 15" and Cinema display v. 5D/a900/D700 -cannot make my mind-). I want to be able to make a decision before March. I think I'll be going for the Mac, since I might relocate in part of the world where carrying an expensive piece of art around my neck might be more dangerous than here, in JPN. - Paul Papadimitriou

I'd go for a MBP, mine needs an upgrade and I just bought a 50D not long ago which is just fine for me. - Andrew Trinh from Nambu

I need cash! :) - Randy

Some of us are Nikon people. Some of us are not Mac people. I'll just take the 3 Gs. - Eric

Nikon D700 + 50mm 1.4 prime lens! - Guillaume Lemoine

More lenses. My camera is fine, and this Thinkpad is a good 'un. - Paula W

Seems like Apple design the 17-inch MacBookPro just can use in 3years.the battery can only use in 1000 times,1time per 1day,3years.But Canon 5D can take more beatuful pics for me,and can stand by me more than 3years.if i really have 3000dollers,i real do this.kick off 17-inch MacbookPro. - jedorstar from twhirl

Lenses, like Paula sez. - Rob Kramer

Buy half and half :) - Michael Forian

Wow, I came late to this convo. Well, for what it's worth at this point, I'd probably get the lappytop, sell my old MBP and then use THAT money to buy a cheaper camera. :D - Jonathan Hardesty

Macbook I think. I have a 40D but REALLY want the 5D. Which do you think you could get your hands on first? - Andrew Smith

The 5D. The MacBookPro can wait. - Chris Nixon

5D, I have enough laptops as it is. - Amit Morson

The $2800 MBP becomes a lot more compelling when converted to 2080€. - Brad Kligerman

I'm a Nikon guy but the 5D MKII has me seriously considering a switch - Bryan Thatcher from twhirl

As I don't like Macs and into my photography the choice out of the two is simple. :-) But I've rather spend the money on say the Nikon D3 and if you gave me an extra grand or 2 then I'd go for the Nikon D3X. ;-) - Kol Tregaskes from twhirl

Without though, the Canon 5D MKII. First up, you don't want to trust another "first gen" Apple product. And with the unimpressive lineup yesterday, maybe the 15" laptops are coming out real soon now, with similar features, and all quirks ironed out - Colin Charles from twhirl

MAC!!! - Orli Yakuel

(Friendfeed needs a poll feature) - Jérôme

5D over the MAC Pro. - Robert Miller

MacBookPro - just bought myself a nice camera with a fracking big lens! - Joel Hammond-Turner

Canon! - Janet-The Bottley Crue

Canon. I have a laptop and rarely use it - well not as a laptop. It sits on a desk as a permenant fixture. - Ian May

Canon 5D mk 2 :) - Joe Dawson

Camera, I never liked the 17". It's too heavy for a "portable" - Melissa dela Merced from twhirl

neither, a big ass HDTV :) - Terry O'Fee

17-inch macbookPro is way too big. so I would go for the camera. Problem is I would need to learn how to use it then... - Davide D'Incau

If you have good lenses to take advantage of the MKII (extra $3000 needed here), go for the camera! - Joao Pedro

I would buy a Apple 17-inch macbook of course.! I don't have an apple and I would really like one. I have a camera thats good enough for me. - @LarsenTweet

nor this neither that! i will send money to help people in Gaza or at least I'll send 1000 $. - خیزران

canon 5d mk ii based on the videos I've seen - i mean just look at these http://is.gd/cP6x - planetMitch

The Canon, surely. No use for a laptop that big. - Ryan Sholin

5D over here too - Simon Wicks

Macbook Pro 17! - Greg

The camera. Already have three computers but have no camera. - Martha

I am not pro enough to need the 5D, I am actually looking at a D60 or D90. But the 17 Macbook is something I can use :) - TheSleepyGeek

I'd buy the Nikon D700 - David Parmet from twhirl

neither - cash is still king - viki saigal

its the lens, not the body - spring for L glass - @jessewright

MacBookPro - Stewart Rogers

New MacBookPro 17". I would probably get more use out of it than the Canon. But my, oh my, ya'll, the Canon sure is sweet. - Matthew Freeman

I have the glass. I have the Mac, I'd get the 5DMKII - stretta from twhirl

5D - I don't need a macbook. I'm happy with my PC and laptop - they cover my my needs perfectly. - Roberto Bonini

MBP. - Michael Molinar

Donate it to @armano. - Jim Mitchem

given my current status .. I am happy with my Canon XTi so I would go for the MacBook Pro. - Kapil

5D, but that's cuz I've been saving up for one. A new MBP would def. be on the list of future purchases (current computer is 3 years old) - Michael

Canon 5d Mk II, far more useful than the new laptop. More fun. One encourages you to sit around, the other encourages you to go out :-) - Richard A.

Canon!! - Ivana from twhirl

I would buy the Mac, get a cheaper camera with the money I have left, and edit and enhance my videos using my Mac. - Shevonne

I'd go the Mac route. I'm looking to buy one anyway and I've already got a camera. Might not be as fancy as the Canon do-dad, but I'll manage. - James Ferguson

Wow 202 comments! How did I miss this thread? :) - AJ Batac :)

The 17" MBP as my current 12" PB is on it's last legs and needs replacing - need rather than want for me - Sally Church

The Canon. I already have a 17" MacBook Pro. - Carmen wBabby

The Canon... even though I already have a 5D and actually need a new laptop - Shawn Duffy from twhirl

Macbookpro - Roger Kondrat

I'd say the MacBook... you can do more with it. - Dejim Juang

EOS 5D - Julien Guyard

Canon, since the MBP that I'd want would actually cost $5823. Not $3000. - Ben Hwang from twhirl

This would be much more enjoyable if there was some kind of poll widget along side comments. - Michael Leggett

Would be easier to see at a glance. - Richard A.

