for me it's easier. I like twitter more casue it's on twitter that I first experienced microblogging. You don't just have to "not suck" if you want me to move, you have to give me something totally different. Like.. Friendfeed? :) - Simone
I don't see that as trolling. Identi.ca was supposed to be "the competitor" for Twitter. The site itself is messy, subscriptions are weird, the tracking ability is lacking. I never cared for Pownce at all and Plurk looks like something a kid painted in kindergarten. - Candace Holly
I like it because you get the excitement of never knowing when it's gonna work - Blackopsmanners
i sorta agree, twitter usage seems to be resilient to fail-whale's mystic powers. loyal loyal base.. - Ruben Llibre
Twitter has the right user experience but the wrong internal architecture. The other sites don't even have the former and from what I've seen they don't have the latter either. Identi.ca seems to be amateur city as does Pownce. Plurk was too ugly to try out and no one I know uses Jaiku. - Dare Obasanjo
Jaiku is a pain to join, but the conversation features are nice. - Ontario Emperor via fftogo
Maybe it is just me, but I don't look at identi.ca to compete with Twitter. Rather it is more about what might be possible from an open source perspective when you're able to make multiple microblogging sites work together. I'm not looking for a "Twitter killer" from it, rather some real technology innovation for distributed microblogging. - David Recordon
plurk is only "ugly".. so why not use just the mobile version. - thecolor
I too enjoy the vertical layout over the horizontal, but prefer the threads in plurk and "stability" over twitters "just tweet". - thecolor
plurk is more of a game as well as a communicative social network. Twitter, feels more like a "statement made" only type of SN. - thecolor
@David Recordon +1. In fact, you truly are a visionary. +2. - Andy C
Isn't it also because FriendFeed lacks whatever it is that Twitter gets right? - blackmailismylife
I agree with David. I think its going to be more about supporting the people that are contributing to the development of a new way of doing Tweet like micro-blogging. - Chacha via twhirl
@blackmailismylife: FriendFeed isn't constrained to 140 chars. Twitter/Jaiku/Pownce/Identi.ca are. What some would see as a feature, others see as a restriction. Sometimes, you need to be constrained to 140 chars. Less is more. - Andy C
Much as I find Scoble the arse-hole of the A-Lister Blogger body, he has a point. Twitter is for all its flaws, the best out there. - Adam Wilcox
I tend to agree. I've tried pownce and din't like it in the least. Twitter is simple and easy. They just need to get their issues fixed. - Richard Miles
Seems to be the way things go. We stick with whatever "sucks less." - Jason Shultz via twhirl
People stick with Twitter because Twitter has the community and the cool API applications. - possible248
@Andy Apples and Oranges. This has been discussed to death but friendfeed doesn't fill the same shoes..er..rackspace as twitter. - Kamath via twhirl
Scoble: What an unpleasant and uncharitable comment to make about Identi.ca, a free service (that will remain free forever, something you are not guaranteed by any of the others that you mention) in early alpha testing. I was already unconvinced by the inexplicable personality cult that you seem to have generated for yourself, but now you've given me the last reason I needed to flip the bozo bit. Thankfully FriendFeed has a button I can use to do that. - Earle Martin
There is a difference between what something is and what it will be. Or what it may be. - Ontario Emperor via fftogo
Scoble curious what would Bush choose after leaving white house - Fred Grott
I have to agree with @earle on this one, comparing twitter and identi.ca is impossible, identi is very early stages, twitter has been around. I doubt you would compare a alpha release of a program with a final version. As far as the others sucking, how so? I find plurk to be more fun, enlightening, and easier to follow than twitter. - BCK
Identi.ca isn't ready for prime time. It doesn't even keep me logged in. Pownce is good, but no one is there. - Francine Hardaway
BCK: what do you mean we can't compare the two? That's the lamest thing I've read in weeks here. A clone of a service (and that's all that Identi.ca is so far) DAMN STRAIGHT BETTER BE BETTER THAN THE ORIGINAL. So far it's not. Why should I pay any of my attention time to it if it isn't going to be as good. And anyone who says that they are different is drinking on this 4th of July. At least Plurk looks different. - Robert Scoble
identi.ca was released prematurely, imho. if they waited til they got *all* twitter functionality working before opening it up, would have been a great Twitter clone. Now, it is struggling. Plurk, otoh, tried to look different with all those ajax thingamagigs but too much ajax is not really good! - Rom Feria
