I upgraded mine with the new build recently.. It's still very slow and the left & right touchpad still doesn't work. I'm curious to see how it runs Windows. - Rodfather
Awwww... a fear party? Come on Robert... It's one thing to be a "realist" and another to be paralyzed by that fear. I keep thinking about a phase I went through as a teenager when I was depressed (in tears) for most of two weeks because I was convinced the world would end in the year 2000 and I wouldn't have even been married or had kids yet (or worse, what if I had been and had to lose them???). I finally just snapped out of it thinking that if I spent the rest of my time dwelling on that I'd be miserable for the rest of my time! Be wary, yes, but don't let your fear destroy your life. Each day is a blessing on it's own. - Lindsay Donaghe
agree on the fear part. But no emotion is near impossible -how about a state of trust, compassion and action-taking hope? - Leif@Biznik
Afraid of what? It's only the failure of paper assets. (and all related vanities) Everything that is real is still out there. - Morton Fox
"I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain." - Mark Trapp
I think a lot of it comes down to focus. Focus on the mission at hand, be confident in what it will take to accomplish that, and recognize your strengths and weaknesses getting there. I think it's time for more realistic and reduced goals though. And above all, no panic. I also like the USMC leadership list in troubled times: http://leadership.au.af.mil/sl... - Andrew Leyden
Although I think the economic problems will get worse, many people are acting irrationally. This is not the end of the world, sure some businesses will go under and people will be laid off but in many cases they shouldn't have been there in the first place. If you have a good idea, it's still a good idea and if you work hard at it, you'll see results :) - Cains
Lindsay - If my wife had your attitude, I wouldn't have any problems. Unfortunately (in this case), she's got Robert's. That makes things difficult and is that it's a trait that really can't be changed easily (from what I've read). While I agreed with Morton a week ago, there's no doubt a lot of 'regular people' are going to be hit here. They're not all 'strong'. - Charlie Anzman
i'm not afraid, does that mean i'm sticking my head in the sand and ignoring things? it means that i am doing what people should be doing all along. living on a budget, staying focused with current work, etc. - Jonathan Jesse
And if you want to lead Robert, keep bringing us your interviews with innovative people. I don't need to hear about the economic problems, I don't need to hear Jim Cramer's opinion, I can just look at the data. What I can't (or am too lazy to do) is find all these insightful people developing new technologies, that's your job ;) - Cains
@Charlie - It's a personal epiphany everyone has to go through... and usually it's after you hit rock bottom and realize the only way forward is up. Some people can be reasoned into it, but mostly it's a matter of introspection. You just have to make the decision to not spend the majority of your time being upset about things you can't change and focus on what you can. Much easier said than done, and I'm certainly not the expert, but I try. - Lindsay Donaghe
Best piece of advice I ever got "fear is not an option." When you think about it - really doesn't need to either. - Brett
Lindsay - Was there myself many years ago and you're 100% right. If it's something I can't directly control, why worry? (Took several YEARS). I've had a similar conversation with others about CEOs that have never 'been down'. It's actually a beneficial experience they should have had at some point. I think Robert does listen and your comments and Cains are positive. - Charlie Anzman
strength and courage are doing what needs to be done -- not without fear, but in spite of it - William Harryman
I'm a climber; I do a lot of traditional routes on gear, placed on lead. Now and then, it happens that I get myself into a potentially deadly situation, where I haven't been able to place sufficient protection to stop a ground-fall or hitting a ledge. These are scary moments, but educational. I've learned that fear is primarily a subconscious indicator of level of risk; it doesn't at all inform you about how to proceed except that you must do so with greater care and attention to detail. - kris. nuttycombe
And, of course, responding emotionally or precipitously to fear does nothing but make the situation worse. - kris. nuttycombe
