The Inquisitr » scoble

Robert Scoble leaves Fast Company

Duncan Riley — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 09:26:56 +0000

Robert Scoble has announced that he is leaving his role as the head of online video for Fast Company.

Scoble started the job in January 2008 after a long stint at the now defunct podcasting company Podtech. His role at Fast Company included running FastCompany.tv, the video portion of the site, and hosting his own show. According to a report at The Next Web, Scoble’s hand was forced after his prime sponsor Seagate pulled the plug. Other reports put that sponsorship at $1 million a year.

Scoble and I haven’t always been the best of friends over the years, but more recently I’ve come to appreciate him as one of the few people in this space who isn’t afraid to go deep on a story. Yes, some of his video interviews are dry, but this depth of reporting has more often than not resulted in information and news that would have never been obtained any other way. Scoble offers a real service to the tech community, and I hope that his next step is to go independent, giving him the ability to really leverage his influence and skills to provide news that is far beyond what we get from the mainstream media.

I can’t contribute much to a Scoble fund, but where I can let me be on the record that I’m in. Scoble’s only response on FriendFeed so far:

Duncan: I learned a lot this past year. Turns out even if you work for a big(ger) company you really are an entrepreneur anyway. I’m thinking a lot about this and the role of new work in the future. On the other hand, some things require teams and capital and infrastructure. Those will be tough to get access to this year if you’re starting from scratch.

Still, surely someone out there with money might fund him well. Ceiling cat speed to you, Robert Scoble.

Pimp My News: Turning Blogs into Mobile Audio

JR — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 22:41:27 +0000

You can now catch up on your day’s Web reading with your eyes closed, thanks to a startup aptly named Pimp My News. The nine-month-old service converts thousands of blog and news sites’ content into audio files that can be played either via an online or mobile interface, or downloaded for use on an MP3 player.

A scan through the service’s available categories shows you the wide variety of content available. Almost any news/blog genre you can imagine is included somewhere. Within the technology tab, you’ll find everything from Apple news to gadget reviews, Internet blogs, social media discussions, and startup spotlights.

Most categories seem to have a fairly decent mix of material. Right now, for example, the “social media” tab leads off with Mashable’s morning story about the food service rumors within Google. Click onto the “top bloggers” tab and you’ll find audio of some recent Scoble posts at the top of the page.

The two downsides to the system are both time-related. First, turnaround time: Many of the top entries are several hours old and more recent postings have yet to appear. Still, the content that is present is easy to access and generally tolerable enough for listening. A male computer voice acts as the narrator and seems to be pretty accurate as far as pronunciations. Second, loading time: The service is a bit on the pokey side and a little slow to load, at least during the times at which we’ve accessed it.

The Inquisitr, incidentally, is not yet featured on Pimp My News. We’ve officially requested it, though — and the service makes it clear that it’s happy to make additions for anyone missing their favorite sites in the mix…so stay tuned. (Update: The Inquisitr is now featured.)

Pimp My News is free to use and ad-supported. The only real limitation is in building a personalized podcast or playlist: You are limited to 10 sources and a 10 minute daily program. In general use of the site, though — whether through the Web interface or the iPhone-optimized mobile interface — you are unrestricted in your activity.

Our vote: Great idea, great service. Being able to load up your MP3 player with reading — rather, listening — for the morning drive is a cool convenience. And the mobile accessibility makes any on-the-go catching up easy to do, particularly if you’re not stationary and are thus unable to sit down and read. We’ll be curious to see if Pimp My News looks into some type of “premium” pay service in the future or if the ad model will prove sufficient to support it. We also hope the turnaround time and site speed will improve as the service grows and develops. All combined, though, Pimp My News is an offering well-worth giving a whirl. We suspect you just may love it.

Dave Winer for CTO of the United States

Duncan Riley — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 21:46:53 +0000

One of the promises of the Obama campaign is to appoint a Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of the United States should he win in November. It’s recognition of tech has a driving force within the US economy, and it’s an idea that I know I’d want copied in my native Australia.

The question is though, who will become the first CTO of the United States of America? There’s no set criteria, no precedent, no rules or regulations around the position, which opens the candidate field wide. Robert Scoble has chimed in with his list of possible candidates, and alongside Bill Gates he suggests the god father of blogging, Dave Winer.

I won’t be able to vote, but given most of you reading this live in the United States, you may have influence. Dave Winer would make a most excellent US CTO, and we now give him our full support should he decide to officially put his name forward. Winer knows RSS, he knows blogging, and he isn’t shy is sharing his opinions. Spread the word: Winer for CTO.

I haven’t got access to Photoshop at the moment to create Winer for CTO buttons, but if you do decide to join the cause, leave a comment with link to logo and we’ll add it to the post.

Protagonize Is A Good Read, Help Write “FriendFeed Fan”

Duncan Riley — Sun, 25 May 2008 07:27:14 +0000

Protagonize is a creative writing community dedicated to writing various forms of collaborative, interactive fiction.

Stories on Protagonize start with one author writing a story, and others post branches or chapters to it in different directions. The result is an organic, evolving story where anyone can participate.

Registered members get their own author profile page, can write new stories, branches and chapters, add page markers, subscribe to their favorite authors, add comments, rate stories, keep track of update
notifications, follow conversations between authors, and more.

I’ve seen attempts a collaborative writing projects before, more recently with Cameron Reilly’s Twittories project. Protagonize takes the collaborative path more seriously by offering better accessibility that increases participation.

A service is only as good as how its parts work in action, so I’ve seeded a story titled “FriendFeed Fan” in my best attempt of chic-lit meets technophilia. It’s the story of Melissa, a Twitter refugee who ends up at FriendFeed. The branch suggestions include Scoble, Louis Gray or simply finding love. More here and feel free to build on the story, it may be the first time FriendFeed has been used in modern literature