Well, almost everytime I ask someone about the domain name of the video show I’m working on they ask “why don’t you just call it RobertScobleTV or ScobleizerTV or something like that?”
I initially hated that suggestion because, despite my reputation of being an egotistical baaahhhssstttaaarrdddd, this show should be about other people. I learned the power of aiming the camera away from myself and toward other people. Not to mention that if this is only about me it’ll never scale and build value. If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the past five years is that getting more people involved in something is not only more fun, but builds better businesses. Ala Weblogs Inc, Digg, Slashdot. Etc. It’s why I haven’t taken to the videoblogging form of “aim the camera at your face and start saying stuff.”
I also look at today’s Rocketboom and see that they are trying to use the camera to expose evil and improve the world. I doubt my show will get as good, but hell, it’s nice to see a high bar to reach for.
But the feedback is so consistent and persuasive that I’m now considering it rather than something else like geekbreakfast.com or something equally lame. MrandMrsGeek.com and EdgeCase.tv were a couple that were being thrown around for a while here before the chat room killed those. Mercifully. Maryam killed “geekier.tv.” Like I said, committees suck all life out of projects and names. I’m almost ready to fall back on a descriptive name like “VideoShowHostedByAFatWhiteGuyWhoThinksHeIsAGeek2006.com.” You can take the boy out of Microsoft but you can’t take the Microsoft out of the boy.
Anyway, now that I’m full time I’m starting to put together a plan. We’re working on a design, getting the server setup, have already a couple of interviews done with a ton more under development (are you announcing something in the next few weeks? Email me and let’s see if we can get it on video).
Frequency? Once a week to start, but ultimate goal to move it up to at least once a day.
Format? This is the Web, not TV. So why are we worrying about staying in a preset timed format? I’m not. If something takes an hour, why not take it? On the other hand, if what you need to communicate only takes 50 seconds, why take longer?
I’m thinking more in terms of chunks of video that’ll be sent out via RSS rather than one long video with several segments. If there’s a segment you really aren’t interested in, why should you be forced to wade through it just to get to an interview you might like, or vice versa?
What are the chunks I’m thinking of?
1. Cool services/products to try. Five new things to try that you probably haven’t tried yet. For instance, before last week I hadn’t tried Dodgeball.
2. Popping the bubble. A short rant on something technology related. Like DOPA.
3. No particular demographic. Something fun with no particular demographic in mind. A cool YouTube video. A Carl Franklin Song. That kind of thing.
4. Getting deep with unusual tech business geek. Interviews with geeks and CEOs. Already have one excellent one with the CEO of Printing for Less in the bag.
5. Tech tea time. Getting together with several geeks over tea to talk about the issues of the week. Or, maybe, just get into an argument about programming languages like we did last week.
6. Blogs we dig. Or is that Digg? Anyway, I have a few blogs that are killer that I haven’t talked much about yet. You know, like Kiruba Shankar, who is helping plan a BlogCamp in India.
7. Digital Divas. Maryam and a few other smart people at PodTech want to do this videochunk.
8. Podcast and videoblog news. Cool video blogs from around the net. Not just Ze Frank, either.
Anyway, looking for ideas. This is still in the “mix the cement” stage, so it’s really easy to change things. If it’s lame, tell me that too. I’d rather hear that now than in a few weeks when we get the first show up.
Scobleizer 
Robert, I totally agree with the point about pointing the camera at someone else. I’m responsible for the official blog of Carnoustie Golf Links (the host for the 2007 British Open). We’ve got all sorts of video and podcasts up charting our progress throughout the year, building up to the championship itself. And I can tell you, those podcasts and videos are a lot more intersting because I point the camera and they guys doing the job; the guys who really know how to prepare a golf course and how to run an event on this sort of gigantic scale. If I just pointed the camera at me and spoke about what was going on, it wouldn’t be nearly so interesting. If you want to know what I mean, you can check it out at
http://www.carnoustiegolflinks.co.uk/blog
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Robert, I totally agree with the point about pointing the camera at someone else. I’m responsible for the official blog of Carnoustie Golf Links (the host for the 2007 British Open). We’ve got all sorts of video and podcasts up charting our progress throughout the year, building up to the championship itself. And I can tell you, those podcasts and videos are a lot more intersting because I point the camera and they guys doing the job; the guys who really know how to prepare a golf course and how to run an event on this sort of gigantic scale. If I just pointed the camera at me and spoke about what was going on, it wouldn’t be nearly so interesting. If you want to know what I mean, you can check it out at
http://www.carnoustiegolflinks.co.uk/blog
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ScobleizerTV? why TV? it is’nt TV or is it? As your blog is just a telegraph service. 🙂
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ScobleizerTV? why TV? it is’nt TV or is it? As your blog is just a telegraph service. 🙂
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What about Channel62. It pays homage to your Channel9 history, and includes an esoteric geek reference.