I like this 2007 post by VC Brad Feld: Fear Is the Mindkiller http://bit.ly/4Ncna. Money quote: "I have long believed that fear, anxiety, and guilt are useless emotions in an entrepreneurial context." - Hutch Carpenter
A leader cannot be afraid. Those who would follow will smell it on you, try to replace you. Basic survival. - Rah™
Fear is a useful emotion. Like all emotions, it's a leading indicator - fear tells us to worry about things that our rational mind might not be aware of yet. The trick is that it shouldn't control you, and shouldn't replace rational thought processes. - Eric
is this about america? institutionalized fear everywhere i look ... homeland security, foreign policy .. and they cannot lead the world ... - Gregory Lent
You have to stop and think: what's the worst that can happen to you. You'll find that there are actually very few things that you can't survive. And the things that you can't survive, you can't do anything about them anyway. Fear ceases to be a useful emotion once it starts paralyzing you. - Victor Ganata
Fear is woven into the mentality of every entrepreneur in my opinion. I'm not any more afraid now than I ever was. - Patricia
I tend to agree with Patricia, except I am more worried now about my IRA and health care coverage, and my ability to afford paying for it as a business owner. Otherwise, the issues are not much different than usual regarding business building and continuing to find clients I really want to work with. Leading when you're afraid means you have to work smarter, think more creatively, do more with less, and above all, continue to lead by innovating—or your value prop. will erode. - Cathryn Hrudicka
I will tell myself .. everyone is afraid onat one time ro the other. I have to think of solutions and not of worries .. brave people fight fear ... not hide it .. - Dhawal
via twhirl
I'm not afraid. But I'm aware. I remember what the 2001-03 timeframe looked like, and it's not clear yet if this is sharper, deeper or shorter. All I know is I don't necessarily want a replay of the '01-'03 time, and our bank accounts are already a lot tighter. - Louis Gray
You keep on leading. You accept where you are, and look forward to the future. Find the positives in life and point people that direction. You're good at that Robert - don't stop now. - Jesse Stay
Um no and i don't really care if they choose a musician :Mad ! - Victor
I certainly hope you are using that word in it's original context, that of happy or good... and if so, I agree, it is a good way! - John Worthington
Anthony, yes, perhaps "ghey" would be the better spelling. - David Risley
If David you are saying that it's kinda "happy" then I agree and if you say it's kinda "homosexual" then I think that's a good thing. Now, if you think that calling things "gay" is equal to something not good then I have to say that your thinking is not good. Need to rethink your world view. - Robert Scoble
Simian: I think David needs to be sent on a trip to Berlin to study Germany's history and where it went wrong. The use of language against other people is horrible. I won't allow it to be used that way here. David is very close to getting a block. - Robert Scoble
This just earned David a block. David, you really need to go back and study Nazi world history. How you can use a perjorative against any group without expecting to see consequences is pretty over the line in my book. - Robert Scoble
Dude. It's the best explanation of a browser I've ever seen. I can't wait to see Ponzi's reaction to it, if she'd like to make it all the way through (though I do believe it'd be easier to digest as a single PDF). - l0ckergn0me
I gotta head out, but guys, seriously, let's not turn this into a political correctness debate. I meant lame, stupid, etc. I was not, in any way, referring to homosexuals. Guess I need to leave the slang out of FriendFeed from now on. - David Risley
David: when you use language that you don't understand the roots of you come across as not only hurtful but stupid. Whenever you say "gay" it comes across here as "homosexual." That's been a word used in United States to ONLY mean that for decades. - Robert Scoble
And yes, if anybody thought I was referring to homosexuals, I apologize. It was in bad taste, in retrospect. - David Risley
It grabs attention much better than black and white script on a page with a bold headline. It's a great way for people to take notice and guess what? It worked. - ::Kristen::
you can justify your ignorant use of such a term, but it only serves to alert me that you're 11 and haven't been taught better. is that the angle you're going for? i still can't believe almost a decade out, people are 1) still using that offensive term and 2) defending said use. - Faboo Mama
