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I wonder how many people and companies are changing their passwords and policies this morning because of #twittergate and http://www.techcrunch.com/2009... ? I know I am, I was doing a few of the stupid practices that caught Twitter.

July 19 - Comment - Like - Share

carl morris, Robin Whitson, siggimus and 77 other people liked this

Does anyone have a good blog post for how to come up with strong password names and policies? - Robert Scoble

71 more comments

yep, https://www.grc.com/passwor... - Mark

taht's great, I am also willing to change my password. - Madhav Tripathi

1Password on the Mac... - Holger Eilhard

not for corp use but for personal use 1Password is perfect - Mike Bracco

Holger: beat me to it :) - Mike Bracco

Mike: Sometimes I'm faster. Rarely, but happens :-) - Holger Eilhard

I will write a blog post about it. - Madhav Tripathi

Robert on the network side of things there are programs that generate strong passwords. But you can develop a "feel" for it. I have to create them all the time. Just don't use "memory aids" they lead to social hacks - Melanie Reed

You're okay if you don't use 3rd party apps to login to Twitter, right? - Steven E. Streight

I like this one. http://www.pctools.com/guides... - Logan Lindquist

Sorry, should have linked to the TechCrunch article about how the hacker broke into Twitter: http://www.techcrunch.com/2009... - Robert Scoble

Steven: this isn't about your Twitter account's security. It's about your security on the Web. - Robert Scoble

Here's some password policies you might find interesting: http://www.nersc.gov/nusers... , http://www.comptechdoc.org/indepen... , http://www.sans.org/resourc... - imabonehead

I have no need because my passwords have always been 12+ characters, include caps, random characters, and numbers. I'm sure most people that use FF are the same way. The engineers I work with bitch about my choice of passwords all the time. - coldbrew

The sad reality is any password can be hacked. It's just a matter of time as in attrition. But you can make it harder for them with strong passwords - Melanie Reed

Yeah, we've always tried to make sure our hosting customers understand how important it is create good passwords, but many still use bad passwords, hopefully all of this recent press will scare them into using better passwords. Most people don't care about their password until something bad happens to them. It's similar to people who ignore making backups and then find out the hard way. - Scott Beale

I use Lastpass.com to generate and save passwords. - mrshl

Just pick a couple good ones that you can use for different things. Practice typing them so you can remember the keystrokes easier. The more you use them the easier it will be to remember. Use keepass or FFox to keep track of them. - Logan Lindquist

1Password hands down for ease of use and strong password creation on OSX and iPhone - Jerry Schuman

I wrote this regarding Twitter, security & the cloud: Here's my thoughts http://www.thetechnewsblog.com/2009... #twittergate - Jim Connolly

Melanie: it's the social hacks that will catch the most people. Not the strength of the passwords. Notice that he didn't need to guess the passwords, he just needed to use the ecosystem against itself. - Robert Scoble

http://esciencenews.com/article... - imabonehead

I agree 100% about 1Password, one of the best Mac apps out there: http://agilewebsolutions.com/product... - Scott Beale

Roboform on Windows. Otherwise 1Password. - Herb Hernandez

Very few. People and companies generally don't make policy changes until they're bitten themselves. - Darren

Good point about social engineering, Scoble. - coldbrew

I ended up writing this http://blog.siliconverse.com/2009... - Ruchit Garg

Robert: yes. its the easiest hack to employ - Melanie Reed

Or there's a business requirement . e.g. Customers inquire about policies based on what they've read in the news and impose requirements on their partners. - Darren

If you need cross-platform then I'd look at http://www.keepassx.org - Jerry Schuman

1 - Mark

Unfortunately most companies don't change passwords until they have too, the IT department doesn't want to deal with the calls when someone can't remember there password. - Kim Landwehr

my 14 character alphanumeric pass for my gmail account was hacked about 2mo ago. After fixing, Ive gone and changed all passes; & none of them are of the same ilk. my twitter account is the simplest; cause i care less if its hacked. - clarke thomas

The best thing to happen to corporate security was the public insecurity of Microsoft software int the late part of the 90s and earlier in the decade. - Darren

I use Roboform Password Manager to navigate and automatically login to websites using complex passwords: http://www.eenmanierom.nl/wachtwo... (Dutch post but Google Translate is nearby). - Patrick Mackaaij

a lot, I hope..... - Alex Griffiths

FTR, I use Keepass (hosted on sourceforge). - coldbrew

I had to this week my XBL account was hacked. - Dylan Richardson

I had to change everything and cancel 2 cards. - Dylan Richardson

I use GRC to gen and never use anything less than 20 chars unless the site doesn't support that length. Sometimes I use the first 20 in a 64 bit key, sometimes I use the last 20, sometimes I pick the middle 20. Sometimes I use 21, 22, 23, 19 char length. I also lie on all reminder questions. - Brian Daniel Eisenberg

I use a hosted version of clipperz (http://clipperz.com/), totally random passwords, web accessible from anywhere and hosted on my own server. - Justin Yost

same here, Justin. I use lastpass which generates random passwords, and has one master password, which is a very secure one. - Tim Hoeck

A couple of months ago, my gmail was hacked. They then quickly went and changed my Itunes account over to another email and started buying iphone apps. In the about an hour and a half, that they had control over my email they spent almost $1000. Luckily they made the mistake of changing the name and language on my account. I don't use the email much anymore but g reader so I spotted it.... more... - Rasmus Lauridsen

for years, private corporate systems have had security measures like password strength policies for a domain, password age policies, secure connection requirements, logon policies that deny multiple logons, locking out user accounts after multiple password failures, etc. etc. etc. this incident with Twitter is a huge wake-up call. - Karim

What first caught my eye was this article was written by Nik Cubrilovic. I had wondered what had happened to him, and hoped everything was well with him. - Lloyd Budd

Yeah, Nik was in the TechCrunch office when I was there the other day. I figured a big story was underway cause Arrington told me to stop wasting Nik's time and to go bug the interns. :-) - Robert Scoble

Making an awesomely strong password wouldn't have prevented this attack. It was using the same awesomely strong password that made the attack possible. And who hasn't done that? There's just too many apps that require passwords out there. - marziah

I typically use KeePass to generate as strong a password as I can. I try to keep passwords to a minimum of 20 characters and use letters, numbers and symbols...some sites allow this some do not. If there is a password character max I will use that max (within reason). The problem I have is with some of the accounts I want to be able to access from my Blackberry. Having a 50 character... more... - Sean Brady

I use RoboForm to create all my passwords. I have them backed up and honestly couldn't type one out if I tried, they all are 14-16 chars long - George Handlin

+1 George. A good pw generator like RoboForm or 1password can save you a lot of grief later on. - Bill Sodeman

interesting experiment, make accounts at free websites and have really awful passwords and see how long it takes to get hacked! - Mark

I agree with Sean Brady, makes it tough entering on the blackberry. Especially how sometimes it will cap the first character and when it's masked, makes it even tougher. Wish there was something I could host on my own server that would work with all my machines (Win/Mac) and my phones. I don't like the idea of storing on some hosted service. Thinking of trying RoboForms hosted service since they are trusted and I've gained personal trust for the application. - George Handlin

It makes me anxious not knowing my password is for a particular site... so I've always been wary of things like 1password or roboform. I also need something that I can pull up from any computer, which rules out 1password. I've heard good things about supergenpass - Mark Philpot

Take a look at Clipperz then, if you can get to the internet you can get to Clipperz (http://www.clipperz.com/) - Justin Yost

Justin - @jtyost2 - I just checked out www.clipperz.com for the password mgmt, looks promising, but wish there were better integration w/ Firefox somehow. It's pretty cumbersome to get started. - Alex Schleber

Yeah that is a drawback. - Justin Yost

thanks 4 reminder should do it now arrgh!! as we speak!! - polou/indigo_bow

Robert due to all the virus issues we went to a more secured password format 3 months ago. We use a minimum of 8 characters numbers letter and mixed case password plus you can not use your name. We force our users to change their passwords every 3 months. - Rob Cairns

I think for a security policy to be effective it has to be secret... - Alexandros Georgiadis

KeePass (Win) and KeePassX (cross platform) is excellennt! Strong public encryption and publicly available source code. I would love to go with LastPass, they have a beautiful cross platform syncing solution, but since they are closed source (for now) I'm holding off switching to their product. - Daniel Chow

I stopped using the same password years ago. To help me keep up with the various passwords, I have been using KeePass on Windows, Windows Mobile and OS X for several years; I'm waiting for iKeePass to become available. - MiniMage TKDteacher of FF

http://www.yubico.com/home... for hardware PW protection, https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US... FireFox addon LastPass is for software app, https://www.grc.com/passwor... for GRC's ultra High Security (put it on a usb flash and copy paste), http://www.thegeekstuff.com/2008... geeks know everything! - Rich Weaver

Yep the 'ecosystem' is undoubtedly insecure. I believe this type of hacking also has elements of social engineering to it. I dislike the "secret questions" as today when most people's personal information is transparent online what purpose do those questions serve, except to weaken security? Can we please opt out of dumb security questions... someone start a petition or something! - ASKJDOG

Great Post, I learned more about improving my security in 15 minutes than I would have at a 2 day seminar. :) - Robert Higgins

I hope the lasting legacy of twittergate is better security thanks to articles like this one. - Stephen Mack

I use http://passwordmaker.org/ for most of my password, it means I only need to remember a single password and it generates a unique password for each site I use (by hashing my password with the url). For the remaining sites, I use http://passwordsafe.sourceforge.net/ and dropbox to sync my password database across machines. - Wilka Hudson

I see many people using/recommending password generator sites. I also recommend these, but one day I thought - what if the password generators are hacked? --> http://robotterror.com/site... - Robert J Taylor

Password Maker (the first link) isn't just a password generator site - I use it as a FireFox plugin. It's also open source, so if you're really unsure about the safety of it you can have a look at the code yourself. I realise that's not a very good answer for an non-coders, but it does mean that if it was hacked *somebody* would notice and it would be all over blogs like Bruce Schneier http://www.schneier.com/blog/ - Wilka Hudson

Also, for you those of using Firefox - you should look at this: http://cubicledenizen.blogspot.com/2008... - Wilka Hudson

I think unless we develop somethig better than passwords we will never fix the problem. Using different strong passwords is good but it's no better than locking a cycle up outside a store, they just ensure that only dedicated people hack your acount/steal your cycle, which in general are the worst people to hack your account. - Darren Rollett

Some people on here have informed the world what their password policy is and what tool they use to generate passwords. If this had been a conversation down the pub then probably not a problem but if I want information on high value passwords FriendFeed would probably be the place to go due to the people who use the system. - Darren Rollett

Nobody has mentioned https://mashedlife.com - it uses a bookmarklet to log you into your sites. That way you can use anything for the password. Cliperz looks like a similar system. - Daniel Siva

Robert Scoble

I'll be honest. Apple's new Safari 4 really sucks. Freezes. Slow. So sad to see this from Apple. I'm not the only one, either.

May 7 from Twitter - Comment - Like - Share

Susan Beebe, Benny Fu, Andre P. Siregar and 27 other people liked this

Agree. It's very slow compared to Safari 3. But it's still beta? - Håkan Dahlström

45 more comments

As much as I love my iMAC I've always preferred Firefox over Safari. Now, if Roboform would just port their software. 1Password just doesn't do the job. - Brandon Hall

Is this based off the latest and greatest WebKit? If so, I'm really surprised. - WiseYoda (aka Patrick)

Have not experienced those problems on a MacBook Air. - Michael Osterman

It also causes other apps to stop working. I've gone back to Safari 3 on all of my macs. - Sufian Siddiqi

I love Safari 3 on Windows. - Alp

Isn´t it still beta ? People are spoiled because everyone through "beta" on every service and app for a while because it was hip. It really means not stable. Use a stable release (ie. 3) for critical work. Production releases from them are usually good. - Thomas Bøhm

The tabs are really unusable. - Ben

Have not tried it out. But is it really that bad!! - Sujay

I can't think of anything Apple's made that's great in beta. Final release is always wonderful. Firefox betas may have spoiled us. - Mike Lewis

I really don't like Safari 4's implementation of tabs. Apart from the fact that they shouldn't be on top, they go all the way to the top edge of the window, which means you will probably accidentally switch tabs while trying to move the window. - Joey Gibson

To their credit they did make a little headway since 3.x on Windows. They can thank Google for showing them the way by making an instantly appealing and fast webkit browser. - Adi

Never had a problem with it, I use it full time at home on a 3 year old MBP and my very old Dell PC - Caspar Aremi

Firefox 3.5 Beta is IMHO faster than 3.0.x on a Mac. It would be great if Firefox would change from Gecko to WebKit. - Waldemar Schott

I use it all the time without issue. Initially I didn't like the tabs but now really like the position. I can now have lots of tabs open without the crashing I experienced with Firefox. For a beta, it's working well for me. - Howard Keziah

Perhaps Apple should stop working on browsers. I think that area of consumer computer use is well covered by people who really know what they're doing. We, as an internet, need another browser on the net like we need more trolls. Just my $.02. That and $4.48 gets you Starbucks. - Dan Messer

Wondering if this is semi-intentional: Let's forget about the Web, folks, it's too unreliable, come to the App Store and buy that far more trustworthy MSM content. - John Blossom

Agreed. It's driven me back to Firefox. And is it just me, or has there been a total lack of updates for Safari 4? Maybe we'll get them when 10.5.7 drops... - Andy Bold

I agree, sucks. I prefer Chrome on the PC but like having my bookmarks synced between my PCs so I use Firefox on the Mac and on the PC a lot as well. - Jim Graham

Yah Safari 4 is a major let down, and seems to screw up a LOT with flash based websites. Not impressed - Angus Burton

Jim: are you using a plugin to keep your firefox bookmarks synced between your Mac and PC? - Angus Burton

I actually disagree. I've been running the Beta since it came out and have now pretty much moved over to it full time. I usually run 3 windows, each with multiple tabs open all the time and it's been pretty stable and useable. It crashes every now and again, but with the Saft plugin, I get auto resume when I start it up again. Saft also gives you the option of moving the tabs back under the address bar. All in all, I've been very impressed with it. - Keith Bennett from Nambu

I've noticed pages often seem to be endlessly loading, but they function OK. I've had a few freezes as well. The latest Webkit seems more stable, although whenever it crashes the next time I start up it says to get rid of the plug-ins. The only thing I have going is Gears, so I guess that's a problem. My Gmail offline features works though. I don't see the big speed drop from Safari 3, and the latest Firefox ends up hogging all my resources on my Powerbook, so I end up using Safari 4 a lot. - Steve Wright

It beachballs for me consistently ...Safari 4 + Flash = Crash. Yes, that rhymes. - Bwana ☠

Wonder if it's time for a "Plug-Ins" spring cleaning!!!! Go to /Library/Internet Plug-ins/ and nuke away! - sean andersen

Safari 4 beta (with Flash turned off) hasn't crashed or hung for me yet in the last two months. - Victor Ganata

I've only had a few crashes with Safari 4 with the Webkit nightlies. It's pretty much rock solid and I've been running it since it was released. - Akiva Moskovitz

Still waiting for Chrome for mac here :P - Napolux from twhirl

im waiting for chrome on the linux.... - Chris Jackson

Funny, I was having so many problems with FireFox 3 I switched to Safari 4 and have been happy as a clam. - ChiliMac

You can download it again now, it´s updated (you´ll have to upgrade the OS to 10.5.7 first too). - Thomas Bøhm

I find it to be very fast when its working but it does hang and freeze too often, especially on the "top site" view. - Justin Luey

I like how it randomly decides not to load a web page now and then. It's as if Safari 4 knows when I need a break. - Gunny doesn't side-hug™

Yeah, it really doesn't like flash either. - Drew Lucas

@Drew - Safari 4 + Flash sent me on a long arduous round trip of testing other browsers for OS X, and I've ended up back at Firefox. :-/ - Andy Bold

Yeah I mean, it hangs up every 5 minutes or so, on simple small embeds! *sigh* - Drew Lucas

Flash remains a problem. Other than that Safari 4 Beta with Webkit is running fine for me. - Peter Kruit

Maybe that's why Safari 4 Webkit runs so well for me: I avoid Flash like I avoid shooting myself in the face with a bazooka. - Akiva Moskovitz

Akiva LOL - Andy Bold

No kidding. What's up with that - I use Apple products cuz they rawk, if I wanted something to suck I'd go back to a PC and use MSFT products - Mary McKnight

Mary, something tells me you just really love those I'm a Mac/I'm a PC ads. - Akiva Moskovitz

What do you think of it now? - Byron McCollum

Keep in mind. That was Beta. - Drew Lucas from email

I'm liking Safari 4. After clearing out my Input Managers (OSX) all my problems went away. Before it was slow and buggy, now it is much better. - Andy Bold from email

I'm using Safari 4 on Windows 7 and it's great - really, really flies, even compared to Chrome. And no crashes so far! - Ian Betteridge

Safari 4 seems to be running much smoother compared to Chrome and Mozilla Firefox on my system. In fact, I've already configured Safari 4 to be my new default Web browser! - Thomas Ward

Funny my experience has been positive. On the PC it runs well and is fast. I wasn't expecting much, now I may use it as much as Google Chrome, we'll see. - John Hardy

Robert Scoble

THIS CONTEST IS OVER, PLEASE DO NOT COMMENT ON THIS ANY MORE. Thank you.

March 14 - Comment - Like - Share

535u, Miles Laird, Roman Zolotarev and 381 other people liked this

THIS CONTEST IS OVER. THE MONEY HAS ALREADY BEEN GIVEN AWAY. I'm giving away $4,500 of my money. The contest will be here in friendfeed between now and Tuesday afternoon. Ends 3 p.m. Austin, Texas Time. Winner will be picked live on http://www.ustream.tv/studio at 4 p.m. Austin Time. Two ways to win: First way to win ($1,000). Leave a comment here. We'll pick one winner out of a hat randomly. Second way to win (Two prizes of $1,750 each). Leave a comment about how you will use the money (use only one comment here). I'll pick my favorite two messages and announce a winner on Tuesday afternoon. Good luck! - Robert Scoble

1515 more comments

Good way to keep us engaged Robert :) - bcultral

only that? too easy Robert! :) - directeur

Robert "Ben Stein" Scoble :) - Mattb4rd

Will it be tax free? :P - imabonehead

pinched nerve in back from military accident.. might be outta work for a bit. - WithoutInk

I'm in. - Paul Grav

Sweet awesome robert! - TheHenry

Simple is good. :) - Heather Solos

Robert, Ben Stein beat you to that game. Try and be first rather than a fast follower. :P - Lorin Olsen

What are the rules? International ok? :) - Holger Eilhard

I'll happily leave a comment here. - Aaron Crews

Congrads on the new venture:) - Rob Cairns

I'll take it in Canadian please .. - johnpiercy

Lets be honest- there are few people who literally put their money where their mouth is. Mr. Scoble you continue to impress me. And I have said this before the contest. - Alyx

I declare myself ineligible for the first way to win :) - Douglas Gourlay

Do you have to be an American? Cause I could use a new laptop :) Plus the USD>AUD exchange rate is pretty good at the moment ($1000 USD = $1500 AUD) - Bryce Roney

Cool ....I need new Laptop - Michael Holzinger

#43 - Brian Daniel Eisenberg

Prediction: this will be the most commented thread on FriendFeed ever (chance to win $1000). - Mike Doeff

be sure to let us on the detailed result of this new experiment of yours - Georgios Kasselakis

really? :) - K.Fatih Özçelik

oh...pick me pick me pick me :) - Stephanie Segel

Will you give me more if I say rackspace.com? - Jason P. Brown

woohooo! Anton like this. - Anton Johansson

c'mon fingers. find me in the hat. - Jason Kane

OK, I'm changing my comment to go for one of the $1750 prizes. I will offer to donate all of it to a mutually acceptable charity in exchange for an appearance with you and Steve on the Gillmor Gang. If Jason can buy his way onto Twitter, maybe I can buy my way onto the Gillmor Gang! - Kent

Are you still going to the XMPP meetup on tuesday? - J Allen

Good luck to everyone! - Amit Nangare

money talks :-) - Dobromir Hadzhiev

Leaving random comment here for $1000 yo! Can I get that all in pennies and not rolled up? Preferably in gallon milk jugs! - Jason Moffatt

I think Mike will be right - Henrik Johansson

I would use the money to 1. Donate and support our local Milwaukee tech community (events like web414.com, BarCampMilwaukee.com, and Bucketworks.org) and 2. purchase some more tech items (i.e. mac mini, video camera, webcam) to enhance and encourage more interaction with development and the tech community. - Sam Dodge

I'm in too ... - Leo

$1000 for a random comment. I suspect we'll have a record number of comments. But what kind of hat will you be pulling the name out of? Austin Cowboy hat? - Andrew Leyden

well, this is one way to get me to actually use my friend feed account =) - Travis

I'm echoing the earlier comments, free money + your reach = most commented thread. - Steven Cains

I could use it. Ill be out of a job in 2 weeks. - Armando

sweet. i like free money =) - Arin

Second way to win (Two prizes of $1,750 each). Leave a comment about how you will use the money (use only one comment here). I'll pick my favorite two messages and announce a winner on Tuesday afternoon. Good luck! - Robert Scoble

I'm game. But don't shoot me. - Steve Lowe

why would you do that? - Burçak Sayınsoy

is this part of the bailout? - Thomas Jelonek

Pick me! - Henry Irish

hook it up! - Zachary Poley

Robert , Congrats for Building43.com ! - Rocky

Open to anyone in the world. It's my money and if I get sued I'll make fun of you on Twitter. :-) - Robert Scoble

So let me get this straight, I just leave a comment here? Will this $1000 be reported to the IRS? :) - Craig Eddy

If ever there was money that could be used to buy gadgets guilt free it is Scoble money! - Joe Pierce

Building 43 sounds interesting. Can't wait. - Andrew Bashore

need cash for new company my wife and i are starting -- to help offset the cost of adopting our next child. - WithoutInk

all i have to say is, more cow bell please :) - Ivan Stegic

I LOVE RACKSPACE!! - CG

I'll talk about the contest later on http://www.ustream.tv/studio - Robert Scoble

Isn't this a nice way to test how scalable Friendfeed entries really are? :-) - Yuval Atzmon

Will use it to buy Arrington a hairpiece after the TIME article. - Mike

Please, no, you're better than Ben Stein (although that's not saying much) Are you trying for the most comments ever on a Friendfeed post? Because I can certainly see that coming. - The Web's Wendell Wittler

What kind of hat? - Geoff Schultz

Scoble--congrats to you and Rocky! Keep up the great work! - Joey Hayles

Neat! I'd spend the money fairly selfishly... on bandwidth bills for http://enjoysthin.gs - Ted Roden

How would I use $1750? Three words: Pay. My. Rent. - Stephanie Segel

Are friends and family excluded? - Tina Chase Gillmor

Oh well, why not! maybe the hat's lucky! - vanweerd

I'm just here for the cash. - Jim Mitchem

Nicholas - would like to work with you at Rackspace, was a senior systems design engineer for Sony Broadband SW Development + Broadcast Integration Division(s) SW Systems Integration and testing, also senior technical project manager on Google's infrastructure upgrade + Verizon's FIOS fiber-to-the-premises nationwide. I also spent ten years in post-production in hollywood as a senior tech support engineer / consultant to the stars. I like bad food, long hours and the warm glow from completing projects. - Nicholas Chase

Hmmm, how do you post a comment on FF...??? :-) - I Spy

Feel free to donate lol - hiphopgame

I would use the money, to help buy a mac for the family. We are in need of a new one, and right now our current one (a powerbook) is starting to die out. I already have some money saved up, but not enough. Thanks for doing this Robert! :) - Techno Todd

thanks for making friendfeed notifier go insaaaaaaaaaaaaaaane - Caio

I'll use the money to buy a laptop for my soon-to-college daughter, as well as to fund her scholarship searches& college visits this summer. She's leaning towards working in special education, continuing the volunteering she's done with her high school's Options Program (http://www.paulvi.net/academi...). - Craig Eddy

My friend (14) and I (15) are working on a subscription web service that we want to launch this summer and some additional runway and start-up capital would really be helpful. We do have some experience with this stuff -- we did iJailBreak (www.ijailbreak.com) a year or so ago and had millions of hits and a million downloads and a lot of coverage (Gizmodo, TUAW, Digg front page multiple times). - Ben Feldman

I want Robert's stimulus package. - Daniel Sims

This is my random comment for the random pick! - Mona Nomura from fftogo

Hi Robert - Pick me! :) - Susan Beebe

if i didnt know you, i would have un-friended you for a post like that. "i'm giving away money. details to come." Congrats on the new gig! - fansnap

If I win, I'll spend it all on ale and whores. I'm in need of both. - Onur Cengiz

$1,750? Ok, I'll give the half of it to a charity, that is: $875 — and the other half will be my contest's gift. My contest? The one who donates the most to that charity wins those $875. And yes, I'm serious :) - directeur

I don't know about the tax consequences. I'll try to find out. Basically this money is money Cisco paid to me and I'm just shipping it back out. So, this money will be counted pre-tax, I'm sure, and you'll probably need to pay tax on it. - Robert Scoble

First comment: Hope my comment gets chosen! - Kevin Poirier

Fabulous - Jon

Sweet! $1000 would be lovely - Vanessa Scanfeld

you can give away money in this economic times? ;) - Simon

I'd be using the money to finance my freelance work and get a half-way decent video camera. I'm working with a friend of mine on tooloftheday.de (nothing to see there yet) to produce videos of popular tools, tips, tricks, howtos, etc... - Holger Eilhard

Throwing my piece of paper into the hat. Crossing my fingers! - Troy Malone

man, my feed is going crazy... stop it guys :) - Ingo Di Bella

OK Robert, I'll bite and leave a comment here. - Herne

Second comment...I will use the money to buy as many clever domain names that I can in hope that one day, when you are creating your "next big thing" that you will have to purchase the domain name from me realizing that you had in fact, through me, had purchased these domain names in the first place. - Kevin Poirier

I'm also available for 1/2 time work for $185/week (Rails sites) http://tefflox.net/JesseCr... Thanks :-) - Jesse Crockett

Thats a internet first i guess, good luck to all contestants :) - Yunus Tunak

For the 1500, I will donate all proceeds to #smackdown. - Mona Nomura from fftogo

If I win: I will use the money to lend out some of it on Kiva.org, give my brother (12 years old) his own domain/hosting so he could start a wp-blog there and maybe buy Spotify premium =) - Anton Johansson

I would buy a new macbook pro with it. I have the old one, and Was hoping to buy the current one. I would then give the old one to my brother and I would use the new one! :) - TheHenry

I'm in!! - Danli

I would use it for the prizes I'm giving out daily on my twitter game @I_spy_treasure. Robert, you can win it back... (and so can anyone else...) - I Spy

Lasers. - Lasse Johnsen

I will use part 2 to donate to Kiva.org and match it with Cisco's matching gifts program - Douglas Gourlay

I would donate it to my homeless shelters. - imabonehead

I'm giving my winnings to congress to spend wisely : ) - Joseph

Congratulations to both you and Rocky on the new jobs. - Ron Schott

Count me in! Could use the extra $$ to buy a mac and see what all the hype is about. - Tim

I would create a company called One Laser Per Child. - Lasse Johnsen

This is my comment. I would use the extra $1750 to pay for me and Lindsay's trip to Gnomedex this year. It would probably be enough for us to come up and stay a few extra days in Seattle. - Chrimmus Tad

That'd put a dent in my taxes. Ugh, freelancing has its pains. - Andrew

nice! i could use some money :) - krist80

Would be silly not to comment... although I have nothing interesting to say right now. - Jen

umm..ok i'm in! - Michael Lemmon

Even I can manage that! - Jeremy Brooks

Everyone else is doing it... - Rochelle

Is there a third way to win? I'd use the money to offset part of the costs of moving to Portland in the spring. Moving from New York with next to no connections to see what it's like living on the west coast for a while. - Mark Trapp

Did I win yet? - Robert Collazo

Sadly, I'd use most of the money to pay bills, but in the spirit of ff, I'd take a smaller portion of it to play a similar game on my ff. - Randall Rodakowski

What I'd do with $1000? Get them converted to Euros :) Would most likely be spend on "offline" needs, like a new bathroom - dieck

I suppose spending it on crack and hookers wouldn't win the prize, would it? - Ian Betteridge

Feeling like a winner already. - Tsega Dinka

I will use the $1000 plus 119,000 more dollars to buy a spot on the Twitter "Suggested Users" page. - Sprague D

And you r giving your money away why? - Andrew Finkle

it'd go toward my first Mac - Jeff Mincey

118 comments in 17mins, progress report.. :) - Yunus Tunak

Count me in! - Wim Mulder

Interesting; I'd give a bit more than the the money to an unemployed friend for necessities(car repair, rent, food, getting back her phone with Nana Lemon singing Nena's famous anti-balloon protest song) in cash and perhaps a small gift - RAPatton

I would use the money to go biking in Tibet and give everything that's left to the Tibetians. - Henrik Johansson

Robert why are you giving away money - not that I am complaining- but curious! :) - Susan Beebe

I'm game - Ken Nicely

I'd spend mine on women, booze and a Mac. - Ed Hudson

I'd use it to stretch the time I can work for equity-only before our startup gets funded! (Why doesn't federal stimulus money go to something like this which actually creates jobs and innovation instead of banks and auto companies?) - Dale Larson

this should be interesting - Robert Accettura

The chances of winning Scoble's money are slim. But the comments are hilarious. Love them. - I Spy

This is easier than a lottery ticket! We must be in an experiment or something, knowing Robert. - Cesar Arevalo

Sure why not - Rodfather

I will use the money to go PyCon, learn new skills, network, mention how generous Robert Scoble is, and do a sprint to improve FriendFeed PyAPI--which, by the way, you should use to select the random winners from this thread. https://launchpad.net/friendf... Thanks in advance. - Chris Lasher

Clever way to show the power of friendfeed! - Emee Pumarega

For $1750: I would pay a portion of my wife's college tuition, buy my daughter a netbook, and my son a practice guitar amp. - Mattb4rd

Great idea! Count me in. I think you should give your money away monthly. - Grace Ciccone

I'm Here. Wow. I''ve thrown the laptop up on a 56" JVC LCD HD. Convergence! Just watched you on the Gillmor Gang. Feels like TV to me. It's great. Something's definitely happening. - Stephen Pickering

Love it...I'm in - gavin

that's not that much - Jesse Fornear

I'd spend the money on a new display, I really need one - Dobromir Hadzhiev

Not my first comment on a Scoble posting here, but first with a potential payoff. - Tom Landini

I'm in. How I will use the money? will buy server for XdbE project - Elmira Gazizova

With $1,000 I could buy all 57 Used & new "Naked Conversations" books from Amazon and still have enough to buy bottle service at the club. - Andy Fields

would like to be able to try new technologies while still being a student and on a student's income = ($0) - Shane Grant

Cool, count me in :-) I would use the money by buying 2 HTC Fuzes for me and my love. - Sarah Peterman

Count me in! (for the first way I guess :P). - Mauro Borione

What can I do to get your $$$ Robert? How about a virtual dance from my dogs? - Jeff

get Diabla my pit bull puppy hip surgery sooner rather than later - shayne catrett

haha, what is it all about? - Manila Envelope

I would use the money to help fund a small-scale electronics lab, which has been a dream of mine for some time. It would serve as the perfect place to plot and create the robotic army that will eventually take over the world! Also it would teach me lots that would make me very attractive to an employer, or capable of creating a business of my own. - Daniel Bruce

It would be hard for me to decide how to spend the money. There is so much, yet so little, being given. Because I'm a crazy Linux-lover, I think I should take the selfless route and donate at least part of the money to various Linux/open-source programming projects. Though, I would have to be careful to make sure that the money is not wasted in the style that Jeff Atwood describes (http://www.codinghorror.com/blog...). - Rishabh Mishra (p248)

<cold><oddsized><red>here's my comment</red></oddsized></cold>. I've made my comment colored and differently shaped because supposedly those will get drawn before all the other regular looking comments. It's cold too because that's how the Knicks got Ewing first in the draft. - Todd Hoff

Well, I need a new kidney, and there just happens to be one available on Ebay for $1000. (The previous portion of this comment is an utter lie; both my kidneys are doing fine, I am gainfully employed, do not need the money as much as so many on this thread, but Mastercard would really love to have it.) Congrats and good luck with the new venture, Robert. - Phil Essing

Very cool! - Josh Haley

Hey as long as were giving away money - count me in ;) - Rob Jones

sweet, a thousands eh? converted to $ JMD that's 90k, groceries for 2 months:P - Gordon Swaby

i'd like to thank my good friends olasofia and tav for mentioning this opportunity to win $1000 randomly, and if gratitude to one's friends isn't enough, how about this: i will give the $1750 for the best answer to this question: now that there are 100,000 people paying attention, what single action can we all do next tuesday that has the greatest social impact globally? - happyseaurchin

For either amount, I would look to pay down some of my pressing debts and apply the rest towards a rainy-day fund. The 10% paycut I took three months ago has not helped things. - JA Castillo

I'm on spring break now and my school was nice enough to lend me a Canon 20D (a little old, but I'm still glad to have borrowed it). Usually, only people who are part of the after school photography club can take it out, and seeing that I'm not, I was quite lucky. They gave me a 28-135mm lens, which looked ok to me. It was the last lens they had available, so it was take it or leave it.... more... - Michael Forian

hmmm just leave a comment for a $1,000 dollars, not sure what to say... - Kevin Tunis

$1750 for a cheeky mobile app, any more would be telling - Yant

I'm here. pick me :) How would I use? I'll buy a netbook and some books. - Dogan Tuncer

i am somehow reminded of ben stein - Adam Singer

Testing the mix, testing, testing, one two, one two, - is this thing on? - Martha

I would use the money to do what I do with all of my money...support my wife through graduate school :p. Thanks for the opportunity, Robert. - Neal Jansons

Give it to Michael Forian! He seems so well-meaning! - RexEveryhting

Big Spender Robert. Who knew? - Michael Fidler

I'm feeling lucky. - Laura

Cool! I saw your new venture announcement (live) earlier on my old iMac, which I would love to replace. :) - Rob

I'm an unemployed community manager formerly of Silicon Valley. Hoping to spread new technology from NorCal to SoCal. - Kimberly

recently laid off, this would really help, *fingers crossed* - Nick

Pick me, I've got medical bills to pay-off. Boring I know, but it's really how I'd use any extra money. - Curtis Phillips

I'll donate the money to GM. Nah, forget it. I'll worry about it if I actually get it. - Hal

I will throw my virtual hat in the virtual ring for the not-virtual $1000. What is the other $3500 going toward? - Fa La La La Lindsay

Working on a little something in the review space with a friend of mine, $1000 could cover a bit of initial hosting. - Jack Bogdan

Hmm, adding that to a house down payment would be nice. I imagine there's others here that could use it much more, though. - Jordan Hofker

peace on earth..... - imran

Wow...a comment can win me $1000!?! - jamar78

Awesome. With $1,000, I'd use 50% to buy shares of F, GM, BAC, etc... and we'll have even more money to hand out. With the other 50%, we could also make 20 $25 loans at a Stanford MBA microfinance project, so the money recycles and has more impac (and have FFers decide which projects to support). Gumball Capital http://news.newamericamedia.org/news... or Kiva.org http://kiva.org Ideally we could even start a fund to support out-of-work FF'ers. - Mitchell Tsai

@scobleizer - please give me your money. if you do i will use it wisely to help pay for a macbook & if i get more than the random $1000 prize i will use it in a philanthropic manner - Chris Heath

I'm probably use the money for a new bed for son, and upgrade Shelly's computer - jamar78

I'd have to use it all to put toward the $1,900 deposit due next month for the Friends school for which we got an acceptance letter, on behalf of our 10 yo, earlier today since my partner's reaction was that all I needed to do was to go out and get a job Monday! We've tried public schs (& their lotteries) in Boston & DC and have come to this... If that wasn't pressing, I'd use it to put... more... - Angela E. Taylor

updated to say - please give the money to someone in need. If I were to have the money to give away, my choice would be to http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com. - BEX

Wait, in this economy, you giving away money?! - Adi Rabinovich

So...dear! Did you sign the cheque? Yes? Now send it to me! LOL - Lora Lufark

all your money are belong to us! - Geek Cowboy

It would be really cool if this money went to a charity in need, in increasingly tough times. - jjprojects

I'd use it to buy myself some time to finish a volunteer project I'm doing for my alma mater - making a website that is an archaeological cataloger and academic discussion space all in one. - Joey Brunelle

posting comment. crossing fingers. knocking on wood for good measure. - Anita

I'd use the money as a donation for my favorite charity, www.4everhomes.org, helping orphans and foster children get adopted. - Lynn Owens

