Scripting News

Best wishes to Scoble

Thu, 13 Dec 2007 03:51:55 GMT

I was in the audience yesterday when the one dramatic moment of the conference took place. Scoble was on stage. Mike Arrington was sitting to my right in the front row of the second section (on the right). Mike showed me a piece he was writing, and I gulped. It said Scoble was leaving Podtech and probably going to FastCompany to start a TV network for them. Since Scoble is my friend, I knew that there was some truth to this, but was disappointed to see it was coming out, esp at a moment when Scoble wouldn't have a moment to think and consult with friends before formulating a response. HIs laptop screen was being projected as we watched him edit his comment on TechCrunch. At one point Mike asked if I thought he knew we could see what he was typing. I didn't think he did.

Anyway, Scoble lets it all hang out. And somehow he gets away with it. What would kill most people just stings him, and he smiles through it all, in his bumbling Scoble-like way, and it always amazes me how he makes lemonade out of the lemons. This isn't the optimal way to announce you're leaving a company, and his deal with FC isn't final yet. But somehow I think he'll navigate this transition and come out in a better place after the dust settles.

Bebo has the right idea

Thu, 13 Dec 2007 03:25:26 GMT

I don't know what Bebo is, I guess it's a social network, they say it's #3 in the USA, #1 in the UK, but they just did something that's pretty likely to work, if it's technically possible. They're cloning Facebook so that their service will run Facebook apps. What this means, if they can pull it off, is that they won't have to fight to get support from developers. That's a big deal.

Google could have done this with OpenSocial. Watching the panel assembled by Marc Canter at LeWeb3, I was reminded of every tech conference I've been to for almost 30 years. Some big company sitting in the center, and lots of smaller ones sucking up to them, not daring to say what's obvious, that the big company is only interested in limiting the growth of an upstart (not present on stage of course). That's where the Fear comes in Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt. We don't say anything because we're too scared to. Even the outspoken Marc Canter, who's smart and has been around this block many times, doesn't dare say what's obvious.

Now Bebo decides to get in lockstep with Facebook, not Google. Of course! Facebook has the juice. But this is a dangerous place to be if Facebook doesn't want them there, and being a big company, they probably don't. The only value of having clones to FB is that it negates the threat from Google. Sometimes having clones is a good thing, but usually the clones take over the market. Witness MSIE and Netscape, and then Firefox. Compaq et al and IBM. dBASE and Fox. It's possible to depose an installed leader if it's possible to clone them. As a user and developer, I'd like to see FB be open to cloning. If I were a FB shareholder I'm not so sure.

One constituency that's sure to like the existence of clones are Facebook developers. Without choice in platform vendors, they have nowhere to go when the sole vendor decides to take over their market. With a viable alternative, unless FB is incredibly aggressive and builds its competitive features so they can run on competitive platforms, at least developers will have a place to run their apps when FB encroaches.

Platforms are a game, like Risk, with rules and strategies. Google did not play the game wisely with OpenSocial. I chalk this up to inexperience on the part of the strategists. So far Facebook has been doing what's needed to keep its dominant position. Bebo deciding to clone the Facebook API ratifies that position, it's a gutsy move, but the best one available to them, and to other would-be Facebook competitors.

PS: The news is slow to reach Europe. Facebook said yesterday that they support what Bebo is doing. Very enthusiastically. That should be the end of OpenSocial.

Why I use Twitter

Wed, 12 Dec 2007 18:10:43 GMT

I use it because it helps me keep in touch with people I want to be in touch with, without taking very much time. It serves a function that the links on Scripting News used to serve, but that was just a one-way thing. Now I get links and ideas from other people. It's an equalizer, a playing field leveler. It's useful the same way a cell phone is useful. Sure some conversations on cell phones might seem dull. So hang up. But don't get rid of the phone (and certainly don't make general statements about phones based on some people's conversations).

Arc de Triomphe

Wed, 12 Dec 2007 18:03:38 GMT

As the cab was heading back to my hotel it turned down an avenue and there was the Arc. I grabbed the camera and got a movie as we approached the circle around it.

Future-safe archives, day 2

Wed, 12 Dec 2007 08:13:20 GMT

Phil Wolff on things for bloggers to do before they die.

Was TechMeme hacked?

Wed, 12 Dec 2007 07:32:24 GMT

Here's a screen shot of the HTML source.

Looks like it's trying to serve some kind of ActiveX control.

Happy to be using a Mac.

PS: Scoble just showed up and TM works on his cell phone so there's something weird going on.

Future-safe archives

Tue, 11 Dec 2007 04:34:02 GMT

I just woke up in Paris, it's 5:34AM here, but back in California, it still never ceases to amaze me, the day hasn't yet flipped. You guys haven't even gone to bed yet! Now that's amazing to me. What perseverence! Keep up the good work everybody.

I just started posting a couple of twits that really should be a blog post, so let's get started.

First at some point, after a suitable period of mourning, I'd like to rasie the issue of what's to happen with Marc Orchant's web presence.

Which of course is a way of focusing attention on all of our web presences.

None of us like to think of it, but truth is none of us are going to live forever.

Yet if you read this, it's likely that you're creating a digital body that can and imho should continue to exist even after your physical body stops existing.