I am so tired of people using "slang" like this and excusing it by claiming "oh, I didn't mean anything bad." It's the same as calling something "retarded," or "ghetto." I don't like any of those words used as a pejorative, even "jokingly." Grow up, people! - Jim Milles
via twhirl
I thought it was very hardcore geeky of them. I don't know if it is gay, but I go all gay for google services. :) - Jay Cruz
Bashing comics in a geek forum? Not sure that's the best tactic to get your point across. - Brian Norwood
Regardless, it's obvious why the word "gay" came to be used the way it has by teenagers and others and you used to sound "hip". It meant "queer, different, lame" just as homosexuals are considered the same by that group. It was not as if someone wanted another word for "lame" and gay was just picked out of thin air. You're smarter than that, and I know your smarter than to think writing that word in that way to the extremely educated users on FriendFeed/Twitter wouldn't be problematic. - Brandon Werner
Brian: Yah, I made two huge gaffes in one tweet. Not my day. - David Risley
Brandon, I do agree. The intellectual side of me, of course, knows that. Sometimes my stupid side tweets without thinking about how it can be taken by others. - David Risley
I just read the comic, and for me, it worked. A lot of information was delivered, and with the benefit of interesting drawings, I felt that I got more from this than several pages of a White Paper. - Henry Burger
I was so excited to see more of Scott McCloud's work. He does a great job of explaining why the browser is better in ways that laypeople can understand. I only found it ironic that one of the pioneers of transitioning comics into the digital realm ended up making a 32-page print comic to tout a new browser. Note that I would find it a lot less ironic if I got a hold of one of the print copies. - Kevin Fox
It was an architecture document narrated by Engineers, disguised as a comic. I was thinking as I read it "I should do this with my stuff" :-) - Brandon Werner
"gay" is used frequently in australia interchangebly with gh3y and other variants. hey Scoble, the US's prudish view doesn't reflect the world. - David Petar Novakovic
via twhirl
Comic book idea is a stroke of genius. - Mike Reynolds
I thought it was pretty clever too. It's just funny. And different. Anime and Manga have made "comics" quite popular the past few years. - Jaemi Kehoe
@David Petar Novakovic (dpn): So, what you're saying is that Scoble getting all up in arms about something being 'ghey' is faggotry of the first order? (Sophistry is fun! Irony is fun! My gay friends pwning me in Call of Duty and snickering in chat that my camping spots on Bloc are ghey is ... not so fun, but funny, and I'm willing to accept that.) - Alexander Williams
via NoiseRiver
So I take it the Puritans in this thread prefer that language stop evolving? Frankly I'd rather see gay (and especially ghey) used much more often in a humorous or ironic context. This'll help marginalize the few people remaining on the planet who actually would use it as an implication that someone's sexuality is a valid measure of their societal worth. This whole thread is ghey if you ask me. - Anthony Citrano
Oh, I just shared this, didn't see your earlier post. I am very interested in how this project turns out. Hopefully the price point can be kept low, even lower than the most recent 10" Lenovo ePC killer laptop which is selling for around $360. - Jeff P. Henderson
Jeff, yes, hopefully that will be the case. more info soon. - michael arrington
a great idea, i hope break-even happens, and a great comment on the innovative minds around techcrunch. kindle meets laptop, is my impression, don't know if i am right. - Gregory Lent
I love the fact this is actually been done to shut up the naysayers who said it was impossible. - Mark
Chris: nah, Allen at CN is right that the recommended page in FriendFeed is totally not good for us. I don't want to be a default. - Robert Scoble
If we didn't have early adopters we'd never know what's good and what's not. - Alex IHateMondays Scoble
I'm about as early as they come, and I don't feel attacked? :) - l0ckergn0me
So Mashable just called each and every one of their readers douchebags. I'm sure this made sense in a meeting at some point... - Stupid Blogger (aka Tina)
l0ckergnome: tomorrow is pick on Chris Pirillo day. :-) - Robert Scoble
Tomorrow shall be fun. :) Let's start with the hat. heh - Daynah
@Robert, I think you started with the labeling - Jason Carreira
But aren't we all early adopters of FriendFeed? We WERE here before the new one launched! :) - Mona N.