I will use the cash to invest in a MacBook for my wife so she can be mobile and still do her school work and finish that degree finally!!! - Geek Cowboy

Well after the football team I support (Nottingham Forest) lost 5 -0 today I would spend the money on buying myselft a place in the squad. I can't be any worse than the current goalkeeper - Paul Bainbridge

I'd give the money to children of San Diego http://www.alphaproject.org/ - David Krug

I'm in - Jack Kendall

Putting my entry in the hat. Hope this is truly random because I don't have anything interesting to add! :) - Matt Baron

With $1750 I'd buy Canon PowerShot SX1IS 10 MP CMOS Digital Camera with 20x Wide Angle Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 2.8-inch LCD @ $600, a 2nd Gen Drobo populated with four 1TB Western Digital Green Drives @ $849 via TwipPhoto and a GigaPan Epic 100 as soon as its available (probably about $500). All of this will support my GigaPanning habit: http://www.gigapan.org/viewPro... - Ron Schott

James (imabonehead) & Robert, $13,000/yr is allowed by gift tax limits,... so no tax if it's from Robert's personal money. - Mitchell Tsai

Great idea. I'm in. - Bill Romanos

I would use the $1750 to pay for the laptop that my daughter wants for her 11th birthday at the end of the month. She will be entering Jr. high next year and could use a faster more up to date computer than the 5+ year old hand me down desktop PC running Win2000 that she is presently using. - Jeff P. Henderson

i would be glad to invest it into a macbook pro... - Progresif Cem Gencer

Craziness. That kinda money could feed my voracious tech and gadget habit for quite a while. - Brooks Bishop

OK, I'm in. Though not for the money: I want to know waaaay more about Building 43! - Jordi Soler

I'd use the money to invite (pay for flight/hotel, etc.) someone really cool (Harold Varmus?) to the next ScienceOnline conference. - Bora Zivkovic

Building 43 and Rackspace FTW! - Bill Koslosky

I'll use it to buy 2 new monitors. 1 for tweetdeck and 1 for Alert thingy - Jeff (the メガマクダジ of FF)

Hi Robert. A noble venture to be sure. We would put the gift to use saving our art studio. The after effects of dealing with the Basin Complex Wildfire that burned Big Sur have left us in a precarious postiion. Truth be told, we'd rather have a big commission than the gift. Work is always better on so many levels. Perhaps we can bootstrap ourselves back to where we were and afford to offer the same gift to others in need one day not too far off--Pay it forward. Best wishes on Building 43 & thanks. - B.E. (BJ) Johnson

me I'd take my wife out to dinner and then seriously consider buying a MacBook Pro :) - Steven Hodson

I'm in for the $1,000 random drawing (because my $1750 answer would not be memorable - pay my bills). - Laura Norvig

Give half to charity, then spend the other half on upgrading my skills (educational resources) - Mo Kargas

What did I miss? - Rob Michael (Atmos Trio)

Do Canadians qualify? - Brian Sullivan

I just caught up with what the other money is for. If it was awarded to me I would use it to help a couple I know get started in Aikido. Their kids are in our kid's class, and they had been trying to find the finances to join for almost a year and had just figured out how to start and then the husband got laid off... They're having a hard time making ends meet and I know that they would... more... - Fa La La La Lindsay

What a cool contest, Robert. I can't wait to see how it turns out. - Mistletoe Glen

I'll donate the entire $1,750 to Phoenix Children's Hospital if I win. Same goes for the $1,000 if I win that one. - Aviv

paypal address to follow ...... :) Good luck with the new gig Robert - Charlie Anzman

With $1750 I would help that YouTube girl scout girl, Wild Freeborn, reach her goal of selling 12,000 boxes to send her whole scout troop to camp. Got to give the girl some credit for thinking outside of the box. - Tyler Brownfield

_/\_ Namaste (greetings) from India. This is simply awesome Robert. Would be great to win a cool 1000 USD. That's a lot of money in India. ;-) - Shinil Payamal

Here's my comment. I would use the money to fight against DRM - Marcos Marado from fftogo

My mother has been an avid Obama supporter doing a great deal of volunteer work before & after the election. She recently lost her job & wants to start something new. She will need an audience. Robert, I'd love to use your money to hire YOU to coach her on how to do that most effectively. - Rob Michael (Atmos Trio)

Money..! Will use the money to travel to India this summer, visiting, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki..., http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki... and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki... with my family :) - Karthick R

maybe because I'm the first Italian to write about it :) http://www.fluxes.it/flussi-... - Andrea Contino

Haha a single thread from Robert turned us all (briefly I hope) into marketers :) - Mo Kargas

What the heck I'll throw in a comment...I would use the money to fix up the bathroom at my parent's house. - Amber, Random Time Lord

This comment is random. - Dave Roth

Great idea Robert! If I won I would take your portrait for free :-) - Bill Pennington from twhirl

Cheese and rice! This comment thread is giving FriendFeed Notifier a run for it's money. It's an interesting character study on what people will do with free money. Me? I'd pay the IRS & give to my favorite charities. - Anthony K. Valley ©

If this comment gets chosen at random, I hereby refuse the money (always test the exception conditions of any algorithm). If I win one of the other chunks, I commit to donate the money to @eff (EFF - Electronic Frontier Foundation - the leading civil liberties group defending your rights in the digital world). - LogEx

I thought I already commented on this? - Herne

And the other way to win? - Alex Scoble

I would find 17 worthy people under the age of 16, who are helping their community through volunteerism or have started businesses and give them $100 each to help them reach their goals. IMO, helping young people is the most noble thing those of us above the age of 40 can do. And I'd spend $50 on take-out dinner with my wife. - Scott Duffy

You win if you're last on the thread, Alex ;) - Josh Haley

here and ready to spend the money for new ipod touch :) - Nahnu

why? - Anthony Farrior

$1000 with which competitors can enter the bet would be google! - Harun R. Demirbaş

Hi Robert. I can haz $1,000 plz? kthxbye. - Joey Gibson

DONT PICK ME!!! </ reverse psychology> - Alfredo

If I win the prize money will go on my school fees and the rest will help me to buy a netbook with a full-size Scoble sticker :D you crazy! - İbrahim Uzun [ j ]

ROFL, Chris. - Alex Scoble

Money would help so much you have no idea. :) - courto

I'll use the money to send 2 teachers in my school district (Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools) to a technology conference somewhere to learn about Web 2.0 technologies. - Tim Cooper

If I win I'll use the money to buy a copy of Autodesk Maya 2009 Complete. Then build cool things. Thanks for the chance Robert. - Andrew Smith

pick.me - Bob Stewart

bring it on - jkkmobile

Hi, and who are you? Thanks Robert. - Daniel Buckley

Sounds good, here is one comment. - Grant Bierman

I would channel the money to ongoing biomedical research in the lab I work in (UCSF). - Pedro Beltrao

*wave* - Jan Schwenzien

How will I use the money? With pleasure, thank you Robert. - Tomi Itkonen

I will use the money to start my non profit and purchase educational/tech material for my son's school. Warm thanks Robert. - Yanik Falardeau

And as for what I would do, I'd build a new desktop pc (and switching my current one over to act as my media/web pc), buy a true dSLR and donate some to charity. And if there is any left over, pay back some minor 'loans', which I guess I really should do first... - Grant Bierman

Hi! İ m not speak english so not comment writing :D(ingilizce bu kadarmı berbat olur ya:II) Thx You Robert. - Mehmet Alp

Hey Robert, If I were to win the money would go to a project myself and a few other early stage entrepreneurs are starting to help get people who have lost their jobs back to work in the startup community. I know it wouldn't go very far but it'd get it kicked off. Otherwise just give us some help (which would be better anyway) and give the money to the guys who have to pay school fees or rent or buy food for their families. Their need is greater. anton@udoogoo.com if anyones interested in helping - Anton Mannering

Great.I'm in. - OnuRC

this post is going to get a hell of a lot of comments. - Thomas Hawk

Random is random, Chris. :) Thanks for the thought though. - Alex Scoble

Just another random comment. :) - Zian Choy

Why am I giving away the money? Because last week we did a job for Cisco where they paid us to do some videos. I am giving away my cut because what Cisco is doing is important to pay attention to without you worrying about whether I am paid off to say so. Also, I'm very fortunate to be in the position where I can do it. I thought about paying Jason Calacanis to buy some of his tweets, but thought that money could help someone out of work more. - Robert Scoble

liked - Yusuf Esenkal

I think you should give it all to Jason ;o) - Ken Morley

I would use one of the $1,750 prizes this way. I'm currently photographing people that ask me for money. I give them $2 for their portrait. Instead of the two dollars. I will use the the money to add $50 to each $2 (total = $52) to the next 35 people that I photograph as part of this project. After I photograph them for the $2 I will give them the extra $50 and tell them that it is from Robert Scoble and will document each person's story, photo and reaction in a blog post. - Thomas Hawk

i'd like to thank my mother, my father and all the people who helped me win this :p - Sofia Bustamante

interesting !! - Murat Can Demir

Hat off! - Alemsah Ozturk

Sounds good to me. - Herb Hernandez

I changed my mind. Give it to Thomas! ;o) - Ken Morley

Hmm I like Thomas' innovative idea - Mo Kargas

I couldn't tell you what I would do with $1750, but I do know I would give some away to good causes like my underfunded state school or the public school drama and music programs, and I would probably keep a little to save or update my home technology. - Steve Lowe

This is my first comment : Gods of Randomness, choose me ! - Alemsah Ozturk

how many others have signed up for Friendfeed to try and win $1000? Scoble, you should be a Friendfeed spokesman... :) - chelle

Best of luck with the new gig! Have fun at SXSW! - Trevor Little

I wonder how many new FF accounts this thread has been responsible for? Many first-time posters here. - Ken Morley

This is my second comment: I will gonna put your $1.750 to eBay tagged as “Robert Scoble's first FriendFeed Competition money“ and I'm gonna wait & see what happens :) - Alemsah Ozturk

Sounds fair to me. I'm in. - Henry Burger

Random rules - ted perlmutter

why not publish this on an indian and a turkish newspaper? this will def drive this post to records easily... and i am sure, i'll get the macbook pro this week with scoble's sponsorship... maybe i'll brand-name its alu-case with a thanksgiving note to scoble and his sponsor... time to start coding on textmate... - Progresif Cem Gencer

My niece in Mexico is on a partial sports scholarship at the university she attends. She's been supported by her mother who worked at a liquor store to help pay my niece's way. My niece's mom recently lost her job and fears she cannot financially support her daughter's education. $1,750 would pay for six months of university studies. If I were to win, that's where it would go. Good luck everyone. - Andrew

Thanks for the opportunity Robert. Good luck on your new gig! - andy

What would I do with the money? Well I'd put some towards my debt and paying my Mum's house bills. But I think my family could do with a nice break or trip away somewhere - my Mum hasn't really gone out since the death of my Dad last January! Time away from the house would do her the World of good right now. - Kol Tregaskes

Really? - Vinay | विनय

Hi Robert; good luck at Rackspace! My $1,750 would go toward my Rackspace bill of course (well, that would cover it for a few months)! - Binyamin Bauman

My second comment (for the 1K). This would go to the same niece...it's 3 more months of school. - Andrew

i dont want it... { reverse psychology } - Cem Öztürk

laykk! - Taylan GERDAN (Tylolhot)

My wife has put up with a lot of sacrifice as I've worked on http://ourdoings.com/ and money's been tight so I haven't been able to make up for what she's done. I'd use the money to take her somewhere special, and of course I'd share a picture/map of where we went here on FriendFeed. - Bruce Lewis

Oh for peats sake, it should at least be easier than winning the lotto. I'm in. - Eric @ CSTechcast.com

I'll comment and be random...it's a good day to be giving away $$$ :) I would use any money won here to help my friends who are in such horrible need right now. (the story is on the blog and all over my FF stream). I may be unemployed, but I have a roof over my head, food on the table and can make some $$ freelancing. My friends are hanging on by less than a thread, already stretched way too far. - Karoli

Hey man, I love money. Also, I have no job. Also, I will say some incitement here: LEO LAPORTE IS AN ALIEN - Mike Nayyar

Make me your AIG! On the cheap no less. - Tracy Viselli

Well here goes nothin'. thxbye - April Miller

I'm pretty random... I'm in. - Jamie Grove

I wish I could be at SXSW. - Christopher Knopick

i'm feelin lucky :-) - Cardeen Martinez

Interesting promo Scoble. Comment and win money. Cool - Sam R

so this is how you comment on friend feed.... - Noel Gomez

looks like i have a 1/300 chance of winning (right now). i'm predicting this number will diminish to 1/950. - Kevin Pruett

just to be safe.. - Cardeen Martinez

Count me in! - Aaron Draczynski

good luck :) - Ömer

I'll throw my name in the hat. - Chris Owens

Since my wife (school teacher) got laid off from her district on Friday, I'd use the $1,750 for tuition to help her get a Special Education certification, since districts are still hiring Special Ed. teachers. In turn, her continuing work will help pay for my son's tuition when he starts college in the Fall. My son wants to eventually become a lawyer so that he can influence policies that would ensure that people get a good education. - Mistletoe Glen

Sounds like a plan. Let's see if FF has scalability issues with their comments. - Michel Goldstein

Yea! I need some money! :) - emdot

Why, not... Thanks Scoble! - Jim Porett

Welcome to the ScobleCashMachine. Enter your comment. - Olivier FAURAX

Put my name in a small hat and draw from it. - Ken Worley

I'm in. - aykut

If I win then I'll donate 0% of my proceeds to charity. Even more than that, I'll DOUBLE it. - Cody Robertson

Trust me I am still looking for the details.... Can't find them! - Ricky

Who wouldn't want to win? - Tom Silk

This is my first year of trying to "make it" on my own, with a camera and no "real" job. Just trying to scrape by ... to be perfectly honest I'll use the money to help pay off some debt that I have acquired since I started, which has definitely been causing me headaches and frustration. My husband has been a gem, paying the majority of the bills since I make very little, and I want to be closer to breaking even with my debt so I can start to help him out. :) - Nicole Young

Scooby dooby doo! - Haggis (Sean Loyless)

new sponsor ? paypal ? - Gökmen Karasu

Hope the hat is a big one, this thread is getting pretty full. :-) How the money would be spent? Pay off some student loan debt and put a chunk in our 5 year olds savings account...he (as well as his entire generation) is going to need it by the time he's an adult. - cmiper

robert başkan parayı buraya getir. - bahadır canberk

Wow! I've outgrown my entry camera and this price is just what I need to be able to fulfill my dream; a Nikon D300! Please make my dream come true, Robert! - Graphfruit

Hit me, Fortuna. Papa needs a new MacBook. - Will Parker

robert are you a photographer - Dixon Hamby - Dixon Hamby

Geez, it's 2:10 am here in Berlin and you start just another interesting stunt. I will take the 1.750 US and pay a programmer to finish our "Virtual intelligent chatbot" project which offers affordable AI Avatars with personality for all kinds of virtual worlds like Second Life, Gaia, the web, Opensim etc. They'll be our 24/7 virtual workforce and a way to create immortal interactive portraits - Gaby K. Slezák

I like this idea. I'm talking with some friends this evening about how they'd each allocate $1750 if they were given this much money today to do anything with--most would share with friends and acquaintances that are going through tough tmes. One would help a friend who just closed down his company and is in need of dental work. Another would help co-workers whose hours have been cut... more... - Loren Heiny

I own Cisco stock. love that Co. - Christopher Mann

Count me in - Peter Szaro

a subject very interesting, congratulations in advance:) - Serkan Cura (XiLoNeN)

An interesting way to find out what the limits (if any) of FriendFeed comments are. Also: show me the money. - Richard Akerman

Damn Robert Scoble: I meant "overly engaged" this thread is off the charts! - bcultral

I'll get me some of that - Phil Coyne

It's very interesting to see how many new people your offer has attracted to friendfeed. - Anne Bouey

Great idea! Count me in. - Mike

A comment for the $$$ - Jess Gibson

this sounds fun. - Wesley Robin Guerrero

I'd like to win :) - Sam Houston

i will love you forever. and evah evah. money would be spent on a nice camera (i'm studying photography) and supplies. working with a 5 year old p&s is getting tiring. :) - shannon

How can anyone NOT click 'like' or comment? I definitely 'pLike' (the p is silent - btw) this thread. :-D - Sean Hanna

a stunt? sure, but I could use an extra $1k. count me in, scoble - Seth Long

If I win the $1750 it will be applied to my son's tuition as he starts college this fall. - Jess Gibson

Sure, why not! - Jasmin Patry

Is this stimulus money??? If so I'll use it to build infrastructure. There's a giant pot hole in our alley. I'll buy bags of cement and repair it myself. The neighbors will love me. - Greg

Who am I and what am I doing here? - Kris

I'm on it like white on rice. - Jay Lara

Wow, I'll take some money - I need hard drives for my Drobo. Seriously, I need to start up an emergency savings account. - Bryan Villarin

A chance to get paid to comment? Love it! - Ginger Kenney

First, here is the comment. Second, I would use $1,750 to travel back home to Russia where I have not been in five years with my toddler son so my grandmother who is very ill in her old age could see her only great grandson (who's 19 months old) before she goes, and so I could take a one dream portrait of them together. She's been a big influence in my life, and this would be the way to make the portrait and their meeting possible. - Ivan Makarov

Could really use some money to help plant some seeds for the future - Leonard Nelson

I'll buy an Iphone and with the rest put in my IRA to reduce my tax bill. Hey, helping economy and investing in business. Not bad. - Stephen Pickering

i would spend for my interrail trip.. - Yasin Müderrisoğlu

This is my lucky day, an email today said I won the UK lottery. - Bob Gannon

I'm going to buy half a Canon 5D Mark II. Or pay my bills. - Andrew Trinh

If i win, i triple win , because i live in a third world country (Argentina) and for every dolar y get $3,60 on our local currency, which is a good ammount of money here, for example, i could eat for 1 year or more :D - Ignacio Guerra

Ok. I would donate my winnings to the Bernie Madoff Defense Fund!@#$%^ - bcultral

I have dreadful luck when it comes to these kinds of things but I could really use this money. I have no car & desperately need to buy one. - Mattie Kenny from fftogo

Cool. And speaking of cool, PlanetHeidi.com is very cool. - dunsany

between building a new house, a new baby and a new job, I am sure I can put it to go use, btw congrats Robert on your new venture, I shall be keeping an eye on it. - Shane Wolsey

Cobble Sorter (anagram of Robert Scoble) = my random comment for the first part of the draw. - Daniel Rowley

Wow, there's like a lot of comments here! Great idea for publicity, Robert. Carry on... - Kevin Trotman

Watching Robert on Ustream right now. - John Rubier

$1000 USD goes a long way in Canada :) - Ryan

Thanks for sharing the wealth in more than one way - Matt Penning

I could have an actual vacation and pay down some more debt. - Todd Tripp

$1000 is mine! please? thanks Robert - planetMitch

1. my comment for 1k, 2. $1750 would be split into 3 gifts of $250 a piece to encourage the best new open source projects, and the other 1000 I would invest and reinvest in http://kiva.org , selecting entrepreneurs in third world countries to invest several microloans in. Its' a gift that, over time, can be reinvested over and over to benefit many! - David Silvernail

Take my hardworking wife on an overdue vacation - she supports me thru the IT bubbles. Thx hun! - mal

Probably will give it back to you, winning could be cool enough - Burcu Sarar

LOOKING for work but hand out will help - Ron

I'm in as well. - OyaD

C'mon Robert money or not now ya still benefit more with the insane publicity - Mrsth

well, we are curiously waiting the result, and also i'm in.. - Mücahit Yılmaz

Smart one - Heni Hazbay

Word Of Money. I am in:) - Yunus Arslanoğlu

I'll take it if your giving....it will go towards the camera fund! - Noelle Bell

I would use it to promote my tiny little super niche social news site http://HeavyAsHell.com The campaign would involve helping bands go DIY and avoid evil record companies. - MarkCarras

What kind of sick social experiment is this? :) - Oren Shomron

I'm in - Josue Fontanez

mmmmm, austin. i miss Trudy's, El Mercado, Magnolia, Wanfu, Kerbey, Chuys, Fonda San Miguel, Dog & Duck, Thundercloud, Waterloo, Amy's, Little City, Hut's, Green Mesquite. aw heck and Taco Cabana and Whataburger too! if i win, i'll spend it all on restaurants in Austin! - poxaV

pick me - Ryan

OK Robert, add me to the pool.... - Gregg

You can't win unless you play! Ok, I better start praying now.... :-P - Brian

My father-in-law is laid off and his unemployment eligibility runs out in about 4 weeks. No place around here is hiring, and $1,750 would be the equivalent of extending his unemployment benefits another 5 weeks. Thanks for the chance, Robert. - Civisi

:) - Orhan Yediyıldız

Hello, giving away your money randomly? I can comment for that. Best of luck to all! - Ronald Paul Corbin

Will you next tell us its limited only to Americans? I hate contests on the Internet, or anything on the Internet, that says "limited to the USA". The Internet is borderless... so should its contests and prizes - Colin Charles from twhirl

Thanks. I would use the $1750 to help my grandparents. My grandfather is 73 and my grandmother is 72. They just lost their 15 year home to foreclosure and are pretty much starting over with not a whole lot of time left. They are both on fixed income of SS and are now renting a house and trying to survive with the help of friends and family. When he as younger and had more money he was always the first one there to offer money to friends or family to help, even if it meant he went without something. - Jonathan Gotcher

Robert please consider partnering with (Facebook) Seattle's Seeds of Compassion 2.0: The Compassionate Action Network (Twitter: @SeedsCAN) -- this organization is building a supra global network of "Compassionate Action Networks" (a bunch of ex McCaw, Softies and CISCO) -- currently in the throws of leveraging Social Media and Seattle's creative communities (music, tech, film). Last... more... - dakini_3

I wanna buy a jet ski, that's my MONEY! - sofarsoShawn

Random commenting! I hope FF doesn't fail whale! - Zulema ◕ ◡ ◕ from BuddyFeed

If I won, the money would go into putting insulation in my daughter's room & closet. Any leftovers would help buy a gas stove & fridge. :D - Zulema ◕ ◡ ◕

My, there has been some very good comments about what people would do... And some very needy people out there. - Grant Bierman

Like most, it would be an unemplyment extension for me. As mine ran out, no jobs in the area, and times are tough. But hey, BUCK UP not DOWN! the only obstacles that exist are in your mind. - Ronald Paul Corbin

Crazy! Hope you are enjoying SXSW! I'm in Austin but can't attend it. - Head Ov Metal

I'll put some of the $$$ into donorschoose.org for some local classroom requests and the rest to fix up my car. - Pete Delucchi

comment left here - Brad Nickel

Count me in. - Keith - @tsudo

This is a cool idea. - Bluesun 2600

I would take the $1750 and go and get myself a root canal, so I could finally get out of pain. And if there was any left, I'd donate it at www.kiva.org - Bec Rowe @d0tski

Will comment for money, any time. - Dinah

Alright, I'm a sucker for free money so here goes... $1750 would be enough for me to buy an oven, sod my yard, and still be able to donate half to a charity. - FFing Enigma (aka Tina)

I wouldn't say "no" to $$ - Ted Louie

I could use $2,000 just to pay off my credit card. That's about it - Outsanity

A $1000 would be geektacular. $1750 would buy my way into the cult of Mac. - Melinda

Monkey? - Penguin It's Cold Outside

Wow! Count me in! Sure could use that money to attend JavaOne this June. - Rom Feria

$1750: Others need the money more than me, I'm sure of that. But ... that said I'd give $500 to a local library or literacy charity. $500 toward my home down payment fund. $150 to a kidney charity (my daughter only has one kidney). $100 for flowers for the wife. $100 for a bike for my daughter. $200 for a brake job. $200 to send at-risk kids to a Giants game. - AJ Kohn

I would pay off our one remaining credit card and put some portion toward a down payment on a new car. In fact, I'd probably give a slice to the EFF as well. I haven't given to them regularly since my last layoff. - ha3rvey (just a friend)

why would you do that? It's a sort of social experiment? - Niki Costantini

Will invest the money in my new unique microblogging startup :) - X-Man

I wonder how many comments in this thread are their first on FF. Well I'm in. If I won money, some will go into savings and some will go to my favorite charities: Autism Speaks and Atlanta Boxer Rescue. - Carmen

yay first comment ever, though I suppose I should be commenting more - Wang Yip

Wow, a lot of people commented just while I was writing my own! For me, half the money would be for savings and health insurance while I'm still trying to get a job (recently graduated). The other half would be for the non-profit arts organization my friends and I just founded in our hometown, which has no supportive creative outlets for its youth. The money would help produce the tri-high school theatre competition we are currently planning and hope to put on soon. Great offer, Robert. - Kelly

One comment, coming up. - Michael R. Bernstein

Comment comment comment! - Andy DeSoto

For $1750 I'll either blow it on more photo or computer equipment. Or sock it away in my kid's college fund since it'll probably cost more than half the organs in my body to pay for by the time he's of age. It's a tough choice. - ronin

I'm all for free money Robert! - Michael A. Baydoun

Who wouldn't comment for a chance ... lol ;) - Brandon

If I win the money I'm going to establish world peace & have tons of sexy bitches serving me grapes. - sofarsoShawn

I would finally upgrade components in my PC and pay off some of our upcoming wedding debt! - Shmoe

$1000 would be nice, but with $1750 I could do even more. Either way I would Pay It Forward http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki... - R. Oglow

I'd put it on black - John Kitchen

A percentage would undoubtedly go toward the health care fund, unfortunately. I'd allocate some for art and film supplies and give away the remainder. I've seen several comments here mentioning worthy projects and needs that are certainly deserving of attention and support. Thanks for sharing, Robert! - Chris Weige

Circuit City lay off would use on BILLS, BILLS, and oh yeah BILLS - Ron

I want to win your money!!!! - Andrew

Wow. This is kinda cool. If I were to win anything at all from this, I would ask that the money be instead given to fellow FF'er Anika Malone because it breaks my heart that her and her family are having to go without hot water, a dryer, their stove...due to their gas being turned off. Hard times have struck too many good people right now. :( - tinypants - Hagitha of FF

400+ comments...wow! Guess 1000 bucks is motivation. I'd put the cash toward my photography efforts or go the boring route and invest it for now. - Justin Korn

Why would you do that? Anyway, here's my comment. - Saner Apaydın

The pure capitalist social media business model: simply pay users to come. - Michael Krigsman

It's so easy a caveman can do it!! - Fireman17

I would use the money to pursue my passion of creating LOLcats & bring endless joy to all the world forever. - sofarsoShawn

I sit here naked as I type. By the way, they're real, and they're SPECTACULAR! - Abbie Kendall

If I won, I would ... go to Disneyland! - Jerry Chacon

lol, great Seinfeld reference!! - Michael A. Baydoun

If I won the non-random cash prize, I'd use it for expenses while I was off work, recovering from my (upcoming) third brain surgery. - Abbie Kendall

I would love to use the money to stimulate the economy by purchasing a new hot water heater. Our current one is in need of being replaced. - Vaughn

Cool, this would help me stimulate the economy while I wait for my California state tax return. - Stephen Ip

Question: Is it one comment per way to win or one comment in general? I've made one comment above that says how I'd spend the money. Now I'll just be random: PURPLE MONKEY DISHWASHER - Bryce Roney

Okay, I'll play. I would return your money to you with a "let's do something better than this" remark. I would then ask you to actually read (reread?) the email I sent you about helping me get in contact with NPO's re: starting an OLPC-esque SMS-device project for said devices to be delivered in care packages around the world (via Red Cross, etcetera, etcetera) so that the poverty stricken and people in disasters could actually communicate with the world in real time. - trench

Good job ! - Alper

I am making this comment as the IT/Communications Director of FHL International, Inc.http://fhlinternational.org I want to feed babies of poor working and nonworking single mothers. I want to change the oil in their cars when they can't afford it or know how to. I want to feed their children good wholesome food. I want to give the refugees and the lost some hope for another day. If we spend it carefully and wisely we can make it stretch to cover a 3-4 outreaches and give you a write up. - Melanie Reed

random random random. macro lens, macro lens, macro lens. - Andrea Ewald

I would probably also tell you (via your infamous digits) why facebook sucks, why friendfeed pretty-much sucks, and why Twitter sucked but no longer sucks. And then I'd educate you on why we - yes, you and I (and Thomas?) - need to visit Turkey ( http://is.gd/7yQr ) and discuss these things further. Yes, k... logging back out now. Thanks. Make coat not war. - trench

@Robert as the IT/Communications Director, I would invite you to one of our events to cover it, put you on one of our videos and underscore the digital divide and what we can do about it. I would invite you to our UB cafe for the best pancakes in the world and have you look over our IT training provided by the IndyChristianGeeks in Indianapolis, Indiana and meet Dr. Thomas Ho, former... more... - Melanie Reed

Robert, I would also introduce you to my "boss", Merlin Gonzales, who started FHL International, Inc.: http://www.youtube.com/watch... - Melanie Reed

I'd use the money to pay off debt, and take some time this summer to work less and volunteer more. - Michael Kacer

What else would I do with some extra cash from Scoble? I'm thinking about making a difference via http://www.heifer.org/ and http://www.kiva.org - Anthony K. Valley ©

want the money for my project - Abubucker

hah!! most no of comments on FF so far I guess.... - Satya

Would love some money of course! I plan on using at least 3/4 of it to fund a new project I'm working on involving the iPhone and a web service. It would most likely go directly toward the cost of the project (registration fees, hosting fees, learning materials, etc.) - Brandon Titus

can you imagine if I actually won? - vijay

This is really cool. I love seeing all the people who would donate part or all. - Alix Whitmire

@qtbrowneyes - get in here :) We are making FF history. - vijay

wow, always new excitements here on ff, thx for fueling in! - esther ♥ ♫

That took a long time to scroll down here to make a comment. - David McDonald

Me FTW - Brian

Good luck with building 43—great name, great concept. - Dave

Great idea, Robert :) - Baard @ Pixum

Interesting experiment. Can't wait to see the final results. - Shamir Katsu

< insert winning comment here > =P - vijay

I'm spending my winnings on wine and women - Zik Daniel from twhirl

Great contest. I'll give it a go. - Michael Molinar from twhirl

Why, thank you kindly, Mr. Scoble. - Victoria Plautia

I'd use the money to get a new iPod Touch and maybe pay the rest to my medical bills. :P - Molly, "sorry"

As far as how I would spend $1750: I'd love to say that I'm going to donate it all to a worthy cause like the EFF or the local mission, but I know I'll be selfish and just end up spending it in a blaze of glory at Fry's or during the next Woot-off. No point in trying to kid anyone here. - Michael Molinar from twhirl

Aargh too many comments to read them all - dK from Nambu

hi! :) - امیر؟

Half of that money would be enough for me! please send it to my Gmail account! :) amirapt.at.gmail.com I will be waiting :) - امیر؟

Cool way to gain money :) - Richard Holas

I can definately use some cash. :) - Shawn Whitmire

I am in! - Edwin Khodabakchian

I would spend all the money for entertainment :) - Sinem Co

$1,750 or $1,000? In any case it would be a good stimuli to open a startup in Belarus - Aliaksandr

Wow, popular contest! I would use part of it to buy the Rosetta Stone package to help me learn French. I'm taking time off between my undergrad and graduate degree, and I figure learning a foreign language would be a great use of my time. I would use the rest to help pay rent when I get my own place, I'm going to be a Congressional Staffer in D.C. and the living is expensive while the pay sucks! Thanks Robert. - Keenan

If i get the $1,750, i'd give the money as $100x10 and $50x15 AdWords Coupons to the people who searched for the website/blog on pageboss.com for promote their projects like sponsored by Scobleizer.. And if Scob gives me $1,000, i'd spend all of them with my sweetheart Sinem :D - N.Onur ATAHAN

I would use the money to buy a laptop for my wife, a Kindle for myself and one year worth of school for two children that we know and support in Nepal :) - Sam Grover

i need money :-) - Dan

:) If i am lucky enough, i'll pick a random comment on this thread to give this money + 1$. Just to see how loop can be created. - Guy Vander Heyden

One more random comment - sam b-r

I'm in too :) - Eray Korkmaz

1 Timothy 6:10: "For the love of money is the root of all evil." If that's the case Scoble bring on the EVIL! WHOOOOOO YEAAAAAHHAHH EVIL!!! - sofarsoShawn

Beautiful, beautiful link bait. ;) - Chris Nixon from BuddyFeed

Most commented post :) - Roman Zolotarev

Wooow this post will be the most popular post of all times :-) I'm in! - Ahmet Alp Balkan

$1750 would get me a DSLR and new macbook - Duc Nguyen

Wow, great idea to make new friends ;) (but a bit expensive?) - Pascal Hertleif

This is totally insane. I'd probably buy my mom the Palm Pre and 10% will go to charity (like always). - Nir Ben Yona

In a rich man's world! http://www.youtube.com/watch... ain't it sad! - sofarsoShawn

FriendFeed is affected! :-) - Oguzcan Sahin

I need a netbook for my projects :) - Hasan ÖKTEN

$1750: gonna buy my lover. don't you believe me? her name is gabrielle, check her out: http://www.realdoll.com/cgi-bin... - Okan Vardarova

That's a big hat you need... - Orli Yakuel

Yay! - Rich

I will by my wife a flight home so she can go and see her parents who she misses lots. Which means i'll have sole access to my (our) laptop instead of having to share it. I could just use the money to buy a new laptop but then i wouldn't get teh good sofa and control of the remote as well! - Jamie Vidamour

meow! - zenya isaychew

Let's see if I'm still the unlucky guy I used to be - Boubacar Balde from twhirl

I could be homeless soon, lost my job due to the economy, and getting unemployment that just doesnt cut it, I could really use the money to pay my rent, bills and feed my kitties, contact me via email Kyle.M.Weller+scoble@gmail.com or you could just hire me and I'll help you in any way possible, check my blogs, I could be useful. And I would return the favor 10 fold if I can, matter fact I'll search for 2 other people to help and blog about it/take photo's - Kyle Weller

I would keep half of $1750 and give the other half to the author of the comment I liked most, but only if he/she promises to do exactly the same. - stark

.I need a new Laptop - Selçuk Hoca

I`ll use 1000$ of the 1750$ to buy a lot of comments on FriendFeed :) - Vlad

I thought these kind of things happened only countries like mine which the goverment tries to build a begging culture just to keep the hope alive and dependent to the authority at the same time. Each reply begging for money is adding another brick on the wall of shame. And Bob, couldn't you find another way to publicize this? - M. Serdar Kuzuloglu

If I win I will invest it back for advertising! Just say my name 3 times on twitter like "Candyman". - Los Angeles Dj

So what would I do with the money? Half of it would go to the good cause. I want to create value for people and who other than the less fortunate, handicapped and so on deserve this? Right. The other would go to a business I'm building. One for the people, on that will change our lives fundamentally and is here to stay. - Kris

If I dont win this, i'll be happy to donate my time blogging or helping someone in any way right now, im jobless in Phoenix Arizona, I could do yard work or hook up pc's/fix pc's or help you with your website if I can - Kyle Weller

I'd invest half of it in Google Stocks, then the rest I would pay my rent, get kittie food, and try and advertise www.phoenixstickers.com with adsense so my girlfriend makes some money with it, its new and not very popular right now ;\ - Kyle Weller

Here is my comment : the best way to talk about something is to let people talk about, and 4500$ is a pretty advertising investment. but it is really interesting :) now the question is ; is there any way to gauge the effectiveness of word of mouth? good luck. - abdellah

Mmm....are u crazy Rob? :) Ok! I wanna a netbook give to me only 300$ ;) - Dario Salvelli

i'm in!! - scusanonsento

I'd give the money to Comic Relief (http://www.rednoseday.com/) to buy 250 mosquito nets for Africa. Two hundred and fifty saved lives? Bargain. - Robin Stacey

you are so generous robin you deserve to win :) - abdellah

why? - catepol

I don't need this money :) Because I'm still working. But you can donate to a charity organization if I win. - Süleyman Sönmez

I will spend the money attending game design workshops in when in San Francisco, to improve my theory about the use of game design techniques in social web applications (playfuldesign.org). - Federico F.

