Larry Rubin

http://www.centerd.com/ this is a very long video, but you'll learn a lot about the space and see what they aren't doing well. Interesting how sites like these are springing up trying to add value by gluing services together. - Robert Scoble

I've been playing around with it. Seems pretty promising. Though my local taco shop had some inexplicable tags such as "crab house", "wedding restaurant", "japanese food" etc. - Frankie Warren

Frankie - thanks for the feedback - yes, this is a "known" issue :P - will be fixing soon - Chandu Thota

these are great videos...thanks for putting them up - raincloudcat

Sounds like they really understand the problem space. I should look into this! - Eric Hamilton

Are you using this thing? Is it a good solution for you? My calendar books out months and months in advance, and I'm constantly trying to coordinate events, meetings, etc... should I care about this? - Eric Hamilton

Hahaha! Windows Mobile phone on the floor. I bought an i760 I'm constantly tempted to throw at a wall. I love the hardware - HATE the OS. - Eric Hamilton

Eric: I'm trying it out, but based on my interview they have a lot of rough edges that I'd like to see smoothed out first. - Robert Scoble

Robert, we have margaritas in SLC. You just need to find the right restaraunt. Some of them are really fantastic, actually! =) - Eric Hamilton

That was a great video. I admire the courage of the Center'd folks opening themselves up to the Scoble firing line. More noise about alternatives to Evite is good for everyone in the space. - Larry Rubin

Thanks Larry. Funny my battery on the cell phone died right at the end. 39 minutes. Whew! - Robert Scoble

Give that man a Darwin Award. - Jack Carlson

that ap copy editor has a good sense of humor - edythe

This had Onion written all over it. But no! - Larry Rubin

♫ Humidity is rising - Barometer's getting low / According to all sources, the street's the place to go / 'Cause tonight for the first time / Just about half-past ten / For the first time in history / It's gonna start raining men ♫ - Karim

@Karim: hee. @Larry: ha, you're right! - edythe

here's a version with a picture of the roof :-/ http://capitalnews9.com/conten... - Robert Seidman

All of these comments are funny (I admittedly chuckled at Karim's) but.... Well.... I wonder if the guy left a suicide note. (Sorry to be the downer.) - Joanmarie

@Joanmarie: :( - edythe

I must have watched too many cartoons as a child, because I was really expecting a spread-eagled, person-shaped cutout in the roof. - Karim

Comment redacted due to NY-insider requirement and utter tastelessness. - Cyndy

his suicide note is the pictures, I'd guess. - Anthony Citrano

@Karim: there is a japanese game show--or at least an episode of one--where walls are coming towards contestants with different cutouts like that in them - and so they have to get in that position to make it thru the wall. - edythe

@edythe lol scary! - Karim

Gravity is a harsh mistress. - Bill Sodeman via fftogo

There are many ways of being paid - Fast Company

Robert lies -- he is interested in everything - Brian Sullivan

If this were not an accusation then why use the word "pimp"? Connotes negativity inmho. - James

Hey Robert - is FriendFeed user "Fast Company" yours or actual account for Fast Co? Just checkin before I add. kthxbai. - Brian Daniel Eisenberg

I dont get it...? Just because someone is popular and likes something and others like it too because it is actually useful and valuable, where does pimping enter into it...? One can smell pimping and shameless shilling a mile off, if you can't, well then, get off my lawn!!! - Mario Olckers

Mario: I'm all with you... until "my lawn", there I wonder - directeur

It's more like Scobe says "this is cool" and we all wonder what he's seeing that we aren't. - Justin Whitaker

The"Fast Company" account on FriendFeed is not owned by someone at Fast Company, nor is it run by me. When I say I have "no interest" in FriendFeed, I'm talking about financial interest. Obviously it interests me greatly. - Robert Scoble

I doubt it. Credibility would be gone in a flash if that kind of thing was going on.FF is just an interesting evolution of RS's sphere of interest - john conroy

Isn't it possible that he just really likes it? Why the cynicism? - Chris Johnson

By the way, I do have a FriendFeed sticker on my cell phone and I was not compensated for doing that: http://friendfeed.com/e/bf5934... -- I just like that it drives Steve Gillmor nuts. - Robert Scoble

