The Digg perfect storm

Uncategorized 4 Minutes

Last night one of my videos took down Qik.com. Why? It got onto Digg.

Which video was it? The one with Violet Blue, the sex columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle, telling how Steve Jobs told her off for asking for a picture of him.

A perfect storm. A video with a sex angle. A Steve Jobs angle. A conflict angle. And short enough to keep a 14-year-old’s attention. Plus there’s a Google employee and a string of Apple Air computers in the video. Can I fit in any more?

The execs at Qik told me they saw more than 20,000 visits in one hour last night. Had to open up more bandwidth at their hosting company and all that. Everything is back online now. Violet has more details on her blog.

By the way, I’ve been getting a stream of interesting videos.

Here’s a list:

Esther Dyson (famous technologist) who demonstrates 23-and-me (a DNA mapping service that she’s on the board of directors of).
Adobe’s Mark Anders, Sr. Principal Scientist, who tells me about Thermo, a developer tool his team is working on. I met him in the street while walking through San Francisco.
A tour through the Nikon D3, a $5,000 professional photojournalist camera (they loaned me one for the next month). Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV.
An interview with Qik’s executives, who tell me what’s coming on their service.
Dave Sifry, founder of Technorati. We were on a panel discussion at MacWorld. I was trying to get him to talk about the new thing he’s working on, but he wouldn’t crack. He also told me he ordered an Apple Air.
Leo Laporte, famous podcaster, who we ran into in the hallway at MacWorld. He does This Week in Tech, among other tech shows.
Cali Lewis of GeekBrief.tv dropped in for a chat in the MacWorld hallway.
Ryan Block of Engadget. I try to get him to talk shit about his competitors, but he wouldn’t take the bait. Which is why Engadget is the #1 gadget blog in the world.
Pete Cashmore founder of Mashable. It’s the first time I’ve met him. He told me that he tried to get a ticket to TechCrunch’s Crunchies and got refused. Ahh, the competitive drama you hear about on the floor of MacWorld. I’ll be at the Crunchies (that’s tomorrow).
A first look at NEC’s new curved screen. I’d rather just have a 30-inch screen.
A look at a new Sprint wifi hub that’ll integrate with EVDO modems. I want one of these. Part I. Part II.
MacWorld vendor, Equilibrium, shows off a video distribution system. Might come in useful at Fast Company.tv.
A look at ProClip, which lets you put cell phones onto the dashboard of your car. Pretty neat.
My son’s first review of Apple’s Air.
First look at Apple’s new Air computer in the Apple booth at MacWorld. Part I, Part II.

This stuff is from CES:

Part of a Jason Calacanis interview I did at the BlogHaus.
A tour of Garmin’s booth where I saw some of their new GPS devices and got the details. Part I, Part II.
A tour of the “in-car-technology hall” at the Consumer Electronics’ show. Part I. Part II, Part III. Some monster cars and trucks!
Interview of Chad and Steve, founders of YouTube.
Interview of Bruce Howard, CEO of LightGlove, which is a wireless mouse that you wear on your hand. Really cool new toy.
First look at the Asus Eee-PC, a super small PC.
First look at iTunes Tuneup Companion. Fixes up a ton of stuff on iTunes, really neat. Get it at Tuneup Media.
First look at SplashTop, a laptop that starts up almost instantly.
A tour of the ShowStoppers hall at CES (which has hundreds of small companies demoing to media types). I almost got punched out by a Los Angeles Times reporter there.
A look at Drobo’s booth at Showstoppers. It’s like a personal RAID, makes using hard drives safer.
A quick chat with Bob Frankston, one of the co-inventors of the spreadsheet.
Rocky, my producer, checks out some custom guitars for Guitar Hero on the show floor at CES.
A quick interview with Dean Kamen, inventor of Segway, among tons of other things. We met him on the show floor at CES.
A tour of Sling Media’s booth. Part I. Part II.
Watch me get makeup for being on CNBC.
An interview with Bug Labs’ Jeremy Toeman. BugLabs won CNET’s Best of Show award in the emerging technology category.
Kara Swisher of the Wall Street Journal in the line for press badges at CES.
A tour of the Nokia booth at CES. Part I. Part II.
A fun series of interviews after Microsoft’s keynote in the BlogHaus.
Doc Searls tells a story about how Google came up with AdWords.
A different take on what PETA means. Funny T-shirt. We met this guy at Harris Ranch, famous steak house in California.
Marc Canter sings Opera on the Microsoft BlogBus on the way to CES.

We also have a bunch of professional videos over on PodTech.

