Disqus - Latest Comments for Rob Safuto

Re: Scoble and his Facebook data (Scripting News)

Rob Safuto — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 15:35:46 -0000

You're leaving something out Dave. This screen scraper wasn't merely downloading to Scoble's local machine. They were parsing the data into the Plaxo database, then giving Scoble access to download from there. Once Plaxo has control of that data I'd like to know what else they do with it. Given Plaxo's track record I don't want to think of the possibilities.

I don't see this as an issue of Facebook having to open up because Scoble really needs that contact info. This is about Scoble helping a corporate entity test a data mining tool. I wonder if his 'friends' on Facebook would want to know that he accumulated them so he could help Plaxo test a tool that mines personal information into 3rd party databases without their knowledge.

Also strange that this occurs at the same time Plaxo is hoping to sell.

Re: Barack Obama for President (Scripting News)

Rob Safuto — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 19:52:13 -0000

You're going against the New York Times Dave. The Times made Hillary their pick yesterday in spite of all the anti-Bill backlash. At this point I think everyone should agree that Edwards should drop out. He doesn't have a chance. The litmus test for the rest of the candidates in both parties is going to be in Florida.

Re: Debating health care in 2008 (Scripting News)

Rob Safuto — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 15:11:11 -0000

Not all health situations are based on luck Dave. Some people are smokers. Some people consume a lot of fatty, sugary foods and exercise little. Some people drink alcohol and take drugs regularly. These are chosen activities that degrade a person's health over time. So my big concern is that when I'm paying for someone else's health care costs out of my paycheck that I'm also paying for people who aren't taking care of themselves. Do I owe these people a percentage of my paycheck to cover their health problems?

Strange that you mention that, "The Republicans have never been responslble about this issue." Who was the governor of Mass. that set up that "liberalized health insurance" plan you mentioned? What was his party affiliation? Just a question.

Some Democrats have already acknowledged that so called 'universal health plans' will destroy working people more than anyone. Sen. Leland Yee of San Francisco called the proposed California program, "...a knife to the throat of the working poor." So this is not a cut and dry, evil republicans vs. angelic democrats issue as portrayed in your post.

The most frustrating thing is that I'm already paying plenty for other people to have access to free medical care via medicare and medicaid taxes deducted from my paycheck. This is in addition to monthly premiums and co-pays when myself, my wife or my daughter need care. So how much more should a working person have to pay? What percentage of my paycheck given to the government proves that I "have a heart" as you say?

Re: The simplest podcast API ever (Scripting News)

Rob Safuto — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 13:10:01 -0000

This has been done many times before via Audioblog.com (now Hipcast), AudioBlogger, Odeo, Evoca, Openpodcast.org and more. Utterz is currently doing this and with international support. As a result I really don't see how the Cinch service from BlogTalkRadio can be called an innovation. If not having to create an account is considered an innovation then the bar is being set really low. People don't mind setting up accounts for services they use. In fact, having an account gives you a measure of control that almost everyone wants in these types of services.

Re: I hate the term mommybloggers

Rob Safuto — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 12:08:49 -0000

I'm not a fan of the term myself. But then I'm not a fan of any term that lumps people together in a generic way. It seems that some are very proud of their mommyblogger status. Perhaps because it helps them land lucrative perks from companies desperate to put their products in front of women with kids. It's a huge market. I hear that BlogHer is going on in New York next week. Sounds like the perfect forum for this question.

Re: Seesmic: Still don’t really get it

Rob Safuto — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 10:17:09 -0000

You don't get it Matthew. The web is now social all because of Seesmic. Just kidding ;)

I think that services that allow more flexibility make more sense. I've been trying out Utterz which allows you to post audio, video, photos and text either via the computer or cell phone. To me the mix of different types of media in commenting is much more interesting than I do a video, you do a video, and on and on. Most people aren't webcam types.

There's also a service/wordpress plugin called Riffly that adds the ability for people to leave audio and video comments directly on a blog. Much more relevant I think because it fits right in with the blog's comments instead of taking you off site.

Loic's company has more competition than they want to admit at this point. If Seesmic wants to be successful they need to expand beyond video and integrate well with blogs and mobile devices.