Top all-time · #200
Robert Scoble
Personal blog · scobleizer.comstartupsculture
Robert Scoble's personal blog at scobleizer.com covers startups and culture. Since 2007, 220 different Hacker News readers have linked it 383 times, most often “Silicon Valley places that Paul Graham didn’t cover”. No feed was found, so read it on the site itself.
Sometimes recommended · 7 of 40 sampled comments recommend it?
Why HN links it
HN readers mostly cite Scoble's posts as sources on Facebook, Google and Silicon Valley history. A few are valued for interest or amusement; one TED post and one Rovio prediction draw criticism.
- Recommended for · 7 comments
- Called a review amusing, said Scoble was right about Xoom, and one commenter found his interview questions good.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 40 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Most-linked posts?
- Silicon Valley places that Paul Graham didn’t cover6 people · 7 mentions · first linked 2010-10-05
- I’ve completely moved to social media5 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2009-09-02
- Why I was wrong about Quora as a blogging service3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2011-01-30
- MySpace’s death spiral3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2011-03-25
- Why Google can’t build Instagram3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2010-11-12
- Scoble's exclusive first look at Flipboard [video interview]3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2010-07-21
- Why Facebook has never listened and why it definitely won’t start now 2 people · 6 mentions · first linked 2009-03-22
- Dear Nokia fans: you’re nuts2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2011-02-11
- Test Your Website Before You Build It2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2010-11-02
- Why now Google?2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2010-01-13
What Hacker News says?
>Is the anti windows/.NET bias really that common? ... I feel like .NET devs are looked down upon I don't have evidence of a wide random sampling of "trendy" employers but based on anecdotes[1][2], I think it is. Many trendy companies (a.k.a. "hot startups") overwhelmingly favor a Linux + open source stack. If the hiring managers at these companies see a resume with just ".NET/Winforms/WPF/ASP.NET", they perceive a…
Comment linking /myspaces-death-spiral-due-to-bets-on-los-angeles-and-microsoft/
on “We only hire the trendiest”Submitted Photo tour of Facebook’s new datacenter as a story · 208 points
HN discussionAccording to Scoble ( http://scobleizer.com/2010/09/28/techcrunch-disrupted-by-aol... ), Arrington owns a "...majority share, with Heather (Harde) owning a healthy share, and Keith (Teare) owning a far smaller share."
Comment linking /2010/09/28/techcrunch-disrupted-by-aol-the-end-of-an-era-in-tech-blogging/
on “Tim Armstrong: We Got TechCrunch”Submitted Why Google can’t build Instagram as a story · 137 points
HN discussionPerhaps not Google. Maybe Google and Facebook. Robert Scoble has an interesting perspective on the ambitions of Facebook. "Phase 1. Harvard only. Phase 2. Harvard+Colleges only. Phase 3. Harvard+Colleges+Geeks only. Phase 4. All those above+All People (in the social graph). Phase 5. All those above+People and businesses in the social graph. Phase 6. All those above+People, businesses, and well-known objects in the s…
Comment linking /2009/03/21/why-facebook-has-never-listened-and-why-it-definitely-wont-start-now/
on “Google Goggles”Submitted Why yo momma won’t use Google+ (and why that thrills me to no end) as a story · 128 points
HN discussionUgly sites can convert better: http://scobleizer.com/2006/03/04/the-role-of-anti-marketing-... See also: Any direct marketing long form sales letter.
Comment linking /2006/03/04/the-role-of-anti-marketing-design/
on “Amazon Prime members buy twice as much, don't compare on price”Submitted It’s too late for Dave Winer and John Battelle to save the common web as a story · 124 points
HN discussionRobert Scoble on G+ Noise controls, 2011: "Why yo daddy won't use Google+: no noise control" http://scobleizer.com/why-yo-daddy-wont-use-google-no-noise-... Blocking fuckwits helps, but you've got to be tremendously brutal about it. https://plus.google.com/104092656004159577193/posts/drLZV8sm...