Scoble is an evangelist for everything new and shiny. He finds it for us and we follow. Some stick and some don't. Knowing that going in is the key. - gfurry

I can attest that Robert Scoble speaks from the heart about the various services that he gets passionate about. He is no shill. - John McCrea

He did so for one of my projects, and I can swear you guys that it's simply IMPOSSIBLE for me to pay him a dime. He ignores how I look, what's my real name, in which continent I live... - directeur

More importantly though Scott, why does it matter? - Out Wrong

If he's pimpin' then I'm a "John"... - Vince DeGeorge

No one is that good of an actor. ;) - Larry Rubin

What's even a better question is how you can be objective about anything Apple when you own stock in it.... - Richard Galvan

He's paid in services. Web services. Friendly feedy web services. - Ranjit Mathoda

Scott completes this conversation here: http://friendfeed.com/e/fef813... - Robert Scoble

Actually Richard you're completely mistaken. Sold all my Apple stock more than six months ago. And when I did own it I disclosed it. Now that I've emptied your clip got anything else? Didn't think so. - ScottBourne

LOL - 'friendly feedy web services' - love it. - Sonciary Honnoll

@directeur: it's a /. joke, sorry if you didn't get it...? - Mario Olckers

Speaking of defensive - it's even more interesting that because I asked a legitimate question that I seriously did not know the answer to, several of Robert's minions feel the need to defend him. Hmmmm... - ScottBourne

ScottBourne: loyal fans are something that are absolutely wonderful. Ask Leo Laporte about this. But, seriously, loyalty comes from being transparent about such questions. I don't mind getting them. I think the answers here are due to the more than 1,000 interviews I've given without asking anything in return. - Robert Scoble

I knew you'd be okay with this question Robert because if you were not, just about everything you've built your reputation on would be suspect. It's the response of your fans that has me thinking now, but perhaps your explanation is right. The fans don't necessarily need to worry about anything other than the "Go team" aspect of such an exchange. - ScottBourne

Scott: that's Scoble for you - he just genuinely loves this stuff :) - Frederic

ScottBourne: I'm not one of his minions, and I disagree with a lot of things he evangelize... I once told him that I don't like "insults" and I mean it. But I also feel the need to give back to Cesar what belongs to Cesar :) - directeur

Yup. But it also comes a little bit from the language you used. Since you called it "pimping," which is a more derogatory word than, say, "evangelizing" it looked like you, indeed, were accusing me of doing something untoward. I know that if someone accused someone I knew was beyond reproach (like Leo Laporte, who I saw turn down money to do stuff) that I'd jump in and be vigorous in their defense too. - Robert Scoble

Well I am sorry for using the word pimping. It wasn't an intentional attempt to imply something derogatory on my part. I use that term often in place of promoting and can't always anticipate how folks will react. Let's save the rest for the in person discussion. I don't want to spoil all the action :) - ScottBourne

who thinks this shit up anyway?! I hate the "buy your friends" crap...so stupid. - Susan Beebe

I hate people. - directeur

Is it not a miracle of human evolution that you can throw a haggis at people you've not spoken with in years? - Larry Rubin

Directeur, you need to launch misanthropefeed.com. Send me an invite when you do ;-) - Robert Seidman

How wouldmisanthropefeed.com be used? You pull it up to scoff and spit on it? - Phil Glockner

Robert Seidman: Thanks! What a bright idea, though I've been kidding :) - directeur

Not a plug, I promise, but Robert Seidman, you know I already launched ego feeds? :p - directeur

I was thinking (facetiously) more of a joyous celebration and aggregation of all the reasons to hate people (Darwin awards kind of stuff) as well as aggregating the constant and ongoing hating that is pervasive on the internet. - Robert Seidman

Hey, I'm hating. I was pissed when the introduced those stupid apps on Myspace. The Apps on FaceBook cause more spam than the spam on Myspace. WTF. - ♫ Rahsheen™

Don't miss this guy and this video. This thing is awesome. He's a technology journalist at the FT. - Robert Scoble

I saw one of these in the wild last week- looks awesome! - Larry Rubin

I just convinced a friend of mine to buy one for her boyfriend for his birthday. But now that he'll have one, I'm so jealous that I think I should get one too... - Trent Olson