Rom: I totally agree with you. I'm also getting tired of trying all these Twitter clones. FriendFeed proved to me that even if something is better in a lot of respects you'll never get enough people to switch to really matter anyway. - Robert Scoble
But some of these services are a great place to talk to a very small number of people (which makes them fun in of themselves). - Robert Scoble
AndyC: Pownce is very slow and I can't sign into it. Fails to let me in. - Robert Scoble
AndyC: Jaiku? Slow and hard to comment on and I don't like the UI. - Robert Scoble
AndyC: Identi.ca has no way to look at replies, participate in conversations, not to mention no search, no direct messages (even though I hate them), no real community yet, and has lots of bugs like what Francine said. - Robert Scoble
AndyC: Plurk has a UI that 13-year-olds love, but isn't simple to track thousands of people on. - Robert Scoble
Twitter has a huge userbase. But like it or not, many users have moved on to a better Twitter and that's called FriendFeed ;) - Muthu Ramadoss
Replies, privacy, great UI, fast loading, SMS, command line interface, spam control... just for starters... this is why Twitter is still king - Cait
I think it's still because everyone is still on Twitter, and people get replies easily. None of the other networks have that as much. Twitter is still where the action is, despite all it's downtime and technical issues. People have built up quite big communities there too, so are reluctant to leave easily I think. - jjprojects
The only thing wrong with twitter is it's up time. We all like the service, and the API. If they just solved the DB problems, twitter would be near perfect. - Brian Norwood
that's good, because I was really worried about that industry falling on hard times. - rambn
I think any industry that shows an increase in sales will take credit from the stimulus, but now the current administration can take the credit for stimulating the economy in many ways. - Trish Robinson
“I've just declared "Pulp Fiction" better than "A New Hope". Flickchart might actually be adding too much stress to my life. Which doesn't really say anything at all good about me.”
oh man, that saddens me :) would you like to see a "status updater" for Flickchart so you could post these personal revelations? a sort of "twitter" for your Flickchart profile? - Flickchart
Oooh. That would be pretty cool. Yes, please! - James Williams
yeah... it's hard to put everything in one list.... it would be better to have groups of Best Movie Ever and Good Movies. I know my favorite movie ever is about 5 or 6 movies... so trying to order them would drive me insane too. - Stefan Hayden
I liked Pulp Fiction the first couple times I saw, now I think it's plain stupid. kind of like Star Wars. - rambn
i thought outsourcing his online dating to people who prettended to b him and schedule 1 hour dates with pretty girls all lined up in 1 day was creepy. especially when he fired some outsourced labor 4 picking girls not pretty enuff. if i remember story right that's pretty messed up. - Marshall Kirkpatrick via fftogo
It's a great book, I think i bought the audio book on iTunes then lost it through some HD crashing DRM goodness. Then went out to the book store and bought the "real" book. That guy owes me a beer next time he is in Seattle or where ever I am when we cross paths. I used to recommend it to my coworkers but then I thought maybe i should just recommend it to people I DON'T work with... - Eric_T
He seems like a "unique individual" but love him or hate him you have to respect what he's doing, what he's done and how well he has made it work. - Nicholas Kreidberg
Thing is, his book's title is there only to grab attention. And then he spends the bulk of his book trying to make the content fit the title, and spends his interviews defending his book title. Why couldn't he have been more honest in the first place, and named his book something like "Outsourcing unpleasant tasks"? I'll tell you why. Because that was already known, and because it wouldn't have sold. So he created controversy to boost book sales. In my book, that's DISHONEST. - Raoul Pop
Tim is awesome. The title is what it is and frankly it's probably time folks got over it. He doesn't try and "justify" it - he explains it because people keep asking. Reality? Even in the book itself he is clear and honest about the title. Tim has good advice, and more than that he is a living example of thinking outside the box - just knowing he is out there, pulling it off, helps me think laterally. - Soulhuntre
How can you hate this guy? He's got a unique take on a lot of things and some of it is tongue in cheek but, he's also got some very good things to say. - Candace Holly
Scoble, your welcome for the suggestion to interview Tim, how bout some props? - adolfo foronda
Adolfo: I have known Tim for more than a year, and he was always my first choice to have on the show. I also got dozens of people asking me to have Tim on the show, but thanks! He was a great guest. - Robert Scoble
looks like he's found his answer for the 4-hour work week, anyway. - rambn
Good FastCompany interview, Robert. Enjoyed it. - J. Phil