@abdellah Hehe. Anything that stops someone from dying of Malaria is all right by me. Besides, it's simple economics. With $1750, no matter how I invest it, I can't do more that what 250 people could do with the rest of their lives. - Robin Stacey

you are right, so let resume (generous, logic, awesome, and with a sens of humor), let ask the question differently Robin : who has no reason to win the money win the money ;) (it seams that all have at least one reason) human are really amazing creature. (ps: me too) - abdellah

I agree, I'd buy a jet ski and have so much kick ass fun! - sofarsoShawn

i'm in is too easy :) - Valentin Sandu

se vinco devolvo tutto a Mantellini - Luca Sofri

Trying to overload the comment stream? - Örjan Lundberg

I am here~~~LOL - K.D.

l'uomo a cui appiopparono la santità - azael ماسيمو

I'll create a new world :] - Ahmet Kakıcı

yes please and I'll give half to my love oh and a bit to greenpeace - Julian Edward

if I win I will give $1 to everyone - Giulio Ardoino

great idea, Robert! hope i'll win it.. i'll pay for my flight ticket, so i can finaly see you:) - Martin

Dear Robert, sağa sola para saçmak yerine gidip bi türkçe kursuna kaydolsanda türkçe öğrensen olmazmı? Hem bu yorumu anlardın bak ne güzel. Paran çoksa işe yarar bişeyler yap canım. - Ahmet Karaca

Robert! :) - Anıl Eren from fftogo

If I win, I will use them to finance my trip to L.A. next August. - Fabio Cristi

I'm in. - Tiziano Caviglia

Count me in. - Alexander Arsky

of course, I'm in. - Lorenzo

I'm in :). - Demircan Celebi

I'm in :) - Rıza Selçuk Saydam

Ecchime. :) - Maxime

I'll take "I'm a Nigerian Prince" for $1000, Alex, err, Robert.! - Kevin Leroux

I have some debts.... and I have 11 sons... 34 grandchildren... 22 dogs... 16 cats... and I am a liar... a neeedy liar :-(((((((:-D).... GIVE ME CASHSHSHSHSHSSH... Ah... Goodmorning Mr Scoble - Daniel

I'd invest the money to my wife's startup that she starts next month. She'll be working around social media, blogs, photography etc. :) - Jemm

if i win i will spend it for go usa this summer. absolutely i'll visit you also :) - haluk

send all the money to germany :D - Carsten

whee! I'd use it to open my deli :) I see free lunches in your future *laughing* hell, I'd even dedicate a booth to you.. with a cool plaque and everything! - russa

This is going to be the longest thread ever - Manuela

I hope the money goes to someone that really needs it - Kyle Weller

Love to know your motivation for doing this Robert. Social experiment? See what people will do for money? You have a financial backing in Friendfeed & are aiming to stimulate usage? Either way, if I win, please donate the money to your favourite charity - Lindsay Davies

if I win I'll make a gift to my girlfriend - Ciccsoft

yo free money? I'm in! - danslarue

I would give it to a friend who is unemployed; buy a new computer, smart shirt and tie, give him his dignity & confidence back. It saddens me to see so many friends hurting right now. - Sally Church

I'll use the money by not using it (well, except for that 4pt escape clause written down below in the yet-to-be written contract between me and Mr. Scoble about the prize) - Daniele V.

oh, WOW! - Viditu

This is the FriendFeed equivalent to leftover pizza in the breakroom. I could certainly use some $ right now. - Phillip

I'd prefer *earning* that money rather than just typing in something non-sense to anyone besides me... (please exclude my comment from the lottery) - Kaan Ertürk

if I win I'll make a gift to Lehman Brothers - azael ماسيمو

I'd rather type in nonsense, can I have Kaan's spot? - sofarsoShawn

awesome robert!! are you part of pres obama's stimulus package? LOL! hope i win the random $1000 contest =) - Melissa Solito

I'll stay tuned :P - Tiziano Tassi

In regards to the first prize, I'm in. - Armin Talic

crazy guy you are! "You're only given a little spark of madness. You mustn't lose it." (Robin Williams) - Johannan Edelman

@sofarsoshawn: LOL! (Opps another spot now.. who wants it? Maybe I can start another thread to give away my spots) - Kaan Ertürk

I'm in too ;) - saicharan123c

So. this is my comment: I would use the money to buy a ticket to fly over to meet you and discuss if I could support you as some kind of correspondent over here in Europe (I'm in Germany). - Till

In regards to the second prize, I'd like to use the money to buy my brother and sister their first macs. I grew up on encyclopedia britannica CDs on Windows 95, they deserve Wikipedia on a Mac. - Armin Talic

@danslarue, "free money" these two word combined are more powerful then a TNT, if you can conceive or even think a second about a concept of "free money" then implicitly agree with the concept of "free work" and beside voluntary work they call it salvation . - abdellah

I would use the $1750 in part to purchase some equipment for the part time photography business (about $500). The rest would go to 2 friends who are hurting right now with Flagler County, FL's unemployment rate at just over 14%. - Jay Caruso

strange that no one, think to reverse the money to the 43 startup!! boys oh boys buy some action some part of this 43 startup may be it will be worth million :) - abdellah

At first i thought i'd start a similar thread and give the money i win :-) but, here's the truth... I'd use the money to pay the next month of dev, working with a partner on our hope to be successful web service. I'm jobless 9 months now, 3 months since we started pushing the idea forward, all done @ home. Will use the most to pay my bills, with the rest i'll buy dinner for some of the homeless people i usually ignore. - Majento

i need a new macbook)) - pets

advertorial? - elifile

really? - Moses

gonna go to hollywood - Ozkan Altuner

With this money, I am plannig to start a new company that develops social media applications. So if I win, I can give a job to you :)) - Aydın Kayacık

the entire amount of money will be used to help the local communities in eastern congo and sustain conservation of the virunga national park in congo. if you prefere, you can do it right away without giving me the money, visit www.gorilla.cd/blog for a one-time donation / all donation are tracked and transparent :) - giulio

Brilliant idea and very noble of you, Scoble! (Sorry...I should leave the humor to my husband, who does a much better job!) LOL! I would use all the money to buy as many Radio Flyer kids wagons and send them out free to those that win a contest similar to this one! (I get them wholesale because I am an authorized dealer, so that would stretch the budget a bit more). - Pat Graham Block

I'd spend the money for future trips: I have ever wanted to see the milky way from the earth or see the Northern lights. But maybe, I could put the money aside and spend it for a parabolic flight when I have enough money (that's another lifelong dream). I would also love to go on safari in Africa and see all the amazing animals in the savanna. But maybe I should rent a car and feel the American dream at Route 66? Ah Robert, your money lottery helped my thinking about all my dreams again. Thanks! :) - Timo Heuer

I would use part of the money to donate to some podcasters or webcomic artists who are selling things on their website, like T-shirts, mugs and stuff like that. And buy a couple of domain names. Things I already do when tax return time comes, only this time more. - Derek Coward

Each post you make will promote this thread more and more thus decreasing the expected value, with this rate a post made a few hours from now will probably have an expected value of a few cents. This will be a very nice data . - Tuna

I need a new woman, please Robert choose me! - Francesco Marconi

cool :) I would use $1750 to buy cabinet-type gas-control point for cottage - Igor

! - Jens Christian Freund

I would spend the money of webhosting running free-of-charge computing services for open drug development (using open source utilities), such as used in Open Notebook Science and sorts. - Egon Willighagen

what's up. - pastas9

I think we will use the money to develop a desktop application for facebook very simple, actually, but that still does not exist in optimal form. I thought with a friend, but, since we are both students, we need a bit of $ $ $ to get technical advice from someone for some parts that relate to writing code (I study Marketing, and my friend is the final year of a degree in computer engineering). - Tiziano Tassi

Okey I give in. Scoble, finally you made me signup for friendfeed - shafiu

i'm in. also if this a psyco socialexperiment... - FedericaB.

hahah interesting to see anyways .. how many comments on the one thread - Terry O'Fee

Alright. This is my first entry. Chances are that I won't win....but it is exciting waiting to see if you do. :-) - Thebluestbutterfly

1) I'll spend the money to end my fear for airplane: so I can travel again. 2) i will organize a free public movie show here in Milano, all people sits in the night to watch the screen in the spring air - FedericaB.

@FedericaBellag, interesting :) and what if it is just a plain and simple contest? it may be more "word of mouth advertising" tracking experiment then psyco social one. (love the smile face) - abdellah

Who wouldn't want to join FF for $1000? - Samuel Driessen

I will use the money for paying up my college fees and taking up a course related to VOIP. People like Craig and Vincent of Grandcentral (which I use for 3 years almost), pat Phelan and more VOIP experts keep pushing me to do something great in that area. Also, great its open to any1 iin the world. Most competitions are US ONLY, which is something I HATE BIG TIME. I m in India Mr.... more... - Hardeep Singh Dang

@samuel, no the question is are FF team ready to pay $1000 for any on who join!!! - abdellah

@abdellah ok, let's be tracked then! that's my face at the office ;-) - FedericaB.

I will save the money. I'm an italian student studying abroad (Master in Digital Library), and those money could just be useful. They could be also a way to go in Jerusalem, following my girlfriend. Anyway, goo viral Scoble ;-) - Aubrey McFato

I bet half of the money, the prize goes to the 1000th commenter. - funkyboy from Posty

notice : the headline is "win my money" not "take my money", so we have to make effort, it is not a "free money" it is a make effort and win, so remember it is not "take my money" :) - abdellah

im in :) - shaff

money, money, money - Cengiz Çatalkaya

Adopt me Robert! - Özer (Wrzl) Dölekoğlu

It's so hard to see whole of the comments. 620 including me now. :) - Meriç Dağlı

I would get an iron if I have been searching some water in the desert and I would be the ass part of the Voltran, when we have been arising it.... bacause I am so unfortunate - Lokman Köroğlu

.oO(i SHOULD be able to get D90...) - browneyes

you wanna DDoS FriendFeed :). I will use the money for a ff-contest when i pay people for the best comment. obviusly you can partecipate and win back your money. :P - enzo zadrima

nice ;) - nicolatbr

Let's add a comment to this. - bnoise

I'll donate some charities with 750$ of it. Buy a macbook with 999$ it, and set up a " First commenters win the buck. " contest via friendfeed. :) - Meriç Dağlı

It shouldn't be about the money? What kind of game is it? We still need to wait Is it somehow related to SXSW? - Aziz

Sure do wish I could be there at #sxsw - Gil Rodriguez

Hi, with that sum I would probably take a chance to stop and take time to smell the roses, at least for a while. - ziomau

nice way to see if there's a limit on the number of comments a ff post could get.. - Nicola Maggi

I could qualify for the $1,000, but not the $1,750 as I have two jobs. The only basis I could see is for a complete donation to an organization helping out of work people. We have a food pantry here in Beverly Mass called Bootstraps and a women's shelter in Gloucester, Mass called Wellspring that both would know just where that money could be best used. - Martha

Damn... money can do anything... - Eyal Shahar

I'll be practical when I win the money and invest it in the future....my childrens' education! - Kevin Dugan

@Eyal no, you can't win a contest even if you give money :) money don't do anything ;) - abdellah

@nicolas interesting question, and what do you think? does a thread have a comment limit or no? it all depend on the limitation, will this run eternally?no so there is a number of comment that people will post here it is a kind of buzz after the momentum there will be no comment let say there will be 50000 comment, FF are able to store such data. - abdellah

So being completely unbiased, with little if any interest, if I were Robert Scoble, handsome fella, I'd give the money to whoever stated first they would buy a jet ski due to the fact they are super fun! Oh, who knew, that's me! - sofarsoShawn

Great...I was juts talking over in TechCrunch that Robert does not need luck in his new venture "Building 43" and not it seems I am the one that needs luck to win the $1000 ....:) Thanks Robert Joao/TechFuga - TechFuga

a little is better than none. :) - Geyik Mühendisi

Well I started reading this thread, but I got a 1/4 way through & gave up, >650 comments, that's got to be some kind of record. What post does have the highest number of comments? - Glenn Slaven

Interesting... I guess there's nothing to lose by trying - Adi Sheleg

Ok, can't hurt to put one's name into the "hat"...p.s. good luck dude on the new gig... will be following closely... thinking cloud myself :) - Michael Lehman

Hmmmm. That is my comment - Darrell Bell

Commenting away in the Great Scoble Sweepstakes. - Warner Crocker

With $1750 I would spend half to get to next years SXSW which I am missing this year :-(. and the other half I would spend on sponsoring a deluxe drop in-childcare at the Austin Convention Center for the parent bloggers. - Emee Pumarega

I'm in too:) I would use the money for keeping an exhibition - Nia

Comment! This is the Robert Scoble Stimulus Package - Kreg Steppe

Spinning the wheel. FF FTW ;) - Daniel Krech

10% to charities of my choice, the rest to pay bills and allow me to keep working in the nonprofit sector. I'm at that level where I still need to do outside consulting to come out ahead at the end of each month, and $1600 would give me 4 months where I wouldn't need to get a consulting gig (yep, the budget is that tight) - Jeff Stern

The 4 minihawks would like to donate to their california school district to help offset the 1.5mm cutbacks. - Mrsth

I'm in too! - LJ Kyser

Of course MRSTH could use an overdue marathon weekend away with Mr. Hawk. - Mrsth

I can promise nice pics? - Mrsth

I'm in... - Halil Ahmet ÇAKIR

This thread will explode in 3, 2, 1... - Marta

I can upgrade to a macpro by winning :-P - Richard A.

wow this is the most comments/likes i've seen! - andy brudtkuhl

If I won either sum of money, I'd probably put it toward buying some camera gear, like a Nikon D90 and another lens. I have a couple family events that I'll be taking pictures at, and it'd be nice to have a D90 for them. :) I could go for a D700, but the D90 has video, so that's why I prefer it right now. - Cheryl Jones

@Jason H - Whether or not either of us wins Robert's money, I have a timeshare near Disney that I haven't had the opportunity to use in the past few years. If you can get yourself airfare, a rental car and park tickets, I'll be happy to let you use the week, no charge to you. The dates are October 24-31, 2009. - Sally: gift wrapper

if i win the $1000 or $1750 i would donate it to charity:water or some other water based charity. clean water is the catalyst to healthier and smarter communities - Damian Holmes

what r we copying Ben Stein now? - clarke thomas

Congratulations to you and Rocky on the new gig. - Aron Michalski

With $1750 I'd give money to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, to help fund research for a cure and treatments so my mother and others with MS can have an improved quality of life. I'd also give money to the American Diabetes Association to help my father and others living with diabetes. I'd give some to @smallcanbebig to help needy families locally (Boston) and hope to have enough left over to take my son to visit his grandparents in FL. He's 6 mos. and they've only seen him once, at Christmas. - Sally: gift wrapper

Robert, I want your money. Do I have to work for it? - Aidha

I'm in. I wanne buy ı mac pro. - Rıza Selçuk Saydam

I'm in robert! - Junal Rahman

on that money is the side of the monte man. what's this it :) scoble iki dakka delikanlı ol lan paran fazlaysa git yardım kuruluşlarına, özürlüler, kimsesiz çocuklara ver mngoduum kapitalist pçleri. - Volkan Yılmaz ٩(●̮̮̃•̃)۶

hehe :P - Geyik Mühendisi

Yes please. The odds are way better here than playing the lotto - Christian Burns

I can't wait to see the effect of putting my name on this illustrious list of luminaries - David Gallagher

that's a smart way to get attention :) - PaperDoll

With USD1750 I could finally prove that friendfeed is not a complete waste of time... - Morten Josefsen

I would probably go for a D90 :-) - Nils Sandin

if you come to shanghai/China, we can have a dinner and go to bar :) - 赛林（土耳其）

I enter not because I need the money (I'd give it away too) but because me entering slightly reduces all of the rest of your chances to win. MUAHAHAHAHA - Nate True

My Scoble $1750 stimulus package spending plan: Give my son (the struggling Mac/iphone developer) $1,000 in "angel funding", get a Drobo ($500), and put $250 in my Grandson's (future Mac) savings account. - Al Degutis

Just for fun :) - Hassan

Pick me, pick me, pick me for the $1000 giveaway (if you don't pick me for the $1750 Scoble Stimulus). - Al Degutis

more people should do this. Many people or businesses could afford to give $1,000 - Lady Lovely Heart

i would donate some of it maybe half to a local worthy charity, the rest would go into a fund that would be used to encourage this type of activity. Conversation building, with the right questions a lot of solutions can be found by crowds - Tweet Feeds

My intent for the big prize would be to replace windows in my home with energy efficient ones. the ones in the house now are cracked from the house settling. they are the original 1959 windows, and they rattle every time a plane goes over the house. very distracting when we are trying to concentrate or stay warm - Lady Lovely Heart

I can haz money? - Bryan R. Adams

Big money. No whammies. STOP. | I would use the winnings towards upgrading my equipment (Mac Pro) since my current setup is pretty bad for video. I would sell my current MBP (2006 First Gen) and use the proceeds towards the new machine. I would pump out twice as much HD content with better equipment. Thanks for all you do Robert..I know whoever wins will make the best out of the cash. - Bwana ☠

Take my husband to the Grand Canyon for that honeymoon we never had--that's what I'd do with some extra cash. - joansjewels

I agree, nice way to get people engaged. - Gary Gifford Jr from Nambu

Show me the money! :) - Ale♫nastrorosa

actually, I don't want your money - Manuela

That's quite ingenious =) - Irrational homeophobe

I'd buy a laptop so that I don't have to wait for the missus to get off the ruddy computer and let me have my go on it!!! - Andy

a nice way to test the limits of commenting feature on a bunch of real people just for US$1000. - 9000

I will use the money to buy $1 stocks in companies that will re-bound or will be more successful in the next 2-5 years due to the ongoing financial crisis. My choice will be guided by those companies that care, share and have flare for others...a community stimulus...hope others will join and build what the "financiers" could not. - Gordon Montgomery

It seems too easy, but.. here ya go! - Scott Breakall

You'll be my best crazy friend! *LOL* - Andrea Spedale

1. Cool 2. Travel for VC meetings so I can finally provide some solutions for RSS that we argued/discussed 2 years ago (delivery of premium content possibly over open channels) - Andy Beard

Random comment left. - domizianogalia

here I am :) - Fran

Yo Robert, did you give it away yet? Here's my chance to win! ;^) - Michael Bailey

@manuela, but personally I want more comment from you. - abdellah

awesome idea. by the way, how goes life without diet coke? - tracy

I'd use it to help an independent artist with their career. Rentals for video equip on shows and music videos with stories that would otherwise remain untold. - Frank Jonen

I'm in - Lucas Araujo from twhirl

I refuse to comment in this thread. - Akiva Moskovitz

How can I win? - Gloria Gordon

Woah! So is this part of the Scoble Stimulus plan? Anyways, if by some chance I did win the money I would use either towards moving out of my parents house later this year or put it towards my student loans. - Mathew™ one of a kind

@Akiva you also deserve to win., I insist please comment this thread please. - abdellah

If I lay my hands on this prize, I'll spent a night playing blackjack surrounded by hookers. I'd also buy a new Palm that Robert recommended lately and spend the remaining amount for ScienceDirect and Jstore subscriptions. - Alan Kodzasov

I'd use the money to go to Korea. - Mark Woodson

I would use the money to fix the economy. - Andy Bakun

Andy: you get it right, please fix that economy. - abdellah

Its enough to buy one toliet seat for the government :) - Roberto Bonini

Robert could fund nails and shingles for building a small seminar facility in the Adirondack State Park. - Jeff Archambeault

With $1750 I would buy a lot of toys for the baby we are waiting.... - roberto ferorelli

I count at least 6 references to "donate to kiva.org" so far. Pretty cool. That is what I was going to write, but looks like many other's beat me to it. But hell... If I got it, I would donate to Kiva.org. :) (make it 7 now). - Shannon Bauman

JET SKI! - sofarsoShawn

Sounds like a great idea. - Tyson Key

awesome idea. - Jessie

Give me $10,000 in unmarked bills or I tell Maryam your giving away $4800. - shelisrael1

joy and joyness! - Jenn Castro

Nothing special here, just want to pay some outstanding bills and get supplies for my 3mth old =) - Mat Finch

Quickly put in a reply while thinking about a smug way of spending 1.750... - Stefan Kolle

Yeah, I think I'll stick with the Kiva donation too. I'm pretty prolific there (a true believer), and have about that amount outstanding in loans, so the chance to double my Kiva loans in one go would be outstanding. - Stefan Kolle

is this gonna have like 1000+ comments? - Jorge Murillo

I'm bummed I couldn't get to SXSWi so I came to Robert's ATM machine instead. :) - Laura Zickus

in. - Richard Lawler

No comment :-P - Richard A.

Bump! - Tyson Key

I'd love to say I'd do something altruistic with the money, but I'd invest it all in my startup (we're doing cool things with information and emotions online). In this economy every little helps :-) - jennielees

Out - Roberto Bonini

Awesome. Looking forward to what's next. - Andy Sternberg from fftogo

Yay, the Scobleizer Grand Prize Giveaway- Still more chances than the National Lottery! - Tyson Key

FriendFeed Scales! - Tyson Key

with $1,750, I would I would set up 7 performance art / photoshoots uptown here in Charlotte in the center of Bank Town at lunch time, wordlessly demonstrating some of the problems (as I see them) with our current corporate culture. I have the first one of these ready to go but don't the cash to set up the others (yet). If I only got the free $1000, I would buy some more studio lighting equipment (much to the chagrin of my roomy). - Shannon J Hager

Why? Why? Why? - Ashish Rangole

in - Roozbeh

Bella idea! :) - Daniele Aprile

It just goes to show you can't be too careful! - Timothy Griffin

with $ 1.750 I would buy a laptop + microphone + router for my parish and start broadcasting with kids. - Astrid Virili

Hey Robert, I think this is the most commented entry on Friendfeed. btw I don't want your money :) Cheers - cihanergur

just testing my luck :) - Deniz (bluesign) Edincik

sure, I'll play. as for how I'd use the money, I'd probably use it to help offset the cost of my lasik surgery. - chrisofspades

I would use the money to fund my own open source development work (within the php symfony framework) as well as supplement my wife's pending maternity leave. Realtors don't get paid maternity leave... Thanks! - Jon Issler

Scoble rocks, count me in! - Chris Pugh

I would use the money to assist my parents in their move back home closer to the adult children. They are currently existing on 18k a year, their Medicare and Secondary insurance cost them 10k. It would help buy their medications. - Janet

I'm sure that there are a lot of deserving people who need this money so best of luck to all. I would give this $ to my mother who had to sell her business after working so hard, cause she was diagnosed with lung cancer. Now she has to work for someone part time cause still sick, husband laid off in Florida, trying to pay off house, med bills, prescrip, barely making it & gov't no help cause not appv'd for Medicare cause married, what? so considering divorce just to afford medical bills & mortgage. - M.E. - monica Edwards

Here's my comment! I'll take my chances. I'm a poor college grad, I could sure use the cash. - Jessica

I've blocked u, so if u wanna get back on my list....:) - Koba Yaschi

This is really good. I'll buy a Nintendo Wii. :) Thx. - marrup -serkan-

I hope people that REALLY need it win ,,, good luck on the Contest Rob .. - johnpiercy

This has to be the most commented thread in FriendFeed. - Nicholas James

Here's the rundown with what I'd do with $1750: I want to do a Power Rangers fan film. No joke. Stop laughing. No really, you can stop now. Power Rangers has been on the air for the past 17 seasons, and it's finally getting canceled. This has inspired me to shoot a film short inspired by the show I grew up with. The $1750 will be invested to bump it up to looking professional. Scoble can be the Executive Producer! Don't pass up on that chance. Ok, you can stop laughing now, lol. - Lisa J

I want money - Tyler (Chacha)

Tuition for 2010 Iowa Summer Writing Festival courses, at Iowa Writers' Workshop. - Paola Bonomo

It would go into the funds I am raising to start a new print venture, tbnl, which will publish great, timeless stories (fiction & nonfiction) in a limited edition (subscriber only edition), a print-on-demand edition available for years and a digital ebook reader. Paying writers & artists on an ongoing, fair basis - Shannon Clark

I'd love to have some Scoble Dollars. They'd help fund my exit from technology to academia. - Tom Morris

Hi Robert, Congrats on new opportunity with bldg 43 Can I share your money with my 18 month old daughter AKA the Joy transmitter or perhaps I could drop it form the sky with my tandem paraglider over the Microsoft campus... - John Clifford

It's impossible not to comment - although if it wasn't Scoble saying this, I wouldnt bother to be honest, as I'd suspect a con ... - Ian

760 comments and counting... - Mike Doeff

I guess a SECOND MacBook would be nice… - Alexandre Testu

Is it for VAT? - Onur ALMIŞLAR

I'd use the money to buy crack. I mean books for children. Oh, wait, it's random... - Jules Morgan

Wow! I think I would invest them for developing an iPhone application - Nicholas

Hi Robert, my first comment on friendfeed, I couldn't resist the chance. You do know that Tuesday is St. Patrick's Day - I'll buy you a leprechaun hat from the parade in Dublin to celebrate! - Niall Sisson

Leaving Comment here. Hope it finds a good home. I would use the money to start a shelter for lost comments. - Joe K

No 419 scammers yet? ;) - Tyson Key

Mmmm... Money! €_€ - Kristian Salonen

Great! As this 'WTF' crisis in Madagascar is causing everything to be sooo difficult now! - Thierry R. Andriamirado

better try... - 252525

That's like a lottery :) I'm in ! - gareth【ツ】

I would put together a new computer, like to see BOINC running on a quad core. - Willem (@wim66) ☠

I'm in. Getting married next month and need the cash! - Nation Hahn

Great way to engage Robert! - Sampad Swain

I'm here! And I'd like to switch from PC to Mac... :D - Giovy

Hi Robert, this is very generous of you, thank you! I've been unemployed since last April so I could use the money for rent, food, bills, etc. I wish I could buy a nice little netbook with the money but maybe once I'm back on my feet I can make that happen. In the meantime, thanks for being so considerate to your readers! Best of luck with the new venture too. - Andy

Rackspace customer and big fan... Looking forward to this new venture! - Charlie Nichols Browning

Surprised you have fallen as low as this Robert. Still, been there and done that before so best of luck and best wishes with Rackspace. - Paul Fabretti

Um, awesome. - Nick Humphries

count me in - Edward Kimble

If I win, will post about the same in my blog and you'll be famous in India too (if you're not, that is). BTW your fan following can add upto 45 million Indian internet users (Smirk!). Now how about that Mr. Scoble? Game for it....Oh man, this is quirky fun! Keep up the good work Robert :) - Sampad Swain

I would use the money to fix _my_ economy. And by my economy, I mean I'd blow it all on strippers and blow. - Jon Ursenbach

The amount of comments in here is insane. What's the record for the FF entry with the most amount of comments ever? Because this one feels like a winner. - Brad Butner from twhirl

you lucky! in Italy we can's setup a contest like that one easily and free, we have to pay taxes :( - Maurizio ㊍ Mazzanti

If I won $1000, it would go to my first Mac since a Mac+ ! - Steve Ellwood

am still undecided on your real motive...... but then again, pecunia non olet..... ;) - denise

787 comments ?? wow!! Scoble u are the Brad Pitt of friendfeed... anyone else see the physical resemblence? - Cody Heitschmidt

Um, no, I don't Cody. Sorry. Scoble is taller. - Roberto Bonini

just leave a comment. well her's mine - Rachel Clarke

well its not identical I know Scoble is a little taller, but other than that Anfgelina could easily confuse the 2. - Cody Heitschmidt

I'm in! - «Weird & Sons»

eh what the heck, im in :) - ralphsaunders

This is interesting, but too many comments to read unfortunately. - Mitch

Sure, Robert. I'll take your money! Can never have too much! ;) - MVB (Grinch of FF)

Simulate me, Scoble! - Robert Owens

That would be awesome, I could put the $$ towards my vacation to Kauai in August. Thanks Scoble, I promise to provide you photos from the vacation PF. - Pentaxfan

I'm bending the corner of my comment so it sticks out - Just Ken

pick me! Pick me! :) - Dania

This is great.. thanks Robert! =) - Timo Ukkola

I'm accepting anyone giving money. Details to come. - Terence

I'll buy whatever Apple is developing with that rumored 10 inch multitouch display.. - Peter

too much comments..pick me! - Magari sul Tardi

. - Smeerch

Jet ski, I need one - sofarsoShawn

... - Barbara-BlackCat

If I win this thing, I'll be most hated person on FF. god help me!. - Ozan Caglargil

For a small advance fee, I can take part... - Gordon Joly

i'm in, too.. - Sercan YILMAZ

You're not really going to write down all these names & pull them out of a hat are you? - Mrsth

I'll need a credit card that got no limit-cuz we all just want to be rock stars - Mrsth

Mrsth: I bet he'll find a script somewhere to pull all the usernames into a file, as only Scoble could do. :) Any amount of money would likely go towards my photography business, should I be chosen to win... it would be fun to put a portion of it towards prizes for the photowalks I'll be starting this summer in northern Vermont for area photographers and enthusiasts. - Bob M. Montgomery

Are you trying to create "the most commented thread" on friendfeed? Here's my comment however: what will I do with my 1750$? Probably I'll use them as a "microfound" for a webapp I'm thinking to... :P - Napolux from twhirl

814th post! - Tyson Key

I like free money. Was it already given away? - elroy

I'd like to say that I'd do something noble should I win but there's no nobility in ordering cases of wine and giving my liver a good workout. Plenty of enjoyment, though. - Mark H

I'm in! :) - Vlad Rafeyev

I would use it to not have an excuse for not recording my album. That is to say after 15 years of putting it off, I would stop procrastinating. - Vicky

wow for real? thats insane - ralphsaunders

I'm in and I'd probably put the money towards building my deck (not super exciting but still...) - Trevor

Starting to think I should post a reason why I want it... - ralphsaunders

I'm in! And I would use the money to buy my mom a present. She just turned 52 :) - Alex Kapranoff

I'm working on a funding for a research application for a semantic web project that I hope will become the next big thing (one of the next big things, anyway). If I succeed, you'll be the first person I ask to cover it! - Sam Kuper

Money, money, money, money ... MONEY! - Great Scott!

You guys do know that Scoble is essentially bribeing you to comment here? Large carrot and a small stick. - Roberto Bonini

Didn't stop you did it? - ralphsaunders

LOL. In my defense, I was performing a public service. *ducks* - Roberto Bonini

Hey I'm in. Is this the most commented entry in the whole of FriendFeed? I'm guessing that it will be. Anyone know what the previous record was? - Peter Kelley

I'd use the money to help get my wife's specialty dessert company off the ground: www.thesweettreatcompany.com - Michael Listberger

Can't wait to win your money... I'd use it to pay for some much needed camera gear and the rest of it to plan a trip to a city I've never been before so I could photograph it. I would love to be able to do something with photography, but it's tough working full time and going to grad school at night, all on my own dime. I don't have it as rough some people, but I've had to earn everything I have so I make no apologies for it. - Michael

Good luck sorting thru the 800+ comments :) If I won the money, I would repeat your experiment and give it all away (though I'm sure I would get no where near as many entrants as you) (P.S. It's not that I couldn't use the money, but I think it would feel good to help someone who needs it more than me). Good luck everyone! - Helen Hoefele

He won't notice if I comment twice, right? ;) Nah, I don't do that. But, holy crap! This is a lot of comments! - Mike Nayyar

now i'm not the only person on friendfeed who hasnt commented on this post!!! - sam from twhirl

I sure could use $1000. Would go straight to funding Taskerrific. $1750 would be even better, because I could get a new computer and a year's hosting, based on my current estimates. - Chris, Taskerrific Guy

I would use the money to fund my plastic drumming addiction. Hellooo pro drum set hacked to play Rock Band! - Chieze Okoye

So I wonder how many comments a FF post can handle? - gfurry

I would use the money to pay my taxes so the needy executives will still be able to get their bonuses this year. - gfurry

Hey Robert. Hard to say the best way to spend it without doing too much work to make it be most useful, but if it could be used to do something radical with what is going on with the Fed, I'm sure you know that Ron has a bill in Congress to Audit the Fed. Very soon things are gonna be way worse for us on this planet if things are not done to stop the insane people from making some really bad choices. So the money should go to someone willing to do something really radical to save our country from ending. - mikehedge

I would donate all the money to UNICEF and Kiva. - Jess Lee

Weird. I was just thinking about how I needed about $1750 in ones to sew together and waterproof in an effort to make myself an umbrella top to fix the one I ripped yesterday. So...yes, that's what I'll do with it. I'll even give you a free picture of it in exchange for your dollars! (Leftovers will be donated to credit card debt. :( ) - Brett

I would use the money to help pay for the permits I'll need to get a pet monkey for my internet video show. - Davis Freeberg

I'd start a community for my career, regulatory compliance in biomedical research. Right now there is not an effective way for my counterparts at universities, biotechs, government labs, private labs to communicate quickly and effectively. The result of this is organizations world wide continually reinvent the wheel. I'd like to create an up to date community with high traffic, and the ability to share files, policies, forms, etc. The project will go foward w/o the money, just more slowly. - Matthew DeVries

what is going on here? - potatohai

mortgage and beer, yo! - Adrian

I'll put the money into microlending; a good social/economic ROI. - Phil Wolff

I want to say something conservative like pay down my debt or put it in the kids college fund, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say that I would use the money to buy myself a bass guitar. Just something I've been wanting but don't have the discretionary income to afford it. - Eugene Huo

850+ Comments? That has to be some sort of record for friendfeed in just over 24 hours. - WiseYoda (aka Patrick)

Win money? Count Me IN! - Dave

I want to win money! - Matt Bebich

hi Robert Scoble :D yeah count me in! - OmniDragon

$4500 closer for next TED. Plenty of time to work on the invitation! jgx - Jennifer Green

Bring it on! Love your feed from SxSW! Now, send me the money! - Gene

OH good money for college... or to buy a new computer... - Laaabaseball

I want to win so that I can buy me a Macintosh,so count me in. - frank harvey

Hey, Rob help a sista out! Give me da money! - Jackie

saw you on Chris's live stream @ SxSW...free money count me in! - Jason

Money rocks - Shawn Farner

If I won $4500, I would install central heat and air in my house. You would make my life so much happier! - Auriette Lindsey

$1,750 would go to the nonprofit volunteer org I'm trying to get off the ground :P - Shawn Farner

Diapers for Newborns. $1750 split evenly to the most socially active on http://bebepool.com (my free web service enabling expectant parents to run their own baby pool contest). Most active meaning the 10 pools with the most participant guess entries Jan-Feb. I will paypal $175 to each winner and blog the results inclusive of the funds origin & any statements from the families impacted. I've seen the bebepool community show their own generosity (http://burnurl.com/YvHNL0 ), so would love to full circle it. - Micah Wittman

If I won the money, I'd give all of it back to you. Of course, I'd charge 100% interest. :P - Matthew Agra

Scoble the human Roulette wheel. - Rob

wow. must be the post with the most comments i've seen on friendfeed so far. - simonpure

With 1750 I'd do the ever boring "keep paying off the wife and I's credit cards" - Steve Boerner

Any and all the money I win will go for building this charity app we are planning. Every cent spent will be accounted for and would be posted on a web site (TBD). Additionally, we will be spending our own money and time on this. @scobleizer, please ping me if you would like more details. - Ashish Rangole

lame - Raphael, Raphael

Behold, my comment. Hi Robert, I saw you at SxSW. - Michael Lee Wise

I'd put up the first Bldg 43 Billboard - http://tinyurl.com/1750-00 - Rob

Tipjoy $1 each to the first 1,000 or 1,750 (depending on prize) commentors in this thread who have a Twitter account. - Hao Chen

With $1750, I'd put up another "Win my money" post on FriendFeed, and see if people bite more or less than for your money. And then figure out why they liked your money more (social-networking experiment 2.0). - Ivan Zuzak

Robert kardes kusura bakma Ingilizcem iyi degil. 1750 gaymeyi bana verirsen sirket acarken kullanacagim. toparlarsak : $1750 + 10 000tl = design company :) - Uur

Interesting. :) /sits down and waits - PiDave

Emergency is an independent, neutral and non-political Italian organization, provides free, high quality medical and surgical treatment to the civilian victims of war, landmines and poverty. http://www.emergency.it/index... - Cristian Conti

If i won the money, I will write a easy to use friendfeed app for iphone :) - cem

very cool idea - Kate

$1750= Paying off my medical bills... no, not enough. Gas, food, rent... mmm, scratch that. Funding my craving for more, new camera equipment.... perfect. You, rightly feeling good for what you want to do,... priceless. - Kate

Here I am ! Only a comment ? - neurinux

I'm going to become father for the second time ! I'll use this money to search a new house whith more than 2 rooms ! - neurinux

mi piegherò al Dio denaro, ma almeno lo farò nella mia lingua madre :) - Tambu from twhirl

I will use the money to put towards a deposit on a flat. Currently I am living between my parents and my partner and daughters. I have two children from a previous relationship so will use the money for a deposit on a place which is central to both location - Joe Dawson

I'll use the money for a much needed, long overdue, 2 month break and go to India to relax from this hectic world… - Adi Sheleg

hard to win easy to spend. - ismail ünal

Scoble, fund me a startup! - Toni @ NavinoT

i'll use the money to get out of this place and start running my own business - Claudia

