Sign in or Create an account
Rob Diana's Likes - View full feed
Twitter
Steve Rubel posted a message on Twitter
Blog
Saturday at 9:48 pm - Link
Nice...gotta love the haters. - David Cook
Scoble...don't let the douchebags get you down. - Sean McGee
Scoble backlash! You're taking it like a champ. - Pete Delucchi
am I wrong, or did you not just criticize only the WEBSITES that these companies put up? How does that make you anti-startup? - Nathan Rein
@Scobleizer So, if you don't review something favorably, you're a douchebag? So, all reviewers with high standards or differing opinions are douchebags? Bad form to review the reviewer. People and companies have to either accept a review or in isolated circumstances offer up a calm, rational counterpoint. Anything else is a bad pr move and impolite. - David van Sunder
it all worked out like you planned scobes, eh? - jeneane is in the house
As much as I like what you have to say, your recent post on start-ups was way off the bat. I don't think "you suck" but I do think the post was not a good one. - Candace Holly
Kevin: you aren't the only one to agree with me that the sites sucked too. Jeneane: I honestly didn't have any idea what the feedback would be. - Robert Scoble
Candace: which startup post? And what did you disagree with on it? - Robert Scoble
If these guys were smart, they'd listen to your comments constructively instead of taking it all personally. People can't be honest and constructive any more - that's what sucks. If they disagree, that's fine, but it doesn't make you a jerk for being constructive. I wish more of my critiques were as constructive as you made yours. - Jesse Stay via twhirl
The post; Startups: your web site sucks . I personally think winelibrary.tv is a ridiculous site. I also think the host of the show belongs on a bad infomercial late at night. It's just a site with a blog post and a video on the front page. And why compare tech related companies to a wine company anyway? Two different things. The post seemed to just say "this is why you suck" but there was no solution or even an offer of "here's how you can suck less". It's one of a few posts of yours I didn't like. - Candace Holly
@Jesse when you are involved with something like a startup anything said about it is personal, take Jason Calacanis and Mahalo. I'm not saying its right, I'm saying I understand. As far as your post Robert, if you're a journalist and you aren't getting hate mail, you aren't doing something right. If they spent as much time making sure your accusations were unfounded as they did taking shots at your level of credibility in the startup field (which is suspect btw) they would have nothing to worry about. - Aaron Krug
Why should anyone expect Scoble to stick up for them? Bad design is bad design. Sometimes getting your feelings hurt makes you wake up to things that need change. - Ben Rhudy
Aaron, I work for a startup - just started, and I would love for Scoble to write about us, good or bad. This is awesome exposure opportunity for each of them. - Jesse Stay via twhirl
What's important is that he's honest - if he were lying about us to make us look bad that would be a different story. - Jesse Stay via twhirl
It should be noted that Scoble's post is also now on Techmeme and each one of those startups is now getting traffic from that as well. - Jesse Stay via twhirl
Scoble, only advice: calm down, take a deep breath before talking. Remember there are real people on the end of your barbs. You've done a lot of good in promoting startups, don't fuck it up now. - Duncan Riley
Candace: OK, then I'll come up with some better examples. Winelibrary.tv is just one that is doing something interesting to me and keeps me engaged, both because it has interesting video as well as an interesting community. A better example might have been something like Evernote, Seesmic, MaxRoam, or Tripit, which are far closer to the usual Demo kind of things. - Robert Scoble
Duncan: there are real people on the other end, that is true, but they need to step up the game big time. To me Demo is the equivilent of the Super Bowl and these sites look like high school. Trying to pretend otherwise doesn't help this industry one bit. - Robert Scoble
@Jesse what startup do you work for? I know what you are saying with "no news is bad news", and of course any criticism from a guy who has been able to see so many startups could be used constructively. If you are talking exposure though, didn't these guys do the right thing then, since Robert wrote another post about it, getting them more exposure? I think the best idea is to focus on your product and the other things under your direct control (website), then the journalists come to you instead. - Aaron Krug