I'd by the largest HD display I could... - Clay Newton

Canon 5D MKII. huh.. no: a powerful Linux box - Thierry R. Andriamirado

The MacBookPro, I have a Canon 30d but I do not have a MacBook - Bob Gannon

I wouldn't want a 17'' monster of a MacBookPro and therefore would go for the Canon 5D MKII - Donald Townsend

5D, the 17-inch MacBook Pro is very big. Harder to find bags for it and its less portable. - seanb

bank it, put in matress, done need either of those things, we need smarter devices that tell us the likelyhood of use-longevitiy in them, "i'm a camera you bought last year, you used me 9 times, i collect dust, owner- please resist replacing me unless you really really really need to, and the data suggests you don't.." - Dan Rockwell from twhirl

Not enough to buy what I want with the Canon, and I wouldn't be caught dead spending $3000 on a laptop. What a waste! - Paul Puri

Neither. A $3000 laptop is not worth it just because of its branding. - Spencer

ohh.. I can't choose. I want both of them... But if i choose, first canon, second mac... İ have canon 40 d and 15'' mac book pro. And i don't like mac's new screen. It's like mirror... - devletsah

Spencer: as a recent PC to Mac switcher, it's more than brand. Much more. - Ryan

I'd buy a netbook for the other three members of my family and put the remaining $2000 toward bills or savings. :) - Steve Lowe

Agree with Aaron, love my 13" Macbook and really want the 5D MKII - Kyle

Definitely the Mac. - John Clifton

Is this thing still going? I can't remember if I replied to this yet, but I say it depends on what will benefit you the most. Robert, you are a photo-maniac. I know that you have a few cameras laying around the house, but I don't know how many Macs you have. You have to remember that a 17" laptop sounds great on paper, but I know that you do a lot of traveling as well, so it might now suite your means. Then again, I would never keep $3,000 dollars in my pocket ;) - Michael Forian

of course the mac - doesn´t matter what the second option is... - Dieter Schwarz

I would buy the Canon 5D MKII but being a Nikonian I would end up buying the MacBook Pro and feel no remorse :) - Carlos Lorenzo

MacBook Pro. I need a laptop really bad. - Nick Humphries

The camera. 17-inch laptops are fricking ridiculous. - Andru Edwards

camera and a box of junior mints - Morgan

I'd definitely go for a MB Pro. My Rebel XTi and Panasonic GS180 video cam is doing me just fine. - emon hassan

Forget the Mac, keep your current camera, and buy better lenses. - Michael Krigsman

17 inch laptop is useless in term of mobility so I would go with the Canon - Hadar Weiss

A Sony a900. :) - Jeff Jones

Neither. I'd start with the Bonobo Pro Ubuntu Laptop for under $2000 and use the $1000 to max it out. http://system76.com/product... - Internet Strategist

Impressive amount of comments here, this has to be the highest ever now right? - Joe Dawson

I'm sorry, can you repeat the question: did you say a "camera", a "computer" or a "shark with laser beams"? - Micah

save the money for tougher times. as much as I'd like the Canon, it's going to be just an expensive toy for me. and my three year old Inspiron works just fine for the most things I do on it. - Franci Penov from twhirl

5Dm2 because I already have the new MBP 15" 2.8Ghz. Mostly b/c the cam is more revolutionary than the 17", even though the 17" battery life is enticing. - ɯɥøq sɐɯoɥʇ

Wow, 250 comments - OMG ...FF is really growing ...YEAH !!! - Susan Beebe

Yeah, this week has produced several >100 comment threads in my feed. - xero

Not the 5D, but some body+the best lenses, that actually lasts longer. Laptops are out of date in months and often die within 18, cameras and lenses last a lot longer - Iphigenie

I would buy a Apple 17-inch MacBookPro, only cause I already have a SLR, so I dont need the Canon 5D MKII. - Colide81 (James)

I would not spend it, id rather invest 3000 dollars with 10 shares of google - Kyle Weller

then just buy lenses - you probably already have a computer that can do everything you need - Iphigenie

Exxon-Mobile. Oh wait, what was the question again? - Erik S

Neither- new hardware for the pending Win7 beta drop. :) - Randy Holloway from twhirl

both! - jortai

@Ryan I am a Mac user, have been for a while. It's just my opinion, but $2800 for a piece of hardware in which you can the same or better specs on a PC, is quite a bit of branding. - Spencer

Using the MacBook Pro 17 inch now (love it!)- and I am quite happy with my Canon Powershot G9, so I'll just take the cash and pay down some of my debt--thanks! - Kelly W.

Canon 5D MKII then buy the 15" MacBook Pro later. - John Wang

I would buy a new fast lens for my old 5D (around $1000) and save the rest. - Alexander Arsky

Nikon E90 *and* a 15" Macbook. :) I bend rules. - Daniel Miessler

Nikon E90 like Daniel :P - Mol, FF Music Lover

I already have the mac so I would take the Camera. - WilliamMuncrief

Canon 5d MKII, i'm not a mac person so that was easy. - Squid

I've been back and forth on this since the 17" was announced. I am very likely to upgrade to the 5DMKII this year. But I want a more powerful laptop to work on the huge files it creates. Chicken? Egg? Confused. - Jeremy Brooks

Canon 5D MKII for sure. MBP 15 is still chugging along after 2 years. And the 5D is still doing great after 1 year, but I would really like the new 5D. - Johnny Sewell

5D Mark II , without a doubt! - americanm

Caonon 5D all the way - John Uppendahl

Louis Gray

The Twitter Ecosystem is Being Neutered - http://www.twitterrati.com/2009...

January 7, 2009 from Google Reader - Comment - Like - Share

Ben Hwang, Paul Papadimitriou, Tyson Key and 4 other people liked this

Not sure I see how they can fix this though. Even if they use something else to authenticate you, all that protects is your profile data (assuming they don't allow changes to that through the API). For the API to be generally useful, a third party application still needs to be able to tweet, add/remove relationships etc. - John

The twitter community is still strong and it's increasing more every day. Just because of a few problems doesn't mean people will leave. Have you seen how many problems they used to have with downtime and system bugs, mass loss of followers and more? - Richard A.

is their such a thing as "bad" news? twitter hit the major broadcast news outlets yesterday.... - Gregg

Leo Laporte

Weak Password Brings 'Happiness' to Twitter Hacker | Threat Level from Wired.com - http://blog.wired.com/27bstro...

January 7, 2009 from delicious - Comment - Like - Share

Nils Sandin, Ben Hwang, Tom Burton and Ryan liked this

An 18-year-old hacker with a history of celebrity pranks has admitted to Monday's hijacking of multiple high-profile Twitter accounts, including President-Elect Barack Obama's, and the official feed for Fox News. - Leo Laporte

so it was that simple, so it's non news in a sense, no sophisticated attack, just brute force, easy to counter. - Richard A.

Robert Scoble

Watch MacWorld keynote from VentureBeat in real time: http://friendfeed.com/rooms...