Nitzan Shaer, COO of Mobivox, shows us how to make low-cost calls at CES.
The Frag Dolls kick the boys’ behinds at CES.
I interviewed the head of HP’s notebook design team at CES. Interesting interview where he gives us insights into HP’s design process.
Interview with Seagate’s CEO, Bill Watkins, in the CES BlogHaus.
We tour AMD’s booth at CES.
The first Retrevo Gang is up. Fun discussion after the first day at CES.

And there’s still more to come and we’re only two weeks through one month of 2008. Whew!

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Published by Robert Scoble

I help entrepreneurs build their technology business' story, help with getting ready for investors, with other launch plans, and many other strategic things that can help your new startup. Call to talk: +1-425-205-1921 (text first).

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61 thoughts on “The Digg perfect storm”

  7. ///// Pete Cashmore founder of Mashable. It’s the first time I’ve met him. He told me that he tried to get a ticket to TechCrunch’s Crunchies and got refused. Ahh, the competitive drama you hear about on the floor of MacWorld. I’ll be at the Crunchies (that’s tomorrow).

    The blog wars have become this intense among popular blogs.

    A few weeks ago – a comment that referenced Mashable, Engadget and Gizmodo – was neatly edited by taking OUT the Mashable reference.

    http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/11/19/google-magazine/#comment-1771487

    Not even an acknowledgment that it had been edited – just removed as if Mashable did not exist.

    On Mashable’s side- a comment featuring Techcrunch was NOT edited out

    Like

  8. ///// Pete Cashmore founder of Mashable. It’s the first time I’ve met him. He told me that he tried to get a ticket to TechCrunch’s Crunchies and got refused. Ahh, the competitive drama you hear about on the floor of MacWorld. I’ll be at the Crunchies (that’s tomorrow).

    The blog wars have become this intense among popular blogs.

    A few weeks ago – a comment that referenced Mashable, Engadget and Gizmodo – was neatly edited by taking OUT the Mashable reference.

    http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/11/19/google-magazine/#comment-1771487

    Not even an acknowledgment that it had been edited – just removed as if Mashable did not exist.

    On Mashable’s side- a comment featuring Techcrunch was NOT edited out

    Like

  11. The Gawker/perzhilton/britneyspears journalism has creeped into the tech blogs and sites, and its totally turning me off to the whole thing.

    I read the gizmodo and engadget etc feeds and its all one note juvenile snark.
    It has especially become too much for me after this macworld coverage.

    Enough for me.

    I’m burned out on the whole tech reporting as celebrity sneer thing.

    Like

  12. The Gawker/perzhilton/britneyspears journalism has creeped into the tech blogs and sites, and its totally turning me off to the whole thing.

    I read the gizmodo and engadget etc feeds and its all one note juvenile snark.
    It has especially become too much for me after this macworld coverage.

    Enough for me.

    I’m burned out on the whole tech reporting as celebrity sneer thing.

    Like

  15. I’m with TranceMist – I don’t see what the big deal is. She behaves like a kid who’s just been told off by one of the grown-up people, and everyone else titters (or should that be twitters?) along.

    I think the fact that it got 20,000 hits is more interesting – it’s a good example of people who get the ‘joke’ squandering their audience equity by forgetting how this looks to the rest of us.

    Like

  16. I’m with TranceMist – I don’t see what the big deal is. She behaves like a kid who’s just been told off by one of the grown-up people, and everyone else titters (or should that be twitters?) along.

    I think the fact that it got 20,000 hits is more interesting – it’s a good example of people who get the ‘joke’ squandering their audience equity by forgetting how this looks to the rest of us.

    Like

  19. And on the flip side Daniel Brusilovsky shook hands with Jobs. Did THAT choke Qik’s server? No way, because there’s no controversial tension.

    Wish Violet wasn’t so Blue about SJ snubbing her. Doubting she’s that easily discouraged given the persistence req’d to podcast as prolifically as she does on her, ahem, chosen topic. Dedication there fellers.

    Like

  20. And on the flip side Daniel Brusilovsky shook hands with Jobs. Did THAT choke Qik’s server? No way, because there’s no controversial tension.

    Wish Violet wasn’t so Blue about SJ snubbing her. Doubting she’s that easily discouraged given the persistence req’d to podcast as prolifically as she does on her, ahem, chosen topic. Dedication there fellers.

    Like

  21. Pingback: Steve Jobs: Fans, no me toquen! | unblogged. A blog about nothing. Yeah, nothing

  24. Robert – it looks like you won’t actually have to do any new video for a while once you get started at SmartMoney.tv. Just open up your treasure chest of interviews and have the tech guys throw a quick edit on them and maybe you WILL be able to do the 4-hour work week. LOL

    @astrout

    Like

  25. Robert – it looks like you won’t actually have to do any new video for a while once you get started at SmartMoney.tv. Just open up your treasure chest of interviews and have the tech guys throw a quick edit on them and maybe you WILL be able to do the 4-hour work week. LOL

    @astrout

    Like

  28. “And short enough to keep a 14-year-old’s attention.”