I'll fund prototype of my p2p language learning startup - Artyom

In case I win, I'll upgrade my networking status to "notworking" status. At least for a month. During that time, I'll have more time to make blog posts and enlighten self taught musicians and producers who are fighting to make music in their bedrooms. And I will buy some cookies for myself, in case I forget to eat - ilter

I'll get a haircut, and get a real job. - Adrian

Comment #895 - Anthony K. Valley ©

I would donate the money to Warchild.com, whose cause is to give children in war zones around the world a peaceful future. - Alexander van Elsas

lascio un inutile commento pure io - Adamo Lanna

Sei un chiattone, bob. Simpatico, però. - jokerulez

Considering some people worrying about taxes, I'd just like to state that up here in Canada, lottery and contest winnings are not taxed. At all. - Chris, Taskerrific Guy

Sorry, I don't want money, we've got too much ! - Benoit Bourdin

Benoit: I'd be happy to help you get rid of some of your surplus, if that's really the case. ;) - Chris, Taskerrific Guy

In response to happyseaurchin's question above, I propose tiprojx http://tiprojx.wordpress.com/ ... If anyone reading this who has a twitter account tweets an idea for a (social change) project with one or more of the hashtags #tipme #tipshare #tiptodo #tipif ... a whole lot of new projects have the potential to 1. gain crowdsourced funding and 2. be collaboratively refined in the process. I'll split the money between my favourite tagged ideas posted before midday (GMT) next Tues 24 March. - Hannah Lewis

If I won $1750, I'd use the money to hire a local (Austin) freelance UI/dev to help me finish my social sports service (commi.sh) and pay for hosting for a year while we grow it. - Carter Rabasa

OMG. Robert Scoble jumps into "paid per comment". This is the end. My only friend, the end. - Davide Pozzi

ok, this is definitely a test for building43.com. does friendfeed run on rackspace? Rob, you trying a massive test of comments or live commentary, or something like that. i can bet you're analyzing this data on rackspace. you're making the new friendfeed search of organized live conversations/streams. - Reji

did i win? lol - Ivan Stegic

Another social experiment?!? Sure, I'm in for a little bailout money!!!! - Ferwin from Nambu

If I win I will hire someone to keep track of these little contests ppl like Scoble play from time to time.(since this kinda contests will be the newest #trend from now on) - Manoj

Comment 909 and counting. New pool ~ When will Robert break his own record. - Russellreno

910! - Tyson Key

Will Tomorrow be my Lucky Day? I will buy $1750 dollars of PowerBall tickets and then give 90% of the winnings to help feed children in Africa. - David Clements

This money could really help me in my current situation. Unfortunately I recently had a tumour removed from my bladder, which has really turned my life upside down. Overall, this has resulted in me having to miss and therefore finance two extra years at University. I’m currently 21 and studying BA Hons Economics at Newcastle University, England. I’m pleased to say that my health seems... more... - Daniel Rowley

Very funny! :D Did I win something??? :D - Matte

ain future economic prosperity! I would also donate $250 to Malaria No More: http://www.malarianomore.org/.... Thank you for the opportunity. - Daniel Rowley

wow..If I win I will buy a bike.. and travel around India... God bless me!! - sirishkumar

My dog needs a new leg. Thanks! CP - gimiento

If I win I will buy a ticket to SxSW next year and watch Scoble get totally wasted and take pics of legs with his camera... - Ross

Pick me, pick me. - Amit Morson

As for the $1,750 - I will donate it to the first children related cherish organization that approaches me. - Amit Morson

Hello World - Pierre Beugnot

With $1,750 I would be able to afford the flight back to Austria and support my dad who has to undergo his 3rd surgery and eventually also the 4th. - Verena Fuchs

I would sell it! =) honor would be enough for me... - Goktug Gedik

I would use the money to purchase a head stone for my mothers grave. - Ardail Smith

i would use the money for a long hot summer :) - Samuel Kreuzer

I'd buy $1,750 worth of green energy stocks, most probably geothermal - Fabio

Robert - I would use the money to buy good microphones to make an internet video series about Nerd Revolt. http://www.numeriklab.com/2009... I would then use them to document the 2009 Decibel Festival in September: http://dbfestival.com After that, who knows - but I promise to come up with something good! You can't document musicians without good sound :) Thank you, Erica - Erica Toelle

I would use the money to pay my out-of-state tuition! - Kevin Mohr

i would like it in a brief case... small unmarked bills please - ray parisi

I'd use $1750 towards a down payment for a first home. My wife and I recently had a son, and our apartment is shrinking at an alarming rate. - Chris Heald

i'll be a materialistic bastard. i'd pay my bills while still trying to search for a job in this life sucking, non-forgiving city. yup. that's what i would do. ramen noodles are no fun when you're not in college... - ultimate_loser

if i win this money i'll use to buy some equipments for the university, but not only for me. i'll buy two computers, one printer, and so we can do our university newspaper. this money will be a contribute for the free press, in a nation like italy, where every voice is subdued to the power. give us a chance! - Riccardo

Leave a comment here, and I can win. Ok, done. What's next? There's something about a second way to win, that looks like I need to state what I'd use the money for. Simple: to continue to make uplifting films, like I did this year for the 168 Project. Need to make a few payments still. The rest will go towards next year's film. - Mike Shields

Way too easy ;) - Gregg Wenger

I'd put it towards a computer and software I need for my new small business I'm setting up after 4 years off work with a broken back - Rob Bell

Mee Two :) , i'll use it for world Piece - Chirag Chamoli

Mike: watch http://www.ustream.tv/studio at about 4 p.m. today (Austin Time, which is about 2 p.m. Pacific Time) and we'll pick the winners live on that show. - Robert Scoble

I'd like to join this competition to make a chance for the money for my new developing start-up. Could use it for sure, development is costy these days! - Coen Jacobs

I'd use the money to pay for an artist to help me out on a Palm Pre/Windows Mobile app that I'm working on. - Alastair Maggs

If I won the money I would book one of those super cheap round trip tickets to Australia from LA (currently $598 RT) and then use my Flip camera to videotape people I met and ask them what they give thanks for (see http://givethanks.tv) I would also donate 5% of my winnings to my friend Hollis (http://friendsofhollis.com) who was in a bad accident last month. Her medical bills are mounting. Oh, and while I'm in Australia I'd ask people what they thought of Scoble. - TanjaB

Robert, great gesture! I would give all of the $ on your behalf to this worthy cause: http://friendfeed.com/e... - B2B Specialist

Took the challenge. Opened account from my couch with iPhone. Curious to get the rest of the story. - Georgiana Dearing

Generating metrics I presume Mr Scoble? - Stefan Szo

OK heres my comment! - Randy

OK, first the 'leave a comment here' bit - here it is. As to what I'd do with the money, my wife has been made redundant and two days later someone crashed into my car while it was parked - so I guess I'd put it towards replacing the car and rebuilding our lives. Actually that sounds a little melodramatic, it's only a car, but it would be useful. Unless of course UK residents aren't eligible for this in which case I guess I'll just sit at home and sulk! - Guy Clapperton

I'll switch SocialToo from Amazon EC2 to Rackspace if I win - Jesse Stay

Win money? No, thanks. but I DO wanna earn your money :). Send details to onno@media44.nl or visit http://www.media44.nl - MEDIAFORCE

$1750? My answer is simple. I would use it to help fund our movie. To purchase wanted equipment, better food for cast/crew, throw an awesome wrap party. Then, if we had any left over, we would use it towards our next movie. Also, you would get a free copy (format of your choice) and an Executive Producer credit. It'll be on IMDB and everything! This could be an awesome help for a trio of tired, driven, motivated filmmakers who want to change the game for movie-making. - Anthony Thompson

I would spend $1,750 on a iPhone App using fbConnect for my financial services startup which I otherwise wouldn't allocate a budget for. - Abhimanyu Chirimar

Gosh, there are a lot of comments. Is this a FF stress test? - Morton Swimmer

I'm in! - Simon Holliday

I would use the money for development of gCaptain 2.0 with the goal of dethroning the oldest magazine in continuous print, Lloyds List, from the maritime news sphere of influence. - gCaptain

I will hire a scholar to make my research few hours a day so I can follow your tweets!!! :D - Jesús

I'm in, what would I do with the money? well, I'm a teenager from Cairo, Egypt, and I plan to start podcasting during my vacation "first video podcast in Egypt" and work on my blog, I don't have enough money to buy an HD camcorder so I would use the money to buy that and get a domain name for my blog and go pro, and if there is enough money I would buy an iPhone. - Ahmed

I'd take the family out for a meal at the Gaucho grill http://tinyurl.com/3pc8ur - mike williams

I would give the money to this young man in his fight against hodgkins lymphoma. He is the nephew of my daughter's preschool teacher and I would do anything to help him out, but we don't have much. As a former soccer player, current coach and human being... my heart goes out to him and his family. Anything would help. http://tinyurl.com/cch2uy - Jason

Not yet in the position to give like you give, I do what I can. Giving spirits garner unselfish hearts! - http://budurl.com/ynkm - Carlo At Your Service

This is the most epic thread ever, i put off replying all weekend but i think its about time i joined in. I think if i won i'd propose to my girlfriend because id be able to afford a ring! Or, we'd go on a nice much needed holiday. - Simon Wicks

I'd give the money to Daniel Rowley (comment above). Seems like he has a genuine need. - Dustin Curtis

Interesting (and a few not so) comments. Most people are here for the easy money, leaving a random comment and then closing a tab. No blame here, since it's the rule of the game. Do you know that in order to permanently change the world you just need just a little bit compared to the big picture to get you over that hard to reach top? Well, that's what I would use it for, to get that jolt, break the barriers and climb over that first, impossible top. - Lorand R. Minyo

hey! easy game Mr Scoble :) I'm here :D - Guillaume

What a cool idea. I would definitely use the money towards taking another class. Assembly? Lernin is espensive. - sarajchipps@gmail.com

I'm in too - Judging by the entrants, I'll have better odds on winning the lottery - Shaf

I'll donate the money to AIG executives. - Filipe Marques

I would use the money to bid on Gaius Baltar's Robes at the Battlestar Galactica Auction in May. Those costumes get pretty pricy! ~Matt http://BSGcast.com - Matt

I'd use to money to stimulate the US economy by buying all your stuff - Magnus

I'd pay the 4000 I owe in tuition. I've paid off all but this last bit, so it'd be my first move. Still looking for a job... - Linda Margaret

I liked that :) - MobilAdam

I would use the money to buy a laptop. I bought one in December and was getting a friend from the US to bring it to me (I was in Dubai). The laptop was stolen from her luggage at JFK and I got no compensation. I was out 1500$, laptopless, and highly depressed because the euphoria of getting a new laptop was not realized. - Bhavishya Kanjhan

If I win the money - its going straight to helping my startup - creately.com get to Public Beta. We're so close and every cent counts! - Charanjit

Good way of generating a lot of comments :-) I'd use the money for reducing some debts... - Diego Zamboni

Whoaaaa, there. $4,500? Really? Boy am I glad I follow you on Twitter. Since when does money grow on tweets? If I ever had the good fortune of being plucked out of a hat, I'd spend all of it on the tuition bills that have racked up in my family name (mother, brother y yo). - amira

I'll make a social network for BitTorrent. - KN

Hm. Maybe I spend it on a Nikon D90 or a camcorder. - Stefan Michel

Money is the root of all evil, they use to say. But it can blossom into good things. - Nick Palffy

I would use the money to update my photography equipment and software. This would update my pet photography as needed - Randy Nacol

I am in - Bronchart

I would use the money to get my girlfriend @Tatty, who I met on Twitter, from Norway to the US so we can start living happily ever after. :) - Foul Bastard

Pay off the credit card and get a return airfare to the USA from Sydney! - Nathan Davies

Sounds crazy but why not :-) - Cyril Hanquez

I need 980 dollars to go to school to be a cheesemonger. So tired of waiting tables and am ready to pursue something I am passionate about. - Miles Laird

I'd use the money to take some time off with my daughter... - Fredrik Wennberg from twhirl

I'm saving to buy my first house later this year and working to start my freelance design business. - john

$1750...I would use them for a wonderful trip to San Francisco! Plane tickets from France and visit of the best web start-up / companies :) Enjoy!! - Guillaume

I'd have to assume I'd use the money to buy a Nikon D90, then hunt you down to thank you and take your picture with it. - Richard Finucane

How can I mute this thread? - Richard A.

I'll use it as a "Pay It Forward Ponzi Scheme" (In these crazy Maddoff days, it's about time we revert the wheel.) - Vivian Cohen- Leisorek

Hi Robert! I would use the money to put into a bank account. I will become a daddy within the next weeks and this would a be a 'scolar fund' for my first kid! - Bas van Breugel

Count me in. $1750 would go to the IWK Children's Hospital for Xboxes and Wiis. - M Langille

Great idea-- and I'd use the money to create workshops to bring younger and older gay men together to discuss the history of the AIDS epidemic in Philly. http://gayhistory.wikispaces.com - Chris Bartlett

What am I going to do with the $1750? I will reveal that secret in my second comment :) - Bari Hossain

Great idea Robert. I'd do four things: I'd pay for a ESPN360 season and play-off pass to watch NHL games over here in Europe. Then I'd hire a graphics designer to redo http://www.speakingenglishpodcast.com to have it not only appeal to learners but also sponsors. Third, I'd take my wife out to dinner and fourth I'd give the rest back to you - I wouldn't need it all and you have a family, too. - Sebastian Keil

Sure, count me in. - Barty

First of all, thanks for the heads up on "Free Money" also thanks for being such a great conduit. So throw my name into the hat please. I know I usually push for giving to Cancer foundations and etc. But am going to change it up a bit.... If I would happen to win the money there is hugely talented Photographer on Twitter that needs only $6,000 to sustain his enrollment at some artsy Ivy... more... - SashaKane

Seriously? I'll start a "Mini-ITXs" fund to replace all the desktops in my home with Mini ITXs. Power saving ftw! - Nimish Batra

I'd start a foundation dedicated to bringing the finance crooks to justice and redistributing the stolen funds from whence they came. - Alistair Knock

hmm...I'll rather invest it in gold. That's the least volatile thing these days. - Kunal Gangar

i would finally finish my thesis and rent a lot servers with mosso after that to incorporate a company dealing with enterprise mashups and cloud computing in germany - tmetschke

im in - Jason Walke

I would tell my boss he is a noob and that I quit my job and start my own business. - Gary Schubert

oh, and i'd also KILL for a macbook. but i'd probably go to school. but you should totally give it to someone who needs it more. - Miles Laird

simple way to enter :) - Cristian

Robert, I would probably spend the money in a relatively futile manner. Therefore, I'll let others who need it more have a chance at the $1,750 prizes. I'd be happy to be chosen randomly for the $1,000. Great initiative, by the way. - Antonio Cangiano

This is just what we need in order to launch AllRise.com: hosting + legal expenses +company registration fees. - Erez Eden

richard, by giving a way more money, are you ready? - abdellah

I'll give YOU $500 and give $100 to twitter (since I heard about it there). The first should make it easier for you to part with the money. The twitter donation will conclusively prove that they have a viable business model :) - Ebrahim Nalwala

Our band would use it to buy a PA system so that we could play anywhere/practice with proper sound. I`d treat this as a loan and donate the money in your name to the VH1 Save The Music Foundation. - Reuben Fortes

It would help me pay for my wedding in Ottawa in August, rather than having to borrow money! (PS nice way of getting people on FriendFeed!) - Paul Lomax

Robert, please pick me. I need the USD1000 to get myself an iPhone 3G (cost HKD6200.00 from Apple Hong Kong) so I don't have to borrow my girlfriend's, and the rest of the money, I will use to pay for all the data usage I will be using when testing review copies of iPhone apps. How can I be borrowing an iPhone to write iPhone app reviews? That is just ironic. - Vinko

I need to do something completely luxurious and pampered for a week. Oh, I would really like to take my brother along because it was his birthday two weeks ago and would like to surprise him. That's right, a very belated birthday present. Very much would be a surprise. How about a cruise out of Miami to the Caribbean or out of Los Angeles to Mexico? We need to see the water! Sure we have the Fountains at Bellagio but we would like to sail on an ocean. There it is. I have our bags packed and ready to go. - Vegas Bill

I need money for my first startup! - kunal jain

Buy a nice camera for making better videos for my blog & invite my family having a nice evening at a greek restaurant - Wittkewitz News

Show me the money - TJ Polczyn

I would develop an innovative iPhone app using the money and when sales pick up, return the amount to you so u can run another contest. - iPhone Dev Guy

I am a poor student who really could use a new Laptop.. I will Ustream and take pictures of the unpacking so you know I didn't spend the money on beer ;) I could put SPONSORED BY SCOBLE stickers on the new machine. Please Scoble, I could really use this. Cheers, patrick. - patrick detlefsen

a new laptop to replace the almost 6-year old one would be nice for a developer. give me the other prizes, too and i'll donate 'em to schooling a kid in a 3rd world country! - moogs

*wonders* Do we have to leave two comments, one for the $1000 and one for one of the $1750? - Linden A. Mueller

Ok, Scoble if i get this money somehow, give my money to this student (patrick detlefsen) - Thanks - Junal Rahman

If you pick me, I will lend out the money via Kiwa.org - Henning

Well let's turn the wheel of chance :) - Fatih Arslan

So just in case, here's the second one. :) I would save it. We'll be making our second international move in two years in September, and this time, we'll be settling down. I would use it for part of our down payment on our first house. - Linden A. Mueller

Right now $1750 is worth $2700 Aussie (sounds a lot better) I'd ask Robert to JV with me and share how to turn that $2.7k into $270k in 6 months. If we didn't like each other after that we needn't continue to turn it into $27M. Jim Beasley (Twitter: whoisJimBeasley) - Jim Beasley

Would love to start an online business for my 7 yr old as a college fund!!!! Have the idea, just not the funds to start it!!! - Charles Bovard

I could use the money to pay some of my student loans that I had to take to study the one true thing worth studying, the Internet! - Shane Tilton

I would spend the money on bourbon and porn. - Kari Holtz

I'll use to finance our new project of social publishing with Friendfeed. Thanks for the opportunity. - Massimiliano Mancini

if I win: I'd give half of the money to Emergency (http://www.emergency.it/) to help their medical work in war areas. - andrea

Mmmmmm cash! :D - Michael Jones

In New Zealand his will go along way. Id use it for language resources for our indigenous Maori - Bradley Walker

I want I want! I will restore my VW 1974 with it! :-D true story: http://www.facebook.com/home... - Pierre Lapointe

I'd love to use your money to send kids with disabilities to CampASCCA.org! With the $1750, 3 children would get to go to camp this summer. Or, it would send maybe a dozen to a weekend camp this spring! Either way, I'd love to see you help these kids out. In this kind of economic environment, places like Camp ASCCA are the first to be forgotten ... that means the kids are forgotten, too. Thanks, Robert! - RD French

Before I reveal the secret of what I would do with $1750, I really need to know the secret - "Why are you giving away this money,Robert?" - Bari Hossain

Will use it finally upgrade my powerbook to a MBP so I can write an iPhone app as part of my CS Degree Dissertation. - Shaun Bohannon

$1175 to my all time favorite musician's (Diana Krall) chosen charity: Vancouver General Hospital's Leukemia Bone Marrow Transplant. Would use the rest to cover my tuition expense for a Nancy Duarte slide:ology seminar. Trying to figure out ways to tackle mindnumbing government PowerPoint decks. Happy St Patrick's Day! - Bud

With our terrible exchange rate here in the UK, I'll probably buy myself a week's worth of groceries with the prize money! Seriously though, I may treat myself to a video camera, so that maybe one day, I can be like my favourite technology evangelist! - David Swallow

I can't wait to read followup posts to your contest. I would invest the money in my children's college funds. - Erick Tyack

I think I will buy some books on how to get my daughter to sleep past 4AM... Seriously, any advice? :-) - James Marino

With the money I would invest in a Home Server to better provide for my familys digital needs ;-) The rest will be given to SOS childrens village - A good and worthy cause. - Ken-Tore

I will use the money to spend it to bloggers in germany to promote the german blogos- and twittersphere! They arn't as big and importnat as in the us, but they have the mbition for it, serious and current content... - Simon Rabente

The money will enable me to buy some much needed toys and gadgets that mortgage/wife/2kids/etc to not allow! - Matt Groves

I was thinking on how to win the money and then I read comments by others. I realised there are more ppl who need the money more than me. So good luck to everyone! and Robert, pls make sure the winner really deserve it. - Gerald Neo

If I won I would donate every cent to Red Nose Day (http://www.rednoseday.com/) to help children in the UK and Africa and I'll put up $200 of my own money (about 10% of my salary) into microloans through Kiva. - Peter Curd

Strike one for the South African - Iwan

I doubt this would be a winner, but I need a new set of effin tires. - Patrick Kay

I will use my winnings to purchase books to better understand how to use all the great social media tools out there and will also earmark a portion of the winnings to use to attend SXSW 2010. - Promising Projects

I'll use the money to finance bailing out of my apartment in light of this recession and my current status of gainful underemployment. :) - teleken

Cool! I'd love to spend it on a netbook and a good (web)cam and start using it to lifestream/share some nice events using kyte or qik. What's left after buying the gear, I would spend on tickets for events such as The Next Web Conference, Lifehacking Academy, etc. Btw: have fun at Rackspace! - Alex Vermeule (@alexve)

ok deal, you talked me into it - IrishWonder

it is really interesting to see how much "I" in this thread, ok if I (+1) - abdellah

Cool. So 80% of the dough goes on a Twitter API developer as I have a great project in mind. And the other 20% provides a stake for the blackjack table, for when we launch. Combined earnings will be sent back your way, so you can do this all over again. - Econsultancy

I'd put it towards my TED application fund! Made too many promises about speaking there one day soon... - Oliver

First I would buy an engagement ring for my lady and take her out on a romantic evening and propose her. And of course 300$ would go for a Wii. - Andy Gongea

Hi I have never won anything so i dont think i will win,but hope never dies so here i am.. - Dimi

Well I guess I'm another aussie hopeful for a random win. (@carljoseph) - Carl Joseph

My boyfriend got made redundant a while ago so I'd use the money to take him on holiday to get away from it all for a bit and help him refocus. - Katie

thats cool to hear...thanks for the competition.i will love to buy macbook... - Mohammed Moyeen

I'd use the money start my own website, free is good, but paid produces profit. My strong-points are creativity and commitment. I have nine years till retirement and I want to use them well. - Wallace

Hmmm... Give it to charity is the easy answer.. But I would find and elderly person who needs home renovations etc but cant afford it.. and then get someone down on their luck to do it and pay them.. Double the satisfaction and impact - Christopher Blake

Comment for one of the $1750 prizes. I will offer to donate the money to bail out some more fat cats living high on the hog, and give them a bonus to boot. - TJ Polczyn

Don't get pinched - wear green today! :) - Ricci Neer

If I won, I'd donate it to Comic Relief (http://www.comicrelief.com/). Cheers! - Graeme Coleman

I am saving money to go out of my usual work to start a startup, so it will be helpful for me in my saving and allow me to come out of my daily job soon. - Mohammed Moyeen

If I win I will twitter my followers and people in Seth Godin's tribe to find the most excting youth oriented project I can, then come back to you, Robert Scoble, and see how we can involve your followers in offering knowledge or connections to make the whole thing take off, good on you. - Sarah Farrugia

I would put the money to good use and kick start the economy with it... should work... - Alex Peshevski

wow! this is by far the longest thread i've ever seen! :) - David Clifford

I'll use the money as a super lucky contribution to http://www.TweetLuck.org, an initiative of my startup nonprofit, http://www.EpicChange.org. Tweetluck is raising funds to build a technology lab and boarding facility/orphanage for a school with which we're partnered in Arusha, Tanzania. The locally-run school recently performed #1 out of 117 schools in their district on national exams, and I can only imagine what's possible if we get the children at the school web access ;) - Stacey Monk

This is one way to get me to use friendfeed... I'd use the money to enter a poker tournament in vegas this week at MIX. (at least I'm being honest) - Jason

Wedding Ring deposit, new mac, or broker's fee to get the hell out of this apartment. Probably one of those three. I'm a huge fan of Kari Holtz's answer of bourbon & porn, but my early thirties have got the better of me and must try for something vaguely more responsible. - Travis

Hey, why about trying, great idea ! For the second part of the contest, i'd prefer to let more chances to people who really know how to make something really usefull and interesting with it ;) ! - Christophe Michau

I hope to be one of the lucky few. Happy St. Patricks Day! - ian ross

I wish I could come up with something clever or generous but other needs are too pressing. I don't even want to think about it really. Health insurance, upgrade to CS4 (priorities, right?), art supplies, new shoes, vet visit for the cats, whatever else I could squeeze out of it. But I would put some portion toward charitable use, or else use it to create something that I could give, because generosity deserves to be honored in kind. - Rebecca

I'll buy some of the gadgets Scoble is talking about... - Alexander Benker

In Malaysia, I'll give the money to the women's aid organization to fight discrimination, women are first to go in a layoff. - Carolyn Chan

#1 - love those comments who will equal a charity donation or repeat this experiment. Love the umbrella comment and the humor we geeks have (I am not in that camp). And am delighted to see all the marketing occurring. - Gee

Great idea. I'd probably put the money towards a good camera for a live video project I'm working on. - Alan Chamberlain

If I was lucky enough to win I would use the money to attend http://www.web09.org/. It would cover the cost of the airfare, accommodation, and registration fee. I would then be able to Tweet and blog about it so those who read me would get some benefit from me being there. Anything learned would be put to good use in the open source projects I contribute to. Unlike some of the others here, I can't be altruistic about this - I want to go to the conference and can't afford it! Charity begins at home after all - Elpie

It will probably help me to keep one of my employee, until we bounce back in our feet - Boubacar Balde from twhirl

I'm definitely in and I'd use the $1750 to buy my first macbook. - Robbin

I would use it as nice start for my first house loan ;-) A man has got to start somewhere doesn't he ;-) - Pieter-Jan Adriaensens

get lasik after reading all of these #CCCCCC comments on friendfeed! - Landon

What I would use the money for? Well, I have been eyeing up some netbooks and need to replace my aging television. So, this would pretty much go there in my lone attempt at reviving our moribund economy/ I'm doing my part to help us out of these troubled economic times! - Jason J. Thomas

Here is my initial entry comment. - Hal

I'd learn how to code in Cocoa, and create a salsa dance iPhone app :) - Tom Tubbs

Clever idea. If I win, I would put half the money in the bank, as my husband is currently unemployed; and would give half the money to my friend and her family, as her son & daughter-in-law were in a serious car accident in Oct. 2008 and my friend quit her job to help take care of her premature born grandson, 2 yr old grandson, so her own son can then take care of his now brain-injured wife. http://jennifersmiracle.blogspot.com/ - Traci Knoppe

Half to a couple of back bills, the other half here: http://bit.ly/6XTBn - Hal

My first comment didn't show up! REPLAY: With the $1750 I will expand my business working with energy and transformation in the area of money & prosperity (Money Reiki Healing) attuning people to their Source resulting in personal and planetary shifts around money and abundance. I will also donate a portion of the winnings to a few favorite charities (including Water is Life and Charity:Water). - Amy Flynn

Wow, Just needed that money to buy me a trip to the states at last! I'm from Paris and I just keep reading your feeds on twitter, ff etc... - anciaux

Should I win, any money would be invested in upgrading some piece of computer equipment, or a software purchase... and a celebratory dinner with my wife, of course. - Chris Grayson

Heads up, Twitter! I would put the money into real competition to Twitter. - David Baum

To quote Han Solo - "Got some old debts I gotta pay off with this stuff" - Cliff Forster

#2 - would use either amount to send a girl to computer camp, a program of the Montgomery County (MD) Commission for Women. This program is in its 10+ year and has a proven and remarkable outcome: inspiring junior high school girls to higher education. The program takes girls from lower expectation neighborhoods and sends them to the community college. Being on a college campus opens new visions for these girls. - Gee

I need yet another bicycle. Choose me! I promise not to give it to AIG for bonuses! - mrbrown

I'd put the cash toward a new unibody Macbook - I broke the screen on my Macbook Pro and it's difficult to use now because I have to us my iPhone as my screen (Jaadu VNC). I'll take care of my new Macbook, Robert, I promise. Please pick me? Please! - David Mozingo

I got married on last saturday, 14th ( http://trauung.steudtner.info sorry only German ) and I got a whole bunch of photos and videos. I would take the money and buy a new iMac to organize them and my videos too. Pictures will be published on that website. - Mayads

My cat has been very sick since late last Thurs. He's was jaundice, probably some level of renal failure - all likely diabetes. Been having to force feed him with a syringe because he wasn't eating on his own. I'd like to be able to use this money to offset the vet costs towards all this - doctor would like to run more tests but I can't afford it. This money would help with this. - Todd Perlmutter

I'll stimulate my economy. - Chris Dickerson

I will buy you a Twitter shirt. :P http://tr.im/twittershirt - Valentino Valdez

Howdy Scoble. I graduate University in July with an IT degree and am planning a Trip to South East Asia (Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam) in September for a bit of fun and adventure. The money would greatly improve my trip. I'll blog the whole thing personally for you (I'll go to anywhere you suggest) and do my best to send you at least one ridiculous photo a day along with a video diary and a few interviews of people I meet along the way. - Michael Gross

Hoping for random. Clearly there are people who really need this. Don't know if you are trying to stress test ff or make us thankful for what we have, but both reasons are valuable. Not to mention the buzz for both companies and personal brand. Well begun. - Jack Frizzell

My kids, who've lost their mother, really need something positive. So I would use the money to redecorate their two rooms as a surprise. - Jorg Jansen

Thanks Robert. A great idea! I could really use the money to finance my startup "Big Red Zebra", the world's first truly useful Location-Based Service for Everybody (not just people with Smartphones, iPhones, Blackberrys). Check it out at http://www.bigredzebra.com - David

Ok, I bite. - ElbertF

If I won the $1750 - I would put $1600 towards a kick-ass web project I have been working on (code-named Daily Bird Feeder). Then, $100 would go to dinner with the wife to make up for the late nights I've spent working on the project. $30 would go to an action figure I have been dying to get. And $20 would then go to flowers for my wife, to make up for buying the action figure. - Michael Withrow

I will spend it all on me - on daft 'there is no way I would buy this under any other circumstances' things. - Alison

I would follow your example: I'd run a contest and ask my followers to choose how I would spend it. - Gail

Show me that money! - Alison

How about this.... My wife http://twitter.com/erincos... and I are expecting TWIN SONS in August. ANY contributions would be GREATLY APPRECIATED! - Jeremy Osborne

congratulation jeremy. - abdellah

That $$ would buy me a lifetime subscription to Fast Company!!!! - CJ

My dinosaur-like mind is inexorably on its way to extinction. It's been ages since I bought a new book. And reading online just doesn't satisfy that ancient craving. So if I win I'd use it to buy Kindle2 e-reader. The ultimate revenge of a deprived bibliophile. :) A little memento of my fabulous good luck, courtesy of you sir. The rest I will donate to a Philippine charity of my choice. Good luck to us all, if that were possible. :) - jan geronimo

Would like to take my wife to NY for our 15th Wedding Annv. - Timothy Love

Count me in. Can't work out if I should sound worthy or greedy, so shall be neither. - David Eedle

I'd use the money to start a software company for mobile devices with heavy lifting done in the cloud. - Jim Bergman

You got me Subscribe :). I will apply for a distance education in Actuarial Science at Leicester University. - Bruck Sewnet

I will not use this money for unmerited bonus pay - Craig

If I won the money, I'd pay for my GMAT & Grad School applications with it. That way, I'll hopefully be able to do the same kinds of contests soon. I'd also adopt two cats for my parents farm and pay for their cat food - you can't have a farm without cats! Lastly, I'd increase my number of Kiva loans. - Edwina

what is interesting in this thread, is the fact that there is more and more reason and ways to spend that money, now let please see for what "you can't spend this money". - abdellah

I'm just getting a project going that could be really helped at this early stage with some "free cash" to help complete the prototype. The idea is for an engine that aggregates content from originators and then filters and distributes it according to preferences to the consumer through a variety of touch points. Very focussed on one specific interest area. - Alex Guest

I'll place my bet for the $1750, although my chances are thin. Lots of things to do, get Dad treated, pay my bills et al. - Rajtilak Bhattacharjee

would like to get one of these for each kid http://bit.ly/pnbkv - meg colombo

I'll buy something amazing and the one who finds out what it is will receive it. Just a way to see if it is possible to get more comments than you do :o) - Zack Brandit

I will gift the money to my husband's business,( http://www.funketabla.com/ ) so that he can focus a little more on music and thus spend more time happy and not in a programming job that bores him. It's not much, but it'll pay for the upcoming Das Dhoom album. - InPerpetualMotion(Gina k)

Hate to admit it in public, but I owe parents, friends, and credit cards money borrowed while searching for another job. This would give me some breathing room and let me get some stuff done that I've put off, like fix the brakes on my car. - mark zero (Jason)

I will give the money to my 18 year old son. He's getting ready to enter college for the first time and needs it. - Lisa Saul

$1,750 will feed me for a year! :-) - Chinny

Mr. Scoble - Use of funds should I become one of your winners... ala Dave McClure and Y Combinator... I'd turn right around and invest it in equity positions in two local startups neither of which is mine. Should there be any kind of exit of either, I'd just keep plowing proceeds into local startups (we need early stage, non-debt seed capital in Oklahoma). - Gerald Buckley

these funds would help at a very diffcult time for my family would be a very big blessing for us - Diane Brixey

i would put the money in my future start-up. i really could use the money for. the main problem is that i have to wait for maybe 2 years, because of uni. so i could invest it at the beginning in something safe and could make more money for the start-up. - Alexander

Pool Table - Dale Fraser

Sadly, I would put this toward my taxes. My contribution toward the bailout I guess. A new tv or trip might be nice though since I'm not getting that Australia blogging job. - Dave

I would put the money in our twin boys college fund, which will be in inflation-adjusted treasuries for the next year or two. (PS: This is the most effective way to gather the most comments on a single thread in the history of friendfeed) - DGentry

OK, just give it to me already and quit all this fuss... - Garrido

Hey Robert! You finally got me to sign up for FF. If awarded the money I would finally get that Gibson Les Paul I've always wanted and go back in the studio to create my opus. - Kyle Shay

Split it into 495 $2 donations, for charities selected by fellow Friendfeed and Twitterers, with the remaining funds for a pizza while organizing the aforementioned discussion. - Mike Chelen

Count me in. I would blow the money on Tacos. No burritos. No Tacos. Well Tacos or Burritos. Just imagine me eating over $1000 worth of tacos/burritos. - Franklin Pettit

Fund small-scale Appropriate Technology projects in Africa where I live: http://mumena.blogspot.com/2009... - Rick Love

I would put the money to good use-- - Dennis Shlaen

First! Oh wait, maybe not. :) Boring but I'd use the money to get my 60,000 mile service on my car before it falls apart. Anything left over would go to paying down CC balances. I know, I'm dull... - Pete Smith

I need a new tv I'm a poor seminary student in new york with a family http://www.use.salvationarmy.org/use... - kevin

count me in! How to use 1750$: buy four cheap pocket cameras (200$ each), announce a "movie making contest" on the blog, give four cameras to best four ideas, take the movies, post on youtube & blog, make users vote, give first prize 950$. - Tudor Galos

Robert, Congrats on joining Rackspace & I'm eagerly awaiting Building 43!! I would use the prize money to fund my sisters education. - Roshan Ramachandran

I'd go for a piece of electronic equipment. I haven't owned a computer since a nice visit from an unknown burglar a year and a half ago. Luckily my work provides me with a nice Macbook Pro 15" but that doesn't really help much during the weekends. So I'd go for a 13" MacBook and then of course a round of Hero Rats (http://www.herorat.org) for the change. - René Clausen Nielsen

I would probably just blow it on bacon and slurpees. - Wallace Wilson

Hi Robert. I would use the money like Tudor, but I would get two good pocket cameras, the Sony pocket 1080p ones, not the Zi6 or the Flip. To take better quality videos. - Odi Kosmatos

Hi Robert, my intention isn't to partecipate to your contest but my comment is just to say that you are a genius. I appreciate this social experiment and on Sunday I have analyzed it in this post on my blog: http://tinyurl.com/c3rwxw. If I were to the place of the winner, I’d give this money to you because you really deserved it. The previous most commented thread on FF probably were Italian (http://tinyurl.com/8k64zg). Chapeau - Roberto

I will use the $$ to provide new clothes for my girlfriend who is a struggling actress and hasn't been able to add to her wardrobe in 5 years. I want her to feel pretty! - Christopher Fohlin

I would use the money to buy my wife a new camera lens. She's a photographer working for a community newspaper in Drippings Springs, Texas. - Will Burdette

G R E E D .... - Kai

I would use the money to jump start the economy as part of my stimulus-package plan - Mitchell Schneider