January 6, 2009 - Comment - Like - Share

Ben Hwang, bcultral, John Spencer and 21 other people liked this

whats there to like bout a link to view some presentation being sourced from some place. I wonder. If it is unique then it would be cool to know why it makes sense to view from that place in comparison to others. That would be value add. - Baba

13 more comments

I guess this is a case in which you DO like real-time FriendFeed. - Rolf Schewe

me too, is this the best friendfeed room for macworld updates? - Wayne Sutton

anyone out there live streaming (Video) the event ? - frank barry

Chris Pirillo has a ustream: http://www.ustream.tv/channel... - Loren Heiny

OMG. Phill Schiller ATE STEVE JOBS. - stretta from twhirl

Loren: If FF allowed it I would have "liked" your comment. - Rolf Schewe

the live feed from Chris P. isn't coming through so well for me ... anyone else having issues?? - frank barry

frank: it's working well here. - Robert Scoble

thanks Robert ... i'll close it and try again - frank barry

5 year lifespan advertised for the battery - Andrew Leyden

Added to experiment at http://tinyurl.com/mw09-AugCog need vastly better interfaces to accomplish this convergence of observation and cognition streams. - michael silverton

I'll take 5 year lifespan with a big honking sack of salt. According to this: http://www.batteryuniversity.com/parttwo..., a Lithium Ion battery loses 20% of its capacity within the first year under common consumer behavior (i.e., battery fully charged, warm laptop). So those 8 hours become 6.5 hours in a year, and down to 4 hours in 2 years. But that's ok, right? You wanted to give all your money to Steve Jobs anyway. :-) - Piaw Na

I wonder if replacing the battery will be almost as expensive as getting a new laptop, like with iPods. - Gabe

I found it was the best coverage... - John Spencer

Robert Scoble

Interesting blog about what's wrong with friendfeed's interface - http://bokardo.com/archive...

January 6, 2009 from Bookmarklet - Comment - Like - Share

Chirag Chamoli, Kevin, Gökmen Karasu and 176 other people liked this

Joshua Porter does an awesome job here of explaining what's wrong with friendfeed's UI. - Robert Scoble from Bookmarklet

112 more comments

I disagree with almost every one of those suggestions. [edit] I'd prefer more, not less on the page. This person doesn't use hide much I guess. Likes allow me to find other people, white space is always appreciated and comments are value added. Again, don't like a title, hide it. It's just not that hard. - AJ Kohn

AJ: why? - Robert Scoble

The interface I never knew I wanted - but I totally do. Some really great points in there. - Shawn Farner

+1 AJ. The first suggestion might be valid but others... no, no and no. - Tapio Kulmala

@Robert: I'd be okay with the ability to select how many items showed up on the page (default to 5 for newbies), but forcing it at 5. No thanks. I prefer scrolling to clicking by page, particularly with the speed in which things change on FF. White space is necessary to ensure you CAN scan the page. And comments is where the gold is. This interface would essentially reduce it to a one line Title interface, right? - AJ Kohn

GreaseMonkey does have a script that allows you to filter by content, so I think that is a great idea to already have it in FF. However, the other three opinions, I don't agree with, like the others. You don't care if someone you don't know liked something? The great thing about "Like" is that people that is subscribed to this person can view your content, so you get more exposure. Why wouldn't you want this? - Shevonne

I'm all for compressing more content into the scarce vertical space. I run FF in Firefox using almost all of the 1200 vertical pixels of my monitor, and it's still not enough. But there is a difference between times when you want discovery and times when you want efficiency, I'd find ways to improve the set up for both MOs. - Tinfoil 2.0

If they had everything in a single line, the vertical scrolling would be ridiculous. Maybe FF can have an option for people to hide comments, and click a link to show them, if they prefer. Maybe something similar to the WP FriendFeed plugin. - Shevonne

It appears he wants to use FF primarily as a news/info feed from select people with no commentary. I thought part of the allure off FF was the social commentary. And it always annoys me when people are so dismissive about seeing stuff from people other than the ones they've personally selected. Seems rather snooty. - ronin

I do disagree on de-emphasizing the people though, it is FriendFeed after all. I like to be able to easily see who made the post, via what service, the title, and a quick scan of the metadata. - Tinfoil 2.0

saeba - snooty? I see it as a headache bypass. There are some people that are a huge pain in the head to read on a regular basis and are out there posting as much as possible. I personally do not want to subject my head to that. Snooty, not at all. - Renee Hendricks

Most of the things he doesn't like are things that make FF good. For example, showing a few comments can generate interest in the entry even if the title is uninteresting. Finding new people partially comes from being able to see the full list of who liked the entry. I have to agree with the weighting problem though, I complained about that the first week. - xero

Interesting observations, although I don't feel there's any major problems with the FriendFeed UI. Although that's just my 2p. - Tyson Key

"Randomness helps us discover. It can create interest. It can lead to intent." http://friendfeed.com/e... - AJ Kohn

@Susanne Isn't that what hide is for? - ronin

saeba - I was just commenting on the "snooty" part. I'm very low on the "read me I'm popular" end of things and yet I find it necessary to hide a lot of Friends of stuff. Does it make me snooty? Hardly. Makes me headache free :D But, yes, that's what hide is for. - Renee Hendricks

This from a guy that seemingly has never commented on any post other than his own and has made no (or few) direct FF posts. I somehow think he is missing something in the credibility department. - Brian Sullivan

site is down. I didn't do it. - Josh Haley

Went to read post and got this message "Error establishing a database connection". Worked when pressing Gray's links below. - B2B Specialist

Sure, FF could (and will) make some improvements, but it's a pretty darn good UI as it is. I was slow to use Twitter and still don't that much. I never used traditional social sites that much, but "got" FF right away. Compared to any other social aggregation and discussion service, the FF UI is an order of magnitude better. - Tinfoil 2.0

Every suggestion is bunk -- this is clearly not a serious user. Friend names *should* be the top item (this is, ahem, friend-feed). I do care who likes what -- I get to know people that way. A single line entry would be Google Reader -- thanks, I already have that option. Finally, if a title doesn't intrigue me, very often the comments do. +1 saeba, +1 xero - Christopher Galtenberg

I really like the fact that FF shows you who liked what. If pure scannability is what you are after then just read FF from an RSS reader. - barce