People are humble, no one wants to come out and say their work has any value that's worth preserving past their death, but come on, we know that's not true. If Shakespeare were alive today, he'd be writing on the web. As would Hemingway or Faulkner, Vonnegut or Mailer, John Lennon or Dylan Thomas, Carl Sandberg or Robert Frost. Mozart, Bach and Beethoven. You think there isn't any great literature out there on the web? I wouldn't be so sure about that. What if there is? And what if a baby born today becomes a great creative force? Or what if there's a social disaster like the Holocaust? Did you know that there are preserved diaries from pre-revolutionary America? Writings of ordinary people can be of enormous help to historians. And if we believe in citizen journalism (I do) why not citizen historians? Shouldn't we be thinking out into the future? We should!

With all possible humility, I'd like to tell you that a few days after I die my entire web presence will likely disappear. My servers require some attention from me from time to time. The first time that happens, poof, there goes 10-plus years of Scripting News, and all the docs for the OPML Editor and the OPML spec, the XML-RPC site, to name just a few. Anyway, within a couple of months it will all certainly disappear, unless someone pays my hosting and DSL bills. Maybe someone will, but isn't it ridiculous that that's what it depends on?

And when my sites disappear so will my uncle's. He died in 2003. His site is still accessible because I keep it that way. When I die, who will will take over for me? I'm sure the world will survive without his writing, but why? If I love the memory of my uncle, and I do, what can I do to reserve a place for him in the archive of the future. It seems such a small thing, but it's most of what remains of his life.

And what of academics, Nobel Laureates and others? I know for a fact that a great university (Harvard) has no plan to protect their web-based work after they pass. It's so ironic that the web offers an archival solution for non-digital work, yet the web information is more fragile than the physical stuff.

Preserving our digital heritage is going to require some foresight, some planning, but it seems possible and we surely can do much better. Marc's fate awaits us all. While we're still alive, there's still time to solve this problem. When we're gone, it will be too late. Part of his legacy can be that he helped focus us on this issue, and his life work could be a great test case. Do we want to see his work preserved? And if so, how will it be done?

PS: The RSS 2.0 site will likely persist, because I gave it to Berkman, and then used it as a test case to learn about future-safing. It seems likely to continue to exist, knock wood, praise Murphy, as long as Harvard exists.

Tonight's speakers dinner

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 22:09:17 GMT

In Paris, we're ready to go to bed (it's still just 2PM in Calif) and I have some pics from tonight's speakers dinner.

Delia Cohen of Pangea Day and the TED conference.

Doc Searls and Erik Stuart (eBay).

Henri Asseily, founder of Shopzilla.

Doc Searls shooting a picture of me.

Marc Canter and Loic Le Meur.

Louvre and Eifel

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 16:53:25 GMT

Today's pics from the Eifel Tower and Musee de Louvre.

A hypothetical uber-contact manager

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 09:12:13 GMT

Paolo hypothesizes a much-needed tool in a post yesterday, and a follow-up today.

Dinner with friends at Chez Clement

Sun, 09 Dec 2007 22:28:42 GMT

These pictures were taken at Chez Clement, in Paris, this evening. A good time was had by all!

The tag for photos from this conference is leweb307.

Greetings from Paris!

Sun, 09 Dec 2007 17:56:25 GMT

The train ride was easy.

London was rainy and cold.

So is Paris.

"cheesecake"

Jemima Kiss

Sat, 08 Dec 2007 16:31:06 GMT

Scoble and Son

Sat, 08 Dec 2007 14:36:34 GMT

Riding the escalator in the Leicester Square station of the London Underground.

Aunt Anita & Scoble

Sat, 08 Dec 2007 14:40:17 GMT

London Underground

Fri, 07 Dec 2007 14:44:50 GMT

Complete New Yorker archive on a hard disk

Fri, 07 Dec 2007 14:48:44 GMT

I saw an ad in yesterday's NY Times that offered the complete New Yorker magazine archive, including all the cartoons and ads, going back to 1920-something for a bit more than the hard disk would cost. The ad was from J&R, the company that makes the product is Pexagon. $149. Sounds like there might be DRM.

I asked for something like this from the music business. A hundred gigs of popular music for $500, all pre-installed on the disk without DRM.

Someone at the New Yorker had this idea too? It's a good one. Bulk content for collector types. Another source of revenue. I want to run my own personal radio station, so having every song of a certain genre or from a certain period makes the diff.

A new way to get in Club140

Thu, 06 Dec 2007 19:55:54 GMT

Bonjour mes amis!

If you post a twit with my name in it following an at-sign that is exactly 140 characters in length, my little script will pick it up and add you Le Club 140. (Practicing my French!)

For example...

@davewiner, you are a very nice person and I enjoy sending you replies. I have actually nothing to say, but when has that stopped me before?

If you posted that, your name would appear here...

http://club140.org/

Of course you will be more original, won't you?

Meanwhile, in other news, Club 140 has caused at least one person to swear off Twitter forever. Too bad so sad! :-(

I found the watch!

Thu, 06 Dec 2007 20:08:31 GMT

Normal life can now resume.

Club 140

Wed, 05 Dec 2007 21:43:09 GMT

Just for fun I'm keeping track of people I follow who have posted "perfect" Twitter messages, ones that are exactly 140 characters long.

http://club140.org/

Here's the announcement, which of course, is a perfect 140.

The number one feature request for http:\//club140.org/ is our own RSS feed, so of course, that's exactly what I implemented. Everyone happy?