Robert, from what I can gather, at least a decent slab of the sites you're talking about are pre-release in that they'll be launching new sites post DEMO/ TC50 etc. just give them a little time and credit. Sure, some don't get the marketing aspect, but I'd bet not all of them are like that - Duncan Riley
Aaron http://staynalive.com/articles... - we haven't launched yet but you'll hear more about it this week. I can already say that our website isn't very good right now either though. (but then again, we haven't launched yet, nor announced much about it) - Jesse Stay via twhirl
Duncan: OK, fair enough. I'll look at all 70 again at the end of the week. I'll also compare them to TC50 and I'll be just as harsh on them. But, many of these companies have spent months preparing for Demo, and way more than $18,000 (Shel Israel and other demo coaches tell me that companies often spend more than $100,000 preparing for, and bringing their teams to, Demo). So, to spend that kind of effort to have a Website up that doesn't even work is inexcusable. - Robert Scoble
Our total expenditure for Mobilize will be about 2k - but we're working our asses off true bootstrap style! I've wasted plenty of $ (mine & others) in previous ventures. Not this time. - Dean Terry
@Jesse thanks for the link, I look forward to seeing more soon. As far as the site goes, you're right. The same defense you made could be made for the Demo companies as well, as there is actually an embargo on writing about them until Monday(as you know), so I think we could safely wait until after their Demo debut to pass this kind of judgment. If Duncan is right about many companies having new sites after as he stated a few comments above here Robert may have jumped the gun. - Aaron Krug
@Duncan I hear what you are saying about the pre-release deal, but when you say some companies don't get the marketing bit, you can add those companies to the list that WILL FAIL. Marketing is as or more important than the product itself, and you know it. Robert may have jumped the gun here but the point still stands. Marketing matters. - Aaron Krug
Scoble is the Simon Cowell of Social Media.. he's going to tell it like it is, whether you like it or not, either you can build a site, or you can't .. there is no use in half-assing it :) FYI, anytime I see a site that is not in English, the first thing I do is look for country flags. - Tim Hoeck
My comment on the blog: Unfortunate events, looking forward to your next post on this. Even an investigation in the topic could be done as it'd disseminate facts from the parties as it seems the situation is somewhat doing a ricochet by bringing up old stories, I think that storyline will effectively be settled in a definite and decisive way. To the best thinker -Zu - [ zu ]-eBailey
Bring some more intel! I'm somewhat of a researcher and the story seems interesting enough it made me imagine some kind of a social-web-documentary-document, where every posts related to the topic could be disseminated by all, with fact-checking and the like, anyways... ;p - [ zu ]-eBailey
wow, well if companies "often spend more than $100,000" going to Demo, assuming they spend similar money going to TC50, that kind of torpedoes the whole "TC is the side of Truth and Justice because they don't charge startups" argument. (Not that anyone was buying Arrington's argument that the fee constituted "payola" anyway.) - Karim
Karim: actually that's a good point and one that I wish Shipley had made better in her blog post. She decided to knock my ego down a few sizes instead of explaining this and making her conference look better. Oh well, my ego always needs a knock and I don't have any interest in either of these conferences. - Robert Scoble
My honest opinion of your piece was that it looked like you were locking arms with Arrington and Calacanis to destroy Demo. I think the over-the-top bombast and timing makes it smell a bit, if you know what I mean, esp. since you're an adviser to TC50. I would like to think that you look at the startup itself and don't favor one or disfavor another because of how they choose to launch. Your post is a bit jarring to me, actually. Seems to me like you could have made the point about the websites not being good without making the leap that the companies and products themselves are bad and basically screaming to the world that Demo is going to suck. Sorry, but it LOOKS like you're taking sides against certain startups just because of politics. I've always respected and trusted your opinions. I hope that's not the case. - Dawn
I think the kicker was many posts about how Demo sucked that you were posting. Everybody knows you're associated with TC, so it looked obvious even if it wasn't intended. - Patricia