What barce said +1. Scanability is *not* the point of the main page. Social engagement is. - Christopher Galtenberg

OK, link works now, and now I can comment on it. Mr. Porter, FriendFeed is not a feed reader. It allows the import of a bunch of feeds and could be used that way, but as you point out, the interface is not designed with that in mind foremost. The killer app of FriendFeed is that it is a centralized, customizable place to have conversations about almost any content. Trying to make FriendFeed like Google Reader (my assumption based on your post) will change the dynamic of what I believe is this killer app. - Josh Haley

There are two major problems with Implementing his suggestions 1. Cluttered screen. 2. Increased need for mouse clicks to get to content. It should be go through serious testing before knowing which approach will give a better experience. - Amit Morson

While I don't care for his suggestions personally, when I couple his ideas with Louis Gray's "Lite" idea, I think he's really on to something. If you want to go the "Lite" route, keep the initial interface as simple as possible, then let the user discover all of the features of the FriendFeed we know and love. Oh, you can see who liked this item? And you can see comments? And you can see things from friends of friends? Joshua is NOT using FriendFeed incorrectly; he's using it the way he wants to use it. - Ontario Emperor

title here should read: "Uninteresting blog about what's right with friendfeed's interface". Sorry, Robert stop pumping links simply because you were mentioned in it. AJ nailed it in the second comment. Up next for this thread, what the author of this blog should learn to do on FF. HIDE. - Carlos Ayala

This would be a cool little tweak - make links open in a 'new' tab. - Jim Mitchem

I've solved most of the problems Joshua mentions by processing Friendfeed friend, room, list and search feeds through Google Reader. And I can absolutely guaranteee you that, using the GR interface, I can run circles around anyone using the FF interface in terms of grokking all the new FF activity in the areas of greatest interest to me (or any areas). Lightning-fast scanning and... more... - Sean McBride

Carlos, let's say that you put me behind the wheel of a NASCAR race car. Before I can drive the thing, I have to make a number of changes to the car to simplify it - "hide" this control, "hide" that control, etc. For newbie car drivers like me, why not come up with a model that's like a Honda Accord? If people insist that I'm using the NASCAR car incorrectly, then I'm not going to drive it at all - which is why more people use Twitter than FriendFeed. The firehose is not for everyone. - Ontario Emperor

Sean, could you post a screenshot of your FriendFeed/GReader-based scanning solution? - Ontario Emperor

From a user interface standpoint, hiding items strikes me as extremely wrong. Not smart. Not efficient. I want to see the information that is most valuable to me with the least possible effort. - Sean McBride

I wouldn't want a bunch of line items as if I'm reading email. I like seeing the comments and who has liked it. That is what makes me give an item with maybe a boring title another chance. One thing I would like is if my or my friends comments stood out a little better. - Yolanda

Ontario: a single screenshot wouldn't capture my Google Reader view on Friendfeed. Anyone here can try this simple experiment: create a Friendfeed folder in GR, and add a few FF friend, room, list and search feeds. Be sure to include feeds for FriendFeedLinks, FFholic Most Discussed and Best of Day. You'll be able to rip through hundreds of items with the greatest of speed and... more... - Sean McBride

Sean, assuming the interface isn't omniscient, wouldn't the bare-bones case require you to add sources of information? And isn't that something users would be much less likely to do than Hide? I think the hide-based paradigm, while counter-intuitive, is more likely to lead to the success which is having just the right amount of feeds. - Christopher Galtenberg

+1 Barce - yeah if the guy wants an RSS-feed pure list of his friends' content, just pull his feed it into Google Reader via RSS... then he can scan headlines all he wants, and he doesn't have to care about likes or comments... - Nathan Chase

Christopher - you are correct that it takes a bit of effort to add FF feeds to GR, and probably requires more skill with feed management than most net users possess. We need a slick interface to expedite the process. But try this: go to Best of Day http://friendfeed.com/summary... and click on the RSS icon in the address bar. If you are already a GR user, you will be served up a... more... - Sean McBride

I discovered this post through GR, by the way. - Sean McBride

I also use a Twitter folder in FF to cut through all the noise. From my bird's-eye view, FF and Twitter are just bundles of easily manipulable feeds. - Sean McBride

Sean, that's actually a pretty brilliant idea, cause I always forget to check the "best of the day", so it would make for a good "news feed" to check, since most of the posts are important news/articles, or at the very least, important memes/social conversations among FF users - Nathan Chase

Nathan: in my FF folder in GR I place FriendFeedLinks in the number one slot; FFholic Most Discussed in the second slot; and Best of Day in the third slot. It takes me less than five minutes a day to identify the most important new posts on FF as a whole. If I were unable to create this interface, I wouldn't bother using FF at all -- it would be a serious waste of time. - Sean McBride

Sean: I'm subscribing to you based purely on my respect for your l33t news-reading skillz - Nathan Chase

More: I find the posts of certain FF users to be exceptionally valuable, like Anthony Citrano, Meryn Stoll, Paul Buchheit and Louis Gray. From my GR view, I can quickly see that user X has posted *number new posts. I can then click on a user's feed, scan the headings of all their new posts, and zoom in on the posts that strike me as most interesting. Viewing all their items as a single list/group gives me a much better conceptual understanding of their posts, without wading through torrents of noise. - Sean McBride

More: my FF and Twitter folders in GR are nicely integrated with many other folders, all of which are prioritized by importance. I manage all these feeds under a single interface. My lead folder is Top 10 Feeds, and includes BreakingNewsOn, CNET News, FriendFeedLinks, Lifehacker, NYT - Breaking News, NYT - Technology, Slashdot, Yahoo! News: Mideast Conflict, Yahoo! News: Technology and Yahoo! News: Top Stories. - Sean McBride

Sean - I'll bet your desk is clean too. - Scott Maentz

Nathan - I've been strongly interested in optimizing my news-reading flow for several years now. This current setup that I've described is the best method for news reading I've discovered to date. - Sean McBride

Scott - minimizing to the max, getting rid of clutter, streamlining, more bang for the buck, etc. is almost a religion for me. :) That is why I fell in love with the Google aesthetic from the first week that Google was released to the world. - Sean McBride

Gabe - if I am in the middle of a hot discussion on FF, I simply click on http://friendfeed.com/seanmcb... to read and respond to the latest comments in near real time. But 95% of the really valuable posts on FF are captured in GR soon enough. - Sean McBride