I think some people don't like early adopters who adopt early just to show off their new "toys". If the intention is otherwise, than I say these people are pioneers. Hats off to you for that, and taking all the flak for it. - Josh Haley
ugh, can't stand Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins after he made some retarded remarks re:Loren Feldman and race and all that bull. I think I ended up blocking him here. can't remember. I usually like Mashable, too. he's tainting it. that "your mom would use it" bit is faintly but irritatingly sexist. - Kamilah Gill
Just gets more fun every day doesn't it. @Robert Mona was here before you ... she just didn't tell anyone. She was 'hiding' herself. - Charlie Anzman
OK seriously you guys, stop. This will now be the second night I've not gamed and instead sat here with popcorn. How am I going to ever get my friggin S2 or finish Twilight Princess (round 3)?! - Candace Holly
Charlie: there were thousands of people here when I joined in February. I'm hardly the "earliest" adopter. I just watch what a large group of early adopters tries and uses and wait for the first wave to repeat to me over and over that something is cool. That's how I found Evernote. - Robert Scoble
Nobody wants to be the first one to a party. You end up pawing through the Chex Mix until the other guests arrive. So boring. I wait until just after the first wave, do my thing, then get out before the party gets lame. - Matt Musgrave
Robert (1) I just read the Mashable piece and not only was the stereotype way off (at least where I'm concerned) but I think I just wasted 10 minutes reading the piece and the comments. (2) The other post about you and Mona was a joke (3) I will continue to idolize both you and Louis :) - Charlie Anzman
Robert, Louis, I'm grateful for early adopters like you because it allows me to see much more of what's out there than I could see from any traditional source. I get to taste cool technology and play with it, and share it with others. My parents won't use most of it (nor will they use Facebook), but for those that have a use for it I can share it with them. And no, I didn't vote democrat last election and I love Facebook. - Jesse Stay
BTW, it's posts like this that have caused me to remove Mashable from my RSS Reader (that, and his Mormon post a week ago where he quoted me entirely out of context). I'm losing respect for Mark's posts lately. - Jesse Stay
Jesse - My Mom still won't use a microwave ... - Charlie Anzman
Charlie, my dad still uses a handsaw and refuses to buy most electrical tools - Jesse Stay
via twhirl
Jesse: I think it's funny to be attacked for being an early adopter by a site that reprints press releases and competes with TechCrunch to get onto TechMeme with the latest shiny object release. I also didn't get why my politics got pulled into a discussion about early adopter behavior, either. But, hey, makes for some entertaining reading at 5 a.m. in Berlin. - Robert Scoble
Robert, yeah - it seems he's looking for the latest topic that brings in traffic. I hope that isn't the case. What I like about "early adopters" is they're real people like you and me, living the technology they're talking about. - Jesse Stay
via twhirl
All I know is if I flew around as much as Robert, I'd be seriously dizzy! - Charlie Anzman
I like you Charlie - you bring reality to every situation :-) - Jesse Stay
via twhirl
I don't think I attacked the early adopters, but I did have something to say, and I said it Monday. - Justin
via twhirl
Robert - back up your statements. Show me a press release we've reprinted. We never attacked you or even early adopters - I described a stereotype - apparently I struck too close to home with you, and you felt you needed to lash out at us. - Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins
I'm 100% with you Robert, even though I haven't read the post yet. I just like being on your side. - michael arrington
there are hardly any early adapters on friendfeed .. who here was blogging in 2000? you are all late comers, like the guys who went to bali in the 90's and thought they were discovering something. - Gregory Lent
so Mashable are just saying that they aren't as passionate about new products and startups as Robert and Louis are? No surprise there - we knew that before because it comes across in the difference between how the passionate early adopters like Robert and Louis cover technology and how Mashable covers it. There is a lot of irony to that post that I think buzzed over the authors head. - Nik Cubrilovic
As I said in a recent post, early adopters are some of the most generous people I know. And I'm a cranky old fart, too. - Ro (Lilyhill)
I checked out the Mashable "article" and it looks like a transparent flamebaiting write-up. They seem to be just fishing for page hits. - Chris Luckhardt
Maybe I never noticed this feature before, but if other people have installed Nexus, their graphs show up in the lower-left corner under their picture. Try Mark Trapp, Kol Tregaskes, Susan Beebe, Russell Limprecht, Hao Chen, Louis Gray, Dobromir Hadzhiev, Julian Baldwin, Philip Glockner, Jason McDonald I love seeing the way people's social circles connect with each other... The world is a small place. Perhaps one day we will live in peace if we realize how we all are connected. :-) - Mitchell Tsai