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What about Channel62. It pays homage to your Channel9 history, and includes an esoteric geek reference.
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I suggest you name it “ScobleShots” (or “ScobleShoots”) it would catch all that you wanted to convey and sounds geeky too 🙂
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I suggest you name it “ScobleShots” (or “ScobleShoots”) it would catch all that you wanted to convey and sounds geeky too 🙂
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Hey there scoble I/we will be there at blogcamp to hear you. its Gonna totally rock.
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Hey there scoble I/we will be there at blogcamp to hear you. its Gonna totally rock.
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The challenge is trying to do something that isn’t being done already. Or doing it better than the person is doing it already. I am a media freak when it comes to watching “stuff.” My Tivo is maxed at the moment and I have shows in I-Tunes that need to be watched and listened to. I wish there was something out there that focused on podcasts that aren’t out there promoting or criticizing world events. I would hope that more stuff like ask a ninja will come out. I guess it is coming and I need to be patient with the evolution.
In either case PodTech should help me make my website fruitfull and get there advertisers at http://www.podsea.com.
Sorry had to shamelessly plug.
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The challenge is trying to do something that isn’t being done already. Or doing it better than the person is doing it already. I am a media freak when it comes to watching “stuff.” My Tivo is maxed at the moment and I have shows in I-Tunes that need to be watched and listened to. I wish there was something out there that focused on podcasts that aren’t out there promoting or criticizing world events. I would hope that more stuff like ask a ninja will come out. I guess it is coming and I need to be patient with the evolution.
In either case PodTech should help me make my website fruitfull and get there advertisers at http://www.podsea.com.
Sorry had to shamelessly plug.
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The problem of helping viewers get right to the part they’re interested in is tackled by http://www.veotag.com. Index a video with clickable tags so that viewers can see your rundown and jump right to any particular point. Think deep hyperlinking inside a video stream.
Tech tea time strikes me as a show in itself. (Strong model from TV: Jon Favreau’s Dinner For Five on IFC.) I think you want to give these conversations room to breathe. (You might lift a segment from a good Tech Tea Time and pop it into an anthology show.)
Don’t shy away from using your name. Face it, it’s a brand. You and your name… why, you’re a team. You’ve gotten this far together. Don’t break up the act now. The name of the show doesn’t dictate where you point the camera.
(BTW… I’ve seen some research with video chat users that people are much more interested in the background than the big head in the foreground. Show me your space plays better than show me your face.)
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The problem of helping viewers get right to the part they’re interested in is tackled by http://www.veotag.com. Index a video with clickable tags so that viewers can see your rundown and jump right to any particular point. Think deep hyperlinking inside a video stream.
Tech tea time strikes me as a show in itself. (Strong model from TV: Jon Favreau’s Dinner For Five on IFC.) I think you want to give these conversations room to breathe. (You might lift a segment from a good Tech Tea Time and pop it into an anthology show.)
Don’t shy away from using your name. Face it, it’s a brand. You and your name… why, you’re a team. You’ve gotten this far together. Don’t break up the act now. The name of the show doesn’t dictate where you point the camera.
(BTW… I’ve seen some research with video chat users that people are much more interested in the background than the big head in the foreground. Show me your space plays better than show me your face.)
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Scobleized! is my vote – links to and differentiates from the blog, doesn’t have the “TV” baggage (turn that dang thing down/off, please!)
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Scobleized! is my vote – links to and differentiates from the blog, doesn’t have the “TV” baggage (turn that dang thing down/off, please!)
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how about something from ancient greece or something – was there a God of Technology, guess not…how about vscooble? just a suggestion.
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how about something from ancient greece or something – was there a God of Technology, guess not…how about vscooble? just a suggestion.