For 150 bucks, this pen better have a bottle opener! Seriously though, I played with it last week, and it's really sweet. - Brian Chaikelson via Alert Thingy

Who going to do what the LIveScribe people say in this video http://www.livescribe.com/smar... - Rif Kiamil

LiveScribe from Coolest-Gadgets (a blog I writer for) from Feb. http://www.coolest-gadgets.com... - Andrew Dobrow

It looks pretty neat, but I don't know that I could ever find a use for it. Too addicted to typing. - Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins

want one - Ivan Pope via twhirl

I'm too much of a pen nut to use some random ballpoint pen. When can someone develop one of these that works with an arbitrary pen (e.g. my Namiki Vanishing Point?) - Jason Ziglar

This looks incredible, seriously. I want one but I don't think the software works on mac ;( - Tony via Alert Thingy

I can't wait to get one... when they have a Mac version. - Daniel Shaw

Not a fan of tha paper-based ones. There are ones out there that don't need special paper. Still, novel idea but only works for some. - Alex via Alert Thingy

But you have to use special paper, right? And it's got a gigantic long cord on it. Can't see myself ever using something like that. - mathew ingram

Very cool. If it could be used in conjunction with voip audio conferences, WITHOUT having to use speakerphone, it would be a killer tool for me. - JC unwired

Could be because of Twitter turning off XMPP for some periods of time. - Morton Fox

Haven't been there today, but given the amount of problems I've had with Hahlo, it doesn't surprise me. - Bwana

Yes, that's absolutely happening. - Louis Gray

Tweetscan seemed to have more last time I checked. - Larry Rubin

I know their RSS doesn't show all the most up to date posts :\ - CannonGod via twhirl

Marshall, it's only showing up outside of the room to room participants. Non participants are not seeing this in your feed. - Thomas Hawk

I'm not part of this Room and I see it on the public timeline - Bwana

hmmmm Bwana, I don't think it is supposed to work that way, can other people see this as well under the "friend" tab? - Thomas Hawk

yep seem pretty public to me - Dobromir Hadzhiev

I guess anything that your friends do in a room is visible to you too. so much for closed doors! and I had such exciting plans for the RWW room! ha, no that's ok it seems like. I presume there will be better controls put on later - like filter out anything that happened in a room I'm not in. or somebody will greasemonkey it. - Marshall Kirkpatrick

How about a series, or just generally more posts, for those actually involved in the development of the sites? Would things like new developer-focused tools/services be an apple that falls too far from the tree? - Matt Harwood

Matt - think that's a great request. We're a developer friendly blog but we should get some actual developers to do posts on dev tools every once in awhile. Alex is a developer but writes long analytical posts. Good suggestion! - Marshall Kirkpatrick

Great to hear it! Can't wait to see something :) - Matt Harwood

Cowbell. - drew olanoff

Seems like a post or two about social community management and dealing with abusive users would be timely. - Larry Rubin

I'd like to see an article about how opinion/thought leaders are using social media to boost their profiles and distinguish themselves from their peers. - Mark Dykeman

I'd like to see a series of posts on the people behind the social media push. Like mini-bios or interviews or something. A weekly or biweekly thing, perhaps. Edit: Oh, this has already been asked, I guess. - Phil Glockner

Exactly Mark, i second that topic, perhaps with an additional angle of assessing the degree of take-up from those 'outside' the social media/web industry. - Paul Moss

Good for Ariel. Liked her post as well. - Andrew Dobrow

What Andrew said. Twitter needs to grow a pair. - Cyndy

While each service will have their terms of service, I believe we should have a strong online association to make sure that the services do the right thing -- whatever that may collectively be determined to be. In many areas there is a lack of concensus, which tends to occur in new and quickly evolving fields. - Alex Hammer

You Go Girl! - Susan Beebe

Wow, I was really surprised at Biz Stone's reply in the comments at the link Larry Rubin posted above. I never saw any of the content and have no idea what's true or not true, but if someone posted her home address, phone #, etc, shouldn't that by itself be cause enough for a ban? - Robert Seidman