Not sure, but I'll try to heed the advice my grandmother used to give me when I got a dollar "Don't spend it on crap." - Steven Stark

There are things I want but nothing I need so I'd donate the money to Philabundance. http://www.philabundance.org/ - Bob Gannon

I will sponsor new web-service development at http://jumpidea.com - Roman Zolotarev

i would use the money to help pay for school - Shane Grant

I would use the money to get into photography. I have always wanted to but have never had the funding to do it. It would be great if I had the funding to get a decent body and a couple nice lenses. - Sweyn Venderbush

I'm in as well. Will use the money to get into iphone apps development - Arnaud Fischer

Woohoo! I'd buy either a home automation setup or a home server :D - Robert DeBord

Yes! I could use some green on St. P's Day! Would get that D90. - Kevin Crader

I will help @romanzolotarev. - Рыло из нержавеющей стали

I'd be holding the same contest with half of the money and enforce the winners to do the same, until the whole amount is spent. And i'd spend the other half for my pleasure. It would go like "$875, $437.5, $218.75, $109.37, $54.68, $27.34, $13.67, $6.83, $3.4, $1.7, $0.85". A series of 11 contests is better than one. - Ekim Nazım Kaya

Don't give us money, give us ideas ! - Ahsan Ali aka. Slick

If I came into any type of money this year it would go towards a trip to London to see my family and friends; and see my favourite band, Blur play live for the first time. Leftover cash to the Red Cross. My honest answer. - Chrissie M

I would use it to help fund a startup website to help diabetics find proper products to help manage their health and lifestyle - Erik Schmith

I would love to win. Would probably spend the money on one of two things: my 17 year anniversary is coming in early April, so a present for the wife is a necessity - thinking a nice hot springs overnight trip in Izu, south of Tokyo (where I live). Otherwise, I would also consider using the money to help bootstrap TechMiso.com, a new blog I co-founded and launched on Jan 1 with my good buddy Rich. - Scott Jarkoff

I want to win soo soo bad... lol... I would use the money as a deposit on an apartment so I can move out of the country and actually have High Speed Internet (cant even use a cellular card cause im so far in the country) Ive always wanted to start a blog and website but cant since Dial-up is sooo sooo slow... This would be the Happiest Day of my Life!!! :) - James Boyd

While thinking trough this all day since I've read about it, I think that I should spent it for 50/50 on my own project and on the stuff that you just don't get to while being a son of divorced parents. My computer upgrade is more than welcome, switch to Mac OS X would be greatly appreciated. Great action Robert, thanks for this opportunity from Holland! - Coen Jacobs

If this comment picked randomly, then goodbye to MacBook Pro...(paradoxal comment including 2 answers in one way.) - Olcayto Cengiz

Growing up, my parents would always tell me that considering the amount of time I spend on the web, I should be making money out it. But I desire that the content I put out there be free. Over the years I've spent a lot on pursuing this passion but never earned a buck out of it. Now would be a great opportunity to finally do so. I may not be the most deserving or the most in need out of everyone here but if I did win I'd do something nice for my parents and tell them it was courtesy of the Internet. - Michael Josh Villanueva

I would use the money to donate back to all of the open source projects that I have been using for the past 5 years. Many of the products that are produced are outstanding and need to be supported. - Anthony Schelling

I'll take Scoble to block. Actually; I would use the money to complete my dedciated streaming studio. While I have the mics & cams set, I'm still working on the furniture, and the servers for the encoding. Then I could be a guest on your show and show it off. - Keith Barrett

Will take a trip and visit you at your new project :) - Liviu Lica

I'll use the cash to attend sxsw next year, following the twitter feeds this year has proved its worth to me. I'll get you a beer in too, unless that seems coercive. - Simon Kirrane

I would use the Money to help my daughter who is 13, to Travel Europe this Summer as she has been selected to be a Student Ambassador Representing the US and The State of Kansas. A Life changing experience, for our young people to learn and experience other cultures. People to People select 40 top Students from each state to represent the US. This experience is to teach our young people... more... - Joyce

Count me IN for that - thanks dude! :-D - Lee Kitchen

Hey new friend I sure could use that money to repair some of the debt my bipolar wife has put our family in. Ever have any questions about what goes on in a max security prison, let me know. - Tom Lord

Both me and my SO need computer upgrades at home to better work from home but that's not very much money. Just don't have it. The rest would go towards savings or to fix the collapsed porch out back. - Paul Wade

Nice discussion thread. Any extra cash would go to my newly-widowed uncle, who found himself with a mountain of vet bills to pay after his dog, and only remaining companion, spent a week in ICU in an O2 tent. - Hooeyspewer

Hey Robert - I would use the money to pay some bills and refit the computer my kids use. Thanks for making the world interesting! - Tim Ake

It's a real and nice chance to win a pretty good amount of money, which can help me in making my dreams about lighting equipment for home studio to became true! :) - PWR

I would pay off my burning man debt. - Andrew Stein

This looks like its a record breaking thread. - Roberto Bonini

Count me in! - Alvin

i am an unemployed chef (since september) who blogs. in the interest of growing my blog, i would use $600 to buy a nikon d40 + tripod; $600 for a grocery gift card for ingredients; the remaining $550 would be split amongst a few uses: buying and setting up my domain name, blog features (restaurant and/or market reviews, culinary events, etc.), and html classes. whatever i lose in taxes will be taken out of this last portion ~ the first two are the most necessary right now. - Kayce Maisel

I would use the money as part of a down payment on a new car. I commute 100 miles a day and my car is dying at a most unfortunate time. Well, that's what I SHOULD do. I would probably buy some gadget like a Kindle and some books because my geek gene gets the better of me most days. - Amy Anuszewski

I would like to use it to buy a Mac Mini but I first have to deal with Wife Tax so I might be able to get a snickers bar. Love you honey! - Wesley Snider

I would buy a slice of taxes that I owe Barack Obama. - Chris Wallace

I'm in! - James Ferguson

I would use the money to finally launch my puppet sitcom. My seven month-old daughter already loves the live version, and it would be great to have the video version for anytime viewing. Plus I think lots of other people would love the show as well. It's like the Muppet Show but more "Seinfeld" and less "Lawrence Welk". But there will still indeed be musical numbers. - Mike Janicke

Can't really resist that can I now? I'll put it all towards the new startup incubator that I'm setting up. www.greenhouselimerick.com - Evert

I would give the money to my wife. She is trying to get custody of her son back. Thanks for the chance Robert! - Brian

I would use this to upgrade my camera. - Evan Travers

Oops almost forgot to leave a comment for the random drawing. :) - James Boyd

I would use the money to take my wife on a nice vacation for our anniversary. - Jonathan Gardner

I`ll take some of that money :) - Steven Shvartsman

What would you like me to do with the money? - Simon Hicks

An Irish Toast on my favorite Holiday that is St. Paddy's Day: "Here's to the ones we love we love. Here's to the ones that love us love us. For all those that don't love us, F@%$ them and here's to us." I'd use the money to spend on friends & strangers drinking and eating on a random day enjoying the moment and making memories you'd never forget. - Lyn Graft

What a great idea Scoble! So sad I missed sxsw this year! I would use half the money to go towards a new lift for my step mother who has MS and I would use the other half to purchase a small fishing boat to go fishing with my boy who's birthday is this weekend. - Bryan

Robert, dude! You are awesome. Would use money to help find a teaching job! - Patty Pinkley

If you pick me I will put the money towards the trip to China I'm taking in July. - Kris

Better idea of what to do with the money - promote LTSP - Linux Terminal Server Project http://www.ltsp.org. Continue to bring low cost desktop solutions to the masses. - Erick Tyack

Robert, congrats on the new job. Look forward to seeing the new ways you are going to invigorate rackspace and the community. There are some great comments here already. This is a great thing you are doing, take care - Michael Bazzoni

Action Figures. I would use the money to buy lots and lots of action figures. And maybe a dwarf horse. - Aaron Linne

I would put that money towards buying a couple of iPod Touches and a Mac for three friend of mine. We've just finished a short, free game that took us two years to finish on evenings and some weekends, and are talking about trying to make a game for Apples platform in our spare time since we work so well together as a team. - Jonas Eriksson

This will kill FriendFeed. DO they have a FailWhale...? ;) - Frank Koehntopp

Pay 4 months rent. And, I swear I'm not trying to sound pious, but I'd donate to Food for Lane County, an awesome local organization that gives away food. - tracy

I'd do some traveling, getting to know new things is always great... - Fabian

$1750? I'll buy Facebook and sell to Twitter. - Bob Withers

I'd use the cash to pay back my employer all the time I spend reading Scoble's comments on FriendFeed. ha. - Jon Mason

Jumping into your hat. Randomly pick me. - Ben

I'll finally buy that wide angle lens that I've been hankering after for my Olympus E-400... - Peter Holloway

Hmm... $1750, eh? I'd buy a few of those unlocked Android phones to create custom firmware that does end-to-end encryption of calls... I've been wanting to do that for a while for fun. - Matt

I will use the money to help me get to OSCON. - Mike Canzoneri

I will buy an iMac for my local school who only have PCs ... boo. www.woolastonschool.com. They currently do basic animation with PCs but I would like to get some of the older kids using iStopMotion, FCP and possibly Motion also. Would be an honour to spend ALL the money on this. - Nick Pearce

Was laid off a month ago from my job at one of the big 4 record companies. In this down economy, seems like a good time to start a new business. I'd use the cash to help get my new business started. - SJ

Ha! Joined friendfeed just to win this! - Solomon King

I'll buy a new computer for my wife... now that she's a blogger and podcaster, I can't do anything on my computer anymore! Then I'll get a decent shared network storage device that makes a lot of sense for my expanding network. - Chuck Stanley

A chunk to charity and a chunk to fund some development on some crazy web thing I am cooking - Nigel James

$1,750 would go a long way in Africa! That's like 8 months salary for my small team! - Solomon King

I believe I would take a vacation to the Keys. - Ryan Dadey

Or wait, I could get two decent laptops for my developer and tech support guy! - Solomon King

I'll do my part in stimulating the housing market! I'm buying a house in a couple of months, and savings for the down payment. An extra grand or so would allow me to stop doing some work for other people, and focus on doing work for myself in the way of publishing my ideas, and creating web-apps that would be useful. Reading your blog posts has really got my excited to share my thoughts and ideas with the web. - Jim Rubenstein

I'm wondering if this is a test to see if FF can handle a few thousand comments in a short amount of time. May the winners enjoy what they get. - Matt Silva

I would continue my educational pursuit of an IT degree. Plus buy a few Xbox 360 games! Awesome way to use FF Robert! ;-) - Carlton Hackett

I'd buy the iPhone tablet that's being announced today. Good gosh, I hope it comes out today! - Robert Hinojosa

I'm looking for a new camera. I've been trying to take pictures of my son's Scout troop and swim team with an old Canon G3, and it's a real struggle to get any decent pics. I'd love to pick up a 40D and a lens or two. - D. Lambert

I would send my parents on a vacation and I would buy my wife a NEW HD Tivo - Andrew Yeager-Buckley

Debt reduction? - Lenny Post

I run a small business with two brands http://www.GeekLoot.com and http://www.PodGizmo.com, I will use the money to advertise on blogs and facebook. - Mike Down

Pretty cool news. I love this kind of capitalist competition. I've been reading your blog for about a year and I'm glad you're using it more now. I'm a college student, I think I would use the money I win to start a site which rewrites the Constitution and basically the entire American governmental system in a wiki, user-edited style. I've got a url that isn't taken picked out, and I just need some money to startup and learn html all the rest of that stuff. - Brian Wilson

Hello Robert, I will use the money to help create a web startup which will allow you (and other people of course) to use their fame and reputation to help promote other people who have talents, skills, experience, and a willingness to work, but who are not necessarily able to reach a wide enough audience on their own. The focus is to allow people who network with entrepreneurs to refer... more... - Ivan Lukianchuk

This is damn awesome, Robert! What would I do with some nice cash? I'd probably buy myself some new-to-me Canon camera gear, a lens or two (depending on price), and maybe some Alien Bees lights. Probably soup up my PC a bit more too. Either that, or just buy a MacBook Pro instead. At least that way I'd be able to edit photos and audio worth a damn haha.. :D I just REALLY need some extra money to be able to enable me to start doing what I love doing more, and a day-job less. :) - Lou

I'll use it to obtain my CISSP cert. There has to be a better way to reduce/eliminate these zombie bot-nets that are used for very bad activities! - Craig Macfarlane

Hello Robert, I would use to money to keep developing and expanding affordable wildlife photo workshops to some of the most amazing destinations in the US. You can see my last Yellowstone Winter Photo Workshop info here: http://wildnaturetours.com This workshop was very successful and managed to fit in both natural history of one of the most amazing places on earth with some spectacular photography (and video). I am in the processing of editing some of the content that will then be made available. Thanks. - Juan Pons

I would use the cash to buy some of the new netbooks with touchscreen to get some seniors online: grand parents deserve to enjoy the real-time web goodness too! - Mathieu Ayel

So with Scoble's latest post http://friendfeed.com/e... this thread is now closed. LAST! - sofarsoShawn

50D + Decent Lens, and a six-pack. - Than R

Donate it to charity - Allwin Agnel

I would use the prize money to stimulate the economy by purchasing a new MacBook Pro! :) - Matt O'Keefe

you are hardly last :P I'd use the money to put more down on a down payment for my first home :D - Jonathan

I'd help fund my husband's work on his first graphic novel and send his butt to Comic Con to pitch it to publishers :) The most empowering thing is to help other people reach their goals, and I like that this contest is all about that, so I'd pass that gift along. - Tiffany Monhollon

NIKON D90 for my wife... PS3 for me... the rest toward the house... - Jason Womick

Here's my entry. Thanks for the contest, Robert! - Paul Maez

hey Robert, great competition! I'd use the money to fund my startup creating mobile apps that offer powerful messaging possibilities, including gmail-style threaded messages for all kinds of networks. - Dirk

I'll use the money to pay for my certification in Cisco's Unified Computing System - Andrew Mitry

Good luck with the new direction, Scoble. - Mike Smith

I'd use the money to further my tech addiction. Too many gadgets, too little money...that's where you come in! - Paul Maez

I'd take my daughters to see their grandparents in Florida, upgrade to a (used) Intel Macbook, sign up for PHP training, and renew my NPR membership, Cheers, and thanks! - Jim Akin

I'm not going to even pretend that I would use it for charitable causes. A new MacBookPro and a 30 inch display. I'd then use it to start my development projects. - bjmac

Hey there, Robert. I'd use the money to finance my teeny-tiny iPhone game development company (basically a programmer and myself doing art and everything else). Cheers! - karchesky

I'd use the money to start my "LIFE IMPROVED" fund: personal use, philanthropy, and anywhere in between. The only stipulation is that it improves someone's quality of life. - Tamikka

I'd use the money to pay for the trip to meet you and get to spend a day in the life of Robert Scoble. - Jean-François D. Gauthier

Hey there Robert! I would use the money to either pay for my coming semester of college so I could actually finish....or I would upgrade some tech in my life (for example, acquire an HD video camera and various other tech for studio and/or podcast recording) - Gerardo R. Monreal Jr.

Oh man...new netbook, finally getting a smartphone, and renewing hosting on new blogs... Anything left after that will be split between my son's saving account (investing in the future) and probably the Dog's Trust charity. - Badger Gravling

How would I use the money? I need to purchase one of the new 24" iMacs to further my Design & Photography careers. - Herne

I will use the money to invest in myself and my future career. By that I mean make my side business of portrait photography into something more real and tangible rather than just a haphazard event. - Ryan

I would most likely spend the winnings on gifts for my daughters, a little something for my wife and (of course) a tech toy for myself. There's nothing more enjoyable than spending "found money". Cheers! - Kevin

Interesting idea, thanks! - Loïc Dumont

I will donate half to the local computers for kids program that helps underprivileged kids with access to to computers, education and the internet. It is a great program where soon I will be teaching parents about social networking so they can communicate with there kids in the same language. The other half, I'm helping pay for my wedding. - Chris Rippe

I could use to win the money to pay for my laser eye surgery so I can get the job I want in policing. - Jason

Hoping the luck of the Irish pulls through for me today - andi argast

I would use the money for my ceramics art studio. Part of the money would go to setting up a live 24/7 multi-camera stream where people can watch and learn. - Greg Ashbaugh

You rule! - Happy

top o' the mornin' to ya - (from boston>austin!) - clewellyn

We're having our third child in July, so I'd use the money to re-do our upstairs. The office will be a casualty. - Tim Trentham

Robert, I just returned from a Alexandria Rotary (alexrotary.com) Board meeting. I am hoping to go on a trip to Tanzania to work on a school called Peace House (http://www.peacehousefoundation.org). Funding is the hold up for me as part will come from the Rotarian and part from our club. If I win, I am definitely going as the amount that I will likely be responsible for is $1,500-1,700. - Craig Mische

We are hosting an event to celebrate the International Creativity and Innovation Day (April 21 which is Da Vinci's b-day). It is the first event within a telco culture. I'd use the money to buy some creative tech prizes for the day like CS4, an entry level Wacom product, a mind mapping subscription, SXSW 10 pass, etc. - Krystal

I would use the money to put a dent in the mountain of cc debt I have from a couple of failed ideas that I've poured money into. - Joel

($1,750) - Open a phonebook, randomly pick a name, follow that person 7 degrees out. Each degree of separation tell that persons story through audio interviews, video, writing, and online media. We need to remember life is interconnected and everyone has a story. - Tim Shisler

Hi Robert. I'd use the money to help fund construction of a computer that will reveal the Ultimate Question to Life, the Universe and Everything. It's a small start, but then everything's small in the light of 10 million years... - Andreas Strothmann

Everything old is new again---make it green on St Paddy's Day! - Carolyn Baehr

I would probably buy the most expensive meal I ever had.(6000 Chicken Fajitas) - JC Lima

Thanks for spreading the wealth out Robert! As for me, should I win the money, I would first take my wife out to dinner (priorities!), and put what's left toward software to help me in my fledgling freelancing work. - Sam Hetrick

Hmm... A shot at $1,000 just for commenting? - HackingNeflix

First Comment: Awesome idea, great way to draw attention to a great conversation - Jason DeBoer-Moran

Second Comment: I would use part of the money to get my SxSW travel fund off the ground for next year. The other part I would put towards paying off my travel to ETech this year. - Jason DeBoer-Moran

If I win, either way, I'll make a donation to kiva.org, and use the rest to invest in my business. - Phil Ripperger

Well, I fell in love this year and I'm saving money for an engagement ring. So I'll be using it for that! - Ben Pettit

My wife and daughter live in Ohio, and I took a career job in Virginia. It being difficult to sell a house in Ohio, I would put any and all moneys toward that goal. - Shawn Lockard

Sounds good to me - Austin Garrod

if i win the prize, I will spend my money to build a new and free web 2.0 web project (i will anounce it here) - Abdullah Özgün

and with the money, i would probably invest in getting a new computer for me and the family, the one i'm using now is 7 years old and i could barely start it up to write this - Austin Garrod

Very interesting to read some of the comments and start the conversation. I would use it to help offset expenses for bringing an 11yr old girl from Egypt to the Philadelphia Shriners for surgery. She suffers from arthrogryposis multiplex congenita (amc--multiple joint contractures and fixed limbs). For dolagy her knees are folded up around her shoulders with arms locked straight at her... more... - margaret chaidez

Lost my job last year after 3 yrs and checked my 401K yesterday and had a whole $77 in the account. Will use the cash for the mortgage and training. Thank you! - David L. Crooks

I'll be using the money to fly to the bay area to see if it's worth it to quit my job and follow my dream. - Mike

I will be using the money to travel around and report about it in a daily videoblog. - Jens Christian Freund

I would use the $$ to kick my fledgling start-up into gear. Even without your money would love to talk to you about it. - Philip

Marketing at its finest! Excellent idea Robert. - Simply Boulder

Roll the cash, baby! - Wisdom Works Group

I'd give every cent to my mom, who is struggling with her mortgage, so she wouldn't get behind. - Andrew Green

Free internet access for a year! - ReeltimeDVD

Hey, you are always creative... - Ömer Faruk Kurt

Really not sure what I'd use it for. Probably bills, but most likely I'd see something shiny, realize I have $$$ in my wallet and just spend it :) - Hal Thompson

I'll use the money to fund my random venture over the summer. - Hung

I'll use the money to buy a DSLR and attempt to learn how to be a photographer - Ryan

I have no idea what I would do with the money, but it would likely end up in a project for my kids school.... - Samuel DeVore

I will take 750$ and use it for my project and I will give 1000$ part back to you for another contest. Maybe I can win it again... :) - Ömer Faruk Kurt

Student loans, here I come :) - Sigoya

Pay for my trip to Japan, as well as entry into a Ironman race! - Chris Lewis

Does FF pay you to get them users? - Thomas Amberg

If I could be chosen to receive the $1750, I'd give it all to Kiva.org to support women entrepreneurs who need technology to build their businesses. the condition is that you join me for drinks/dinner at Presidio Social Club. - Lydia Sugarman

I would use it towards the downpayment for a new house J - Eber Irigoyen

I will use the $1000 to create a quick prototype of a friendfeed like social network (of course better, but can't tell you the secret yet) and put aside $750 to hosting at mosso for the next 7.5 months. - Jeffrey Yan

yes please - Christopher Bell

No whammies! No whammies. STOP! - Michael Pearson

I'd use the money to make my commute much greener - either for a good bike or an electric scooter. Additionally, I would purchase through a nearby vendor so the buy is also helpful for our local economy. - Paul Marino

Hurrah for free money. If i won the money i would take my wife to paris disney as were both disney nuts and are feeling very broke and in need of a holiday. Anything i had left woudl go towards my macbook fund - Jamie Vidamour

My wife is going back to school to become a physical therapist and I'm trying to update my resume/portfolio in case I need to look for a new job in web marketing, and we need new computers to replace the 6 y.o. desktop and 3y.o. laptop that gets daily BSoDs. - Benjamin Lipsman

Half goes to Heifer International and half goes towards paying down personal loans. :) - Rylan

with that money we would hire 4 programmers for 1 month in eastern europe to develop a product that would change the world of e-commerce ;) - Alensa

I would use the money to pay one of my brother's bills. The tech sector in MN is not in good shape. - Matthew McCowan

I wouldn't mind the money, I would put it in my pool of cash that I'm growing for a startup. Thanks for giving the chance! - Tim Broder

I'll use half the money to help me and my family pay some bills and get a small breather from the recession. I'll donate the other half to the jQuery project to help foster more development of their projects like jQuery UI and to help with their infrastructure costs. - Ralph Whitbeck

I would like to pay some pending bills, also I would like to share the money with a cultural association here in Costa Rica - Víctor

I would use the money to makeup for market losses on March 16th - srinivasufeed

I would use the money to hire a designer to design a good looking website for a Jewellery store site that I'm working for my wife. She's currently using blogspot along with google checkout(http://lajouels.blogspot.com/) and has being asking for a website for ages. - Praveen

I will fund my childrens picture book startup (http://www.memetales.com) and have 1. one of my cool illustrators create a super cool illustration of you or 2. have one of my writers include you as a character in one of my picture books. 2 cool offers - personalized just for YOU!! Imagine that !! You pick 1 or 2. (picking both would probably cost me as much as the prize money ;)) - Maya

With either of the prizes I would put a tiny bit away, and use the rest to buy some film equipment/time to finish my series about artists in the DC area called "The Form Appears". I'm guessing I should write something here about give the money to a non-profit doing amazing work for the planet, but honestly, it would just be used for my own artistic needs. - Emmett

I'd create the Scoble Blogger Scholarship. I'm just getting established as a pro blogger. I would use the money to invest in my business to take me to the next step. I would pledge to double the money this time next year and make it available to another blogger in a similar position, with the proviso that they would also continue to pay it forward. - Mike Cliffe Jones

probably would use it to knock of a bit of a 30k hospital bill. Or decorate my 5 yo daughters room. Nah .. definitely the room, if we can get the house lol - vanweerd

I'd get my 15 seconds of internet fame, and laugh at my fortune. I would not forget the little people. - Viajero

If I win, I'm going to donate the money to SproutPoint, a local non-profit org that helps business people refine their business plans, and seeds them with investment capital. The only way out of this recession is if we rebuild the economy with hard-working entrepreneurs. - Rob Stevens

I'd use it for a new MacBook, which of course I would use to spend lots of time following @scobleizer on twitter, friendfeed, and anything else - Chris Brakebill

though I should note I'm not as obsessive and creepers of a follower as that made me sound. just love the good content @scobleizer puts out - Chris Brakebill

Thomas: I am not paid by, nor compensated by friendfeed in any way. I push friendfeed because it's the best service out there. Period. - Robert Scoble

Tough times the last few months have forced us to cut contributions to our child's 529 college fund to a bare minimum. I'd use this to catch-up for her sake. - Bill Day

This must be the all time record for comments! Great idea. - Victor Ryden

i'm in for the $1k. i haven't read all the comments, but my two cents says give one of the other amounts to margaret! - Scott Sorheim

would use the $$ for much-needed computer upgrade - b Anthony

In case you're not following me yet on FF, find me here. - Scott Mace

Robert, agree with FF being the best service out there. Thanks for promoting it and thus getting more people involved and more great content shared and commented on. :-) - Kol Tregaskes

great. I will buy lots of books on Amazon :) - Maria Podolyak

I will pick today's winner with http://www.random.org live on http://www.ustream.tv/studio at 4 p.m. Austin Time (2 p.m. Central). - Robert Scoble

A new fire hoop I would buy. - Donovan Watts

I would probably use the money on a family vacation (or at least an upgrade to a family vacation). - Andrew Gorohoff

Great contest. I'm in. - Patrick Jordan

Wondering if this has broken a record for most comments on FF. /random comment - Rachel Walden

Friend feed should have a back to "topic", if the comments are huge like for this thread. :) - Swaroop

Will the winner need to contact you right away? Because I won't be able to watch at that time or anything. - Chris, Taskerrific Guy

@Rachel It hasn't. There's at least one thread with more comments. http://friendfeed.com/search... - Chris Lasher

If you choose me, I ask that Rackspace donate's the money directly to OLPC. Enable everyone! - David Lynch

Chris: no. I'll post the winners on friendfeed and have them email me. - Robert Scoble

If it's not too late, I'd love the extra funds; both sons need dental work and the employer's dental coverage is pretty slim. - Jill O'Neill

If I win, I would use the money to go see my son and granddaughter. - Sandra

Wow, Robert, this thread is incredible! I would use the money to pay for some improvements to my home and to pursue a nonprofit idea I'm trying to grow. - asiriusgeek

Count me in! Well ,I'll order Kindle 2 and plan a vacation to Europe! - Krishnamoorthy

If I win second prize, I will send money back to you! :) - Vlad Rafeyev

With $1750, I'd repair the windshield on our 2000 Impala and then pay off the remaining debt on our "overdraft protection" credit card. - Daniel J. Pritchett

This is great! I've been working on helping very small businesses (pizza shops, dry cleaners, bowling alleys, etc) use SM tools to promote with very little overhead. A lot of shops have gone out of business recently because they didn't know how to promote outside of the Yellow Pages. If I were to win, I'd use the money to help these businesses with some basic costs like reprinting a menu to mention their facebook fan page, some hosting for a blog or a webcam. I don't charge for my services. - Dave Ferrick

Robert, the $1000 would be nice, but having you visit my site plexav.com to see a demonstration would be even better. - Kenneth Stein

Lets see. I will use the money to move and integrate 12 different but related business entity websites that are in desperate need of integration. Then I will utilize FF and similar aggregation services to help gather the necessary expertise and tutorials to accomplish our optimization and social integration goals. After that I will provide you with a report on the process and results. - Eric Logan

My wife and I are a statistic, but we break the trend. We were "friends with benefits" in college and she got pregnant. I married her. Not because she was pregnant but because I realized that's what I wanted all along. This June we will have been married 9 years and we have 4 amazing sons between us. For our anniversary this June I want to re-propose to her and tell her I want to renew our vows for our 10th anniversary the following year. I love her so much and it's time she has some proper wedding photos! - George Clingerman

How I would use the money: I would have Robert donate the money to a charity, to be decided later. Or perhaps to low income student athletes in California who may have to 'pay to play' this year due to budget cuts. - Rodfather

Hmm. I haven't got a sob story that would make anyone sob on my behalf. And yet I would like to take your money, Robert, so very badly. If I were to win, I would be tempted to use the money for a good cause but ultimately, after putting away money for taxes, I would end up spending the remainder on fripperies and possibly airfare someplace that is not here. I would have a very good time (but nothing illegal!) and might even send you a post card. Or in your case, a tweet. I could do both, I suppose. - Carolyn Jewel

Hello Robert. If i win i'll use the money to hire a coder to create part of the platform for www.chartempire.com. - Frangino Lucarini

I'll donate the money to Our Lady of Perpetual Help (OLPH) food pantry in St. Louis, which has also become a facility that provides medical / vision care and training (in addition to feeding several thousand people each week) in the most hard-pressed neighborhoods in the metro area. We'll then use the money to improve the OLPH infrastructure (basic stuff - network switches, nics, etc.) that supports that medical / vision care, as well as the training. The labor is donated by local tech entrepreneurs. - Bob Lozano

With $1750 from @scobleizer, I'd pay for a little freelance graphic work to get the redesign of http://wiredjournalists.com rolling. - Ryan Sholin

Many people are saying they will donate to charity and this kind of stuff, but I will be honest. I will use about 150 to buy a new printer - I really need it for college, it is a pain to ask my neighbor to print stuff all the time. 450 will go to 6 months of my grandma's medicine fund, so I don't have to worry about it. The rest I will probably save to buy a Palm Pre when it comes out or something cool and amazing. - Kiko Cherman

I would use the $$ to make a dent in the pile of debt that is looming over my head and making my life hell!! Not a very exciting use of the money... but getting out of this debt would make a BIG difference in my life!! - Meredith

I would use the money to help fund the tools I need to take my startup to the next level. - William Spaetzel

With $1750 I'd finally get a laptop that wasn't owned by an employer. - Richard Byrne

To my new FriendFeed friend - always remember: "a friend in need is a friend in deed" but a "friend with money is the friend we need" - Huw Pendry

There's only one thing that's been on my mind that the money could go towards: An Open Source Command Center which will be named "0pie: Reb0rn". The current 0pie isn't doing so well, with a 40lb monitor that flickers in a way that really seizes you, and RAM that was considered top of the line when Megabytes were the highest feasible unit of measure. However! 0pie: Reb0rn will surpass... more... - David Wynn from fftogo

I'd buy something nice, like a vacation, for my mom. - John Piekos

I have a feeling this just made me an accesory to a crime. - Steve C

Nice! I would add the money to what I'm saving to buy a garage for my house. - Orville Chomer

I would GIVE the money to my former admin who's husband is hospitalized awaiting a heart transplant. - Bob Stewart

Hi Robert. Not one person above me said PLEASE I would like 2 win because........ can I remind everyone that manners cost nothing so may I be the first to say please count me in to your generous offer and Thanks - garth

I would give my fiance the money so she could register for real estate training. - Ryan

I would use the money to help buy monitors and computer to have a good setup to kickstart my graphic design freelancing career. I'm very poor and won't be able to afford it for YEARS. - courto

A thousand bucks is plenty. How would I use it? First I'm going to get myself a Flip Mino HD that I read about on your blog. I'm running the Mexico City Marathon in August and that Flip looks the perfect way to record my effort! I'll even get it in custom colours to match the Marathon blog I'm doing! That takes care of $200. Another $300 will get me the Canon SX1 instead of the SX10 I'm about to buy. The rest will go to the charity I'm raising cash for by running the marathon. - Gary

I'm from Costa Rica, I'm Sculpture from UCR, in case you think on me, I'll use that money to help me and my friends to get tools and work materials, maybe you can get some of our sculptures in spirit of fairness! :) - Mauricio

Hope everyone here for the money sticks around for the people! I would love to win the money - I would buy my first Mac ever, the new Mini looks amazing! Pick up a Kindle and some books and pay for our family vacation before the new baby arrives! I will also renew the domain and actually write on my secret identity's parody site. DM Tygerdave on Twitter if you need to know the site before you decide :) Thanks for doing this and pluging friendfeed at the same time! - David Knight

http://friendfeed.com/e... - Manuela

I would use the money to buy a new lens or two for my Canon - Marcus McCurdy

It's very generous of you to do this giveaway Robert! I'd use it to help keep my wife's new law practice wiith some additional marketing. She just got set up in her little office but is still working on building the business. She does Immigration law. Her Twitter handle is @mainstlawyer. - Jesse P. Luna

I would use it to pay for my Flight Instructor rating training. - Louis Bourque

i am in! i would use the other money to promote a new online project that i am working on that deals with the graphic design. thanks. - Ethan Bodnar

Hi, i'm Jose Daniel from Costa Rica, i work in web programming. I hope win the money to start a little personal projects. By the way, in this moment i have not job so would be nice the prize :) - Jose Daniel

I would use the money to start a company in my spare time - John Munro

I'd use it to help pay for my wife's medical school expenses - loans topping $250k... - Dave

If I win the $1750 I will buy me a Nikon D300. - Philipp Mertens

Want to create great conversation? Start giving stuff away! I would use the money to finally finish my iPhone development project by hiring some graphic designers to customize graphics for the program and then release it via a Scoble announcement! - Matthew Strickland

If I win the money I would use it to continue my studies in Reiki healing and teaching, so I could assist in healing people in these tough times. - Louise

Robert, if I win, I'll give half to the Charity Smackdown cause I'm supporting, Stand Up To Cancer (see: http://charitysmackdown.com/team_SU... ). The rest will help 'stimulate my local economy' - food from the green market, some purchases at local stores, probably pay the plumber to fix something that's been on the list for a while. - Howard Greenstein

Hey Robert- Thanks for the offer and I gladly accept the possibility of winning! Normally I am a giver and have been all my life, but this time, due to my financial situation, I have to be a receiver. So I would share the money with myself. But that will help along the road to be able to give back again. It's all good! Thanks to you for being a giver! - Candace Davenport

Congratulations. You made me log into FriendFeed this week. - maczter

Sweet. Free money! I'll take me some. - Jason Packham

With $1750 I'd use it to travel to California and try to get my startup in Y Combinator. Even if I don't, $1750 would be enough to fund my business in Mexico for 3 months! - Mariano

I'd use the money to jumpstart my new pseudo teleportation company. Details on the concept can be found here: http://pushingthepulldoor.blogspot.com/ - Rick Popko

You could just be my destiny! - Alejandra Luthmer

Robert, I'll use the $ to take a trip to SF to meet YOU! if you take me up on it I'll pay you for a few minutes of your advice :) - Francois

Robert, thanks for sharing... I'll take the money and give it to the hard working developers (2) of our Startup www.kontexto.com They deserve a bonus and due to the economic times and our need to be frugal we haven't given anyone extra $. These guys deserve a little extra for all their hard work behind the scene - David http://friendfeed.com/dclarke - David Clarke

If I win the money I will (1) give some to family members in need, (2) purchase a computer for myself (using a very, very old one), (3) save some for the future and (4) fund some acting career necessities, i.e. classes, etc. Thank you for this opportunity!!! - Cynthia Fellowes

You are very generous to be doing this. Ignore the haters!!! - Cynthia Fellowes

I'd buy an iphone to start doing dev work for cross platform (bb, symbian, etc) apps. - Ben Vear

If i would win id buy as many good engineering books as i can find ( The art of electronics, the art of computer programming, blodgett), Buy some propper tools like a good soldering iron, power supply, occiloscope and a microcontroller programmer, get loads of components and start learning to make cool electronics stuff. - Pim de Groot

i'd donate it to my dad's after school/summer program for inner city kids in toledo, kids unlimited. http://www.kidsunlimitedtoledo.org/ - john

I'll buy the arcadexl.com website on sale on sitepoint and then donate the adsense earnings to my Kiva account - Dave Nixon

If I won, I would use it to be able to get some of the gear that I've been looking at and try to learn how to develop on it. I've been trying to piece together the parts to be able to build a smaller linux computer to do what the droboshare does (the drobo's not as interesting if you're technically minded). As a student, that gear's hard to come by. - robbie nakamura

I would give up $1 greasy McChicken sandwiches and bump up to $2.50 Subway sandwiches--this might help me make better decisions--you know, more veggies for better brain power. :) - exoticat

I would use the money to buy a new Macbook and a Flip Mino HD! - Jon Victorino

When will it be Announced? - TheHenry

Congrats & Thanks for getting me started with FF !!! - sathya

Love it. I'd like to buy the world a coke> - Ben

Good Stuff! I do like the XML API - definitely a universal interface. - Terza

I'll pay a UI person to work on my pet project, i suck at it. - mehdi

If I win, I'll stimulate the economy by hiring someone to fix my roof. - Roy Jacobsen