Nathan Rein, you are wrong Scoble said they suck, not only the websites: "I just visited every one of these companies. Boy do they almost all suck (at least their Web sites and if their sites suck, I can’t believe their products are going to do much better)" from http://scobleizer.com/2008/09/... - Loic Le Meur
You know you gotta love the ones who put THOUGHT into their attacks. They're my favorite. Take Dan Hau: "Talentless, fat, annoying, douche-bag". I mean, how many synapses had to fire for that articulate line of reasoning to be spewed forth? I say this; Oh yeah, well Dan? YOU SMELL FUNNY. So there. - Avery Tingle
yes, how scandalous, I can't believe he drew all eyes on something that sucks! Witty man is playing with our emotions there. - xavier vespa
FriendFeed
Duncan Riley posted a message
Saturday at 9:13 pm - Link
oops... - Jesse Stay
Jesse, it's beyond stupid. I can't write about the companies I have briefs on, but anyone else can (when I say I can't, I respect embargoes, ethical thing for me). Having said that, I haven't got briefs on all of them, I'll do some digging tomorrow :-) - Duncan Riley
Google Reader
Louis Gray shared an item on Google Reader
Saturday at 10:17 pm - Link
lol, one of the great things about El Scoble is his apparently thick skin. He is well aware that popularity is its own punishment :-) - Slippy Lane
HAHA. "el Scoble". Nice one. - Roberto Bonini
Great way to promote startups. See who has the balls to fire back. - Rodfather
Blog
Saturday at 12:11 pm - Link
I went over some of the sites.. some deserve that, but others.. i think little bit more time spent on their site (e.g. the site mentioned not to be in english .. see the little UK flag?) and others that actually solve a problem.. yet they are focusing on their target market and if you're not i.e. embedded VoIP you won't get the value prop. Yet i agree that towards DEMO they could figure out that non-typical-targets will have a look at the site and prepare for that - Naor
Naor: most people don't give anything more than 10 seconds. Sorry. First impressions matter. - Robert Scoble
I agree.. but who's 10 first seconds? of prospect? or media? - Naor
Remember that companies showing at DEMO cant make their new stuff public until after they present so some--not all--of these bad sites are just placeholders. - Steve Wildstrom
... don't take me wrong.. i would have changed the first page for the DEMO period knowing i'll get visitors outside my target markets.. yet.. most of the real tech start ups unfortunately lack this kind of thinking - Naor
Steve: that's no excuse for a bad Website. Especially when you know the list comes out two days before your presentation so lots of people are visiting. - Robert Scoble
Naor: both. Ever look at eye-track research from real customers? I have. You can even put analytics on your Web site and look at the bounce rates and such. I bet all these sites have extremely high bounce rates. (people who hit "back" on their browser to escape the pain). Also, if you don't cover what pain points you solve on your site, what makes you think you'll show up in searches on Google for those pain points when people are searching for them? - Robert Scoble
i'm taking each company and try to analyze their target markets and its targets' 'net behavior... in some cases I saw that (mainly B2B) they are not search-engine initiated (from talking with potential customers and analyzing web stats) e.g. eu. telcos, security comps., network h/w comps and some others. In many cases they reach the site due to some early interest in the specific company typing its name directly, looking for specific information and not but searching for "pain points" on google - Naor
ok - i don't like to be at the position of defending those comps. lol :) just to put a note that there are different approaches in different markets - Naor
Naor: well, we'll disagree then. That's fair. Would love to know which of these companies sites you think are brilliant? - Robert Scoble
@Naor and @Scoble: Unfortunately, many businesses today slap together a website willy nilly, because they don't appreciate what the web can really do for them. To them, a website is nothing more than a path towards looking legitimate to outsiders. - Sean McGee
robert, you should ask people to send you their homepages and once a week do a post with a bunch of links and your 10-second impression of their website! - Deva Hazarika
Sort of an American Idol of web sites? - Ernie Oporto
hahaha Ernie, that's a *great* idea. With Robert Scoble as Simon Cowell. "That was absolutely dreadful." "Not in a billion years." "A bunch of deranged chimps running FrontPage on Windows Me could have done a better job." :-D Eventually, of course, this will lead to the Web 2.0 version of William Hung. :-D - Karim