Sean - More power to you! I also love Google products and use them as exclusively as possible. - Scott Maentz

I neglected to mention a key point: ALL the items of interest in ALL my feeds (including Friendfeed and Twitter) are easily searchable and retrievable from a single user interface: Google Reader. And if you star items of interest as you scan and read them, the search space is significantly narrowed. And I can forward any of these items as email, and tag them. What's not to like? - Sean McBride

For all people who are noting that Google Reader items do not appear in realtime, it should be noted that most FriendFeed shares don't make it to the FriendFeed UI in realtime either. So it doesn't sound like you're losing much by using Google Reader as your FriendFeed interface. I'll experiment with Sean's system a bit and see what I think about it. - Ontario Emperor

I would hate that interface. I don't agree with any of it. I love FoaF and if I don't want stuff from a certain user, I hide them. If I don't want a service showing up, I hide it. - Mattie Kenny

The basic Friendfeed user interface is like logrolling or birling: I'll wager that most new users lose their balance quickly and fall off the log. I am a speed reader, and can absorb huge flows of text easily, but I can't begin to get a handle on the FF flow from the main page -- it's mostly random chaos. Surely this interface issue will continue to be a major obstacle to achieving... more... - Sean McBride

Gabe - check out the FriendFeedLinks feed http://friendfeedlinks.com/ Is it really important to see these items in real time? They are valuable to me within 24 hours or a week. The more one is distracted by trivial posts, the less one has time to focus on important posts. - Sean McBride

I know this is a plug for my own code, but https://launchpad.net/myff (demo at can be seen in the iframe on the right at http://zzzen.jottit.com) tries to address such problems. Not exactly the *same* problems [and it shows my discussion stream (comments+likes) and not my "what's new" stream], but the code is there, and it's easy to add features. Feel free to use this with your own user name (e.g. http://myff.zzzen.webfactional.com/api...) as an iframe. - ĎÚβĨŐÚŚ Dod

Ontario - try this experiment: add the feeds for your five favorite friends to a Google Reader Friendfeed folder. I think you will find that you will be able to track their new posts with much greater speed and ease than from Friendfeed. One is not equally interested in all the posts from one's favorite friends: GR makes it possible to find the most interesting posts with a quick scan down the list. - Sean McBride

Dod: intriguing FF interface. But no features for starring, tagging, sharing, emailing, prioritizing and searching. Yes? No? - Sean McBride

Some interesting comments but I don't agree with all. E.g. it's sometimes interesting to see who has "liked" a post as that might be someone I want to follow. However I do think there should be more options for hiding or compressing content as you choose - Mark Warren

I'm pretty happy with the interface as it is. In fact, I think when you compare it to other social networking/sharing services like twitter, identi.ca, facebook, linkedin, etc... I think it wins hands down. The issues Joshua highlights seem trivial to me, and his recommendations might make the service less useful as Mattie noted above. - Vicarbott

I agree with the disagreers here. He obviously just wants a gReader with a Gmail UI and links to a (probably mostly unused) commenting feature (to put it bluntly..). - ɯɥøq sɐɯoɥʇ

@Sean persistent storage of MyFF is friendfeed itself, and the only way to change its content would be via posts, comments and likes. | I *could* keep some external info in a database at the app's server, but this would require user-auth, backups, etc. and spoil the "zero-admin" fun. | Search I can [and should] do, so you'd "tag" by saying [e.g.] tag-widget (like I just did) and then search for it. | An "item to top" cheat is to delete and re-add one of my own comments (only works for discussion feed) - ĎÚβĨŐÚŚ Dod

An interesting list, but I'm sure if those changes were made that new ones would spring up. The 100% perfect interface will never likely come. - Jeremy Campbell from twhirl

Maybe FF could allow people to Hide parts of the interface. - Christopher Galtenberg

I responded on josh's blog. He's a smart guy who actually did the first iteration of Grazr's home page. Unfortunately the problem is not the interface. It's what *is* friendfeed. He starts the argument with a supposition of what it is, and that's *not* what FriendFeed is to me (or I gather a lot of other people). - mikepk

That certainly got the discussion going. What this tells me is that there needs to be several (three would be the best number) different pre-configured default types of FF that are easy to find for new users. Provide an icon in the left sidebar that goes to a page that offers the three options with descriptions on how each benefits users. Then let them easily toggle between them so they can pick what they like best without having to know how to alter defaults or know anything more. - Internet Strategist

@Strategist, that's one way to approach it, but it dillutes your efforts. It also makes the interface more confusing, not less for initial users. It also means you have to figure out what the default is, as a large percentage of people will never explore beyond a default configuration. Everything has a tradeoff. - mikepk

choice is good,..but too much choice is bad. regarding the OP i disagree completely with all of his "ideas". i def want to see who liked what. i often feel interested in ppl that like things based on topics. all this screen estate talk bash is silly too. the way FF is structured right now makes it possible for each topic to look the same no matter how much text it contains aso. what i would like to see improved is comment rating as @DIGG and filtering. its essential to sort out spammers. - Chris Hofmann

The post was obviously satire, since he titled it "modest" suggestions for updating FriendFeed, and because his suggestions are clearly chosen to be shocking and wrong. - Joshua Allen

Dod - there is a great deal of FF material sitting on Google's servers now, and easily accessible through GR's search interface. In fact, material that has been deleted from FF is still available on GR. - Sean McBride

Joshua, I'm assuming that comment was intended to be saitire. :) I've met josh, I think his suggestions where legit, although it may have been to just spark conversation. - mikepk

Another intriguing data point, Josh's blog has 17 comments at the moment. On FriendFeed this share has way more than that and is "liked by over 100 people. So again, what is the *purpose* of FriendFeed, what *is* it. That is the hard question. - mikepk

"So again, what is the *purpose* of FriendFeed, what *is* it. That is the hard question." - Is it? "History" is full of examples of products that were created for one purpose, but were more useful doing something else. FF started as an RSS aggregator - it's evolving based on how we use it. - John Craft

FF is a powerful vortex that is going to suck in all the blog commentary in the world. :) Maybe not too much an exaggeration. The interface as its stands blows away all the blog comment interfaces out there, in my opinion. - Sean McBride

@mikepk: I wouldn't be so sure. I subscribe to Josh's blog as well, but the usage of the word "modest" in a proposal hearkens back to Swift's famous "modest proposal". He left some big red flags in there, like pretending to forget that people have mouse wheels. - Joshua Allen