I'm ready. I could use it to pay for ridiculous prescription costs. - Jen (SquirrelGirl)

I'll buy myself a Kindle 2 and give the rest to Rocky B. - Michael Krakovskiy

For $1750, a Kindle 2, some e-books to go with it, and maybe a nice Canon lens. :) - J Wang

If I won the money I would buy a HP MediaSmart home server. My wife and I just got married, and suddenly we have gigs and gigs of photos and videos that we want to keep forever. The idea of automatic, incremental backups gets me all aflutter. I love technology that makes life easier :) - Tony Fendall

I'd give $750 to my Fav charity, Mobile Loaves and Fishes, @MLFNOW, and Split the $1000 between my two children to start a college fund. - Karen

I could come up with no good reason - except that I probably would get myself the Wii and one more console and probably a NAS server - the rest (f anything remains) can go to some charity. Oh and get a drobo too if I can:) - Brijesh

I would use it to upgrade my teenage son's Mac and camera equipment for his stop-motion Lego movie. - MaDBooM

I would celebrate the crash of the GBP against the USD as I convert it over to spend in Harrods - Emma Dunstone

I will get myself a new laptop that doesn't take 10 minutes to start up, and by the way I'm a teacher that taught four sections of a "Thinking and Writing: A Blog of One's Own" at a state college, using (among other readings) your Corporate Weblog Manifesto and Scobleizer--I want to equip myself to further use social media for fun and education. - Tracy Mendham

I will spend the money on my wife and mother of our young kids. A day of pampering at a spa, new clothes, nice meal, etc. - Clif Mims

Robert, I would use the money to but my 17 YO daughter her first car....or at least a down payment on one.. Nothing fancy, just something to get around in. - Nick

I would use the money to buy a decent server and some memory upgrades for the Linux Lab we are setting up at a local community center. It's all donated hardware and will be used for computer literacy in the underprivileged North Charleston community. http://www.csclug.org/... - Dan T

A handful of Nikon SB-900's - chris tirpak

I believe in randomness :D, so if I get your money I will buy a "random" airplane ticket to a "random" country and blog about it - dimi3limb

Buy a used Canon 5D and a decent lens - Alain Breillatt

Hello! I'll take that money and buy half a laptop. - Anthony

I'd invest it in my startup - MixedInk! - Vanessa Scanfeld

I would tithe to Kiva and use the rest for my startup (change the world, baby!) - Toby Hede

If I get to win the $1750 - will use this for my airfare to attend JavaOne this June and post regular updates here on FF on what is happening inside the conference. - Rom Feria

For $1000, this will be enough to start my iPhone App Dev company. :D - Rom Feria

What do we get for pointing out that you didn't follow your own rules? Made fun on of twitter? http://twitter.com/tefflox ! - Jesse Crockett

Attention addict. Nice one. - Tom Beardshaw

Is that your diagnosis, Dr. Beardshaw? - Jesse Crockett

$1,750 would be great to put toward training for leadership training: http://klemmer.com/worksho.... I'm launching a business to train rookies on using social media and more advanced users how to tie it all together. This training on leadership is to equip me to better serve them. - Courtney Engle

i have a great idea for a twitter reader, but dont have the money or coding skills to build it, btw congrats on the new job scoble, cant wait to see the new site/content - patrick

Looking forward to more Scobleizer blog posts soon. Are you going to be able to keep up your blog with the new Rackspace gig? - Jack Nork

I can only wish you get more paid gigs :) I would use the money ( along with my small nest egg) to start a direct to doorstep solution/service company. - Mohan Ramkumar

Random wins! I'll jumpstart my freelance biz... - Derek Markham

I just want the $1000, and I'll finally buy a DSLR I've been craving for a while now. - Mike Estes

If I win I'll spend the money exclusively on a device that allows me to liveblog (videos, photos, etc) from my trip to Tahiti this year. This is my lifetime dream vacation, which is already booked, and I want to have a device that allows me to upload instantly (so, no computer in between, no transfer of memory cards and then upload, just straight upload!) anything and anytime I want to :) Of course, it must be able to allow me to follow up comments from people who check it :) - Vitor Spencer

Robert, I'll use it to contact as many local/national government as i can. :) Building an app that allows citizens to help each other fill out those god-awfull form's, by implementing a Forum style plug-in on the webpages of local and national government bodies. I'd use it to take time off from the dayjob and convince as many municipalities and agencies of my plan! - Tom

OMG Tom, brilliant freaking idea. I have a notebook full of forms for my aged parents and trust me, the gov really needs to get into this century, such as programs talking to other programs and not so much repeating of information. - Janet

Robert, I'd give the $$ to a friend of mine in California who is down on his luck, got laid off from the school system, lost his house, and has kids to support. He has finally decided that the only recession-proof job in California is to become a wildfire firefighter, but is in desparate need of some bridge cash until he gets his certification in June. His family is living in a friend's... more... - Marc Monplaisir

wtf! I'm upset at the possibility of someone getting scammed here. - Suvarshi Bhadra

Well how can you resist an offer like that. I will use the money to help my sister who is struggling to pay for her last semesters in college so she can get her degree. - Andromeda Edison

mmm..... donuts! - Adam Lasnik

I would go with Jess Lee's cause, UNICEF - Pico Seno

Joining! - yannick

i'm in - stanescu adrian

btb, where's the original cisco data center post? - priyanhere

CIAO Robert! I'm ready to win :D - lyonora

is it too late? here i am, however! :) - Alessandro

i haven't money.i will buy laptop with this money. - kadir

kadir my friend the game is over :) I mean the contest is closed, someone else get the prise, may be an other time, good luck. - abdellah

I'd probably buy a nightstand for my wife, since she wont let me buy a laptop unless there is a stand to keep it on. - mka

I'd use the money to send my older daughter (8yo) to The Country School Farm summer camp. http://www.tcsfarm.com/ - Shad Aumann

Thanx for this hope u gave us first of all. I use the money for a laptop or macbook because my computer is killin me. But to be honest im not really expecting to win anything.Im tired of hoping and losing even this kind of comment & win style events always..Anyway thanx a lot again.. - Bilal

That's a brilliant idea to create a viral impact. I wish Robert go on a vacation and celebrate this with a bottle of champaign and cheer for all the users. - irem erman

If I win the $1750 I will buy me a new pc :) thanks. - Oğuzhan Başar

hacı bizim para vardı ne oldu o ? bu kadar yorumu okutma bana. kazandıysam el salla. - Ahmet Kakıcı

12 saat oldu. ne mektup geliyor ne haber senden, söyle de bileyim bıktın mı benden :) - Ahmet Kakıcı

I'd use the money to set up a comfortable home workspace. - Ian Yang

Wow, Robert, I'm ready to win. For $1000, this will be enough to start my personal iPhone App Dev studio; For $1750, this will be enough to start both iPhone App Dev and Android Dev studio :-) - Yingfeng Zhang

spend the money create another friendfeed. - xiawinter

new friendfeed?twitter? oh,I will send some special gifts to you from China,Robert,if I win the $1750 .haha ,I am not kidding. I really like the friendfeed. - 老巫师

for SanGu.me!!! - hugh

Never mind the money – you frieinds just feed me more religion! - kelvin

嘿嘿，from china - loading...

Random. $ to Haitian Clinic. 4 chances 2 win. http://tiny.cc/6JZfi - Douglas Hopkins

I just sent out the checks. Thanks everyone! - Robert Scoble

I won!!!!!! - Micheal

I'd get a new macbook and a mac mini for myself, buy a little something special for the girlfriend, and save the rest for my summer in NOLA and grad school - Chris Brakebill

Good luck everyone. Spread the love and the money :) - Nir Ben Yona

You're nuts... anyway I'd use the money to buy a new porch... or perhaps go to Velocity (not sure my boss won't think 3 days if San Jose is too much like a holiday - I know get a new boss) - Andy Davies

So, with Roberts money I'd pay down a debt & buy a domain/hosting for a web app I'm building to try and earn some more $. Thnx Robert. - Mr K from Nambu

That should be simple - I will buy a Mac Pro, and if some more money left, buy a nice sized LCD display to go with it - Anand Sharma

My one comment - money would be used for a mouth make-over. - Randal

I'm in, as for the reason should I not win the random drawing, pc parts and save the rest for the new iphone. - Michael Breslin

THIS CONTEST HAS BEEN CLOSED FOR A WHILE. THE PRIZES HAVE ALREADY BEEN HANDED OUT. CONGRATULATIONS to everyone. But this is now closed. - Robert Scoble

Robert, perhaps putting that notice in the first comment or the original message itself might be even better. - Chris, Taskerrific Guy

If I had my druthers, I would get my wife a new set of hooters. But, since my wife thinks most of my ideas are juvenile and self serving, I'll end up saving the money or something responsible. - Demian Vonder Kuhlen from Nambu

How would I use the money...hmmm well my wife wants to take the kids to Texas to see her sister or there are about a million home improvement projects that I have at home and at my parents - Brian Allen

show me the money! please... - Matt Soreco

I would use the money to buy my mom a basic laptop. I would hand-deliver the laptop and give her some basic lessons on connecting to free wireless (probably at her public library). Naturally, my internet instruction would include such basics as "beware strangers on the internet -- and some are stranger than most" and "even your dog is a celebrity on the internet" and "blackmailing neighborhood teens via facebook and myspace". - JoJo

I need money, I used to be a stick-up kid / So I think of all the devious things I did / I used to roll up--"this is a hold up; ain’t nothing funny / Stop smiling, and still! don’t nothing move but the money"... - Uche Ogbuji

I will happily take your money. Most will go to a good cause. Okay, all of it will. Me :-) ---> - Robert Kenney

I would like to win the money in order to use it to cover the remaining $1,250 I will owe Drexel University after scholarships and federal loans, Fall '09. - Andrew Leahey

Tuition. 'Nuff said. - Kevin Mohr

Brilliant! I love watching the social experiment evolve... I'm a pro photographer dreaming up my next career as a content producer. I would use my winnings as a piece of the cost to purchase a Red camera. http://www.red.com/epic_sc... - Michael Angelo Truncale

ололо! =) - тут не место для

give it to a little girl going to school who need it. - Can Turanlı

I"ll use the money to buy two airline tickets from NY to SC so that both of my granddaughters could come to stay with me for the summer. If anythings left over, I really could use an external hard drive. - LeighaB

epic thread - nm

I'm in, winnings will go towards a new Mac Pro. - timepilot

What would i do with $1,750? Pretty simple. I will establish a limited in Hong Kong and a branch office in Taipei. This would give me a visa and work-permit for Hong Kong and Taiwan and the blogosphere the chance to get always the hottest hands on and news from the Netbook and mobile computing hot spots in Asia. So yeah, i would use the money to establish a company in Hong Kong and i would even send you copies of all the documents and let you know about the success of it.;) - Sascha Pallenberg

i would buy a Mac, so i could be cool, too ;) since the contest is over, i'm afraid i have to stay uncool :( Or buy an HP.... :) - Marco Schmidt

I'll donate $1,750 to Austin Free-Net, which teaches Austinites with limited means how to use the Internet to improve their lives (find jobs, get healthcare information, stay in touch with family ...) www.austinfree.net - John Sirman

What a good idea for a survey. :) - Aaron S

I will start my phone system support website to deliver cost effective dialing and installation for small to medium business that needs a break from their local phone company. - Aaron S

This is a poll :) - CantorJF

.With the prize i think i can donate more then half for charity to People of Abruzzo that are victims of Earthquake in italy, then pay hosting of website for another year and buy a 2nd-hand reflex... I'm Sincere, and sincerly i know it's near to impossible to win, but for sure will be the best thread ever :) - CantorJF

Did you make a bet with Michael Arrington for $4,500 that you would get 1000+ replies on Friendfeed to prove him that people do use this? i would pay of debt - the best investment. - CJPhoto

We are three 20 somethings who have been working on a web start-up here in Seattle for the last 18 months. We've taken a salary at less than $2,000 per month for this whole time to make this work, we are that passionate that the idea will impact the Food Industry. Building a B2B platform for the food industry that is one part business, one part networking, two parts sourcing with the potential to integrate the social web with Food Manufacturers. The money would tie us over to round 1 of funding. - Matthew Wall

Hi Robert. Great contest. i would give the money to our local animal shelter. I went in there a few weeks ago and saw their desperate need for cat litter and dog supplies - Mike

I would use the money to start building a photography business. - Evan Travers

Happily commenting for $1k and use the other money to go Zorbing in New Zealand with my Flip Mino recording the man-girl scream coming out of my face. - Dutch Driver

I'd buy a FriendFeed Pro account - Pat Hawks

Some much needed financial assistance for our wedding in 2 months would be great! :) - Shmoe

The winners were announced here: http://beta.friendfeed.com/scoblei... - Robert Scoble

a Comment ;-) - Allen Harkleroad

I would pay for my daughters summer and fall college tuition with the winnings. - Allen Harkleroad

I'm amused that people are still commenting on this, saying what they'd do with the money, when the contest is long over. - Rochelle

maybe he has more money still! - Joelle Nebbe (iphigenie)

Should I win the money would be donated to the Janesville, WI food pantry which has been hit hard with the GM plant closings. Too many children and adults (and their pets) going to sleep hungry. - Dave Martin

I would use the money to follow in your footsteps and purchase a camera for how-to and web related videos. - Damond Nollan

Wow! Sounds good to me! Will this thread be used in some way? - jcunwired

Depends on the health of my fiancee, who is going through second bout with Lyme disease. I will either need the money to pay for meds that insurance will not, or if her health is better put it towards the coveted Canon 5D MKII. - jcunwired

Yay, I like free money! Give some to me. - tabbr

Wow, as I leave my comment, there are 1,510+ comments ahead of me. I would get a digicam so as to be able to interview peeps around town and upload to the Special Sections portals. Create community, let voices REALLY be heard. - Denise

SORRY TO BURST YOUR BUBBLE EVERYONE, but it's over. Robert already announced the winners A MONTH AGO. http://beta.friendfeed.com/scoblei... - Chris, Taskerrific Guy

To Tweet or not to. I will use the winnings to purchase a Netbook so I can finally have a mobile computer for class. My Dell died 2weeks outside warranty. I'll also use it pay down my Charter Bill. - Adi

If I win the Money I am going to buy a 60 inch pioneer plasma. - John Wood

The money will most definitely be used to pay bills. And buy food. I'd also probably but a secondary monitor for Friendfeed. Real-time is real neat. - Matthew

So, where is the money? - Ozkan Altuner

I am in! I will use this money to invest in a small social media project that I am doing geekscene.tv! - Frank Da Silva

I would redirect the $1750 equally to Twit.tv and dvorak.org/na, the producers of the podcasts I am really enjoying. - Ron R.

Mr. Mack: This is a good target. "1513 more comments" and 400 likes. - Steve "Daddy do it!" Lacy

allright.i know i'll win this: ) - umut

Pick me Robert, pick me! I promise to give it all to KIVA.com *and* match it with my own money. - Joseph

Why me? I promise to give it all to KIVA.com (or Charity:Water or Gates Foundation) *and* match it with equal amount of my own money. - Joseph

Rebuild my circa 1999 website, get logo redesigned, build it out and link to anywhere my investor wishes. Build in more social media tools, perhaps Y!OS and G's Friend Connect. - Mike Valentine

There's no way to win anything with this huge number of people , but thanks mr .Robert Scoble for this quiz . - ahmed nabil

So, who won the money? - jcunwired

I was wondering that, too...who won? - Thebluestbutterfly from email

This was over a long time ago. I gotta dig the winners out again, sorry. - Robert Scoble

Would love to spend your money on my credit cards and my wife!!! - Brady

I'd piddle it away on passing pleasures. - © b e e n s w a n k

if I win, I would buy Ads on scobleizer.com - Alex Sauceda

Okay, I'm commenting. :D - amygeek

IT'S OVER PEOPLE. March 14, yo. - Josh Haley

i think the confusion about this post lies in the inability for FriendFeed to appropriately show a date and time stamp on each comment. I just figured it out that you have to scroll the mouse of the comment bubble to see the date and time stamp of the comment... they should make it more visible. - Jason Pollock

If I won, I'd give the money to donorschoose.org because it's obscene that in the US, public schools don't have money for pencils & paper. & my employer would match the donation. & I'd get a nice little tax writeoff for myself. :D - amygeek

You are a developer's dream beta tester ! Way to push a system to its limits ! - Benoit Cazenave

This giveaway is over. Has been over. Ugh. - Mattie Kenny

This makes a Thursday that much better. I would use the money to fly myself and the family back home to throw my son his first birthday party. =) - Robert de Castro

I would buy iPods and cameras for students in my sixth grade class in Tucson, AZ. 7 Kodak Zi6 models and 14 iPod Touch models. Or 7 iPods with $1750 - Joel Zehring

That's certainly a cynical strategy for getting comments... but I love cynicism! How will I spend it? Sending my GF and I back to DisneyWorld! - Ciaoenrico

oooooo visit me!! http://www.mygirlfund.com/Chris_R... - Chris

buy a new cleaner/envirmnt friendly car - Harscoat

No impressive story on how I would use the money... buy one netbook and put the rest against my credit cards. It's tough times! - Jan Ole Peek

I'd use the money to fund my son's mission - http://billy.soistmann.com/ - Bill

Money is great! - Fred Hsu

I would use it to pay Obama's tax increases. No spend it to stimulate the economy. No pay new taxes on health insurance. Naw, buy a Mac or I-phone. I-phone, friend feed hard to use on the Dare. 10% to charity though. - wowfreeze.blogspot.com

Put in my children's college fund. - wowfreeze.blogspot.com

Is this the record for the most comments ever? I'll use the money to replace the lens that was stolen by a United employee at ORD on the way from SFO. I will invest the remainder in stocks; if I show profit, I'll hold a similar contest to give away the profit. - Hiro Asari

I'd use some of the money to get my 4 year old into music class. Its not super expensive but beyond my reach right now. Neither myself or his mother are musically inclined at all. But he is. - Capn' One Eye - adrift

============= with the money, Il register a lot of domains, and not only .com ! I'l start new websites, new web app services. I want at least one of them to be that BIG one. I have an idea. Just not that money. :] ......... If money enough, Il commission userscripts, to facilitate internet browsing in general ! ....... I'm open to share in the results. ================ - Petr Buben

If you still reading it means you did not like any of the 1575+ comments here. This is a very good reason to pick me. Second comment about what I am going to do with this money; probably will go to a holiday, order a champagne and remember you. - Jacque

I have to comment again now. - Mattb4rd

is this still running? - Zee.

I WOULD LIEK TO SPEND THE MONEYS ON ALEX AND BUY HIM MONSTER CABLES - Akiva Moskovitz

probably buy a lense for my D90 to take some pictures of the baby that is due in june. - Zach Scott

This thread might be due for another *bump* - Jay Cuthrell

Office - Steve "Daddy do it!" Lacy

OK, I won't. - John Craft

Sure. - امیر؟

Gary Burd

Chrysler HQ designed for mall duty if automaker leaves - http://www.autoblog.com/2009...

May 6 from Bookmarklet - Comment - Like - Share

Hutch Carpenter, Ňicķ, Derek Coward and 21 other people liked this

"The 500-acre site that's crowned by a glass tower with a 35-foot tall Pentastar window visible from I-75 was reportedly designed in such a way that it can be easily converted into a shopping mall if something like, oh, we don't know, bankruptcy happens and the smallest of the Detroit 3 is forced to move out." - Gary Burd from Bookmarklet

9 more comments

That building is horizontally phallic. - Andrew

The Chrysler building is a giant dick. That explains a lot. - Diego Barros 

Diego: LOL! - April Buchheit

I should have picked a different picture from the article. The interesting angle is that CRE is headed off a cliff, not the look of the building. - Gary Burd

problems is that there are reports that malls as a shopping desitination are suffering their own downturns - Steven Hodson

Well, perhaps the phallicity of this one would encourage tourism, at least. - Chris, Taskerrific Guy

Ha! It DOES look like a mall. Perfect. - Nick in Manila

Steven: no problem, just convert the mall into condos! Oh wait... - Gabe

Mall real estate giant General Growth Properties (GGP) filed chapter 11 a couple weeks ago. - Sean O'Connor

sheesh. - Rick Cogley

Robert Scoble

If I deleted my Twitter account would a kitten die? I'm wondering cause more and more of my early adopter friends are moving to other services (I am watching).

March 30 - Comment - Like - Share

Calvin Ayre, tmas68, AKs and 109 other people liked this

Delete it. I showed the way and I have no regrets :-). I think it's the way forward. - Richard A.

186 more comments

Depends on if you can force them onto FriendFeed. Twitter has become a cesspool of spammers and celebrities, which is usually a sign that it's time for people to move on. - Mike Nayyar

other services like ? - Marco

What services are they using. - Sweyn Venderbush

What are the other services that they are switching to? - Jason

what are the other services? FF? other? - nrlaskey

Force them? It's not about forcing anyone to do anything, It's about whether you're still getting anything out of the network you're investing your time into. - Richard A.

No Kittens die. Most people will follow where you lead. - Russellreno

I'm not there yet, Richard. But I do note that Facebook is getting more interesting to the early adopter types I usually hang out with. - Robert Scoble

I'll use my mom's argument: "If all your early adopter friends jumped off a cliff, would _you_ jump off a cliff?" - Nick

Yes, I'd like to know what services too? And don't say FriendFeed :) - Michael Pilla

Why would you kill off that audience? At least keep it up with a pointer saying you can now be found at X. You know that if you delete the account, in 6 months, some blogger will write a story about how Robert Scoble doesn't get social media because he's not on Twitter and then it'll be the top story on TechMeme for at least a week. - Mark Trapp

which other other services are attracting the early-adopter crowd, Robert? Anything cool you can share with us? - Andrew Terry

I agree with Mike. Once a service has gone mainstream, it's never the same. Good example was SxSW this year. Too many people were using the hash tag for non-related things like "I fed my dog #sxsw" and it jammed up the network, making it hard for people to legitimately find events. - Allen S.

Sure, no kittens would die. But I continue to find Twitter invaluable and more useful than FriendFeed. However, FaceBook is becoming more useful as a communications and stay-in-touch tool, especially for those with whom I share a relationship of some type. - Michael Krigsman

Nah, not friendfeed, although it's interesting that this comment is getting more engagement here than on Twitter. :-) - Robert Scoble

Facebook for the win. It is more interesting to me also. Amazing how they did that. - Russellreno

What are the other services??? - Jennifer Windrum

Michael: Facebook is the one I'm thinking of. It's coming on very strong with the types of people who made Twitter popular. - Robert Scoble

@Mike, I was thinking the same thing. We are early adopters (ok, some are earlier than me) and we enjoy the close nit friendships created and nurtured through small groups. - Damond Nollan

I think you should keep your Twitter account to follow the evolution of Twitter into FriendFeed, through all kind of bolt-on services like Twitpic and Twerbose ( http://twerbose.com/ ). - Meryn Stol

Trapp, because that audience is only interesting if you get it onto a more conversational platform where anyone can make sense of the conversation a month after it happened. Twitter makes that impossible. - Richard A.

this is the classic age old early adopter twitch, if you were a real early adopter you wouldnt be asking and you'd be gone already.. fear not however, where ever you go, the masses will follow - Dan Rockwell

Why delete it? To make a statement? Just abandoning it quietly is a better choice. - Brian Sullivan

Robert; If twitter was alive and well people would be chatting, not retweeting, they would be conversing with more than one tweet per day per person. - Richard A.

I'm liking Facebook much more since it's a direct FriendFeed copy, but it'll need to go asymmetrical to kill Twitter. - Steve Isaacs

I agree that Facebook is becoming more interesting. What I'd like though, is a version of Facebook that doesn't allow any of the really stupid applications. I'm sick of getting poked, hit with a pillow, being served fake beers, etc. - Chrimmus Tad

Dan: I was a big Facebook user right around when the Platform came out. Then I moved to Twitter cause more of the people I liked to talk with were there. Now I notice the flow is headed back to Facebook and I'm not the only one to make that observation. - Robert Scoble

the day Facebook will share outward their status update, then it may kill everything else around.... i don't think it can yet. - Yann Ropars

@Robert: I suspect you've inadvertently validated why projects like Yammer and ESME should do well - 'your early adopter friends' says it all - it's about YOUR community, not everyone's. - Dennis Howlett

No, seriously...what other services? - Adam Gonnerman

I use multiple social networking tools. - Dan Krivolavek from twhirl

Robert: All my real life friends, and all those I trust are on FB, those I don't trust yet are spread to other networks for the moment. - Richard A.

Robert: I get why you want to make the personal statement, but given your new role at Rackspace I'd say you really have to be everywhere. - Ken Sheppardson

and, what's motivating your friends to move? Are other services offering features that Twitter lacks, or is it because they consider Twitter to be too mainstream/overcrowded now? - Andrew Terry

Yann: not yet, but Facebook is moving in that direction. - Robert Scoble

so long as you tell us where you're moving, LOL. - Kayce Maisel

Someone's discovered the Real-time View :) - Richard pancakhaus Walker

Kayce, he wouldn't be moving ;-). He would simply be re-focusing on another service ;-) - Richard A.

Andrew: everyone has a different answer. Most of them say they must be on Facebook because their normal friends are there, but aren't on Twitter. Facebook is growing far faster (in terms of people) than Twitter is. Just passed 200 million users, while Twitter is at about 10 million. - Robert Scoble

i think facebook would be more interesting if they made all profiles public, ala twitter. The openness of twitter is really the win. If facebook can do that then I will consider seriously using it. - akeem adeniji

Richard W, I've been using the realtime view for weeks by now, or for a while anyway, I live in i. When I'm here. - Richard A.

I think that any process of "flow" between platforms isn't necessarily final, So I say : keep it. You may need to go back. - Iain Baker

Still a strong believer in Facebook for personal friends/family, Twitter for public engagement/networking. They work together. - Ian Mikutel

I think microblogging transcends the specific service you happen to be using. The interesting thing about Twitter is that it's a sort of lowest-common-denominator microblogging platform that makes for a good place for all of the various streams to dump into and/or a good starting point to feed into your other services. But focus will gradually shift from the specific service to the microblog stream as a whole. - Grey Drane

Twitter is mainstream now; usually indicates the demise is forthcoming - Tom Allinder

Akeem, there's no way I want my FB profile public. - Richard A.

What specific functions is Facebook enabling/offering now that are you seeing that is attracting the early adopters back & causing you to consider this? Is it much more than the feed & grouping? - Lyn Graft

Ian: that was Facebook of yesterday. Zuckerberg told me Facebook will have a public engagement piece too. This is very important for brands, celebrities, news organizations (which is where Twitter is getting its hype). But Facebook is far more engaging, especially now that they copied friendfeed's features (albeit not as well) and Twitter's river of noise. - Robert Scoble

Judy you're one person I would never follow on twitter in that case. - Richard A.

Scoble, just delete the thing and be done with it! Who cares if you have a place to land... you yourself recently jumped without a net and it turned out okay. Kill it. You'll sleep better at night. And I agree with Tad, fake beers are teh suk! - Jim Is Not Smart

I am not so sure. Twitter is exactly good because it produces some noise. Noise good, since it allows one to be creative in filtering the information out. It gives much more room for chance than e.g. Facebook. If one bunkers into their peer groups, inspiration becomes a very hard thing to get by. - Mark Jacobs

@Richard how am I supposed to find you on facebook and to discuss similar things if we have never met and aren't in the same groups? - akeem adeniji

Jim: I had to check if a kitten would die first. :-) - Robert Scoble

do it maan... its da way forward :) - simran from twhirl

Robert, the difference is facebook is more like a village in outlook, there's a good chance many of your friends know many of your other friends. It's a much nicer and social community. We have a lot more freedom in what we post there. - Richard A.

@Mark - Exactly! - Grey Drane

I foresee Twitter usage reverting back to status updates, and the micro-blog moving to services with better conversation and filtering/grouping capabilities (like FriendFeed). - Daniel Sims

Sounds like a great example of jumping on and off bandwagons as they go by. You can post to Twitter from Facebook and vice versa. With Ping.fm. you can post to all the social networks you belong to and spend as much time in whatever platform you want. - Paul

I don't know if this matters to you or not, but I found Robert and others through Twitter. I "thought" I was connected and well read in the technology/web industry, but with Twitter (and now FriendFeed) I was introduced to a whole new world with new players. If you go back to Facebook alone, I'm afraid people like me would miss out on good people like you. Fortunately, I've subscribed to a great many of industry leaders' blogs, so I guess you can go anywhere and I would be fine, but there are others who. - Damond Nollan

I told you twitter managment would kill twitter ;-) :-) happy to see it's turning into a reality slowly. Of course this is only a problem for early adopters. - Richard A.

Paul: I watch engagement, not posting behavior. If you post a Tweet and no one is on Twitter to listen to it, did it really matter? - Robert Scoble

...haven't been fortunate enough to meet you. I say, do what you feel is best, but know you take a lot of folks with you. - Damond Nollan

Richard: I've been doing online communities since 1984. The normal people ALWAYS follow the early adopters. I can't think of an example where that was not the case. Early adopters used to be on Prodigy. We aren't anymore. Neither is anyone else. Same for CompuServe. Usenet. AOL. Etc. Etc. - Robert Scoble

This is how active twitter conversations would have been at one time, Hundreds of tweets on the topic, and you would have followed back many of these people as a result. It would have helped with meeting new people :-) - Richard A.

Next service to fall... Friendfeed? - Jordi Soler

Robert: What's your view on the current best replacement for Twitter? - Michael Krigsman

LOL at Robert. Did you land on a LOLcat? - Jim Is Not Smart

Michael: there isn't yet a good replacement, although Facebook is definitely moving in that direction. - Robert Scoble

ability to tweak friend lists in FB allows de facto asymmetry - just create a "follow" list to see more of, dump all those you wouldn't follow onto a "view less list," drag and drop the more list to the top so FB defaults to it... - Todd Randolph

Curiously, there are 5 million comments here on FF, and I saw only 2 @ reply on Twitter...from @JMaultasch and @SashaKane...so far, FF wins as a forum where people participate (as opposed to sell). - Eric Matas

Todd, advantage of lists on Facebook is you can sort your friends according to geography and how you know them. Makes seeing the most relevant news easier as a result, doesn't mean you pay any less attention. - Richard A.

Eric: Why do you think I jumped from twitter to here? I came for the community. - Richard A.

Do you have a list of your early adopter friends? - Paul Sanchez

Twitter is morphing into many different business models (at an alarming pace) and the twitter feeds will continue to be the lifeblood in these new startups. - Whip

Why do we need to move on like this was a clubbing scene? I think Twitter has its place in the ecology, so has FriendFeed. I would feel most uncomfortable in relating to people I have not met in person on Facebook mostly. Once we go back there, we may as well call LinkedIn or Xing as the next big thing. - Mark Jacobs

Robert: Keep one thing in mind, all your twitter friends were imported onto Friendfeed the day you did that sync, as a result everyone is still followed, but on a different platform :-) - Richard A.

I just retweeted and searched...was the 3rd to retweet. Thought the cat part would grab more attention... - Eric Matas

Heavens no Scoble. - Roberto Bonini

Robert: Facebook just doesn't have Twitter's ability to easily sift and find interesting new folks in one's particular area of personal interest. That's what I *NEED* and Twitter does it excellently. - Michael Krigsman

No kittens would die if @scobleizer swam away from the fail whale. - Bernie Goldbach

I think your kitten would simply ask for a cheezeburger. While Facebook status is becoming more Twitter like, I've found myself using Twitter much more since the demise of Pownce (deep sigh). In my world though Facebook and Twitter are tools I use to connect with different audiences. FB I use primarily for connecting with real world friends, while Twitter is more about sharing info with Webdev/mktg peers. And I like that Twitter is less cluttered even though we're seeing more new spammy users. - Heidi Cool

Robert, are you sure about that? Do you really know how many times you have mentioned a service on Twitter or Friendfeed or your blg that didn't result in I or others going to that service to find out what it is all about? Adopting an app that you pointed to (e.g. Twhirl). If your measuring engagement by the number of people that respond directly to a post then you and other early adopters are sorely underestimating your reach. - Paul

I think Twitter still has quite a bit of use. FriendFeed never seemed to have pick up that kind of attention (though I wish it did - its great for conversations!) - Colin Charles from twhirl

I think the problem with friendfeed is with its interface... it's a pita - Marco

Paul: I know there's quite a bit of engagement on Twitter, but other services are going up while Twitter isn't growing so quickly. I track these things. - Robert Scoble

You mind sharing a few of the early adopters names :) - Paul Sanchez

Is this comment bait? :) I don't see any benefit to deleating your Twitter. Would you have chosen to delete your radio blog because you were moving on to wordpress? - Christian Burns

Robert, Would you please give some examples of services that might be better? - Andrew Pass

Marc: online communities are a LOT like the clubbing scene and that's exactly why some get more popular and others get less. - Robert Scoble

If early adopters did start jumping off a cliff, I'd be very interested in the cliff. - Eolaí gan Fhéile

Marco, only thing missing from Friendfeed is to see when people have commented to something you've said, then it would be much more useful. - Richard A.

Robert, just wondering: What kind of response do you get on Facebook on questions like these? - Meryn Stol

Meryn: not as strong because I haven't participated in Facebook for more than a year. I should try. - Robert Scoble

Twitter is much more like an index, without much real / meaningful conversation. Not to say that individual posts aren't meaningful, but they usually lead to real value somewhere else. Friendfeed has much more in-depth conversations. For me, the question is still out there on facebook - it still is mostly a light hearted socializing tool, without much serious value. At least, not yet with the people I know who use it. - Chris Rogers

Robert, if you move to Facebook I would die, because I'm not in your 5,000. :-( - Jesse Stay

I agree with Steve, FB would have to go asymmetrical. Only the very tiniest percentage of contacts I have on FB are people I have not interacted with in person face-to-face at some point in my life. - Andy Kruger

Some of my twitter followers who used to Lifestream in public seem to have moved that function to Facebook... starting in the immediate days following the redesign and the ensuing hubbub. - Ahsan Ali aka. Slick

I don't think FB is as interesting as Friendfeed. I really do think Friendfeed is the most interesting community to be part of at the moment. It has the potential to build new onlines communities without the hassle of knowing those people in person. - Richard A.

Like many of the others, I use FB for friends/family. Twitter is where I am getting/sometimes sharing info on tech things that interest me. - Sherri

Hmm I think it would be quite exciting if the "FriendFeed ethos" would get transferred to Facebook. - Meryn Stol

Meryn: keep in mind that up to today Facebook is only for discussing stuff with your friends. For me Facebook is capped at 5,000 friends. Facebook's more public entity, though, AKA "Pages," are being expanded and will get more of an equal billing on the social graph. On friendfeed I have 31,000 followers, and this message went to Twitter where I have 76,000 followers. So, that's a LOT more people than I touch on Facebook. - Robert Scoble

@Chris - Yep! Use Twitter to find the interesting stuff, then follow the tidbit to wherever else it leads in order to discuss it and find the real value in it. - Grey Drane

why not use identi.ca? - very calm there - Wittkewitz News

Meryn: actually that's EXACTLY why Twitter is getting more hype, but why people who aren't celebrities (IE, don't have more than 5,000 followers, which includes most of my "early adopter" friends) are not feeling the Twitter love so much anymore. - Robert Scoble

I'm amused at this conversation because none of you are aknowledging friendfeed as a platform. That's where I came when I deleted my twitter account. I was among the 200 most active users of twitter at the time. - Richard A.