Nexus is also fantastic for seeing the groups that your friends have joined. - Mitchell Tsai
These two features may require you to login to Facebook through Nexus (e.g. Nexus doesn't show people's pictures unless you are logged into Facebook through Nexus). - Mitchell Tsai
Darnell: I might be wrong, but DEMO was set to run first. Then TC50 picked the same dates. If I were running DEMO I would have done anything to have different dates than TC50. The head-to-head competition isn't going to turn out well for them. - Robert Scoble
that doesn't make much sense to me - DEMO is supposed to move its dates because TC50 couldn't find another time to run its conference? DEMO announced its dates long before TC. I think TC should have switched to a different date once they noticed this, but instead, everybody is stuck in Kindergarten and in the end the companies suffer because nobody can cover that many start-ups in that little time. I don't care about the conferences, but making the companies suffer because of this is stupid. - Frederic
Frederic: TC50 picked the same dates to attack DEMO. They are taking DEMO's best companies away from it because of this strategic decision to go head-to-head. If I were running DEMO I would have fought back and picked dates a week earlier. That would really have messed with TC50. TechCrunch is forcing entrepreneurs to pick and is winning based on the strength of its blog. It's not kindergarten. This is a direct attack on DEMO and TC50 is winning in the marketplace big time based on my conversations. - Robert Scoble
I dunno...sounds like Kindergarten to me as well. - Andru Edwards
Andru: I don't remember millions of dollars of business as well as control of the high tech PR industry happening in Kindergarten, but you might have attended a bit more high-level school than I did. ;-) - Robert Scoble
I just mean the whole, oh they picked these dates, so we should pick the same dates to attack them, that will get us some PR! And we can make the companies choose! I mean seriously, why try to tear each other down instead of build each other up? That's what I'm all about at least. ;) - Andru Edwards
BTW - Im sure both events will be fantastic. I just mean the behind-the-scenes garbage. - Andru Edwards
but TC seems to want dominance, and building up the competition doesn't provide that. it's not *nice*, certainly, but (correct me if i'm wrong, because i really don't know much about these things) i don't think business is a *nice* sport. - idnan
Andru: it's easy. By making companies choose you position yourself. TC50 is going to be the winner at this game. Idnan is right. Business is akin to war and you've gotta think like that or be squished. Anyone remember Bill Gates? Mona: I'll be at Gnomedex tomorrow evening. - Robert Scoble
Yeah, I'm at Gnomedex, Mona ;) Anyway, I get what you are saying Robert, but it seems so...so Valleywaggish. Business doesn't always have to be war. Like I said, you can tear each other down, or you can build each other up. There can be winners in both business models. Want an example of a businessman who I dont think tears others down? Look up a dude named Robert Scoble. - Andru Edwards
Andru: being nice has gotten me a long ways in life, but then I don't have the world's tech PR firms wrapped around my finger at the moment like Arrington does. He didn't get that by being nice. - Robert Scoble
Robert: do you think that a week would have made a difference? Startups would still have had to choose. I think that TC is doing a good job creating a startup-friendly environment (good coaching, no fee for the startups and inviting a lot of VCs). DEMO needs to do more than changing the date, they need to re-invent themselves. - Edwin Khodabakchian
Edwin: a week would have made a HUGE difference, yes. First of all, the press and VCs wouldn't have had to choose. Which would have made the entrepreneur's choices much more even. Second of all it would have doubled the PR available. Right now, how many companies are really going to get any oxygen on that week? I'd guess five. From both conferences. If they were a week apart that would have been double. - Robert Scoble
Robert: good points. you are right. It would have not solved all the demo problems but it would have gotten them a huge boost on the VC and PR side. Question: if you were DEMO, what else would you have done to get a couple of the better start-ups? - Edwin Khodabakchian
Edwin: had a bigger prize. Had a guarantee of funding, or a guarantee of PR (like Walt Mossberg saying he'll write a column about the winner). But DEMO messed up by not understanding the growing power of blogs and social media earlier. They should have gotten on that much earlier and joined in the conversation. Even now I don't see anyone from Demo really making a presence here or on Twitter or on Facebook. - Robert Scoble
That lack of visibility is why I go with TC50. Since my future is in this community I'm far more likely to support the one with the majority of visibility here. - Robert Scoble
TC50 seems to be a better event overall. It has the backing of better sponsors and the backing of the best startup blog there is. For these reason I don't think there is anything Demo can do to combat this affront by TC50 - Andrew Fielding