Yes, all SM is in a major state of flux. And perhaps it will always be that way. Making *it* whatever *you* want *it* to be. - Jim Mitchem

Thanks for the comments on my post, everyone. I should have made it more clear that I'm not suggesting Friendfeed get rid of its social features...that would reduce the service to a mere feed reader. I completely agree that those features help make FF what it is. What I am suggesting is that in the current design I think they could be presented more efficiently, and as a result I find it hard to scan to find good content quickly. - Joshua Porter

Yes, it is a hard question. If its use is evolving, and it's not based on it's initial conception (which, you're right, is the norm rather than the exception) then answering that question in the contest of trying to make interface design decisions *is* excruciatingly difficult. you're left with a) leave it alone and allow the evolution to continue b) try to formulate what it is to give users a better experience of *that*. Scoble and Josh have a different use pattern than I do, and probably you do. - mikepk

"answering that question in the contest of trying to make interface design decisions *is* excruciatingly difficult." - I think the answer is to make the interface more configurable. Create your own style in the same way you create a WordPress theme or a date format - using defined components, and styling them individually. - John Craft

John, but the more configurable you make it, the more confusing it becomes for users. I've been at this for almost three years now. It's counter-intuitive but the more options you give someone to tailor their experience the more likely they are to choose *none of the above*. Simplicity suffers greatly when you can't answer that fundamental question of what you *are*. - mikepk

Again - as with any media, it is what YOU make it. Except of course if you subscribe to cable, in which case you get what they give you and pay for it through the nose. My point is that if the medium is in place, and it's pliable, we each use it to our individual preferences. That's why FF will not ever go away - but continue to morph into a highly user-friendly interface that will continue to attract users because of its concatenation/aggregation features. Duh. ;) - Jim Mitchem

Here's a simple thought experiment, imagine a poll of the people commenting in this tread "what's the one user interface change you would make that would most improve your experience of FriendFeed". If you didn't get 100 different answers I'd be surprised. That's the hard part. - mikepk

imo, the point of Josh's post is that for the casual observer, FF looks intimidating. As frivolous as it sounds, 'Appearance' and how the UI is organized *is the most important touchpoint* for the consumer. As it stands now, many just don't have the time nor the inclination to tackle the steep learning curve FF requires--there are just too many demands on attention online. Another barrier to entry, which Josh didnt raise, are the confusing account settings which could be better described w/bubble help. - Lee Hsieh

"the more configurable you make it, the more confusing it becomes for users." True - but with a "standard" format (like this one), or a few to choose from, it doesn't have to be. Let new users start with something pre-determined, then migrate to their own custom skin if/when they're ready. - John Craft

Having FoAF defaulted does seem to cause confusion - though it helped me, personally. But if a person is too lazy to scroll, that's not FriendFeed's problem. Sometimes the headline is irrelevant, but the convo contains more valuable information. If I wanted to see headlines from pre-selected people, I would go to Twitter. - Mona Nomura

Lee, good point. There are a lot of competing requirements. Further complicating these kinds of discussions are things like the initial user experience. It's like a variant of the old engineering adage, you can have it intuitive and simple, powerful, or efficient but you can only pick two to optimize. :) - mikepk

Here's something 'right' about FF UI, the 'open in mini-window' live stream. Very cool. - Jim Mitchem

For those who caught Sean McBride's comments earlier about using Google Reader to find interesting FriendFeed content, I *did* give it a try and have taken a couple of screen shots. 1 of 2 (with associated discussion) http://friendfeed.com/e... - Ontario Emperor

2 of 2 (again with associated discussion) http://friendfeed.com/e... - Ontario Emperor

And, as Sean noted, such a system is purported to help you locate things easier. So if you're now interested in Yolanda's item (the one at the bottom), it's here. http://friendfeed.com/e... - Ontario Emperor

I don't know why people are interested in making FF a walled garden. FF remains one of the most enjoyable means of content discovery for me. I think it's something less without FOAF. I would make it a toggle feature on account creation, but not remove it. I'm constantly finding relevant new people through the feature. I think the interface is the strong point - FF is not Google Reader or Gmail - as it's conversation oriented, hence long threads (though for people wanting aggregation *only*, I see the point) - Mo Kargas

Ontario - nice work on the screenshots. Do you notice now that you can view comments and likes from GR? And that it usually takes no more clicks to uncompress comments for the original FF page from GR than from FF itself? One click on "*number more comments" in GR will drop you into the middle of the discussion stream on Friendfeed, with all comments uncompressed. - Sean McBride

Hmm... quickly glancing at my GR subscriptions list I see 2 new posts from Patricia, 1 new post from Paul Buchheit, 2 new posts from Veselka, 24 new posts from Dave Winer, etc. A few clicks exposed the lists of new items to view, and I found six items worth clicking through to. All now marked as read, and no need to see again. That was really fast. Knowledge garnered. Desk cleared. - Sean McBride

So he just wants to turn it into filtered feed reader where only the A-list really gets a look in? What utter bollocks. The strength of FriendFeed is in its social interaction and sharing across the service. Note to Paul Buchheit: please don't do any of these. - Duncan Riley

@duncan: sounds like you're saying that he's missing the "friend" part of FriendFeed... - .LAG liked that

This entry had so many comments it would open up in the home feed btw - Tyler (Chacha)

You can't review history... just too much of it has happened. What this type of medium is going to become is a way to take stuff that interests you, and is currently happening, and being fine if you miss some of it - Tyler (Chacha)

I love the fact that Friendfeed will take the 'likes' of people I subscribe to and give them to me, 435 people can't cover/write/create it all. - Tyler (Chacha)

now we can see who's really on FF - Donovan Slennon

+1 Matthew. I like the fire hoseness of FF. The other great function is to zero in on one friend and see what he/she is up to. That was probably the original intention. The social media blast is a cool side benefit. - Seth Gottlieb

@mikepk dilutes how? I agree that most never change the defaults and get confused which is precisely why I suggest that we offer new users a choice of three "views" with suggestions based on how they want to use FF. - Internet Strategist

@Chris Hofmann Yes, too many choices cause indecision. That is why it needs to be two or at most three and there has to be a VERY simple suggestion on which someone should pick. Otherwise some won't do anything. - Internet Strategist