I second what Richard Azia said: "Marco, only thing missing from Friendfeed is to see when people have commented to something you've said, then it would be much more useful." - Rick Bucich

It's kind of funny -- when you said "early adopter friends" I thought you meant a "new" service. You're just going back to Facebbok because they've added some better features and have gotten a bump of mindshare. Then some other service will evolve their features, etc. and people will go back.... What I think is really important is the recognition that Twitter, FF, etc. aren't really... more... - Steve Lynch from twhirl

Steve "bump in mindshare?" Hah! 200 million users is more than a "bump in mindshare." Twitter actually has gotten a bump in mindshare lately. Everytime I turn on the radio or TV I hear about Twitter, it seems. - Robert Scoble

Great debate - Dave

Hmm I think it would be a shame if you left FriendFeed. For me it's all about the loose-ties. :) And Twitter, in it's current incarnation (e.g. without a very advanced client, turning it into something similar to FF) just doesn't work if you want to discuss anything but the simplest things. - Meryn Stol

I hear about twitter a lot more but I don't see anyone using it anymore? Are there any signs that people are still reading tweets, rather than just posting? - Richard A.

for an early adopter, a site /technology become's stale within 6-9 months.. the hype and fun is finito.. as such I was active from feb/07 .. I think I was the 300th odd person on twitter and by OCt/08.. I hardly use twitter.. yes early adopters keep moving on.. thats why they are called "early adopters" :)- - Peter Dawson

Mohamed: Heheh. Even if you have thousands of friends you can't publish to the public (ie, Google can't index your facebook stuff). That's one reason why Twitter and friendfeed are more interesting. - Robert Scoble

If a person uses Twitter because they want people to follow and pay them attention, I could care less. Twitter continues to be a useful micro-blogging tool, as long as it is free. If Twitter is fun, I'll use it. If it is just a new way to market shit, and if they start charging for it, I'll be gone. It seems that people are now getting more attention just for leaving Twitter. Good riddance. - John Johnson

Facebook is trying to be everything. The path from Yearbook to Aggregator-cum-microblogger is long and hard. - Ahsan Ali aka. Slick

So there is no equivalent to this on FaceBook? http://twitter.com/search... Because that is one of the most interesting things about Twitter. Following subjects is often more interesting than following people. - Matt Griffith

Let me ask a question back to you. What value would you derive from deleting your Twitter account? - Thomas Hawk

Thomas: well, I would get a lot less auto DM spam. :-) - Robert Scoble

Didn't Leo delete his Twitter account at one point? - Thomas Hawk

Thomas: yeah, he did, then he came back. Hasn't seemed to hurt him, other than he isn't on Twitter's recommended follower list. - Robert Scoble

But why would less DM spam matter? How would deleting the account provide more value than simply leaving it intact and ignoring it? - Thomas Hawk

I triple dog dare ya. - timedalkat from twhirl

Thomas, I think he just "left" for awhile and returned when it was clear Jaiku didn't have enough people on it - Richard pancakhaus Walker

another thing that friendfeed has not: a decent client - Marco

Thomas, You can't ignore a twitter account, that's why :-), There's no way you can walk away from a functioning account. Many of us have tried and not quite succeeded more than 8 days. - Richard A.

I guess my point is why delete the account? Simply ignore it. That way if you decide later on that you want to come back it's still there. You might find that you want it back at some point. At a minimum though you can still direct your FF content there which includes a link back to your conversation here with every tweet. I'd think this would be a good encouragement for people not on FF yet who are on Twitter to find you here. - Thomas Hawk

that and maybe change your bio I'm mostly participating on FF or Facebook or whatever. - Thomas Hawk

personally I find FF far, far, more engaging than Facebook. But maybe that's just me. - Thomas Hawk

Thomas I agree wih you, I like FF for that. - Richard A.

This is one of those threads that's just too big/fast to try to catch up at this point, but instead of being the jerk who comes in and says something that was said early in the thread because they're too lazy/busy to catch up, I'll just demonstrate what you're supposed to do in this situation. *shuts up* - Matthew DeVries

Twitter is becoming mainstream, even in such backwards countries as Ukraine. For a true geek, it is a sure sign to get out of here! However, for me it is still interesting for the dynamics of signal/noise ratio within system. - Pavlo Zahozhenko

Yeah, but to your point, you can't talk to the public and a lot more people will follow you on Twitter that will never friend you on Facebook. I'm speaking generally, here. - Steve Lynch from twhirl

This really is just an intellectual exercise, right? How can you be talking about all this Building43 stuff and promoting "social media" then turn around and talk about disappearing from the "social media" service with more MSM press/attention than any other right now? - Ken Sheppardson

What would YOU gain from deleting it? is it more than you would gain from keeping it? You use Twitter in your own way which is most likely vastly different than anyone else who uses it, but that doesn't matter, it's up to you to decide how to use it and how to gain value out of it. It is a tool. Whether or not you want to delete it should be based on what YOU think in terms of value, not others. - Ivan Lukianchuk

Ken: It's April 1, take that in mind. Yes, it's just an intellectual exercise, although I was dreaming about it last night so at least part of me wants to do it. Building43 is for people fanatical about the Internet, not going to be about any one thing or even just about social media. - Robert Scoble

Robert: April 1 is Wednesday. You going to keep this up for three days? :-O - Ken Sheppardson

Within two months your account will be deleted. There's a chance. If you think about it then it's not just a thought, there's a reason there, somewhere. - Richard A.

Ivan: overall I would probably lose more than I'd gain, but I've learned in life that you must destroy before you can build. When Vegas builds a new casino they tear down the old one first. The trick is to know when the right time is to tear down the old one. :-) - Robert Scoble

Azia, you are using the "royal we" or you are talking about an undefined group... and I personally wouldn't make such over-generalizations even with a :-) - Richard pancakhaus Walker

in this atmosphere of many super-user account, a simple account is useless. - abdellah

Steve: unlimited friends are coming to Facebook "soon." (We already have them on Pages). - Robert Scoble

Besides, Twitter is a lot easier to use and more open... and there's no application spam. I hate app spam. - Steve Lynch from twhirl

Yeah, but there's still a signal-to-noise problem. FB wants to be your social presence on the Web. People don't want an unsuable presence on the Web. They want to see what parties their friends are having and what their high school ex-girlfriend is up to. As a richer social medium, Facebook is much more vulnerable to Dunbar-number-type limitations for the average user. When someone... more... - Steve Lynch from twhirl

Does anyone know the mean or median number of friends for FB users? - Steve Lynch from twhirl

ccheath just said 120. makes sense. - Steve Lynch from twhirl

It's interesting, but as a non-blogging, earlier-than-early-adopter-burnout, FB feels like AOL to me in an uncomfortable way. In spite of that creepy feeling, it seems to be where I get the most engagement for the least amount of effort. Of course, my FB circle is a tight one of 99% friends from over the past 30 yrs. Seems I only glance at Twitter & interact more deliberately on FF. FB is pointing out I seem to have less in common with my friends & I'm less friendly with common-interest acquaintances. - ɐ ɯıʞ sıɹɥɔ

Twitter is "mainstream" with 10 million users, but Facebook with 200 million isn't? FB is a mess and whenever I log on I start getting real-time chat requests from people I haven't talked to in 10 years. I find Twitter to be a superior experience so far. - Pete Smith

It's been interesting to watch the evolution of Twitter. Sadly now there is a tremendously large amount of noise covering up the best signal. Even worse, the changes that have occurred to Twitter as a result of the flood of people from the masses has been painful. I much prefer the Twitter of circa June 2008 and just prior when there was more functionality (a la track) and better discussion. In fact I much prefer seeing the fail whale than seeing Britney Spears occupying such a large mind-share there. - Chris Aldrich

+1000 to chris kim a. FB feels like AOL to me - tons of spam, tons of intimate minutia, very little engaging content. I DON'T WANT YOUR PLANTS. It feels like work and doesn't relate to anything outside of itself. FF offers engaging, substantive conversations sprinkled with LOLCats. Twitter offers bite-sized entertainment, and (some) real-time interaction that doesn't have to involve a chat client. I prefer the latter two and consume most of my content there. - Jennifer Dittrich

Facebook is a student community where the students have graduated as a result of which more options are now offered. When are people going to remember that fact? - Richard A.

Where are your friends going instead? - Rae Gross

via PETA autobot: STOP MURDERING SEA-KITTENS, ROBERT SCOBLE! :) - Richard pancakhaus Walker

@Richard_Azia: I've always been clear on that point, which is part of what makes it so disturbing. Finally, my RL friends (now the parents of the original target FB audience) -- but to my horror, they have regressed into Super-Poking, Green-Patching Hippie-Gifters. Look, if you can SuperPoke me, then you can post a "hey how are you?" to my In box or wall. Frankly, I don't find the games of FB particularly engaging as a 21st-Century version of pigtails in inkwells, either. - ɐ ɯıʞ sıɹɥɔ

@Steve +1 to app spam on FB. Hate it! - Grey Drane from BuddyFeed

Chris Kim, that's why I ignore all requests. Much easier to ignore them than to reject them. Luckily those I know hardly spend any time doing all those things. - Richard A.

If you deleted your account what would happen to the scobleizer name. Could someone else claim it? Or is once a name used on Twitter it is forever off the table? If you changed your mind later could you get the scobleizer handle back? - Thomas Hawk

Thomas: I don't know. I won't delete it, though. It was mostly a fantasy I was having last night. See, normal people dream of supermodels or getting a cool car. Me? I dream of deleting my Twitter account. :-) - Robert Scoble

@Scobleizer "But I do note that Facebook is getting more interesting to the early adopter types I usually hang out with" I would say "for Internet newbies" LOL Green Houses (Walled Gardens) are usually better for a start - no scary wolfs like in Green Forrest ROFL :D - Lora Lufark

I refuse to believe true early adopters are all-of-a-sudden enamored with Facebook because they copied a few things from Twitter and Friendfeed...then again... - Rahsheen ™, Coach Rah

And here we are, the very reason I continue to hold that FF is my favorite engagement tool. These comment-baiting discussions naturally epitomize the value of eating one's own dog food while also pointing out that there are more dishes at this potluck than the one you bring yourself. - ɐ ɯıʞ sıɹɥɔ

Offer your account on eBay and see who bids. Then sell them something else. - Louis Gray

Never delete a well-known account. If you were to delete the Twitter account, then some offshore porn gambling site would grab the @scobleizer name. That having been said, Twitter is seeming to become a "must have" thing, so even if you don't use it, you need to establish a presence there. - John E. Bredehoft

I just don't see the what Twitter gives you when you have FriendFeed. - TranceMist

TranceMist - With all of the recent news coverage of Twitter, a lot of people are on Twitter who haven't yet learned about FriendFeed and they will ask the opposite question that you just asked. - Aaron Hood

If Scoble deleted his twitter account it must be the results of Global Warming - rob friedman from twhirl

Rename it then auction it off. - Ryan Stanley

No, might not die, but but Kitty would be sad: http://tinyurl.com/c8fcc3 - Sarah Garnsey

I don't see why you'd delete it rather than just not tweet, other than a very visible snub to the Twitter guys, right? - jjprojects

I doubt that Twitter would miss you, though your ego obviously tells you otherwise. - Stan Scott

Seriously? You guys just realized that Facebook is interesting? I've looked up to you... I had no idea I was already ahead. - Jaica Kinsman

Robert - I've made the same conclusion as you re: Facebook gaining popularity fast with early adopters like myself, who by the way are not able to connect with you on facebook due to 5K cap. Don't delete twitter, just move to where you prefer to engage your communities. - Susan Beebe

Facebook is the new AOL. I am using Facebook more often to stay connected with Mom and the family, but I would not replace twitter with it. no way. - Karoli from BuddyFeed

Maybe early adopters are spending time on Facebook to try to figure out its appeal. I think they'll conclude it's just network effects and empty virality, then leave again. - Bruce Lewis

You actually still use both? I thought you'd moved exclusively to FriendFeed... Who cares about Twitter anymore? IT SUCKS! - LarchOye

Experiment: If I say "SEO" or "peanut butter" in this FriendFeed post, let's see how long it takes Jiffy peanut butter company or their "SEO Expert" to subscribe to my FriendFeed to try and sell me something. Ready, set, go! (I like twitter, but it's becoming a drag because the marketing spam is now so damn predictable.) - TheMacMommy

Is there a Mac solution yet for porting our twitter buds (the ones we actually want to follow) into FriendFeed? I was looking but gave up on it for a little while. Anyone know the scoop on that? I'll admit, I'm lazy. I want a script to do it for me. on the Mac. - TheMacMommy

I really hope you don't start to use Facebook instead of Twitter. I don't like Facebook at all.. - Peter

Facebook first movers are migrating to twitter. So there is nothing unnatural in this. People move back and forth all the time. The grass is always greener on the other side etc etc... - Dennis Bjørn Petersen from twhirl

I entered twitter late and realize friendfeed is mindcastier than twitter... - Arunn

Mindcastier? - Richard A.

Only the Calico ones? - rob friedman

Robert, Why don't you just increase your activity on Facebook and decrease it on Twitter and then if Facebook is alot better then Twitter then fully convert and if not, you've still got 19k updates and 77k followers ;) - Nicholas James

You can install (or ask a coder to develop) a Facebook App that sends your status updates (and shared links, etc.) to Twitter. You have a history with getting your data out of Facebook, but I guess Zuckerberg now knows you better. This is what most brands do: they make the effort to be everywhere, to suit they many followers. Or you can re-use Jaiku recently opened source (+ App Engine) to make the micro-blogging platform or your dreams. - Bertil Hatt

I hardly use Twitter these days. - Jim Connolly

Interesting thread. I can see why Robert is saying Facebook. It has been the place that I gave received the most interaction these past few months. True that, I am just a wee one and most of my FB friends are real world friends. :-) - Mathew A. Koeneker

information overload.... my nose is bleeding,...shutdown imminent 3....2........1....... (no kitten would die, btw) - ilter

Twitter is useful, though FriendFeed appears to be more so. - Calvin Ayre

Cee Bee

running from the camera blog : put the self-timer on 2 seconds, push the button and try to get as far from the camera as I can. - http://runningfromcamera.blogspot.com/

February 20 - Comment - Like - Share

Iván Abrego, Daan, OnuRC and 153 other people liked this

THIS...IS...EPIC... - Johnny Worthington

39 more comments

pretty funny. got me to laugh - Cee Bee

Ha - RAPatton

Next: running behind camera thief photos - Jemm

Love it, don't know why but I really do. Simple ideas are the best! - Toby Graham

This is quality I am so going to try this out when I get a chance - Joe Dawson

hhahahahaha.....I am probably in there - Shevonne

fantastic! +1 internets! - felix

Too bad that would get my bad side - the butt! - Head Ov Metal

Stop him, he's getting away! - Pete Delucchi

Two seconds? I'd still be behind the camera. :D - Steven Perez

Jemm +1 - Juan Pablo González

He doesn't seem to be getting any faster despite all the running. - ronin

Sometimes showing a smiling face is not everything !! - Jayavasanthan J

ROFL! This rules! New meme alert! - rowlikeagirl

I love that these pics date back to October of 2007 and he's still keeping it going. Very cool! Now to take it up a notch and do it NAKED! :) - John Reynolds

Haha I love this - Rodfather

John, unless you have more practice than me, there's no way to undress in only 2 seconds, let alone start running! - Scott of Two Countries

+++Perez. I would knock over the tripod trying to get running fast. - Admiral Anika

I want to try this! - Chieze Okoye

Outside of my new television, this is the most awesome thing I've seen today. - Derrick

He had to have someone watching his tripod. I would try this but I fear someone would run the other way with my camera and tripod. - Janet

Damn. I love the internets. He's got a blog dedicated to this. That's awesome. - ♥patricia♥

This is fantastic! - Aaron Draczynski

I'm to fast for any camera, it would be just a flash... - orionstarr

awesome! - Gökmen Karasu

best idea EVA!!!! - Charly

This is hilarious! Great idea and made me smile today! - Ace

Cool! Those Dutch people have some creative ideas. ;-) - Rutger Blom

I'm doing this at the earliest possible opportunity. - Jim Is Not Smart

I think some people have way too much spare time on their hands to dream up all this stuff... sounds like fun though.. .LOL - Ian May

Reminds me of my favorite Shakepeare stage direction: Exeunt, pursued by a bear - Ginger Makela Riker

PRICELESS... - Kenneth Younger

This is awesome. - Mona Nomura from fftogo

Unfortunately, if I tried this in my neighborhood, I would have NO CAMERA. I think I need a partner to make this work... - Paula W

Quite awesome, I'm waiting for the falling over face first photo. - Andrew Trinh

Totally love it! - Chrimmus Tad

I've seen these before and thought it was hilarious. This seems like something that Tad would really get into... except he'd make me take the picture while he's running... of course then I wouldn't tell him when 2 seconds was up (and he'd just keep running, I think... now THAT would be funny). - Fa La La La Lindsay

would be fun to try it backwards esp if one falls down on occasion - tarafireball

Awesome.. - Moses Kpetigo

Cool concept. And Dutch! Hurray for the Dutch! I thought I recognized my city (Rotterdam). - TobiasVerhoog.com

Louis Gray

Christian Science Monitor Covers Twitter's Secret - http://www.louisgray.com/live...

February 12 from louisgray.com - Comment - Like - Share

Scott Maentz, Ryan Stanley and Anne Bouey liked this

Robert Scoble

New Feedly combines Google Reader, friendfeed, Twitter in great way for social network addicts - http://scobleizer.com/2009...

February 11 from Scobleizer -- Tech geek... - Comment - Like - Share

Phil Ashman, Susan Beebe, Yan and 84 other people liked this

Here's the video I did yesterday with Edwin who shows me what Feedly is all about. Edwin talks about the real time web (Steve Gillmor alert) and demos the latest. - Robert Scoble

37 more comments

This is really great. I tried Feedly when it was released around the FF 3.0 release and struggled with it's magazine metaphor. I was very much used to the inbox metaphor of google reader. However, the new real-time search integration with Friendfeed and Twitter is amazing. It has really become a conversation awareness tool for browsing. - Dave Senior

Used Feedly before. Gonna have to give it a look again. The idea of everything in one place is very appealing. - Paul Wade

Not to mention the great little Feedly mini bar at the bottom of every page - easy to share, tweet, email whatever you find - even outside of Feedly. INtegration with delicious, tumblr, google reader, friendfeed - it's fantastic - James Hull

off to have another look. I was using Feedly for a while till I switched to Chrome. - Sharon Hurley Hall

OMG, this seems to be gorgeous oO - Dennis R.

Just to add here to the love - the documentation is kind of confusing at first. There are a ton of great shortcut keystrokes that I've been able to find - 'd' while reading an article, automatically opens up the delicious tagging extension (if you have it installed) - 'gg' will open a window with quick access to your feeds, and so on - James Hull

I love feedly use it all the time especially the new features - Kim Landwehr

Cool. I got here from the Feedly mini that popped up while I was reading Scoble's blog post about this. - Tom Landini

I really want it to figure out the most popular posts for me though. The digest should show conversations like Kosmix does, based on my FF/twitter/digg/reddit friends. - Brandon Titus

gonna have to give this a try asap - andy brudtkuhl

Wow, when I tried Feedly I wasn't using FF actively. Integration with FF is really nice. Still a bit confusing in buttons - bnoise

Been having fun playing with the new Feedly mini. Not working consistently on sites, and I have yet to click a link in Twitter and have the Twitter integration kick in. Still a very nice little tool. - Sean Brady

Feedly is very good. I just wish I could use it on Safari. - Louis Gray

Sean: re: consistency. we are adding a button to manually pop up in the cases where the metadata does not pass the "interesting" bar. Regarding twitter, can you please open a bug on getsatisfaction.com/feedly and let us know which twitter page you are clicking through from and if you have any other twitter extension which might interfere with the topic detection and we will track the issue down. - Edwin Khodabakchian

thank you Louis! Today reminded me of the launch you helped us detonate back on June 16th (and hope that we have learned our lessons and nothing will backfire this time!). Thank again for the initial push! - Edwin Khodabakchian

My social network workflow is a recursive loop of images and information that now passes between >> Feedly - Tweetdeck - Friendfeed << Feedly has become a keystone. - Brad Kligerman

For me, Greader is to Feedly as Twitter is to Friendfeed. Rss stream provides the data source, its inertia, but it requires another workflow modality to actually begin to understand its dense, complex meaning. - Brad Kligerman

completely automatic - if you're already signed in to those services. Freaked me out at first - but then loved it. - James Hull

use feedly since some monthes and LOVE it! Reading much more feeds since using it. Its much more "sexy" to go through the feeds now and easy share+discuss - natadd from twhirl

If you're looking for the Feedly mini-bar at the bottom, try opening a new window, I've found sometimes that helps to show it. Plus, I think it only comes up on feeds that you're subscribed to, or something like that. AGain, it's not perfectly clear. The buttons for sharing with friendfeed and twitter on individual posts should appear below each headline... - James Hull

How did I get 5 hours behind the eight ball on this?? Awesome, thanks Robert! - Phil G

Feedly is excellent and the team work really hard to put in new features every week, and then release it! - Scott Davies

Part of feedly sounds sort of like dai-sy http://is.gd/jgt1 - KyleHase from twhirl

I can't quite see what is new, we already have add ons that do these things - what am I missing? - Joelle Nebbe (iphigenie)

@Joelle can you list the other add ons? - bnoise

will have to look it up, don't use firefox much anymore - but I had add ons for sharing, finding, looking up things like digg popularity - there's glue and Shareaholic and stumble upon and I forgot some of the other names. The only really new thing is the friendfeed stats, and I am of mixed feelings about it, because I wonder what effect tens of thousands of people doing a friendfeed search for every web page they visit will have on the cost and performance of the service? - Joelle Nebbe (iphigenie)

@Joelle Well, to me FF integration is the very useful feature of Feedly (maybe the only one). I don't know about performance issues, I suppose we can't predict it. - bnoise

It's confused me so far - Richard A.

I'm reading this inside Feedly right now. Couldn't imagine keeping track of all the news without it. Hope it comes to Google Chrome. - Kris Haamer

@joelle. nice you meet you. Next time you are in the San Francisco Bay area and have some time, please give us a heads up and we will be happy to both show you how feedly is different and is built differently. - Edwin Khodabakchian

@edwin thanks for that - although I doubt I'll be in the area soon unless i get a surprise recruitment of some sort, being in Europe. Now I can see the interest of feedly as a well integrated and featured feed page/reader, I think, it's just some of the claims in this thread were a bit... much :D - Joelle Nebbe (iphigenie)

The "much" part is probably due to the euphoria of the launch (and Robert's touch!). But if you do a search for feedly on twitter you will notice that different people like/dislike different aspects of the experience (which allows us to continuously learn and improve it). If you have the chance, next time you have firefox up and running try the twitter sharing/re-tweeting feature of mini...you never know, you might be surprised! - Edwin Khodabakchian

This is totally amazing! Fantastic work guys - not too sure what is going on under the hood, but the output is great! - Stephen D

Just because you have taken the time to explain I will install firefox and give it a good whirl :D - the only ff i have at the moment is ff2 on the linux mininote, so i need to install ff3 somewhere - Joelle Nebbe (iphigenie)

I've been trying it since yesterday. Impressed with flexibility and ease of use. Mini is great for forwarding to others. - Joe Buhler from twhirl

and of course the twitter posting. - Joe Buhler from twhirl

Twitter has fallen Angel Falls in my eyes, and not in the fun Base jumping way. - Richard A.

Didn't even realize it until the recommendations started popping up in Google Reader .... Cool Stuff. Congrats Edwin ... again - Charlie Anzman

Thomas Hawk

Just Got Off the Phone with the FBI… - http://thomashawk.com/2009...

Photographing BP's Carson Refinery is a "Double Standard"

February 11 from Thomas Hawk Digital Connection - Comment - Like - Share

Richard pancakhaus Walker, Daniel Rowley, netrider11 and 100 other people liked this

Whoa, that you 'harbored no ill will' towards the government? That is a little freaky. - David Wilson

46 more comments

You ran off and jumped into a black SUV, but not before giving the guards enough information for the FBI to contact you? Hahahahah! Man, those security theater guards are unbelievably stupid. - Jeremy Brooks

They're gonna send Jack Bauer after you next time. - David Wilson

God Bless America? - Thomas Hawk

Oh dear lord. Still, this may have put you on a blacklist of sorts. That would suck, because there is no reason whatsoever to be blacklisted. - Rene Wirtz

Maybe it's a pun. You were in Long Beach *Harbor* so they have to ask you if you harbored something. :) Seriously, that's a loaded question. What qualifies as ill will? If I disagree with the way the Federal government is handling its finances, perhaps some consider that ill will. - Morton Fox

I guess you will find out the next time you take an airplane. - Brian Sullivan

Gracious. Thats bad. I mean REALLY bad. - Roberto Bonini

I got called by the FBI at the office last fall because a direct mail program we did with 3D boxes had a return address which multiple recipients reported couldn't be found on Google Maps (therefore was clearly sneaky). That was an odd call. - Louis Gray

Yeah, what Morton said. Harboring "ill will" - how in the fuck is that defined? Did you recite the pledge of allegiance for him over the phone, just so he could be 100% sure of your loyalty? - Anthony Citrano

Haha, so Google Maps now stands in for the US Postal Service as the ultimate index of US addresses? - David Wilson

And since the security guys lied about your behavior, perhaps the feds need to be tipped off about theirs. - Anthony Citrano

merriam-webster.com says ill will is an "unfriendly feeling". I didn't know that feeling unfriendly towards the government would get you in trouble. - Alan Cheslow

And I'm sure if one DID "harbor any ill will" towards the government, one would be sure to let the FBI know when they called, right? - Ken Sheppardson

This is just a little Gestapo-ish and creepy. Did the alias thing figure into the issue? - Brian Sullivan

the guy was pretty polite. Actually I have no problem with him calling and checking me out. Although I do hope I don't end up on a list and unable to fly or something. haha. it is kind of chump though that the Securitas guards lied about the incident. - Thomas Hawk

Brian, not at all. I gave him my blog and he's probably reading these comments right now. Hopefully he'll even comment ;) - Thomas Hawk

I like the Black SUV part. Isn't that what many government agencies use? - William Beem

so actually I got his name wrong. It's Terry Carter, not Chris Carter. My wife just called and said that he left his business card at our house asking me to call him from earlier today while we were both out. So it looks like I got a visit and a call from the FBI. - Thomas Hawk

surely, in a free society you should be allowed to "harbour ill will towards your government".. it's only if you go out and attempt to kill representatives of that government that a problem exists. If not then a form of thought crime exists on your books and you should throw away any notion that you live in a free country. - alphaxion

With the Patriot Act firm in place the US is no longer a free country anymore. - Rene Wirtz

You are my new hero. Don't let the bastards get you down. Keep shootin, but be safe! - Morgan Haley

hmmmm... I'm wondering why these comments aren't showing up on my blog with the FF plug in. grrrrrr... - Thomas Hawk

They are being diverted to a "wiring closet" in an AT&T switching station - Alan Cheslow

You don't think 2.71 broke it, do you? - Julie Barrett from twhirl

Can't wait to see your photos of GITMO Thomas. - Andrew Smith

LOLOL - James Hull

I don't think the FF plugin scrapes for comments every time the page loads. Try going into your WP admin panel and refreshing the settings for the plugin, see if it picks up anything new. - Daniel J. Pritchett

@thomas the FF plugin has a bit of delay, they'll show up eventually. also first they need to pass through the FBI packet sniffer to verifythey are not un-american! - sean percival

WTF? This is ... unnerving in my opinion. And ... if he knew your name and where you lived then ... wouldn't he have found your blog and other work to know you're not some terrorist. This seems overly intrusive and a poor waste of resources. - AJ Kohn

My husband is a photographer too (of subways - see his website here www.railfanwindow.com/gallery2 - there are over 20k photos there), and he gets stopped pretty often by cops. I don't get it - why don't these cops know what's allowed and what isn't? What gives them the right to stop innocent photographers? Do they have no other ongoing drama in their lives that they have to make themselves busy by harassing photographers, who, as you say, Thomas, "document their world?" Something should be done. - Tamar Weinberg

Seriously... wtf. - Eric P

@Louis Gray- Iphone caller id just read the phone number not FBI. He came to the house where the car was registered as given to them by security. When he couldn't get past my security hounds, he simply called the cell # visibly posted on our property. All very amateur tactics in my experience. - Mrsth

bummer, refreshed the settings on the FF Comments plug in and the FF comments still aren't showing. I haven't upgraded to WP 2.7.1 yet. Hopefully the plug in is not broken. It seems to be showing up on earlier posts on my blog still. - Thomas Hawk

i am not surprised that agent carter was very cordial. he is probably like every one of us and is simply following orders while feeling like shitty for having to question a law abiding citizen as transparent as you. if i were in his shoes i'd do two more things to complete the case 1) continue to be cordial and 2) go question the rent-a-guards for exaggerating the events of the day and what their motivation was to do so. - Carlos Ayala

Thomas, it's probably the three dots at the end. I have found encoding issues in the past with special characters & WP is probably rendering them as a special char rather than just 3 full stops. You should be able to manually select the item if you go into the edit post page for this post. - Glenn Slaven

Welcome to phase one of the Obama Thought Police. - Robert Hafer

Thanks Glenn, I wasn't even aware I could manually select a FF post at the bottom of my WP post. I manually added it and it's working now. :) - Thomas Hawk

Cool, no worries - Glenn Slaven

"Welcome to phase one of the Obama Thought Police"... LOL... Right. This is all new policy established in the last three week. Heh. - Ken Sheppardson

Not that Hafer's comment is worthy of a response, but I can't resist. Robert, do you know who appointed the current FBI director? Anyway, +1 Ken. Yeah, we weren't living under any kind of thought policing over the past decade by any means. ;) - Anthony Citrano

That gives me the creeps. Chills just ran up my spine. Yes, I do own a tinfoil hat - Karoli from BuddyFeed

I am sorry to say that Securitas guards are most likely members of Infragard and they agree to notify the FBI through the Infragard network of strange or suspicious behavior. If you google Infragard you will see that critical infrastructure protection is a biggy for them. I am very sorry this happened to you. this is part of Bush World, born of Bush World. Aw, here's the link: http://www.infragard.net/ And Robert Hafer, Obama has nothing to do with Infragard. It was formed by the FBI several yrs ago - ursi

I love the part about you running away and jumping into a Black SUV. Come on Thomas....how cliche. :P - Kreg Steppe

It's quite likely that the FBI agent made up the black SUV story just to see how you react. And as creepy as it is to have an FBI show up at your door, it's a lot less scary than having an FBI show up at your door with a search warrant. - Gabe

"running away and jumping into a black SUV". If that's the quality of the information the FBI is getting from their sources we're all hosed. - Private Sanjeev

Yeah. I like the fact that they had to ask for the url of the blog. Apparently the FBI has not learned the power of the google. Though in this case, they could have just tried the most obvious url - your name - which is correct. - Robert Felty

Rob: I'm pretty sure that Thomas Hawk is just a pen name. - Gabe

Paul Buchheit

15 Amazing Yearbook Photos of U.S. Politicians - http://www.vetocorleone.com/2009...

February 11 from Bookmarklet - Comment - Like - Share

alamoon20, Tweet Feeds, Mai and 49 other people liked this

I like the contrast between W. and H.W.. And guess who that third guy is. - Paul Buchheit from Bookmarklet

14 more comments

Click through and scroll... would you have let your daughter leave the house with Al Gore? Not me... no sir!!! - Brian Roy

obama...before he admitted his black heritage? .LOLz - .LAG liked that

that's NOT dick cheney......rofl - Rich Chuckrey

these are pretty cool amazing to see where these guys all started out... humble beginnings - Susan Beebe

+1 @spidra! - .LAG liked that

Cheney's photo is a trip - Rodfather

dick cheney looks like he'd hit on your girlfriend while you're standing there. - Richard Lawler

dick cheney -- aptly named -- looks like a guy who'd shot you in the face on a hunting trip...even if you were positioned behind the quarry. .LOLz - .LAG liked that

Joe Biden was HOTTTT! - Alvin Woon

hmmmm....young pelosi, potentially hittable... young palin—bristol, trac, trig and algebra's future mom—not. - .LAG liked that

@alvin: still is :) - Irrational homeophobe

Anyone else think that George W. looks like Paul Newman, and that Bill Clinton looks like Elvis Presley? - Robert Felty

I see how he looks like Newman. I wonder if, "what we have here, is a failure to communicate" was the motto for his presidency. - Maggie

Blago's hair has always been epic..who knew? - Mike Lewis

Nice Maggie! I think that would be a very good motto for his presidency. - Robert Felty

Paul Buchheit

You Can’t Sell News by the Slice - NYTimes.com - http://www.nytimes.com/2009...

February 10 from Bookmarklet - Comment - Like - Share

alamoon20, Tweet Feeds, Scott Maentz and 28 other people liked this

"Newspaper readers have never paid for the content (words and photos). What they have paid for is the paper that content is printed on. A week of The Washington Post weighs about eight pounds and costs $1.81 for new subscribers, home-delivered. With newsprint (that’s the paper, not the ink) costing around $750 a metric ton, or 34 cents a pound, Post subscribers are getting almost a dollar’s worth of paper free every week — not to mention the ink, the delivery, etc. The Times is more svelte and more expensive. It might even have a viable business model if it could sell the paper with nothing written on it. A more promising idea is the opposite: give away the content without the paper. In theory, a reader who stops paying for the physical paper but continues to read the content online is doing the publisher a favor. If the only effect of the Internet on newspapers was a drastic reduction in their distribution costs, publishers could probably keep a bit of that savings, rather than passing all of it and more" - Paul Buchheit from Bookmarklet

8 more comments

"Micropayment advocates imagine extracting as much as $2 a month from readers. The Times sells just over a million daily papers. If every one of those million buyers went online and paid $2 a month, that would be $24 million a year. Even with the economic crisis, paper and digital advertising in The Times brought in about $1 billion last year. Circulation brought in $668 million. Two bucks per reader per month is not going to save newspapers." - Paul Buchheit

Industrial Revolution 2.0 - Susan Beebe

aside from the critically important role of journalism, i always thought that newspapers' main revenue stream were display ads and classified ads, not readers. when i was a student at stanford, i worked on the ad side at the daily. the paper was free to readers. selling ads was VERY profitable. - .LAG liked that

Yeah, it's funny that so many people think that ad-supported media is some crazy internet idea, but this is how newspapers (and tv, and magazines) have worked for a very long time. The problem now is that ad rates are crashing, in part because most internet advertising doesn't seem to work that well (though also because they didn't know how bad their non-internet advertising performed). - Paul Buchheit

Susan - I'm with you. This is more than a business or two being disrupted by a change in technology... it is almost every business. Movies, music, journalism, television, etc... - Brian Roy

@paul: i think what the internet did was take a lot of the mess out of selling ads, especially classified type, and optimized it. goog's perfected this: what is a text ad but an online version of a classified? perhaps newspapers need to figure out how to integrate a craigslist business model into their operations. i know some are trying, but then, craigslist list is killing all of them. the other thing i wonder is: do newspapers really matter, in an age when less people read, anyway? - .LAG liked that

"If the only effect of the Internet on newspapers was a drastic reduction in their distribution costs, publishers could probably keep a bit of that savings, rather than passing all of it and more on to the readers. But the Internet has also increased competition — not just from new media but among newspapers as well. Or rather, it has introduced competition into an industry legendary... more... - j1m

I think Kinsley's pretty much got it figured out: "The Times, The Post and a few others probably will survive. When the recession ends, advertising will come back, with fewer places to go. There will be a couple of surprises — local papers that execute their transfer to the Web so brilliantly that they will earn a national readership (like the old Manchester Guardian in England).With... more... - j1m

I don't understand why Michael Kinsley thinks that The New York Times and The Washington Post will survive. Why does he think that? - Sean McBride

The Apple Room: Seth Greenblatt

Eye On HDTV - The Best Apple Mac TV Tuner Cards & HD USB Sticks - http://www.mac-digital-tv-tuners.com/

February 11 from Bookmarklet - Comment - Like - Share

Christopher Harley, Scott Maentz, TheHenry and 4 other people liked this

"Watching and recording television on a Mac has never been easier or more powerful. An ever growing range of Digital-Ready Apple computer TV tuner cards are available for Macintosh OSX. ElGato dominates the Mac DVR - PVR Video Recorder tuner market with it's EyeTV software and hardware; its video recording software has become a world-class Macintosh OS X application. Integration with iTunes, Toast CD Burning software, Apple's FrontRow, and support of the Apple Remote solidify the Mac's place as a mini home media center powerhouse." - Seth Greenblatt from Bookmarklet

The Apple Room: Seth Greenblatt

How to Survive the 17 Worst Mac Disasters - http://www.maclife.com/article...

February 10 from Bookmarklet - Comment - Like - Share

Scott Maentz, Bill Sodeman, ozgur koca and 7 other people liked this

"Macs are pretty reliable computers, but that doesn’t mean  they’re not vulnerable to user error, accidents, and, in some cases, just plain stupidity. We compile a list of the most common “uh-oh” moments on a Mac and show you how to make them all better--and prevent them from happening in the future." - Seth Greenblatt from Bookmarklet

These are great tips. Definitely bookmarked it just in case. Thanks! - Shevonne

Nice. I'm keeping this around when i get my Mac in a few months. - David Bisset (sn)

Shey, Jamaican of FF

What's your backup solution?