Makes sense. Hopefully someone at DEMO or someone who cares about DEMO is looking at the situation in a more nimble way (or they will when TechCrunch wins that first head to head). - Edwin Khodabakchian
Robert: you made a good point on situation and DEMO should've listen to you. If this conversation made available in your blog and also covered by tech media, you help TC by reducing the negative opinion echos of TC as Tyrant. :-) - Pico Seno
As I said, I don´t care which conference reigns supreme in the end - but for the sake of the companies presenting at these events, I think TC should just have picked a date a week or two later (or earlier) - at least most of us bloggers would have had a chance to somewhat keep up with all the new stuff. But why blame DEMO? It was TC that moved in on their date. - Frederic
I'm surprised at how many people commenting don't get that a) TC50 chose the date as a direct challenge, which they are winning, in order to achieve dominance in that arena, b) Robert is merely suggesting that DEMO could've foiled that easily by moving their dates but instead are losing b/c they took a 'we don't have to move we were scheduled first' attitude, c) this is business, not socialistic benevolence - TC didn't get where they are by being the guys who made everyone else feel okay about themselves... - Lucretia Pruitt
Look - you *can* get ahead by being nice. Scoble has a definite conflict of interests here in his commentary (as do I, and it'll reflect in my next sentence)... you know who else got ahead by being nice and not going to war with everyone? Pete Cashmore. We're not number one in everything, but I know a lot of folks in our business that might switch places with us if they had the chance. - Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins
I thought Cashmore just went to parties? - Leather Donut
Competition makes everybody stronger...but it reminds me of high school, when the insecure people would attack other people so they would feel better about themselves...not too be touchy feely, but wouldn't TC have done better for everybody by just being themselves and giving Demo the space to be successful...it is strangely insulting and short term. It should be about creating an environment by which the industry (whatever that is) grows together. - Jamie Ginsberg
Mark Hopkins: generally i think Pete is a super-nice guy too, and i have other friends who blog at Mashable... HOWever, there are several bloggers out there (not just Arrington) who think Mashable re-hashes other posts w/o linking or attribution... some might call that war. your take? - dave mcclure
I take it then, from this little tidbit thatn the Seagate logo on Scobleizer will soon be changed to a TechCrunch one? Let's all be honest here... the majority of the companies that come out of any launch even (yes, even DEMO) will have about the same effect as launching the Titanic. Only because TC scheduled on top of DEMO, all the companies will get even less attention. The dumbest thing any start-up can do is launch in this mess this fall. - Cyndy
Cyndy: it might be dumb to me and you but several really great new companies are coming out at TC50 and several pretty good new companies are coming out at Demo that I've seen. Agree with you, though, if your goals are PR it's going to be hard to break through at either of these shows. - Robert Scoble
And I'm not paid by TC50 nor do I have any financial consideration for talking about them or being on their panel. Seagate sponsors me and I appreciate that very much because it lets me do a range of things outside of Silicon Valley (we're heading to Seattle tonight and Berlin tomorrow). - Robert Scoble
@dave: my 'take' is we always attribute. it's our editorial policy (and I should know, as an editor). any time we don't link or attribute to another blog means we received the tip or story from our editorial inbox. that's been the policy since long before I came on board. some may disagree with the methods we used in the past on *how* we attribute, and that method was updated many months ago (we ridded ourselves of the [via] link in favor of in-line linking). - Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins
Cyndy: I think that's well off. There's so many investors and influential individuals at these events that getting a few of them on board or interested is worth their time. A few will get the PR boost too, but that's not always the goal...This week isn't a mess. Hell, the competition is going to shine a bigger spotlight on both conferences, especially TC50, since it will win. - Ben Parr
@leather: before pete was a rock-star, he was a blogger. :-) - Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins
@robert: I understand you're not paid by TC, but you're on the judging panel, chosen by Mike, presumably. That doesn't make you particularly impartial in the TC50 v Demo debate. - Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins
scoble - not sure how you can declare TC the winner when neither conference has announced companies yet, much less occurred.. Seems to me the best way to pick a "winner" is to wait for the conferences to actually take place. Attendees and press at both events can make their own determinations - Carla Thompson
via fftogo