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I have to agree with Jerome and Vijay. Either ‘Scobleized’ or ‘ScobleShoots’ works, IMHO.
Although I guess people could say you stole Hannity’s ‘Hannitized’ if you chose ‘Scobleized’.
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I have to agree with Jerome and Vijay. Either ‘Scobleized’ or ‘ScobleShoots’ works, IMHO.
Although I guess people could say you stole Hannity’s ‘Hannitized’ if you chose ‘Scobleized’.
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you should call it Scoble Unlisted.
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you should call it Scoble Unlisted.
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I like “Meet the Scoble’s” Not everyone outside the online world knows you yet. And if you do things right and new media continues to grow, they will. Plus you’d be foolish not to get Maryam and Patrick involved to give it a well rounded edge.
You work because though you may be a geek, you’re one of us.
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I like “Meet the Scoble’s” Not everyone outside the online world knows you yet. And if you do things right and new media continues to grow, they will. Plus you’d be foolish not to get Maryam and Patrick involved to give it a well rounded edge.
You work because though you may be a geek, you’re one of us.
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I love Scoblized! myself. It certainly has a nice marketing edge to it.
As a MSM-type, I think this is outrageously exciting. As we discussed at Blogher, I’m working on a project that is coming at this in a similar way from the television station side of things. I think there are tremendous opportunities for both of us here. Let’s talk soon.
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I love Scoblized! myself. It certainly has a nice marketing edge to it.
As a MSM-type, I think this is outrageously exciting. As we discussed at Blogher, I’m working on a project that is coming at this in a similar way from the television station side of things. I think there are tremendous opportunities for both of us here. Let’s talk soon.
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Segments of interest could be directly linked to, [start time, end time]. That’d be a much better way for anyone to watch the content of interest. That’s built-in in RealMedia and WMV. Not sure about Quicktime though. Google introduced video hyperlinks in GV a couple of weeks ago.
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Segments of interest could be directly linked to, [start time, end time]. That’d be a much better way for anyone to watch the content of interest. That’s built-in in RealMedia and WMV. Not sure about Quicktime though. Google introduced video hyperlinks in GV a couple of weeks ago.
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Umm, I vote against the ego-personalization, no Scobleisms…think Main Street and not Geek Street. Scoble won’t mean a hill of beans to a wider audienece, think Z and not A.
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Umm, I vote against the ego-personalization, no Scobleisms…think Main Street and not Geek Street. Scoble won’t mean a hill of beans to a wider audienece, think Z and not A.
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Hey Robert. Sounds good but don’t underestimate that the success of Rocketboom or MobuzzTV is also based on the fact that there is a cute girl presenting. Neither of us are cute blond looking girls, unsure how many geeks want to see a geek like you everyday in video ! So just hire a cute girl for your show, don’t forget 😉
just teasing. see you soon.
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Hey Robert. Sounds good but don’t underestimate that the success of Rocketboom or MobuzzTV is also based on the fact that there is a cute girl presenting. Neither of us are cute blond looking girls, unsure how many geeks want to see a geek like you everyday in video ! So just hire a cute girl for your show, don’t forget 😉
just teasing. see you soon.
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Loic: we already bought geekentertainment.tv who has a girl host. She worked for Red Herring, went to the famous Columbia School of Journalism, and is funny too.
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Loic: we already bought geekentertainment.tv who has a girl host. She worked for Red Herring, went to the famous Columbia School of Journalism, and is funny too.
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Christopher: don’t play that game with me. You know I like pissing you off. I guess that seals it on the name thing.
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Christopher: don’t play that game with me. You know I like pissing you off. I guess that seals it on the name thing.
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Hey Robert, if you need someone to represent the network security sector in your round table/tea time give me a shout.
As for the title of the show, keep with the brand, it’s served you well. Scobleized! really sticks out.
regarding topics. Have you thought of throwing in some reality television to the mix? Have users video themselves on a treasure hunt of some sort and compile it into a weekly show. Rent an apartment and have a handfull of bloggers live there for a week. Just a thought as reality TV is screaming for a new medium.
-Joe
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Hey Robert, if you need someone to represent the network security sector in your round table/tea time give me a shout.