February 9 - Comment - Like - Share

Scott Maentz, Alfredo, Carlos Ayala and 13 other people liked this

I use a 1TB FreeAgent Pro (http://freeagent.seagate.com/en-us...) to auto backup my working drive and use Live Mesh (http://livemesh.com) for current projects. - Shey, Jamaican of FF

27 more comments

500GB firewire drive for PC / 500GB time capsule on mac - andy brudtkuhl

Right now, Amazon S3 but only for a subset of my data (can't afford to back it all up. :( ) - Fa La La La Lindsay

been looking at getting a FreeAgent Pro - how do you like it? - andy brudtkuhl

Plan B - Nine

I have a virtual drive and a Seagate - FreeAgent Go 250GB External USB 2.0 Hard Drive - Shevonne

@Andy It works great for me -- I just tell it what folders to backup and what not to backup and forget about it. I can even save multiple versions of files. - Shey, Jamaican of FF

I backup a lot of stuff on S3 as well (like websites, databases, SVN repos) - andy brudtkuhl

Extra internal drive used for Time Machine and another for a bootable clone. Full backup to a network server. Offsite backup of critical data on physical media. - LogEx

External HDs and online storage! - Mona Nomura

I wrote up my backup scheme back in November - http://seanreiser.com/content... (Combination of time machine, dropbox, and an offsite drive in a safety deposit box) - Bastard Operator From FF

Internal hard drive running regular backups and external hard drive for fulls. - Eric @ CSTechcast.com

Amazon S3 using Jungledisk as the client SW. I backup all of the family PCs (5 across 2 households) to one repository. The other added benefit is that Jungledisk uses the S3 store for shared drive access (so every PC in the family uses a shared J drive for archiving low-use files such as install ISOs, and their backups are in j:\backups\<computer name>. Great bang for the buck. - Peter Ghosh

Prayer, mostly. I really need to get a system in place. - James (@willia4)

External hard drives now. Before June 08, we had 2 desktops & two laptops, using 3 ext. drives. Each desktop had a drive dedicated to backups. Now down to 1 desktop, 1 laptop & 3 ext. drives. - Admiral Anika

I have to admit to having a distrust of cloud services as my only backup (which is why I store an external drive at a Safety Deposit Box at my bank) - Bastard Operator From FF

Two fold. External TB Drive then ftp'ed to Amazon S3. - CW™

Prior years photo & video backed up to a Drobo which is then backed up to a Time Capsule. MBP internal HD running Time Machine to an external USB 2.0 drive and occasionally fully cloned to an external FW800 notebook drive. - ronin

I'm planning my backup strategy through weekly backups on my external hard disc and encrypted realtime backups to an online service - Dennis R. from twhirl

@Lindsey O_O - Shey, Jamaican of FF

I have an external drive, but it's a) basically full and b) about to fail, so I've been FTPing stuff up to my webspace (encrypted when necessary). I need to look into something better - hope to check some of these cloud solutions out when I get home. - Jandy, ConcertMaven of FF

BackBlaze UNLIMITED backup for cheap http://www.backblaze.com - adolfo foronda

Two external HDs and sync-back (free version). - JA Castillo

I sync every so often to a 1TB external drive, plus I've set up my laptop with the exact same settings as my desktop. SO if one goes I can quickly jump on the other. - Kol Tregaskes

All my important files are mirrored in 3 different places. Mozy, Dropbox and Wuala - AJ Batac

Windows Home Server - Roberto Bonini

I put the gearshift in reverse, check the mirrors and look over my shoulder to make sure no one behind me, lift my foot off the brake... Oh did you mean computer backup? ;-) - Jeff P. Henderson

I have two 1TB external drives that I back up all of my computers drives onto using Acronis True Image at least once a month. The drives are then stored in two different locations. I also use MS Sync-Toy to synchronize all of my data and photos between my main desktop and my main laptop. - Jeff P. Henderson

I use a 1.5TB FreeAgent Firewire 800 and Time Machine to backup my primary machine, a MacBook Pro. I backup the business' QuickBooks file on our Windows network to USB sticks and Amazon S3. - Scott Maentz

SQPN

Pope Repudiates Statements Made by Bishop Williamson - http://www.youtube.com/watch...

February 5 from YouTube - Comment - Like - Share

Scott Maentz liked this

SQPN

Fasting During Lent Is a Gesture of Empathy, says Pope - http://www.youtube.com/watch...

February 6 from YouTube - Comment - Like - Share

Scott Maentz liked this

Dee S.

Business card as search result. Very creative! - http://www.flickr.com/photos...

February 6 from Bookmarklet - Comment - Like - Share

Svein Håvard Djupvik, Valeria Maltoni, Jérôme Flipo and 8 other people liked this

great idea - Cee Bee

2 more comments

Neat idea. Like commented before, remove the Google logo, add your own and perhaps have it say "Google me here...". - Kol Tregaskes

I don't think it'd work the same way if you took the Google logo. - Dee S.

It would make it appear you work for Google and Google might have something to say about that. ;-) - Kol Tregaskes

AJ Batac

Christian Bale Freak Out: ACTUAL FOOTAGE!!!!!!! - http://www.youtube.com/watch...

February 5 from Bookmarklet - Comment - Like - Share

Scott Maentz, Daniel Sims, Zee. and Tyson Key liked this

"You've heard the audio. Now watch the actual footage from the set of Terminator Salvation. Christian Bale is a bad person." - AJ Batac from Bookmarklet

soooo funny. - Zee.

AJ Batac

Lightning Hits Cow, Cow Lives To Moo About It - http://www.geekologie.com/2009...

February 4 from Bookmarklet - Comment - Like - Share

"Joey", Alfredo, Moses Kpetigo and 7 other people liked this

"The cow featured here, who we will refer to as "Well Done", was struck by lightning and lived to chew grass and moo about it, which is apparently rare." - AJ Batac from Bookmarklet

3 more comments

More like medium rare. - Admiral Anika

wow! - Shey, Jamaican of FF

Nice tattoo. - Onur Gündüz

The real question is; what super powers was she endowed with? - Jesse Hattabaugh

Sean McBride

Search millions of conversations with Samepoint - http://altsearchengines.com/2008...

September 4, 2008 from Bookmarklet - Comment - Like - Share

Greg Guitarbuster, Scott Maentz, Nils Reinton and 2 other people liked this

"In Beta for the past two months, Samepoint has been tracking millions of conversations, taking place across hundreds of thousands of the most influential blogs and social media sites. User-generated discussions are typically not indexed by major search engines, such as Google, as they do not reside on static pages. Samepoint converts these discussions into web pages, or permalinks, and organizes them by topic being discussed. Users can save searches as RSS alerts and create their own comment feeds or subscribe to pre-defined feeds on popular topics of the day." - Sean McBride from Bookmarklet

5 more comments

Are you still using this? - Todd Hoff

I'm glad you reminded me of this -- I had forgotten it. Just took another look, and I am impressed. - Sean McBride

My only complaint? The search results are torrential and overwhelming (375,000 hits on my own name). There is a need for various ways to sort and filter the search results to make sense of them. - Sean McBride

There is currently far too much duplication around the social media scene, with all the aggregrators and lifestream options. That is going to make any search pretty tricky. We'd also need more real time for some sites (just checked samepoint and the earliest result i could find was a week or two old). Also any engine needs to have a bit more logic in knowing what to ignore and how to... more... - Joelle Nebbe (iphigenie)

Joelle -- amen to everything you said. It always seems to boil down now to data mining methods for reducing noise and dialing up signal. Smarter recommender algorithms for ordering and improving search results. Which is how Google made its rep -- it is basically a recommender system for search. - Sean McBride

Spidering and indexing well is phenomenally hard on the web - figuring how you ignore all the noise and scaffolding, from things like "add comments" to ads and copyright notices and all of the navigation *except* where it shows semantic information such as a topical drill down. A nightmare to configure. And alas if you don't clean and analyse things going in, then the search engine... more... - Joelle Nebbe (iphigenie)

Robert Scoble

I'm working on a Fast Company article about Netbooks (those small $500 computers). Would love to discuss your experiences here:

February 3 - Comment - Like - Share

jerobins, Franklin Pettit, VC Freak and 74 other people liked this

My favorite is the Samsung. How about yours? Why? - Robert Scoble

130 more comments

Dell Mini 9. Very decent keyboard,all solid state,lots of usb ports, 1 gig ram.Feels like a proper machine, just ultra portable. Good value. Runs like a dream with windows 7. - Nik

I was considering a netbook but I held back from buying it now. Looking forward to what you have got ! - Jaffer

I really enjoy the HP Mini despite the crappy trackpad the EEE Pc's look too much like toys that the problem I have. I was looking to buying one around Christmas but everyone had some flaw I just didn't want to handle. It seems there is no perfect or even close to perfect :-( - Will Reynolds Young

I bought the Asus EEEPC 900 linux last year. For sofa surfing, and server room shennigans they are brilliant. Im annoyed at the lack of batterylife in them however I understand the MSI Wind is a better product todate - Nik Butler

I don't have one but I think they would be great for conferences. They seem to be the right size - smaller than a laptop but bigger than a mobile phone. - Kim Dushinski

Nik: what did you compare it to before buying the Dell? Why did that one stick out for you? - Robert Scoble

Wondering how much of a real trend netbooks are - they are cheap, ok , but you get what u're paying for... a couple of extra bucks and u get a real productivity tool - all in all it's good for on-the-run bloggers though ;) - ksso

HP 2133. High resolution and solid feel outweigh the concerns regarding the awkward trackpad. - Fred Offenburger

Hey Robert. The portability and superb battery life makes it far easier to get work done on the move. Here in the UK I am starting to see them everywhere. Low price point also going to make them super-attractive right now! Windows 7 and linux fly on these pocket rockets! - Jim Connolly

been looking at the MSI Wind u120 for a while now but haven't pulled the trigger yet. looks like a great machine that can run windows or OSX. - The Last Epic

i agree with Nik, the Dell mini 9 is a great little netbook but then the HP mini does have the looks. I have a samsung laptop now, its not a netbook but a 17" laptop and i hate it. So samsung laptops+netbooks fail for me. - Allan Jones

I love netbooks because of the small size. I frequently fly coach and need smaller computers because of the seat pitch. Also, sitting on the couch with friendfeed is just fine for a small computer. - Robert Scoble

I also have a dell mini 9, love it. The keyboard does take a little getting used to, but with 1gb ram, it runs like a dream. It was a lifesaver on our road trip from Boston to Memphis. Hooked the ipod into it, used it as a in car entertainment device, was great. Love it. - Nick

I purchased an Asus 4G (7") when they first came out, loved it, but the keyboard was way too small to be productive on it. I've recently picked up the 1000H with a whopping 160GB drive and a much more spacious keyboard. main usage is to do some offline development so battery life was important and you get plenty out of the eee units. - Serdar

CASASSOVICI: Netbook sales exploded in 2008, CNET reports: http://crave.cnet.co.uk/laptops... (they aren't the only ones). - Robert Scoble

I've lusted after a MacBook Air, but I saw an article suggesting OS X can run on these and so now looking for suggestions. - Conor Ogle

I was just contemplating these the other day as a small 'utility' device. Something that I could use as a remote-control, so to speak, for all my home network devices. The low price point is what has attracted me as well. Can't wait for the article. - Walt Ruppar

I user the Acer Aspire One 150 with Windows XP with ext battery last up to 5 hours - good keyboard - will try to install Windows 7 on it - Michael Greth

I set one up for a client last week, my initial thought was "cheap, slow." Was a Dell Mini. I can see where if speed/performance were not so much an issue, they could be convenient for portability requirements, as mentioned by Kim and Nik. - Christopher Dickens

As long as your covering Netbooks, I was wondering if you saw the patent filings for what looks to be a tablet or large iTouch. Do you think this is Apple's answer to the Netbook? Here's the link; http://is.gd/idvq - Michael Fidler

Felt more robust than the eee /acer/hp, and better specs, at least at the time (November). Light and solid state means you can (literally) throw it in a bag and forget about it, which has brought a surprisingly different feel to computing. No matter how light, regular laptops always feel somewhat like a burden to carry/stow/etc.. A netbook has none of that, and if it's specced high enough, you sacrifice little in the way of your regular internet activities. - Nik

Its a funny phenomenon. We've been tracking 8-10" netbooks as UMPCs since 2006. They we re expensive. Not popular. No-one really wanted one or could justify one. Now, price has changed a lot of peoples minds! - Steve 'Chippy' Paine

Also, if i had some extra money i think i would get the sony notebook; http://bit.ly/sonynotbook - Allan Jones

Once they get powerful enough, it would make sense to just have a netbook, and plug into keyboard and monitors elsewhere. Until then, they're a counterpart to your main machine that I'd find hard to give up now. - Nik

The asus is a good one - its small - good to check email and hit the web . . .if you use web apps for most of your daily routine then a netbook would work. If you are opening documents or moving around media files . . probably not the right machine - not enough RAM. - Steve

Allan: the Sony looks cool but for the price the Samsung delivers better performance for far less. - Robert Scoble

My wife despised computers. Now she loves using a Netbook. Why? Size so she can drop it in her purse and carry it everywhere. Here videos on this at GottaBeMobile.com show the attraction that non-geeks have to these devices. - Warner Crocker

I'm in China-what dyou know about Hashee netbooks? - Betsy

Betsy: no, would love to hear more. - Robert Scoble

I own the Aspire One. I'd say I've gone from taking a laptop with me every once in awhile to pretty much keeping the A1 with me about 90% of the time. The portability factor is awesome. - Shawn Farner

I have an Acer Aspire One and love it. Portability is awesome and with a 6 cell battery upgrade I get about 5 hours of usability. People comment on the small keyboard but I find the main keys (alphabet that is) perfectly fine and only miss on some of the surrounding keys (e.g. shift). Not for gaming or high end apps (e.g. CAD) but for everything else simply superb. Oh, and just because it's called a "netbook" doesn't mean you have to work completely in the cloud. 160 GB for storage. Oh, and Win XP. - Bob Starr

Robert: im still not sure about samsung laptops. as i said, i have one and im not happy with it. was kind of a let down. i would have to think twice before buying another samsung laptop/notebook - Allan Jones

I'm a teacher, and use an EEE701 to plan and deliver all my lessons - really useful bit of kit + runs Linux, so I can also get them used to the fact that Microsoft isn't the only way to use a computer. - Rich

Acer Aspire One user here. Needed something small enough to fit in my purse, big enough to function as needed. Happy with it. - SchoolPR

I predict netbooks will soon morph into "pocket" netbooks. A screen that folds in half and a keyboard that folds in half. A 9" screen netbook will fold down to a 3" X 4" pocketable device that when unfolded out 4 ways has a usable screen and keyboard. With the advances in OLED and flexible screens the arrival of the all-in-one computer/communication device is closer than many think. The "netbook" form-factor is the most important, but I think yet unrecognized, step towards that. - Gregg H.

Well, "500$" doesn't apply to the best netbook on the market right now: the Sony P. I wish I had the money 2 buy it... :( - Raul Pereira

@scobleizer "Netbook sales exploded in 2008" => sure they did, netbooks seem cool from an uneducated user point of view - yet apart from a couple mobile geeks all of my friends found a better use as a bookshelf for theirs (and as it's pretty light it might not even be good for that) - YET the latest netbooks with 500+USD price point are more in the ultra-portable segment imho (almost 1kg, big screen....) - ksso

Love the Eee901 Hate Xandros, would rather have XP. Will install ubuntu at some point. Great for travel & meetings, never had a problem with battery life, wi-fi connection not always great - Richard Grieve

Small size, small weight, battery life and usability = the magic equation of mobile devices, iPhone is pretty close, netbooks have it - Christophe Pierret

I'm a small business owner who needed to reduce the "weight" of my laptop and opt for the basics of a netbook. I struggled between the Dell Mini and the HP Mini. Dell Mini is only sold online -- I need to touch and feel a computer first, having already had bad luck with Dell I was reluctent. The HP doesn't have VGA out, a problem for me because I do lots of presentations requiring... more... - Matt Carlisle

netboooks supposed to fill a niche between smartphones & laptops.But realistically if you looking for bang for the buck netbook does not provide neither the bang nor the cost savings.Id say it will be a stepping stone to something else, few geeks & dumb nincompoops ( fooled by marketing) will buy it but for most this is a wait &* see year. - Baba

If small size isn't what you want, for $500 you can get a lightly used laptop and a new battery. That's the way I've always done it. - Bruce Lewis from fftogo

oh and with settings down, I can play world of warcraft on my dell :) what more do i need! - Nick

Acer Aspire One 1GB XP 160GB 6-cell $379 Costco. The larger battery is key because you get around 5-6 hours. Windows 7 worked out of the box, no problems. I love it. I use my 17" desktop replacement for real work, my netbook for everything else. When I travel, I no longer have to ask "Do I really need my laptop?" Netbooks fill the gap between laptop and smartphone. Three huge advantages of netbooks: small, cheap, awesome battery life. Fail if 3-cell or > $400. - andy magoon

My Asus-Aspire is the best investment I've made in tech in a long time. The netbook provides ease of use where it is needed when neither a smartphone or laptop are appropriate. Those with solid state drives will likely be able to withstand the abuse making them more desirable when the capacity increases. For a college student taking notes and logging in Facebook what else is needed. - Paul M Done

Also it's fun to see how the market started at a 300€ price point (event 200 when with a jointed mobile data plan) to evolve towards a 500€+ price point - ksso

I got my MSIWind U100 last week 2GB RAM, installed windows 7, installed BIOS 1.09 Overclocked 25%, More than satisfied with it...fine user support on the net MSIWind WIKI etc.....paid $527 in Denmark. - Joseph Jahn

Check out the MSI X320 It's an ultrapotable/netbook, that was designed to compete with the Macbook Air. Her's a review from CES http://blog.laptopmag.com/hands-o... It was one of the stars of CES, but it's not available yet. - Michael Fidler

I have an aspire one w/XP (now dual boots win 7), 1 gig, 160 g hd, It works great, wouldn't want to write a book on the keyboard but fine for email. Use it for internet, watch tv shows and movies. Wouldn't do without it now. - Curt Kelly

got an acer aspire one i slammed xp on, the linux distro that came with it was problematic with wireless from the 10 mins testing i gave it before formatting... bluetooth or hsdpa would complete it but theres 3 usb on it, which is more than my 'big' laptop has, so i can forgive it a cable to my phone - Matt Randles

Hi Robert - I purchased an Aspire One - 160GB Model. Installed Windows 7 (use it as sole OS) and went through the cumbersome process of upgrading the memory to 1.5GB. Overall - I love it! It's compact yet has enough horsepower and storage to necessity apps (Windows, Office, iTunes, etc.) and store my content. Only downfalls of it are - not upgrade friendly and touchpad which I believe are being address in the new 10" versions. Great investment for my needs! - Neilesh Daji

Here's something I wrote on the matter, it might help: http://channel.hexus.net/content... - Scott

We got the 10" HP Mini with the 16 Gig SSD and 1 Gig of Ram (which we doubled for $40). The built in webcam is horrendous with hardly any picture controls but the size is great. I took it on the road with me and almost died when I was sitting in bulkhead and was able to slide it into the small plastic magazine holder in front of me. - Marco(aureliusmaximus)

If I can't touch-type or thumb-type I don't want it. Typing on those keyboards are impossible and extremely irritating. - KyleHase from twhirl

here in austria A One gives you a NetBook called the Q10 Air on XP, 160 HDD running a 1,6 Ghz Intel Atom, you pay 29 Eur / month and have 5 G data transfer, 3, A Hutchinson Co., offered an Eee PC ( not sure exact model ) with a similar data-transfer contract at a comparable price, some business clients are opting for NetBooks instead of Laptops because they weigh less, cost about as... more... - atul abraham from twhirl

I much prefer the $500 base model regular size laptop from dell - Christian Burns

enjoying my HP Mini. - MikeAmundsen

I have the Dell Mini 9 and while the size can't be beat, I am wishing I had purchased a small "regular" laptop instead - or one from another manufacturer. The placement of the quotes/apostrophe key on the Dell Mini 9 is atrocious and forces me to constantly edit. I will likely buy a portable USB keyboard to deal with this since I am not going to give up on this purchase just yet. However, I would recommend to others looking to buy a Netbook to really review the specs before buying. - Jamie Sanford

My favorite is eee pc 900a due being one of the smallest 8.9 inchers with atom cpu. It has great big multitouch mouse pad and good durability. It's just $230 but i updated it with fast 64gig ssd, 2gigs of ram, touch screen and 3G... dual booting xp pro and windows 7. - jkkmobile

I gotta say that I love my Apsire One (currently set up to tri boot XP, Win 7 and Ubuntu Netbook). I've mainly been using Win 7 on it as it's great on supposedly low end hardware, but on a recent road trip, I pushed the Aspire to the limit. http://www.rgbfilter.com/... is a recent post I made about my experiences using it during a road trip, watching streaming video via Orb while tracking our position using Google Earth, with data and GPS connectivity being sent to the Aspire via a smartphone. - Doug

PS : my main workstation is an 8 G gaming rig dual-boot to WIN 7 BETA & Vista Ultimate, i also use a Sony Viao VGN FZ 21 M. Plus a back up PC ( an Austran reseller brand ). - atul abraham from twhirl

My MSI Wind has been a boon to me as an IT Pro - I can sit in bed at night, remote into my servers and do work on them quickly and then get back to my netflix movie. Win7 runs great and it flies through whatever I throw at it. Plus having it quad boot impresses the girls (the nerd ones anyway...) - david

have you seen this $10 laptop from india http://www.guardian.co.uk/world... (Probably vaporware) - anand

Digging the Aspire One VERY much. Made it dual boot with XP and Ubuntu, not having any problems yet. I love discrete size. I'm fine with the 8.9 size--if I wanted bigger I'd go with a full laptop. Great screen. Runs everything I want and the keyboard works for me. Not a fan of the touchpad either, but I am very pleased for the money. - Tracey Patterson

Oh yeah, like others said, unlike a 'real' laptop, netbooks are much more portable, meaning you're more likely to bring it to places where you MIGHT need a computer, and you don't have to worry about packing an annoying laptop bag. - Doug

Picked up an Aspire One yesterday - WinXP (spec, spec, spec). Installed Skype, Trillian, Photoshop CS2, Office 2007, Twhirl, Firefox, CCCP, all w/o a problem. I was replacing the need for a PDA (x50v Axim). I have an XPS m1710 - too large for random bolting from the office to work in a coffee shop. I'm stoked. - Enrique Gutierrez from twhirl

I believe the netbooks we have seen till now are the first generation of the netbooks. With the second generation, we'll be much more amazed. As @cpierret said "Small size, small weight, battery life and usability" are the key factors. I believe they'll get less heavy, have better battery and their usability will boost in 2009. My personal choice: Asus EeePC 1000H - Goktug Gedik

I'm using an Asus 4G right this very second. Great battery life, fair O/S, keyboard is too small for me, decent screen, very compact and lightweight... Overall it has been a great experience. With the advent of 'cloud' storage and web-based mail, photo editing and document creation it makes a good case to carry this instead of a big laptop when travelling. - MVB (Grinch of FF)

I live on mine when I am traveling, the battery life on the plane is great about 8 hours, I use it for podcasts, I use it to write blog entries, I use it to upload pictures to smug mug, but I really use it when I am traveling, lighter, longer battery life, does what I need it to do for a "on the go blogger/program director" if you want a quote. :-) I really love my netbook. - Dan Morrill AKA Techwag

really want to get a netbook, love the portability and price, ideal for conferences. - Kipp Bodnar

My Eee PC 1000H experiences: http://friendfeed.com/search... - Erhan Erdogan

I got my 10" MSI Wind with the 6-cell battery when it first came out and for my purposes (web-surfing while watching tv), it's golden. No way in hell it'd work as a primary machine though. For me anyway. - ronin

I'm still waiting for a solid netbook OS to come out and deliver on the idea of these things serving as a Portal to our documents in the sky. I'm more than happy with 4GBs of solid state hard drive if I can safely and securely access my home/work networks and computers. If Windows 7 can facilitate this then I think they could very well corner the market. - Tyler Brownfield

I love my MSI Wind U100. I pretty much use it at home as my primary laptop. When I do use a normal-sized laptop it just seems huge to me as compared to the Wind. I'm over 40 and use reading glasses, but the smaller screen is not a problem for me. - J.D. Deutschendorf

Lenovo S10, 1Gb RAM, XP - love this thing. Light, portable, cheap (I paid <$300). Am able to get it to choke, though, with FireFox with 20 tabs open + Outlook + Excel + TweetDeck running. I can live with it, though - haven't turned on my desktop since the day I bought this thing. - Tom Halle

Who needs a netbook? My iPhone *is* my netbook. I have decent web browsing, real e-mail and media playback. Something that needs more than an iPhone to do the job probably needs more than a netbook, too. - Jonathan Fingas

Netbooks with Intel Ion Technology is coming, NVidia GeForce 9400M and intel atom processor together, for gaming !! http://tinyurl.com/67pkfm - Rocky

Recently bought a netbook for my boss. I went with the hp mini. I find its made better than the asus. It also has a built in Verizon card. I did run into a problem when I had orginally bought the same machine from Circuit City and it stated on the website that it had the "built-in" wireless card. But after hours of technical support the fast talking asian man state that the laptop that I bought would not work. I had to buy it directly from HP. - ryan

Seems like kind of a lazy way to do a story. - Carol Vinzant

The plan to make 13" notebooks based on Intel's Atom platform indicates that some people don't care too much about computing power anymore. It's all about having lightweight access to the web, and web applications. - Meryn Stol

Carol: Couldn't disagree more. Today the only excuse for not beginning a story this way is ignorance or misguided notions of how a reporter/journalist is supposed to traditionally research and background something. There's a billion people with ideas and information itching to share it. Can't think of one good reason not to tap that. - Gregg H.

This is how cutting-edge journalism is done nowadays, and it's the smart (not the lazy) way to do it. - Sean McBride

LOL @ Carol - he is ASKING for your EXPERIENCEs with a Netbook. thats GOOD journalism. and Sean this is how good journos have ALWYS worked. shee, you want him to make stuff about netbook users up ? - atul abraham from twhirl

I bought an Eee PC (901, I believe). Very portable. Keyboard took some getting used to. Used mainly for browsing. Chrome or Firefox (in minimalist mode) and full screen were great for it. Potential as a notetaking device with One Note or Evernote. Watched Transformers on it and it played well enough. - Arlan Koizumi

Carol: I have been studying netbooks for a long time. Went to CES in Las Vegas. Went to IFA in Berlin. Went to computer malls in Shenzhen, China. And now I'm asking your opinions. Personally I agree with Gregg. You are totally in the wrong here. Good journalists learn to listen to the real experiences of people on forums and online. - Robert Scoble

I keep wanting to pull their trigger, but I'm hearing the XP drivers they had to create are buggy ie. scroll bars. Anyone having that problem? - Dave Gambrill

Hey Robert - Brian from Seagate here. I'm interested in the percentage of flash based netbooks to HDD based. My sense is that netbooks are moving up in capacity dramatically. - Brian Ziel

Brian: One of the problems I've read about with Netbooks using SSD's is that their performance degrades whenever lots of writes have to be made. For instance, when writing to cache webpages. This was a problem with the Asus EEE 900A, granted it did have a slower than usual SSD. Are writes getting better with newer SSD's? - Gregg H.

I don't think netbooks are replacements but rather secondary machines. Good for travel or sitting on the couch watching TV. Won't replace a high-end laptop or desktop. - Michael Sheehan from twhirl

Michael: For a lot of people, yes they will be replacements. Intel knows this, and they hate that they have to even make an Atom. That's why every time you hear an Intel exec talking about netbooks and even their Atom processor they trip all over themselves to tell you just how bad they really are. AMD is even worse, they are just in denial, and have no plans to even get in the game with a sub 15 Watt processor. - Gregg H.

Yep, default SSDs on most netbooks are slow.. thats why one should buy either hdd version or minimum capacity ssd version and then upgrade to fast one... there are pretty fast and cheap ssd allready available so if you dont need tons of storage but like ssd speed and durability go for it! - jkkmobile

I am still waiting for my HP to be delivered, but a few years back, when they were called subnotebooks (and were way more expensive) I had a sub-tablet (10") from fujitsu, the p1310. Having this tiny computer really blew my mind, it was easy to have a computer with you at all times when it weighed only 1kg and was smaller than a hardcover book. I used it for note taking, presentations,... more... - Joelle Nebbe (iphigenie)

My ten year old just purchased one with his own allowance money, and xmas gift cards. He loves it. He sits on his bed watching TV and writing in his journal. He carries it around the house like his mom and dad do with there big expensive laptops. My next computer will be a netbook I've already decided. - Russ Jackson

To me the killer features for a netbook are keyboard size, touch screen, wifi and battery life (which implies using SSD and no CD drive). I wish there were netbooks without those really annoying touchpads - give me a "nipple" and/or a touchscreen and more keyboard space. My subnotebook would have been a lot less usable without virtualCD technology (which meant i could take software or... more... - Joelle Nebbe (iphigenie)

I can see netbooks being main machines for some (okay, a lot of) people. However, I think 10-12 inch screens (and thus, hopefully, larger keyboards) will need to become the base for it to truly take off. Both of my parents have high-end dual core, DVD burner/reader, 15-inch laptops. Yet, only my father makes use of it all. My mother just uses hers for email and web browsing. A netbook would be right up her alley, as long as it's bigger than the usual 8.9-inch fare. And @Brian Ziel, my Eee PC has a SSD. - Arlan Koizumi

Arlan: VGA out - Gregg H.

My 23 yo sister and I have Acer Aspire Ones. She takes hers everywhere (fits in her purse) and I've noticed her using it in the kitchen (to cook from internet recipes) as well. I've tended to use mine to websurf while watching sports on TV. - Charles Fenwick

My Ubuntu-preloaded Dell Mini-9 is on its way back to FedEx since I'm a 9 to 5'r. I'll let ya know what I think after I pick it up tonight. W/my employee discount it dressed out at around $320! - Eric Rost

Win7 + Acer Aspire One = Awesome! - Shafiq Jetha from twhirl

@Gregg H. Yes, at the desk. But what about at the couch? Or using it for reference when working on a car (did this with my MBP; too big)? 10-12-inch is, to me, a nice middle ground between large screen and portability without additional hardware. Of course, being younger and with good-ish eyesight, 8.9 isn't bad and works just well. But compound screen size with keyboard size and it's not so comfy during extended use. For me anyway. - Arlan Koizumi

Set one up for my cousine. I don't like the keyboard, way to small. But surely it's just a matter of practice ... - Dennis R.

I'm installing one into the glovebox on my car. It'll be used for GPS on surfing trips. Currently working on a sleek way to get it to slide out when the glovebox opens. - Joe Breen from twhirl

Got my 901 EEE with Windows 7 on it. Its a 20Gb linux version, but had to install windows 7 on the second partition due to space. Works really well. - CW™

Robert, I have a Netbook in the UK. A Dell 9. Blogged about experience here: http://digitalagency.typepad.com/digital... - Mike Coulter

Question to you... do you think that netbooks distribution will be primarily through carriers, like handsets, or via big box channel partners, like notebooks? - Aimee

I've rolled my Netbook(Asus Eee 701) down a flight of carpeted steps and dropped it above waist height twice. The SSD Drive has to be the best tech of the century. - Anthony Farrior

it might be off topic but for 500$ I prefer to buy used normal laptop with decent performance and avoid the sluggish, low resolution netbooks ... - Nir Dremer

Nir, on that point, there are *new* non-netbooks for <$500. - Wade Dorrell

count me in - pestwave

I'm a product developer and I use an Asus 1000H with 160GB HDD and 2GB of RAM. I have a full install of Solidworks solid modeling software and it runs without a hitch for simpler parts and assemblies. The 10" screen is adequate for most tasks and the trackpad even has some basic multitouch features. I picked it up during the Live Search cashback promotion in December for $300, delivered. Not bad. - Luke Westra

My wife reviews b-grade movies at QueenOfCheese.com on her Asus EEE and she loves it. She never takes her full laptop anywhere now that she has net netbook. - MarkCarras

The new ASUS Eee PC 1000HE is my new lust. It just became available for pre-order at $399. Revamped keyboard so the Right-Shift key is in the right spot. 160GB hard drive plus 10GB of online storage through ASUS included. 802.11n and up to 9.5 hours of battery life with a battery that sits flush in the chassis. - Kevin C. Tofel

At the moment though, I'm using an MSI Wind with a 2GB RAM upgrade. Great keyboard and nearly 6 hours of battery life. Been running Windows 7 on it since October and the OS rocks on it. - Kevin C. Tofel

Picked up an Aspire One at Best Buy by impulse and have been using the thing for class notes and when traveling for the last 6 months and have had nothing but good experiences with the thing. Typing is quite easy once you adjust to the keyboard, and multitasking isn't much different than on a standard sized laptop. - BCK

I've been using an HP Mini 1033 and quite pleased with it. What wins me over? The diminutive size and weight. It's become the one computer I grab to take with me on the go. I've also been using it a lot when sitting on the back porch using Remote Desktop to my bigger (indoor) dev machine when needed. Yeah, it's a little cramped to program with the Mini's small display, but I like being outdoors more. - Loren Heiny

@Loren HP Mini display is OK in the sun? Man, I wish I could compute outside more... but laptop displays just never work. - Wade Dorrell

I don't actually have one, but the netbook phenomenon inspired me to take an old Dell laptop I had sitting around, and reformat to just run Firefox and web apps. Small computers have been around for years, but the maturity of the cloud and improvements in power consumption have helped the market for netbooks take off. I look forward to the next generation of these devices. - Ryan

http://neuronspark.com/videos... - paul mooney

@kevin This is huge news! =) http://www.engadget.com/2009... - Goktug Gedik

india is working on $10 laptop http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Infotec... - varun

What a thread! Anyway, I am underwhelmed by the Dell netbook. Check out my review: http://raddevon.com/review-... - Devon Campbell

not to take away from Sakshat -http://tinyurl.com/c65mk3 - atul abraham from twhirl

I have just installed OSX on a Dell Mini 9 that I picked up for $250. It's pretty unbelievable. - Ben Metcalfe

@Robert - I don't have any experience with these, but my dad got one a bit ago. I'm not sure what kind of experiences you are looking for, but if you'd be interested, but he might be able to provide an interesting view from a non techie perspective. Get in touch if you'd like to chat with him. - Justin Korn

Dell Inspiron Mini Running OSX - http://tinyurl.com/bghzas, has Apple been ripping us off on hardware ? - atul abraham from twhirl

Is it straightforward to install OSX?or does this require extensive hacking? - Lyndon

I think I can´t live without my eee 901 (with xp) anymore. perfect balance of size/weight/features for me. I needed some time to get comfortable with the the keyword and I use a mouse with it. and - it is kind of cute and lovely. never had such a relationship to some techthing, really. - esther ♥ ♫

I'm also in love with my EEE 901 with Linux. I can get actual work done (I'm a software developer) even when I'm far away from my work or home computer. Makes me feel like I'm living a more "online" life. - Panagiotis Astithas

Waiting for my Lenovo S10E Black - http://larsen82.wordpress.com/2009... - Qbat

Robert, I'm starting to think, netbooks and phones, may be more ideal for consuming video media, than desktops/laptops. I'm gonna try to get a video feed in friendfeed going, to further explore this paradigm shift. Watching video at a desktop can actually be quite time consuming, and static. - David Lynch

Ok, so we've agreed this is a great way to research an article, but where is the finished product. I am hoping for some recommendations as I have done zero research of my own and would like to be a lazy, but not misguided, consumer. - Conor Ogle

Kol Tregaskes

What a man should be - http://images.zwani.com/graphic...

February 3 - Comment - Like - Share

Andrew Trinh, Anna Choi, Scott Maentz and 8 other people liked this

Hehehe. - Kol Tregaskes

10 more comments

Looks more like an apple fritter than a man. lol - Brandon

*A* man? I see 5 in there! - vijay

no thanks - AJ Batac

WOAH!!! - Nurse Katie

During the day he is a child care worker. - CW™

photoshop - William Harryman

William, yeah he's much bigger in real life. ;-) - Kol Tregaskes

NOT. - Jandy, ConcertMaven of FF

It's Ken - on a faulty batch of steroids! - Tyson Key

his eyes. they're popping. - Alfredo

But will he be able to pick up a toothpick? - vijay

Kol Tregaskes

Stoooopid .... why the Google generation isn’t as smart as it thinks - Times Online - http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol...

February 3 from Bookmarklet - Comment - Like - Share

Steven Perez, ursi, Bill Romanos and 9 other people liked this

"The digital age is destroying us by ruining our ability to concentrate" - Kol Tregaskes from Bookmarklet

9 more comments

It is so easy to get distracted when at an Internet-connected computer (which most are). Self-discipline is required. I use two screens on one computer for increased productivity, and I've put the SM/IM stuff onto another, machine which sits on my side desk, out of direct eye contact. That helps! - Ian May

"In particular, there is the great myth of multitasking. No human being, he says, can effectively write an e-mail and speak on the telephone. Both activities use language and the language channel in the brain can’t cope. Multitaskers fool themselves by rapidly switching attention and, as a result, their output deteriorates." - Amit Morson

actually... almost everyday I think about how all the technology I use on daily basis is actually making me stupider and not smarter at all. It's like our brains can't work on their own

Scott Maentz › Likes