even family builder scoble?? - Will DeLuca
Why are the web sites bad? Because the spent their entire marketing budget $18,000 to get to this conference. - Lorraine Ball
Will: there are so many geneaology sites. What makes that better? - Robert Scoble
Lorraine: word. - lezionidistile
So am I to assume using the "Scoble Theory" that no one should be watching FastCompany.TV? That was certainly pretty bad out of the gate. - Allen Stern
Robert - Agree with this one and glad you posted it. Video is an integral part of everything now (Try to convince a few of my EX clients of that). Marketing is just as important (in some cases more important) than the product or service itself. I've often wondered who should get paid more, the coders, or the genius marketers that put a product above the rest and contributed directly to the valuation. - Charlie Anzman
I'm SO glad I didn't pay $18.5k just to have Robert tell me my Website sux. I think I can get that service for free, right Robert? :) - Elliott Ng
The value of genealogy sites aside, I dig their "all in" social app strategy... it was an aggressive move, they made a strategic decision and they're leveraging it better than the other guys. Also, 395 monthly active users < 982,965 monthly active users (geni vs familybuilder) =P - Will DeLuca
I think, he's damn right. They should hire some guys who know website design. - Ryo
Twitter
Robert Scoble posted a message on Twitter
Twitter
Louis Gray posted a message on Twitter
FriendFeed
Cee Bee posted a link
Butt Station Desktop Set
Butt Station Desktop Set
Saturday at 12:23 pm - via Bookmarklet - Link
"It's a desktop organizer that looks like a fellow sitting on the john. Besides the spaces to hold pens and Post-it Notes, the figure holds adhesive tape in his hands as if it were a roll of toilet paper. As a special touch, the toilet itself can hold paper clips. The colorful guy has a magnet in his butt so the paper clips stick to it when you lift him up!" - Cee Bee via Bookmarklet
That rocks! - Mattb4rd
so it farts out paperclips? - Allen Stern
WANTWANTWANTWANT...no...NEEDNEEDNEEDNEEDNEEDNOW - faboo mama
btw..my birthday's in nov. </hint> - faboo mama
Love it. You can send it to my PO box. That is all. - Stupid Blogger (aka Tina)
Seems like the tape shouldn't be in his hands, but(t) rather on a toilet paper dispenser perpendicular to the toilet. Or is that being anal? - Karim
No more puns for Karim. You are now on restriction ;-) - Stupid Blogger (aka Tina)
lol [slinks off to corner] - Karim
This would make a great addition to my cubicle - imabonehead
what a gas! hahahaha! - Susan Beebe
This is definitely an excretingly refreshing use of office supplies - imabonehead
That's hilarious but I don't think I'd EVER want that on my desk. - Trish R
Awesome. And I hate it when the paper clips stick to my rear too. - Josh Haley
OOOO! That would be great in my new office :) LOL! - Anna Lynn M.
cool - i´m sure this thing is vibrating too! ;) - Dieter Schwarz
LOL! Dieter: Why do need it to vibrate? /:D - Ron
Twitter
Hugh MacLeod posted a message on Twitter
Blog
mashable posted an entry on Mashable!
Saturday at 4:22 am - Link
LOL the great Pron scandal of 08 - Earl E Morningwood
Coolness! Fame at last - however while the article is correct about the bug that happened last night, my account and this post were not victims of it. This video was favorited in part to breakup the endless politics in my feed and because well, the girls are hot :) See the friendfeed thread in question for details. http://friendfeed.com/e/30c186... - Soulhuntre via twhirl
how is there scandal? it's not like we're 12 watching it or @ least I'm not 12 LOL - Cecil Sandus
lol, 'huntre, I've left three comments to that effect back at source! - Slippy Lane
Twitter
Marshall Kirkpatrick posted a message on Twitter
Blog
Aaron Brazell posted an entry on Technosailor
Twitter
Erin Kotecki Vest posted a message on Twitter
Twitter
Louis Gray posted a message on Twitter
FriendFeed
Geoff Schultz posted a link
Penny Arcade! - The Gabriel Effect
Thursday at 10:13 am - via Bookmarklet - Link
That center panel had me freaking laughing in my cube - Geoff Schultz
me too. thanks for that :) - Kamilah Gill
Could have sworn I liked this the last time I saw it... - Stupid Blogger (aka Tina)
Gabe broke your like button. - Geoff Schultz
That's why I always know key commands. - Stupid Blogger (aka Tina)
Love this comic. If you haven't read their older work, consider picking up their compilations from a book store or Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/Penny-Ar... - Ernie Oporto
Blog
Louis Gray posted an entry on louisgray.com
Thursday at 11:30 pm - Link
Nice post Jesse! - Kyle Lacy
Thank you Kyle! - Jesse Stay
Blog
Friday at 7:39 am - Link