Robert your reasoning makes my head hurt. TC50 picked the same dates "to attack DEMO," so DEMO should have changed their dates? If DEMO had moved their dates up to avoid a conflict, isn't TC50's next logical move to change their dates again to force a conflict? I understand it's business, but there *is* a difference between a fair fight and attempted murder, between healthy competition and global thermonuclear war, between being tough and being a complete asshole. If TC50 is as wonderful as you say it is, surely a few days difference doesn't determine whether it lives or dies. - Karim
How can you expect someone with a limited intellect like Scoble to put together a rational argument? - Leather Donut
Has anyone done the work of looking at last year's crop of Demo and TechCrunch companies and asking "where are they now?"? - Michael Hussein Markman
Michael: I have been asked by a group of companies to stay quiet because they are going to either TC50 or Demo. The companies I talked with say they'd rather go to TC50 and the better quality companies that I've seen are at TC50. Jason, based on the companies I've seen, I can understand why socialmedian didn't get picked. Socialmedian is pretty nice, but isn't as nice as the companies I've seen that will be at TC50. - Robert Scoble
Michael: you bring up a good point. Out of all the people who won last year I can only remember Mint, which is doing very well. I had to go to Google to remember the rest of the list. - Robert Scoble
wow.... that's very exciting for TC50 -- sounds like there will be a lot of great stuff there. FYI. socialmedian (I'm told) didn't get picked because we were out of stealth mode too early for the rules for TC50. - Jason Goldberg
Yay! I love our experts. By the way, the main difference is that all of our startups are truly launching for the first time ever. Somewhere between a lot and most of the Demo startups are going to be old news. - michael arrington
Michael: that might explain why I can't even tell anyone what company I saw today, or what companies I've been seeing lately. :-) - Robert Scoble
Not going to be one of the 50, but will be in the demo mosh pit. That'll be interesting. - Hutch Carpenter
Cannot wait to bring the DC perspective to it. Who's gonna upset the FCC? I can't wait! - Andrew Feinberg
Andrew: my conversation today with Larry Lessig should catch some attention. We talk about why he's not a good choice for USA's CTO. Gotta write that one up. - Robert Scoble
Is it on FCLive? That may be my story tomorrow. August is a cruel month for DC press. - Andrew Feinberg
Andrew: nope, sorry. We'll run it in a week or two. I'll write it up, though. - Robert Scoble
sigh...can't report from blogs. I'll ping you tomorrow about it, though. I really should sleep. Can't wait to see you at TC50. - Andrew Feinberg
can I send you $25 via PayPal and consider that a down payment on the $25k? :-) - Louis Gray
excellent, good luck with the funding. will you be announcing the final investment numbers? - Rob Diana
Louis: would you gladly pay him Tuesday for a cheeseburger... I mean angel investment deal... today? - Mark Trapp
Rob: We've raised just under $600k to-date. Washington Post, as well as personal investments from Goldberg and angel investors such as Allen Morgan (Mayfield Fund), Reed Hundt (Former Chairman, FCC), Gordon Crovitz (Former Publisher, WSJ), Julius Genachowski (founder, LaunchBox Digital) and Johnny Taylor (CEO of IAC's Rushmore Drive). Raising additional $300-$500k now, from angels only. - Jason Goldberg
Louis: will you be completing a qualified investor form for your $25? - Jason Goldberg
VC Microfinance..... hmmmm.... Why not? Lets do it. Lets build a company together right here on FriendFeed. Now there's a social networking story... ;) - Brad Nickel
Microfinance is a real good concept tho - Especially since I've a coupla projects stalling due to lack of Microfinance :) - Yuvi
Me too. Lets build it with our companies as the frist funding examples. - Brad Nickel
Hmm... well, I'll test it for you, 'cause I need some financing for a project as well ;) - Jason Carreira
Jason - congrats; I would also like some microfinancing for my company... i love the idea - andy brudtkuhl
the challenge with VC via microfinance is that technically one must qualify via a fairly rigorous standard to invest in early stage companies. That said, I'm willing to bet that something could be worked up/around there, and that FF or LinkedIn or the such could be an interesting micro-financing pool for early stage companies. - Jason Goldberg
So would that mean that anyone who creates a product and posts it on the internet for free can call a PayPal Donation button a "VC investment acceptance system"? :) - Nathaniel Payne
Yea it would be hard to distribute "shares" at that micro level. If someone can pull this off - it would be HUGE. - andy brudtkuhl
Indeed an experiment. I wonder if the SEC considers Tweets to be public solicitation for investment in unregistered securities. Keep us posted ;) - Aviv
I wonder if you can take the lessons from Politics about financing: maybe get VC "bundlers" who take all the micropayments and combine them into one large payment. They take care of all the paperwork, as well. - Mark Trapp