As for the title of the show, keep with the brand, it’s served you well. Scobleized! really sticks out.
regarding topics. Have you thought of throwing in some reality television to the mix? Have users video themselves on a treasure hunt of some sort and compile it into a weekly show. Rent an apartment and have a handfull of bloggers live there for a week. Just a thought as reality TV is screaming for a new medium.
-Joe
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Friend me on Dodgeball, yo! I signed up for it the day they got bought but didn’t get addicted to it since I went indy and started doing half my work from wi-fi cafes. Join the SF wi-fi cafe posse!
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Friend me on Dodgeball, yo! I signed up for it the day they got bought but didn’t get addicted to it since I went indy and started doing half my work from wi-fi cafes. Join the SF wi-fi cafe posse!
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I looked it up and “geek” in Latin turns out to be “geek” so that wont work, I guess. Anyway, just wanted to let you know that all your encouragement at Off the Grid has been taken seriously. I have started posting my own blog with a very cheesy name, http://www.peoplegeek.tv, and I am working on some video productions. Aaron got me a web cam and is geeking out on shopping for mobile cameras I could use out in the field. Any suggestions? I know you are super-busy, but I am hoping that you might be my Obi-Wan and only, i.e. my biggest fan and supporter. Thanks again for all your kind words and encouragement. (Gee, that was terribly unsnarky.)
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I looked it up and “geek” in Latin turns out to be “geek” so that wont work, I guess. Anyway, just wanted to let you know that all your encouragement at Off the Grid has been taken seriously. I have started posting my own blog with a very cheesy name, http://www.peoplegeek.tv, and I am working on some video productions. Aaron got me a web cam and is geeking out on shopping for mobile cameras I could use out in the field. Any suggestions? I know you are super-busy, but I am hoping that you might be my Obi-Wan and only, i.e. my biggest fan and supporter. Thanks again for all your kind words and encouragement. (Gee, that was terribly unsnarky.)
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If you can get your showed delivered via Tivo, I’ll subscribe!
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If you can get your showed delivered via Tivo, I’ll subscribe!
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Because if I am going to carve time out of my day to become a regular viewer, I don’t want to allocate 15 minutes and fid that you’ve got an hour show. If I allocate 15 minutes and you’ve got 20, that’s not an issue.
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Because if I am going to carve time out of my day to become a regular viewer, I don’t want to allocate 15 minutes and fid that you’ve got an hour show. If I allocate 15 minutes and you’ve got 20, that’s not an issue.
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Because unless you are called Mythbusters, I will not watch for 42 minutes. 😉
If there is a standard format and you go over it, make two pieces out of it. If I want to watch it back to back, no problem. But if not, I at least have a choice – most people I know just forget about the second half they where going to watch.
And yes, why not call it something with scoble? We will call it that way anyhow. 🙂
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Because unless you are called Mythbusters, I will not watch for 42 minutes. 😉
If there is a standard format and you go over it, make two pieces out of it. If I want to watch it back to back, no problem. But if not, I at least have a choice – most people I know just forget about the second half they where going to watch.
And yes, why not call it something with scoble? We will call it that way anyhow. 🙂
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Ok, I guess no one got the Channel 62 reference. Here’s the explaination…
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UHF_(movie) :
“In the film, Yankovic plays George Newman, a “daydreaming loser” (to quote IMDb’s plot summary), whose uncle wins a faltering UHF television station (Channel 62) in a poker game…”
“However, R.J. Fletcher (McCarthy), the owner of a rival VHF station, Channel 8, a network affiliate, is furious at being beaten by a UHF station…”
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Ok, I guess no one got the Channel 62 reference. Here’s the explaination…
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UHF_(movie) :
“In the film, Yankovic plays George Newman, a “daydreaming loser” (to quote IMDb’s plot summary), whose uncle wins a faltering UHF television station (Channel 62) in a poker game…”
“However, R.J. Fletcher (McCarthy), the owner of a rival VHF station, Channel 8, a network affiliate, is furious at being beaten by a UHF station…”
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ScobleCamp – bring a sleeping bag and Robert will keep the campfire stoked
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ScobleCamp – bring a sleeping bag and Robert will keep the campfire stoked
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is it just me or is that one motherfuckin lame menu of options ? Just call it ‘shitTVforRetards’ and at least be honest…..
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is it just me or is that one motherfuckin lame menu of options ? Just call it ‘shitTVforRetards’ and at least be honest…..
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