Comment linking /why-yo-daddy-wont-use-google-no-noise-control/
on “Google+ Redesigned”Submitted The most under-hyped, but most important, technology since seat belts as a story · 115 points
HN discussionThis isn't strictly a web application, but if you are a Java programmer then one project I'd recommend would be integrating the Twitter Search API with FreeMind for the purpose of facilitating real time curation of tweets. Real time curation is apparently the number one request for software that the twitter people get, and FreeMind is the ideal platform for curating tweets. All that's needed is a way to intelligentl…
Comment linking /2010/03/27/the-seven-needs-of-real-time-curators/
on “The Hacker News Experiment”Submitted How sharp is the iPhone 4's screen? High Res 4 vs 3GS images as a story · 103 points
HN discussionIt's not the platform itself, but the developers that know the platform inside-out. For some platforms, the best money can get you is still not good enough for an ambitious project spanning world, and having to undergo massive changes almost in realtime. Why? Because certain platforms don't attract top-notch developers. It's not that easy to get top talent if you stick to MSFT platforms. From linked article: > Silic…
Comment linking /2011/03/24/myspaces-death-spiral-due-to-bets-on-los-angeles-and-microsoft/
on “Did the Microsoft Stack Kill MySpace?”Submitted I will miss the old Y Combinator as a story · 90 points
HN discussionRobert's article: http://scobleizer.com/2010/02/08/why-if-you-miss-siri-youll-... I guess most of us here in hacker news would have known Siri (from Sri) from its first public release. Many of us here also would have watched that Youtube video describing this amazing combination of technology. I guess I didn't feel any magic comes from the fact that I am not living in the US (so the app means nothing to me)
Comment linking /2010/02/08/why-if-you-miss-siri-youll-miss-the-future-of-the-web/
on “How Siri Works”Submitted Siri bought by Apple as a story · 75 points
HN discussionI would highly recommend against using this tool, as it is against Facebook's Terms of Service. Robert Scoble was kicked off Facebook in January 2008 for pulling a stunt exactly like this ( http://scobleizer.com/2008/01/03/ive-been-kicked-off-of-face... ). While his fame and contacts allowed him to get his account reinstated in short order, many of us might not be so fortunate.
Comment linking /2008/01/03/ive-been-kicked-off-of-facebook/
on “Facebook Doesn't Own My Friends: Chrome extension exports Facebook contacts”Submitted The elephants in the room at TED as a story · 70 points
HN discussionOpinion from Robert Scoble: http://scobleizer.com/2011/02/11/dear-nokia-fans-youre-nuts/
Comment linking /2011/02/11/dear-nokia-fans-youre-nuts/
on “Nokia’s Suicide Note”Submitted Is 2011 like 1994 for Apple, Twitter, Facebook, and the Web? as a story · 61 points
HN discussionTreesaver is looking for some HTML/CSS designer/developer types. We need some help creating and implementing designs using the Treesaver.js framework we've developed. No JavaScript skills are required, although they're always nice to have. You can see some examples here: http://treesaver.net/portfolio/ (as you can see, it's still early days -- we can do far better than what's there). [ If you're looking for more inf…
Comment linking /2010/12/15/treesaver-shows-html5-can-hold-its-own-against-flipboard-style-design/
on “ Ask HN: Who Is Hiring Remote Workers? (February 2011 Edition)”Submitted The mistakes I made in Quora as a story · 56 points
HN discussionAnd just three years ago people wrote things like this: http://scobleizer.com/?p=7382 "It isn’t hard to see how they would become the coolest social network within a month or two. Even cooler than Quora. Heheh. After all, a lot more people identify with Angry Birds than identify with other services online (the same exec told me they can’t keep Angry Birds merchandise in stock). "
Comment linking /?p=7382
on “Rovio lays off 110 people as Angry Birds hype fades”Submitted Is Quora the biggest blogging innovation in 10 years? as a story · 54 points
HN discussionWhile reading this my mind pictured a scenario at a booth at Buck's restaurant of Woodside, CA. I've had my fair share of investor meetings/coffees there and it immediately came to mind. (Scoble talks about why Buck's is a landmark of SV: http://scobleizer.com/2010/10/04/silicon-valley-places-that-... )
Comment linking /2010/10/04/silicon-valley-places-that-paul-graham-cant-get-into/
on “Don't yell at waitresses. You look like a jerk and it blows investments.”Submitted The chat room/forum problem as a story · 51 points
HN discussionIt would appear they are doing some server side magic to determine which stuff shows up (hence the need for their own server): "...Well, it has a set of algorithms that are looking for highly engaged items. You know, items that have lots of comments, likes, or retweets. It also has an algorithm that senses photography that’s been linked to from Facebook status messages and it lays those photos out." Quoted from: htt…
Comment linking /2010/07/20/exclusive-first-look-at-revolutionary-social-news-ipad-app-flipboard/
on “Flipboard: A social magazine for your iPad”Submitted Palm did it: better experience than Apple as a story · 50 points
HN discussionInterview and more "real-life" demo with Robert Scoble: http://scobleizer.com/2010/07/20/exclusive-first-look-at-rev... I really like that kind of re-presentation of content. The "Times" app does something similar on Mac for feeds. At least visually, I find it very appealing. I don't know if it's because of the variety of layout, or if somehow decades of newspapers and magazines have taught us to like content displa…
Comment linking /2010/07/20/exclusive-first-look-at-revolutionary-social-news-ipad-app-flipboard/
on “Flipboard: A social magazine for your iPad”Submitted The worst things startups do as a story · 49 points
HN discussion