Use twhirl and you will have the same real time experience for friendfeed. IM is not working well for Twitter, though. It is working well for identi.ca and you can also add identi.ca to friendfeed as rss - Gustavo Munoz via twhirl
identi.ca is tempting, but building another community is a pain in the ass. - rambn
why does twitter do a 2 hour maintenance at 6pm on the day before July 4th? plus, you can't even see past one page right now at 5:22pm.....(&(^*&%$ F# - Pokai
Twhirl doesn't work well for me because the API doesn't work as fast as XMPP does for Google Talk. Also, I have too many people I'm following. I won't use identi.ca until they give me my trademark back. - Robert Scoble
Two points well made a. FF and Twitter go together and b. the quality of the people on Twitter is superb. - James
also use the show 100 greasemonkey script as well, it helps to be able to have more to flick down through - Duncan Riley
In the same boat. Starting to also unsubscribe from people who keep bringing up the same stuff over and over, too. - Mark Trapp
ah, that's why I never get responses. or maybe I'm not very interesting. perhaps more effort is required. - rambn
Good call Duncan, forgot to install it on my home comp. - Shey
I like switching channels - Google Reader - Blogs - Del.icio.us - Internal - Twitter (lots of good stuff) - Flickr. I don't use greasemonkey (stuck on Safari), but I save the "num=100" searches on my bookmarks for rapid switching. Also, the everyone feed raw is usually boring, but when I search by last 100 blogs, googlereaders, or internals....and scroll fast, it gets a lot more interesting. - Mitchell Tsai
I'll have to investigate what you guys are talking about later on. - Kamilah Gill
Hey, leave that prairie dog alone, Thomas. It's a glandular problem. Man, that description is depressing, too. - Mark Trapp
I hate to admit that I'm from Colorado and weigh way too much. - Judy Jones
Looks like I am moving to Colorado :) - Andrea Baker
They must have taken their Massachusetts sample during the Boston Marathon, because there are way to many fat people here for that to be accurate. - cmiper
and people still think boycotting the AP is a good idea? - David Weiner
@Jon: a death of an industry hastened by recession? @Sean: that's 150 dedicated writers that just lost their means of writing for a living. Say what you will about the obsolescence of dead-tree media, it's still a sad thing to watch. - Dan Kaplan
Traditional news papers are in bad straits because readers are moving to electronic media, not because of a *Rescission* - Mark Nassal via twhirl
Dan: I don't mean to be callous about the situations of those affected. But the decline in the quality of the mainstream/corporate media has been so precipitous in recent years that its dissolution seems like a healthy development for America as a whole. It's been quite a while since we've enjoyed the skeptical, inquiring and dissident voice of an authentic fourth estate, one that speaks truth to power. - Sean McBride
@dan: Tis a sad thing to watch indeed - Jon Dillon
Sean: "It's been quite a while since we've enjoyed the skeptical, inquiring and dissident voice of an authentic fourth estate, one that speaks truth to power." I can't really argue with that - Dan Kaplan
newspapers need to break news stories and not just reprint the AP news, investigate stories and not so much fluff stories. - Carroll Sturm
But let's not move this towards an anti-mainstream media meme. Without the AP and resources of all news gathering operations, the 'authenticity' argument would be far greater. - David Weiner
... not to mention the quality and accuracy of the content, broad reach ... - David Weiner
With all their resources, the mainstream media were unable to ask a single meaningful question about the Bush/Cheney rationale for the Iraq War -- in fact, the MSM, which are owned and controlled by fewer than a dozen billionaires and oligarchs (most of them neoconservatives, like Rupert Murdoch) served as cheerleaders and crude propagandists for the war. Many important questions about the war, including supporting investigative research, were pursued on the Internet, outside the control of the MSM. - Sean McBride
@Carroll: The problem is with the continued downsizing, newspapers don't have enough reporters and have no choice but to run mostly AP... The downsizing virus will keep perpetuating until it's eaten everything away... - Chris Reed
not really a sign of recession which we've been in for a while now, but further decline of MSM. - Joe Buhler
all newspapers across the country are getting hit hard. the recession spread a while ago though this is just a byproduct - Cee Bee
Now I know what it must have been like to watch the typewriter industry fade away. Keep in mind, though, that it used to be a joke to us in the L.A. journalism biz how vast the Times staff was, where some reporters might go the whole year with just one byline. Even with these layoffs, the Times newsroom staff numbers around 700. That might be half of what it used to be, but my old paper has downsized so far that its newsroom staff now numbers around 40. - Chris Reed