Reshared, good work. - Daniel J. Pritchett
Man - Not happy about dropping off YOUR radar ... but I may share the piece anyway :) - Charlie Anzman
Thanks Daniel - commented on your re-share. - Hutch Carpenter
Charlie - you're not off my radar! I see you all the time. - Hutch Carpenter
Just kidding man ... you're the bomb :) - Charlie Anzman
The "more active" (I can't stand calling it "popular", because that's not -really- what it is) users, I filter through others. If they post TONS of stuff, it can't all be good, and other people talking about it filters it for me. One of the best uses of FF's "friend of", imo. This way I only get the handful of Scoble et al posts a day that warrant further looks, for example, instead of drowning in all of them. - abacab
I'm seeing this trend myself. I'm slowly adding friends that are not even near the A-list. The quality of my reading has improved as a result. - Roberto Bonini
Roberto - Just wander over to the everyone tab. It's becoming more of a gold mine everyday! - Charlie Anzman
abacab: only one out of a hundred things I post here are my own. So, if you want to find interesting new people to follow who aren't Scoble my feed is a great place to start. Roberto: exactly. That's why I say you define yourself by who you follow. Follow smart people and you'll get smarter. Follow abusive people and you'll get more abusive. - Robert Scoble
thanks for taking this to the next level Hutch. I think it's an important progression/evolution for the site and as you say, one that is healthy for the FF ecosystem. - Morgan
I subscribe to every person on the new list. They are my FF A Listers. I also subscribe to Thomas Hawk and Scoble. - Russellreno
I'm a fan of Robert Scoble's FriendFeed stream. I may not do a lot of Likes, but he's got good stuff in there. And he gets good interactions on his posts, so that's interesting. But I am enjoying the broadening out of the experience here. - Hutch Carpenter
thanks to this post (i think) i'm getting a bunch of new subscribers - thanks hutch! i'm subscribing back. i like when i add a bunch of new folks - it's like a shiny new friendfeed. - Morgan
That's cool Morgan. I'm glad folks are finding you. - Hutch Carpenter
I love all the A-listers I've subscribed to, but my favourite time to visit FF is at night. I get to see lots of new faces and some really great content. And the more people I add, the more new people I find from their friends. - Evangeline
Good post, Hutch.. progression is happening as people get to know each other. I still like to check in on the "big dogs" (that's the name of my list), but I find more and more I enjoy FriendFeed for the fun, not for the technology/social intake. - Tim Hoeck
Twitter
mathew ingram posted a message on Twitter
Blog
Colin Walker posted an entry on Colin Walker
Friday at 5:18 am - Link
Yes, we have gotten far too demanding. However, browsers are a well known arena and people will expect more especially if it comes from google. If Google had launched with plugin capability, you would be seeing much more praise. - Rob Diana
I agree, mostly. But I disagree with the notion that a public beta is so early in the cycle. A beta should be an essentially feature complete product put out to users so they can unearth bugs. No? So, aside from robustness and a bit of spit and polish, one should be able to judge a product from the beta. Google uses beta as it's get out of jail card free and I personally believe that this it is ridiculous. - more importantly, thoug this is a first version and that means much more interesting things to come. - felix
So maybe this should have been called an alpha. Still, let's face it, Google are a company in perpetuial beta ;) No doubt APIs will be announced in future but I still think it's better to get the core stable before exposing it to an amalgam of 3rd party code. - Colin Walker via fftogo
felix hits it on the head; people have forgotten what "beta" actually means in the software sense. Google did indeed release a beta browser. I have less problem with Google calling their stuff beta than I do most other companies putting out barely-alpha garbage and calling it "beta" so we go easy on 'em. - abacab
Twitter
Allen Stern posted a message on Twitter
Google Reader
Friday at 4:33 am - Link
I never could understand how people followed conversations on Twitter... I always felt I was missing something that everybody else knew? - Jonathan Beckett
Were they ever really alive? It's hard to talk between more than two people on Twitter. - Stephen Shores
Google Reader
Jesse Stay shared an item on Google Reader
Friday at 12:22 am - Link
Copy of the comment I just posted in the site...There are very good reasons why profiles don't exist yet (and they may never exist)