Ok... I'm not trying to be snippy - and I think discussing how to make FF better is great... but for the love of (name your deity) can we stop the friggin' navel gazing. Things evolve... let's give it some time to do that and stop posting on this thread... jeeeezzzzzzz - Brian Roy

I didn't entirely agree - I like the layout and seeing comments/likes from new people, too - Sarah Perez

I think Friendfeed would be better off focusing on the functionality over the UI. 3rd parties can deal with changing the UI, but adding functionality like Track/Block can't be done by anyone but FF - Tyler (Chacha)

I'd like to correct that last statement .. Track/Block can't be done 'well' by anyone by FF. Because 3rd parties can do it, but probably FF could do it better - Tyler (Chacha)

what a great time to be a FriendFeed developer -- recent tips from power users like Scoble, Gray, and other interesting tidbits like this one. They have so much input now, I wonder what direction they'll take next? - Pete D

I wish there were a way I could tell FF to give me only the comments of people in my network when there's a huge number like this...as long as we're making a wish list. - Rae21

This entry has so many comments it won't open up without me navigating to its page. Grrr - Tyler (Chacha)

Yeah, Looks like Robert Scoble is a firehose. :) I'm new here. I don't think I'll be friending him. - Rae21

Rae21: that is pretty smart! But I am looking for great items for you. Just build a new list. Call it "noisy asshole" or something like that. Then add me to that list. - Robert Scoble

-1. The name is "FriendFeed", not "Firehose". The people are just as important as the feed. Don't lose that, or the mechanisms which promote discovery of new ppl. - Nick Lothian

Added as a CON for now on the FF PRO vs CON list (for now): http://friendfeed.com/e... - B2B Specialist

Nick just said it right ^ - Christopher Galtenberg

Robert Scoble

Can someone tell @RJ0hnson what the best URL shrinking site is lately? I want to know too. I've been using tinyurl.com

December 29, 2008 from Twitter - Comment - Like - Share

bit.ly by far is the best IMO - Sachin Balagopalan

26 more comments

I've been sticking to @trimurls.. Love the stats they provide - embee

Cli.gs lets you shorten url and also to track stats. - Ramkarthik

I have the least amount of issues with tinyurl but the one built into @tweetdeck is pretty good as well. bit.ly - Kevin Murray

Said this in a different tweet: http://is.gd/ is very tiny! - barl0w

I'm working on a URL shortner, it needs to be prettied up some. test it and give me some feedback: http://shorty.openskymedia.com - Jason Shultz from twhirl

"Spedr" is the best for me. It's a very useful Firefox add-on. You don't even need to go the the website page to shorten urls. It's a 1-click-application. - Smeerch

I've found tr.im pretty good, as of late. - Tyson Key

bit.ly has to get the nod, not just for the click thrus but the twitter/FF conversation tracking and other nifty info http://bit.ly/info/YcN6 _ I do have to say they could make their click-thru graph a little easier to read/use... - Scott Lockhart

I ride with http://bit.ly :) - ~C4Chaos

I'm very partial to my service called Cligs ( http://cli.gs/ ). It has very deep analytics, social media monitoring (Twitter, Friendfeed, blogs, blog comments, delicious, etc), and also geotargeting of the destination (only service that does this). - Pierre

Cli.gs is No. 1, followed closely by BudURL and idek. Just how many of these URL-shortening sites are there? I'd like to use 'em ALL!! :) I use TinyURL, Cli.gs, BudURL, idek, Snipr, bit.ly, is.gd, TweetBurner (Twurl.nl) and Twirl.at. - J. D. Ebberly

http://moourl.com - not only is it uber cute, but it allows you to customize the ending too - Susan Beebe

I use is.gd. IME, it's the only one that works with copy/paste and is still valid days/weeks/months later. - Anika

if you like bacon, bacn.me - Jeff Quinton

I like http://www.budurl.com thanks to Jim Stroud! - Jack Humphrey

I use http://notlong.com - Martin Lindeskog

Why not roll your own URL Shortener with Shorty: get-shorty.com - you can see my self-made one at cnvg.us - Roger @ CineVegas

bit.ly with a hat tip to @davewiner for first suggesting it vs other options. However, I still use tinyurl.com from time to time. - Dave Martin

I use is.gd for two reasons: It's 5 characters long (tinyurl.com is 11) and it's the default for TweetDeck (which keeps resetting it to is.gd whenever I launch it). - Chris Charabaruk

I use tinyurl and it works good enough that I aint making time to try anything else... Sometimes good enough is good enough. - Cody Heitschmidt

tr.im's stats are great! - Hugh Donagher

If I read it right it appears its either http://bit.ly or http://cli.gs/, what are the pros and cons of both? - Kol Tregaskes

If you want to make a short Amazon link or eBay link on the fly, I have LinkFeed.com just add the ASIN for Amazon or the Item ID for eBay (you can also use a search term) http://linkfeed.com/am?moose or http://linkfeed.com/ebay?moose This works well when you are typing in a IM or similar and just don't want to go to the site to make your short url. - RAD Moose

tr.im is one character short, so it gets my tweet vote for url shrinking - Ernie Oporto

I find tinyurl is good for preview feature. It helps prevent unwanted redirection! - Paul

is.gd has that as well, just add a - to the end of the URL (that is one feature that I really like due to the amount of abuse of short URL services.) - RAD Moose

Robert, I'm a huge fan of Cli.gs. Its free, has metrics, hits by date, country, referer statistics, if a search bot found your URL, when your URL gets RT, or on FF. When the destination URL is on Delicious. Plus one URL can redirect to a different page according to country IP. http://cli.gs/jcf - Julio F ~ @SocialJulio

Tim O'Reilly

RT @bryce: “people think hacker means a criminal, well, we want our word back”. these hacker collectives are inspiring: http://www.nytimes.com/auth...

December 29, 2008 from Twitter - Comment - Like - Share

Michael R. Bernstein, Cornelius Toole, Will King and 7 other people liked this

Louis Gray

Bias, Bias and More Bias. I Haz It. So Do You. - http://www.louisgray.com/live...