I used to buy and read at least five newspapers a day, including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post and the Christian Science Monitor. I haven't bought or looked at a newspaper since the mid-nineties -- I've been getting a much superior news flow, much more conveniently, on the Internet. I've been predicting the death of the newspaper for over a decade. People in the newspaper business tend to be slow-witted -- ripe to take down. - Sean McBride
Technically, you're not in recession. Recession is negative overall economic growth (the economy shrinking). The US economy grew by an average of 1% over the first quarter of the year. - Ian Betteridge
It's sad, but this has been expected for *years* now. It's like the titanic sinking in slow motion. I would think any newspaper employee would have checked out alternate careers or jobs by now? - Jason Kaneshiro
We may not be in a recession, but it sure feels like it. President Palmer said that in an Allstate commercial the other night... - Chris Reed
@Jason: I have a tendency to sail on Titanics. I was part of an online sports site, and shortly after I left it went under in the dot-com bust.... I left newspapers a couple of years ago, and look what's happening. My current company better hang on to me as long as they can... (Though unlike past workplaces, it doesn't feel like a sinking ship at all... just the opposite) - Chris Reed
the more media people use the word "recession" when there ISN'T one happening, the more likely one will happen. - Jeremy Toeman
Did anyone else quickly pull up Chris' LinkedIn profile to refresh memory at what industry he's in now? ;) - Cyndy
@Cyndy: Let me just save everyone the trouble by saying I am now a trainer of Lipizzaner stallions. - Chris Reed
Mass Media is going to blame you for taking away their jobs! LMAO - Igor The Troll
More and more cuts mean there is constantly more problems in traditional media companies. They need to adapt to chance since thing will get more distributed and one company just can't do everything alone. - Daniel Schildt
"As you lower yourself to the thermostatically warmed seat, a concealed motor whirs briefly, providing your first clue that you are about to encounter a piece of highly sophisticated technology. The toilet then remains silent and passive until you reach the point where you would normally apply paper. Instead, you hit the spray button. A hidden tube extends itself beneath you, and with the precision of a heat-seeking missile, it directs a spray of warm water that simultaneously tickles, stimulates, and cleans the place that needs it most." - edythe via Bookmarklet
it is designed not for green but for sanitary and convenience in very dense population conditions: that's the reason it freaks out Americans :) - silpol
Jedi Mind tricks for anal Americans,hmmm - Mark Forman
The high-end models also apply poly sealant, clear coat protectant, and Armor-All. - Karim
You might think it's creepy and strange, but the first time you use one it's like sitting on your own little slice of heaven. The seat is warm, the water is aimed oh so perfectly and it's warm too. some of them will even play music, lol - Chris Billman via twhirl
Gives new meaning to Brian Eno's- Here Come the Warm Jets - Mark Forman
look, i'll admit it: i don't like tp. it shreds. it's not very absorbent. you have to constantly buy it and change the roll... i just don't think the tp idea is the best one. - edythe
I could be wrong, but this sounds just like the most awesome toilet that they have (and I tried) at Google's HQ in Mountain View. Ooops, did I let out the secret reason why everyone wants to work at Google? Its toilets like this. - Andrea Baker
I'm with Brian Sullivan on this - sounds creepy to me. I think it would scare the crap out of me. But fortunately I'd be sitting on a toilet at the time. - Mitch Wagner
Toto-I don't think this is Kansas anymore... - Mark Forman
And ladies get a *second tube*. Sounds rather fetishistic. And creepy--but I bet you'd get used to it fast. Then again, I really don't want a toilet squirting me anywhere. - L.J. Leng
this weird toilet needs to go away now! lol - Susan Beebe
these things sell like hotcakes in japan (why?) - Harry Myhre
"They're years ahead of us!" -- Homer Simpson, when he sees for the first time that kind of toilet in the Simpsons episode when they go to Japan - Vincent X
I've used this in a hotel in Japan. We call it the Assmaster 2000. It's fantastic. - Chris Johnson
lol, my friend got me one of these for my wedding. Heh, we're moving so we won't install till the new place. I admit that I have some fear. - felix
it's so white. it's like the ipod of bikes. - edythe
I want the little elephant. It reminds me of the 5¼" floppy disk brand I used to buy for my Apple ][e clone in the early 80s. - Akiva Moskovitz
Have you ever seen those videos of people riding track bikes around a metropolitan area? pretty hard since they don't have brakes, or an adjustable gear ratio, let alone the ability to coast. - J. Phil