I wonder if part of the reason why they are not enforcing their TOS in her case is because they don't mind that kind of harassment happening to a competitor. I wonder if Biz or Ev would feel different if it were their mothers or wives being called cunts. - Thomas Hawk

While I feel for Ariel's situation I find the clamor for private enforcement of speech limits to be very troubling. I have always taken the position that any such limits are best defined and enforced by publicly accountable entities not private ones. The boundary between merely offensive or objectionable actions and those that have a remedy in law is not easy to define and requires complex mechanisms of enforcement and appeal. - Kevin D. White

Kevin, which might be fine if that's what Twitter had said in their TOS. Instead they liberally borrowed the warm and fuzzy language from Flickr and then refused to abide by it after the fact. - Thomas Hawk

@Thomas, true Twitter must abide by the contract as must the users of the service. Ariel has a legitimate complaint against Twitter. - Kevin D. White

this is getting uglier. They better update that TOS fast! - Bwana via fftogo

I just created mesothelioma and mesotheliomalawyer rooms. Advertisers: you can deposit the $50,000 ransom in my paypal account: mark@itafroma.com, thanks! - Mark Trapp

THARS GOLD IN THEM THAR HILLS - Bwana

rooms are domain name wars reinvented for 2008 - Brian Daniel Eisenberg

Definitely feels like a rush to stake your claim. - Dave Stanley

I just audibly guffawed here at the office! Damn funny! - Hutch Carpenter

Cialis http://friendfeed.com/rooms/ci... - Hutch Carpenter

Ah pharmaceuticals! Genius! Got percocet and vicodin - Mark Trapp

damn. Why couldn't I think of mesothelioma. - Thomas Hawk

quick, quick, somebody get Viagra. I'd get it, but it shows what rooms you have on your FF page and I wouldn't want anyone getting the wrong idea. Especially since I already got porn. - Thomas Hawk

I tried Thomas, taken :-( My room creating frenzy knows no shame. - Mark Trapp

do people who create a room really "own" it? hmmmm. - Brian Daniel Eisenberg

My head is spinning. I'll be in my room. - Russellreno

I tried Viagra - couldn't get it. Ended up with Cialis. - Hutch Carpenter

Too slow to get "war" :( - Larry Rubin

I can't wait to join the Viagra group. We'll just sit around and talk about how great that little blue pill is all day. It's going to be awesome. - Thomas Hawk

Scored this little chestnut: http://friendfeed.com/rooms/ro... - Mark Trapp

Ahhh Mark, you got Ron Paul. Put that on digg and reddit and it'll be good for at least a few hundred thousand hits. - Thomas Hawk

@Thomas - thank god Viagra is an *online* discussion room... - Hutch Carpenter

Damn you all. :>) I got Pfizer. - Robert Stevens

lol... I got McDonalds (lame) and gave up. I couldn't believe some of the stuff that was actually taken. - Vince DeGeorge

@Mark - scored Obama 2008 http://friendfeed.com/rooms/ob... - Hutch Carpenter

Damn! I was trying for the a-list candidates! - Mark Trapp

I invited Dave Winer to the Obama 2008 room. I wonder if he'll accept? - Hutch Carpenter

There are several tech and social media names and properties that are still available: so tempting, but the enemies I'd make! - Mark Trapp

I going for niche porn, Thomas Hawk. Just snapped up MILF. - Robert Stevens

Thomas, I tried to capitalize on my spoils, but Digg tells me this about my ronpaul room: "This link does not appear to be a working link. Please check the URL and try again." Disappointing. - Mark Trapp

LOL. Who out there snapped up "GOD"? - Robert Stevens

I dunno, but I got lucifer! - Mark Trapp

@Robert - Religion! Brilliant! I think God is already a member of FriendFeed. - Hutch Carpenter

All right - must head home. Looking forward to seeing the rooms when I log on tonight. - Hutch Carpenter

Snatched: asia, europe, america, antarctica, northamerica, southamerica, mercury, saturn, neptune, and pluto. - Mark Trapp

Haha, so true. - Eric Florenzano

Scoble is saying someone snapped up his name. - Robert Stevens

Yeah, just something clickable for discussion context. - Larry Rubin

I guess it depends on how transient you consider a room to be. I mostly created this one so that nobody could make a 'private' room called scribkin that I couldn't get in to. But you could always create a room with a bookmark and call that the topic of conversation. - Phil Glockner