December 28, 2008 from louisgray.com - Comment - Like - Share

Hookuh Tinypants, Robert Banghart, Mike Fruchter and 14 other people liked this

Yep, yep, and more yep. We can haz mitigation techniques 4 2 try queshtun self-ez. Not purrfikt, but bettr then nuffinz. We can be keepz tryin'. http://overcomingbias.com/ - michael silverton

3 more comments

No I don't. I have favorites. ;) - Mona Nomura

Mona, you are one of my favorites ;-) - Louis Gray

Screenshot moment! WOOHOO! And LG - you're one my very very favorites too. (but I think you already knew that) - Mona Nomura

I have bias... tape. Sorry, had to. Also want a bias tape maker. - anna sauce

Robert Scoble

@armoredtech I disagree that Nokia is not aiming at iPhone and at Google. Those are the two that have freaked out Nokia execs, not Xperia.

December 3, 2008 from Twitter - Comment - Like - Share

simonpure, Aaron Draczynski, Sasha Kovaliov and 6 other people liked this

Nokia is definitely targeting iPhone customer base...that's pretty clear - Susan Beebe

12 more comments

A Nokia exec told me that the CEO is yelling at everyone internally because of the iPhone and Google's Android. He said "Nokia is a company under stress." Steve Jobs sure disrupted them. Makes Nokia an interesting company to watch. - Robert Scoble

Hard to play catch up! Mobile market is really one of the most competitive and fastest to market with new developments. - Susan Beebe

ha ha - @baratunde from IM

Until a real unit comes out rather than a prototype the jury has to remain out but I have my doubts about Nokia being a success. - Nick Rigby

Every mobile device maker is targeting the iPhone market though. I like the n97 look, but we'll see where it goes. I'm personally in love with Nokia products strictly from the n810 series. But, it still depends on how they market. It's not just hardware design that makes iPhone successful. It's the seamless store interaction. Same thing with iPod/iTunes. - Ben Hwang from twhirl

I think it's a mistake for Nokia to get all bent out of shape over G1 and iPhone. They should focus on other parts of the market, which is still the largest part: low-cost mass-market phones for everyone else. - Ryan Twomey

Clear willingness to compete and that's good. Too bad Nokia just announced it was leaving the Japanese market... - Paul Papadimitriou

I don't see why Nokia is trying to take iPhone head on. N97 is a high end N series device in a portfolio of zillions of mobiles they have in the market place. iPhone is only 1 of 2 phones Apple has out in the market place and they also offer the end to end service of content delivery that people have come to trust bacuse of the iPod. As for Google, they are competing - it is their open source initiative that is providing competition. the plan there is to grab a share of the community that being open brings - Mauricio Reyes

Nokia knows that iPhone is the one to beat. Beat it or it will beat you. - Phil Boiarski

Mauricio, that end-to-end content delivery ala ipod is not a good way to set things up. Let the hardware manufacturer control your access to content and you're just asking for trouble. Nokia's product slays the iphone on features, so the only reason it's losing is because of a marketing failure. When's the last time you saw an ad for Nokia product (in the US)? - Mr. Gunn

Hi Mr.Gunn, you make a valid point re: Nokia marketing in the US. I am based in the UK and my experience is with the European scene. Now I completely agree that the Apple way not the ideal way, but at the end of the day the end user just wants a product that works first time - its this experience that Apple seem to have done so well recently. iPhone is not a well spec'd device but its user experience is spot on for the non tech savvy. You always hear the classic "My mum picked one up and...blah blah blah" - Mauricio Reyes

Mauricio. Exactly. Geeks have a hard time understanding the technically challenged. Apple understands that they just want to "do" something, not "learn a new system." - Phil Boiarski

Hi Phil - I seem to remember Microsoft pitching that idea about 5/6 years ago - that users could seamlessly move from their Windows products to using their WINCE ones on the basis that everyone knew Windows. The trick to mass market appeal is not releasing a heavy weight tech beast but engaging with the non tech and releasing something they feel they can just pick up and use - focusing on good old fashioned user experience - look at the Wii as another perfect example. - Mauricio Reyes

Michael Gartenberg

For the first time ever, I'm more dependent on Google right now than Microsoft. How dependent on MSFT are you?

November 25, 2008 from Twitter - Comment - Like - Share

Aaron Draczynski, Rolf Schewe, Tyson Key and 11 other people liked this

I use a Mac to remote desktop to Win. I move transparently between Linux, Mac and Windows - Thanks cloud. MSFT services...no. - Stephen Pierzchala

11 more comments

actually started my ubuntu desktop this month. i TS to winbox now. - MikeAmundsen

I am happy to say I have been mostly MS free for about 6 years now. Excusing the occasional word doc - Bill Pennington from twhirl

Supporting MS products pays my bills. It IS my job, whereas Google only helps me do my job. - MiniMage, enterRUPPted

I've basically been MS free for 7 years now. Google not only provides my calendar, e-mail, search, and collaborative document editing, but my paycheck as well. Yeah, I'd say I am pretty dependent. - Thomas Stromberg

the cloud let's me work regardless of the OS, though I'm most comfortable at home with Windows XP. - Ben L.

Dependent? Very little. However, that doesn't mean I don't use MS products regularly. - Kenton

Mostly MS-free. I did not set out to be that way, but I switched from Win to Mac last year, and I've never used Office much, so I don't have much dependence on MSFT. As for Google: I use them a lot, but don't feel dependent. Others provide services that are about as good, and the switching cost is trivial. - Mitch Wagner

I rarely use MSFT products, most seem very dated these days. - Rich

At work, very dependent (OS, Office, Outlook, corporate-approved browser). At home, less so, but still dependent. - Ontario Emperor

Not very at all... I have moved away from M$ products almost completely. - Clay Newton

Dependent on MS Exchange / Outlook, nothing else. - Susan Beebe

I've basically been Microsoft-Free in my personal life for about 6 years now, and for about 3 in my professional life. - matthew john ernisse

TDavid

Finally, A Second Life Cheatsheet! - http://www.vtoreality.com/2008...

July 31, 2008 from VTOR - Virtual TO Reality - Comment - Like - Share

Ben Hwang liked this

This is a useful cheat sheet for SL - TDavid

3 more comments

Yup. definitely useful. I hated learning a lot of that stuff from scratch before. - Ben Hwang from Alert Thingy

It appears the FriendFeed integration is working now. Wonder how long it takes to show up on the blog posts (10:48am test) UPDATE: it polls once an hour, so comments are out of sync by as much as that (11:04 PST) - TDavid

Time is all out of whack too ... Pulling the epoch date for some reason. - TDavid

There is a date fix by Matthew Gifford here: http://blog.slaven.net.au/wordpre... - TDavid

Ben Hwang › Likes