that thing's saweet! i need a cinelli in my life. with a brake though - Cee Bee
“I want to be able to find more people on FF in my geographic region. Why not let us voluntarily put our country, state, zip code info in a profile page on FF and then let us "discover" others in our immediate area? ”
Thomas, how will this help you to create conversations on FF. Will it be that because you are all local you can chat about local events? - Josh Chandler
I like the idea - I've met many interesting people on Twitter that way. For the record, I'm in the Twin Cities in Minnesota. Will have to figure out where else to put that. - Andy Tinkham via twhirl
How about Room Search so you can FIND your local room? - Andru Edwards
I could see that as a part of a FF iPhone app - gfurry
Andy, I think where social media works best is when it becomes more than just online. Less about the conversations on here per se and more about relationship building. It can definitely work in an online only environment, but I think it adds an element when people take things beyond the network. I'm better friends with Robert Scoble online because I've met him in person and become friends offline. Geo contact recommendations can help build these offline connections. - Thomas Hawk
These offline connections then become powerful reinforcements for online activity. Local Flickr user groups are a good example. But Flickr has never capitalized on this kind of search or recommendation technology. FF is innovating very quickly as opposed to flickr and could do this better. - Thomas Hawk
This can work informally through rooms. Here's a "Bay Area" room. http://friendfeed.com/rooms/ba.... But it would be more powerful if it were managed and organized more formally by the FF system itself. Not to mention when the first "we met on FF" marriage takes place, it will be just about in time for the New York Times article on FF as the web's hottest new social network as an anecdotal story. - Thomas Hawk
I bet you they won't do it for a while because of these 3 things: 1) Pedofiles, 2) Geo-Spam, 3) Becoming a Dating Site. - John Worthington
Hey Thomas, I can't make the Photowalk in Seattle in July but if you make your way 3 hours north to Whistler BC we can hang out, shoot stuff :) - Andrew Smith
Good idea... I'd like to interact with others in Austin. Glemak: One of the things I like about FFeed is the integration... I'd like to get off of a few of the 15+ services I have now. 8-) (this is coming from the guy that blasted his BKite location to Twitter-verse about 20 times yesterday. ) - Charlie Nichols Browning
Rooms are too informal of an answer. Flickr has rooms too. I belong to the SFlickr group for instance. No, what's needed is better recommendation technology by FF. Already the "recommended" contacts section of FF is super weak. - Thomas Hawk
Hey Colby, Twellow recently came out with a nice way to search Twitter by location. Here's a search for people who have listed San Francisco as their location: http://www.twellow.com/search.... - Mike Doeff
http://friendfeed.com/settings.... This page is essentially worthless. Rather than focusing simply on higher profile FF members, FF should rank the recommendation page on who has the most mutual friends with you. This would be far more accurate. Then overlay that with a filter by country, state, city or zip. Then page it and you'd have one hell of a contact recommendation system. - Thomas Hawk
Andrew, would love to get up to Whistler to shoot. Want to do a photowalk in Vancouver as well. Won't have time though on this next trip. If anyone is around Seattle next week by the way we are doing a photowalk. Details here: http://upcoming.yahoo.com/even... - Thomas Hawk
Thomas, there's a greasemonkey script called Better Recommended that takes into account your friends' connections. - Jeff Quinton
Why not hold an event, advertise and see who shows up? Or use brightkite - Craig Thomler
Jeff, I couldn't get that script to work. It freaked my browser out. - Thomas Hawk
Craig, connections will be made informally for sure. Rooms, meetups, blogger dinners, brightkite, etc. It is human nature for some of this to happen around any communications medium. No, what I'm talking about is leveraging this natural tendency through official FF recommendation technology. It is far more powerful that way and the offline FF interaction solidifies the online experience. - Thomas Hawk
I have it!!! FF should strike up a deal with MOO Cards with a special FF design. It lists your Name and FF address. Then, with the assistance of local cafes/bars/coffee shops, they could have a small stand where you can leave some for other FF to pick up. - John Worthington
I'm sold: does anyone have a brightkite invite for me? - Marcos Marado
i currently have 5 brightkite invites - send me an email glemak (at) gmail (dot) com and i send one to you - mike "glemak" dunn
Great Idea! I like the room idea mentioned above also. - Jeff P. Henderson