Much too light. Maybe too Spartan as well. There is simplicity, then there is too bland. - Tris Hussey

I'm still worried about the other 230 people who I was following on Twitter who aren't on Friendfeed. - Veronica Giggey

The comments could be a bit darker. I thought it was messy at first, but now I'm getting used to it. - Zach Flauaus

Veronica: I agree... I wish there were a way to create imaginary friends in bulk. - Kenneth LeFebvre

I grade FF UI a "C". very tough on my eyes. - rambn

If you use Firefox you can try out the stylish firefox extension and change the comment color and other visual aspects if you wish. (http://userstyles.org/stylish/...) - Atul Arora

I think it looks horrible. It's even uglier than Google's stuff. - Kim Dushinski

The FF UI isn't too bad. Glad I can interact with it in Twhirl, though. - Jared Smith via twhirl

I agree about the text being too light. The fact that I can't easily message someone specific from the profile bugs me too - Kathy Jacobs

I like the lighter font in the comments. I use a similar setup on my phone. My wife and I cross-sync the calendars on our phones. On my phone I make her events a lighter grey color and on her phone I've made my events the same lighter color so that we can pay attention if we want/need to, but if we don't need to focus on the other's schedule, it isn't too much of a distraction to discern our own events. - Gregory Pittman via twhirl

it would be coolio if there was some control over appearance. yes, the geryish font color is difficult to read - ron k jeffries

Yes. Darker comment text, a way to Direct Message and ability to change the white background. - Brenda Young

answer: twhirl is alright - Nick via twhirl

I could see that being a problem, but it's OK by me. I think the UI is actually quite stellar. - Clay Newton

yes the comment is light - Shashi Bellamkonda

Atul: Has anyone written a Stylish style for FriendFeed? - Kenneth LeFebvre

besides the light comments, I like it better than Twitter's UI. I do wish you could "collapse" an entire submission instead of depending on FF's "click to see 10 more" stuff. I do not want to hide the item entirely though. - Rob Diana

Only because you mentioned it, I realize it now. Yes, it needs to be darker. - Shey

Hiding the FOAF feature was a lifesaver for me. Weird nav though. Hide an item and then it gives you the ability to turn off FOAF. - swhitley

Perfect. - Mike Reynolds

It has a grown on me. If they change it now, then I'll have to readjust again. - Bwana

I miss seeing pictures of people, and the left alignment is annoying. I miss the ability for people to have nicknames. I definitely like Twitter's UI...but I think FF has way more potential. - Erica Douglass

Actually, I like it; it's Google-ish but clear enough even with a lot of text on the page. - fbrunel

I like its simplicity...and as a result its lightning speed. I'm sure it can be improved here and there, but overall I hope they stick with what they have. - Chris Rossini

Comment text is way too light. Also, clicking on a link should open the link in a new tab/window, like Google Reader/Digg. I hate having to use the back button to find my way back to the original link so I can participate in the conversation, when it's much easier to close the tab when you're done and start talking. - Jeff Brewster

FriendFeed's interaction designer Kevin Fox discusses FF's spartan UI in this video interview w/ Scoble: http://qik.com/video/73962 - Larry Rubin

@jeff go to account preferences, check the box for open links in new windows - Philip Evans via twhirl

I think it's beautiful, light and easy and simple to read. Perfect as is. I like the lighter text and the white background. simple and elegant. - Thomas Hawk

@Philip thanks. feel like a noob, but hey that should be the default! :) - Jeff Brewster

Interesting point on the comment text, though if it were stronger it wouldn't delineate from the posting itself. I concur 100% with Atul's and Thomas' sentiments. - TranceMist

UI is excellent. Wish I could customize the colors of the text for my page though. - Simon

i haven't had a b-card since 2006. - Gia Lyons via twhirl

Simple and intuitive but I wish the organization of items were better...maybe some dividers too for better reading and scanning - Corvida

@ Kenneth - There are 3 styles for FriendFeed. Actually two of them are for reading Persian i.e. right to left. You can find the styles at http://userstyles.org/styles/s... - Atul Arora