    You’ve got their demographic down, at least…

    Like

  29. “And short enough to keep a 14-year-old’s attention.”

    You’ve got their demographic down, at least…

    Like

  32. Lots of great info here. Thanks for sharing.

    As for the Violet video that took down Qik.com, the rest of us should be so lucky. 🙂 It would be great to have so much traffic to a video that the host has to open up more bandwidth! lol

    I have 2 book trailer videos…not seeing quite that amount of traffic…yet. 🙂

    Cheryl Kaye Tardif,
    bestselling author
    http://www.cherylktardif.com

    Like

  33. Lots of great info here. Thanks for sharing.

    As for the Violet video that took down Qik.com, the rest of us should be so lucky. 🙂 It would be great to have so much traffic to a video that the host has to open up more bandwidth! lol

    I have 2 book trailer videos…not seeing quite that amount of traffic…yet. 🙂

    Cheryl Kaye Tardif,
    bestselling author
    http://www.cherylktardif.com

    Like

  36. Robert – when you meet people on the street, what do you use to do your videos? I can’t imagine you carry your big Sony video camera around with you…so what do you have you whip out right on the spot?

    Like

  37. Robert – when you meet people on the street, what do you use to do your videos? I can’t imagine you carry your big Sony video camera around with you…so what do you have you whip out right on the spot?

    Like

  40. Scoble-Doeble – Thanks for the Ester Dyson piece. I’ve been tracking 23andme and it was nice to see and hear Ester describing what her own families DNA has revealed.

    Like

  41. Scoble-Doeble – Thanks for the Ester Dyson piece. I’ve been tracking 23andme and it was nice to see and hear Ester describing what her own families DNA has revealed.

    Like

  42. Robert – is that the Nokia 95 Smart phone? Or the 95 Mobile phone? Or the Nokia N95 UNLOCKED 3G 5MP PHONE –

    or the Nokia N95 Unlocked GSM Cell Phone?

    They have like 5 phones with the same (almost names).
    I want what you’re using, or would be using if you could.

    Like

  43. Robert – is that the Nokia 95 Smart phone? Or the 95 Mobile phone? Or the Nokia N95 UNLOCKED 3G 5MP PHONE –

    or the Nokia N95 Unlocked GSM Cell Phone?

    They have like 5 phones with the same (almost names).
    I want what you’re using, or would be using if you could.

    Like

  48. So Robert – you use your iPhone for your phone calls and the Nokia N95 to make on-the-spot videos? Does your cell number go to your iPhone then?

    You carry both around, huh?

    Like

  49. So Robert – you use your iPhone for your phone calls and the Nokia N95 to make on-the-spot videos? Does your cell number go to your iPhone then?

    You carry both around, huh?

    Like

  52. Wheee, heart be still.

    Shaky conference cams stuffed to the brim with ‘full-of-self’ promo’ers dishing out tons of spag and spam, complete with blurry video and bad audio. And then 3 ccd’ed DV corporate-bland infomercials.

    Loser Generated, indeed. The strike over yet? Whew.

    Like

  53. Wheee, heart be still.

    Shaky conference cams stuffed to the brim with ‘full-of-self’ promo’ers dishing out tons of spag and spam, complete with blurry video and bad audio. And then 3 ccd’ed DV corporate-bland infomercials.

    Loser Generated, indeed. The strike over yet? Whew.

    Like

  54. Robert – last question – when you do the unplanned, ‘on-the-spot’ interviews with your Nokia 95, do you whip out/have any other mic than the one on the phone?

    Sound is pretty good, and I KNOW Roc amps it up but wondered if it is JUST the phone, with the Qik running on it.

    Are you taking the big Sony to Davos? Do you use it much anymore?

    Like

  55. Robert – last question – when you do the unplanned, ‘on-the-spot’ interviews with your Nokia 95, do you whip out/have any other mic than the one on the phone?

    Sound is pretty good, and I KNOW Roc amps it up but wondered if it is JUST the phone, with the Qik running on it.

    Are you taking the big Sony to Davos? Do you use it much anymore?

    Like

  56. wholefoodnation: I just use the Nokia. No other microphones. No post processing.

    Nope, not taking the big Sony to Davos. I will have a new Sony for our new show on Fast Company.tv.

    Like

  57. wholefoodnation: I just use the Nokia. No other microphones. No post processing.

    Nope, not taking the big Sony to Davos. I will have a new Sony for our new show on Fast Company.tv.

    Like

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