yeah but Jason had contacted TC and if TC Blogged about it , then it would be ok ?? Its like a two faced act.. remember HIS post about FM seeking more FUNDS ?? I wish people will remember these facts . TC blog is so full of BS - Peter Dawson
see the comments in the techcrunch string. I deleted the tweet. wasn't worth the headache. I'll say that I "probably" made a mistake on this one but frankly isn't worth the headaches to argue whether it was a mistake or not, or debate the legalities, etc. It sure has made for a good FF string though! - Jason Goldberg
why give up so early?! should be cleared if asking for interested investors = selling stocks? - cem
If it wasn't for the SEC we'd have seen a tipjoy.com-like service for micro-investments a long time ago. - Aviv
I am thinking along the lines of an Angel Network and a ShareBuilder micro share model with social commentary and voting on the investments merged with a flat investment for a flat percentage on every company model. Kind of like YCombinator meets Sharebuilder meets Prosper. This is not a public offering, but I am going to write an initial doc on this and create a mockup. Anyone interested in helping, participating, etc. contact me at brad at clickbrain dot com. I can see the community deciding together... - Brad Nickel
Good luck Jason! keep us posted on how things develop! - Caleb Elston
IMHO, TC is a douche bag.. :he love taking the juice outa of another person fun. If he had got the 'scoop' he would then write pretty words.. I still stand by what I said earlier - Peter Dawson
or separately on each deal. Commentary on the business plan and the technology, etc. May need a membership model for privacy, etc. Anyway, this is just a big brain dump by me, but seems to me it could make a lot of sense and it ties in perfectly with my current business model. The idea of a community investment model and input sounds good to me, but will take a special kind of entrepreneur. - Brad Nickel
I agree....why can't we just have a micro-investment company that owns all the shares and pays out to members upon liquidity events. Basically a VC company for micro early stage investments. Any lawyers or VCs out there want to comment on the legality or structure? - Julie Kentwood
I'm glad this has spurred this sort of discussion. Oh, and these people keep emailing me about their interest in investing in this company that i didn't solicit them to invest in. ;) - Jason Goldberg
I love it Jason. Let us know the outcome. My expectation is you won't ever have to worry about this and it will be worth it. - Brad Nickel
Brad, you might want to look into what pvcse.com was doing. Look it up on archive.org. - Aviv
Oh there's no worry. Mike hit me on the chin cause he could. I sorta asked for it to. No blood no foul; play on. Did someone say mashable posted something on this? - Jason Goldberg
@sprague no worries. our focus is product, product, product. if the product is good that will speak loudest. i screwed up today by focusing on something other than product. another lesson learned. - Jason Goldberg
Sprague: An email could be friendlier but it is no publicity. And in this manner Jason received tons of coverage for his intention to raise further investment. Very clever! - Svetlana Gladkova
Don't want to be a mood spoiler or anything but potentially getting in serious legal trouble isn't worth the publicity IMO. Mess with the SEC rules and end up fined or worse. I hope for your sake, Jason, since you deleted the tweet that the SEC sees this as unintentional and/or not worth their time to pursue. - TDavid
@TDavid: What I actually see here is that we often view the entire web 2.0 business as somewhat laidback - thus the mistakes. - Svetlana Gladkova
via twhirl
The intent was in no way to be clever. We've had several of our users previously ask us if they could invest in socialmedian. The tweet was intended to let those people know that we are now considering investments from qualified investors. My mistake was in the wording of the tweet. The intent was good and fine. - Jason Goldberg
Oh and arrington's story was the #1 most popular story on socialmedian this morning, meaning it hit the in-box of thousands of socialmedian users and followers this morning ... and in good social media form and transparency, we did nothing to stop that. - Jason Goldberg
@Jason: Actually I'd prefer it to be a calculated move on your part to get publicity and investment as a results. But even if not, it was still an interesting even to witness for many of us anyway so keep going. - Svetlana Gladkova
via twhirl
“It truly amazes me that the French win any medals. Outside of Loic Lemeur they are not exactly the fittest of people. Plus they are not competitors/winners by nature. Except for Loic, but he's not in the Olympics.”
Funny you should mention the French and rowing...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v... this is regarded as one of the greatest sprints in Olympic rowing history. Watch the French pair with about 700 meters to go. What they did is pretty much inhuman. - Andrew Feinberg
Loic keeps telling us he's overweight so fit? Maybe not as much as we think? - Dennis Howlett
via twhirl
yes, but according to pbaudry.com a motivation in their culture is "to be admired", and winning an olympic medal certainly leads to that. - Indio Apache
via twhirl
