Leave It Behind > Brian Bailey

Scoble is moving on

TechCrunch broke the news yesterday (live at LeWeb3) that Robert Scoble is leaving PodTech in January. Here's Scoble's post on his next move.

This is great news as it looks like his audience and influence is only going to grow. I wish him and his family all the best!

He's considering two options right now. The most likely one is with Fast Company, where he already has a column and could quickly push that magazine into online video, featuring interviews with entrepreneurs in and out of the tech world. He's not ready to talk about his other option, yet.

But I am.

I really shouldn't reveal top secret information. I mean, Scoble's a friend of mine, but let's be honest, it's pretty obvious. Scoble said he won't announce his decision until January 15th. Now, what happens in early January that would affect his decision? Well, there does happen to be a presidential election going on.

Don't you see it? Scoble has been offered the role of New Media Spokesman for the John Edwards campaign. A position similar to press secretary, but completely focused on getting the average person involved in the campaign, through blogging, podcasting, video, Twitter, etc...

Scoble covered the Edwards' campaign launch last year, shares the senator's general political philosophy, and has praised him many times for his openness and tech-focus. If Edwards surprises in Iowa on January 3rd and then does well in New Hampshire, he will be a serious frontrunner for the nomination and Scoble jumps on board. If not, Edwards will likely drop out of the race and Scoble joins Fast Company.

Scoble even drops a hint at the end of his post - he'll be attending the World Economic Forum in late January, the place to be for the politically plugged-in.

So, watch the election returns next month and you'll have a good idea of whether Scoble is heading to Fast Company, or about to jump into presidential politics.

Note: this is pure speculation. I'm not a just-the-facts, check-your-sources reporter like the people at Valleywag.

Zepellin live

NYT review of Led Zeppelin's long-awaited (sorry, horrible understatement) reunion concert in London. Sounds like it was an incredible night, which could mean that a wider tour could follow.

On Mitt's speech

Maureen Dowd on Mitt Romney's recent speech on religion in America, which includes many terrific lines, but I have to single out these two:

“J.F.K.’s speech was to reassure Americans that he wasn’t a religious fanatic,” Mr. Krakauer agreed. “Mitt’s was to tell evangelical Christians, ‘I’m a religious fanatic just like you.’”

Mitt was right when he said that “Americans do not respect believers of convenience.” Now if he would only admit he’s describing himself.

I thought the speech was definitely Romney's best moment of the campaign, but his failure to mention the roll of people who do not believe was disappointing. Overall, I appreciated his thoughtfulness and his approach, but he did not have my support before the speech, and the speech didn't change that.

Here's Peggy Noonan's take: Mormon in America.

20071207_miscellany

» Rudy Giuliani spends an hour with Tim Russert this Sunday on Meet the Press. This is a critical interview for Giuliani as he is trailing in the first three states and is quickly losing his frontrunner status.

» JetBlue is testing free WiFi on one of its planes starting next weekend. If the experiment is a success, they plan on rolling it out to all of their planes. They've named the first plane BetaBlue. Raise your hand if you would like to get on a plane with "beta" in its name.

» Ben Stein is behind a fascinating new documentary about the cone of silence that exists in public circles regarding critiques of or alternatives to Darwin's theory. The film is called Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed. You can watch the extended trailer here, along with other versions. They are very well done and worth a few minutes of your time, whereas most video on the web is, well, not. The movie opens in February.

The best ad of the campaign

This is a truly powerful ad for Senator Obama that not only draws a strong contrast with Senator Clinton, but for the first time captures the spirit of his 2004 convention speech.

Sweet home, TypePad

A few of you may have noticed that I've returned to TypePad, after my short affair with tumblr. Most of you haven't noticed and have no reason to care one way or the other - you have my complete support and understanding. Someone's choice of blogging tool is just slightly more interesting than someone's choice of bank, so I wouldn't pay much attention either. For the rest of you, read on for a brief story about the switch (back).

I love tumblr. Really, really love tumblr. In fact, my son Ben continues to use it and I'm jealous of him just about every day. The decision came down to two things: the past and the future.

The Past

I mentioned when I moved to tumblr that I was still trying to decide what to do with over 3 years of TypePad posts. The answer? Not a whole lot. If you want to keep your content online and you don't want to break links (whether from others or search engines), there just aren't any good options other than paying Six Apart to keep the blog live indefinitely. I actually think blogging companies should offer a lifetime archive option, which would host your content for as long as they are in business for a one-time fee, though you would not be able to make changes or additions. But since that service doesn't exist, I had to decide whether I was willing to pay for something I was no longer using or export the content to a free web host and break all existing links. I wasn't willing to do either.

The Future

At the same time that this was going on, I was in the process of deciding on the best blogging option for a family project we're working on. It's a very fun idea that has all three of us working feverishly each weekend, brainstorming ideas and then trying to make them happen. There were a few things I was just sure couldn't be done in TypePad that I recently discovered were not only possible but easy. It quickly became clear that TypePad is the perfect platform for what we're doing. The fact that it is the right choice for the next thing maked the decision about Leave It Behind a simple one.

TypePad is a powerful tool that's enjoyable to use, and no one can compete with their support. I was reminded of this through both their recent help and the multiple unanswered emails to tumblr. I don't fault the tumblr team for this - it's a free service that is only recently moving from a hobby to a business. The main issue is I was trying to use tumblr in a way that it's really not designed to be used.

I hope to post more about the next thing soon!

William Kristol on the race

NY's '08 Hopes by Williams Kristol, a great look at the presidential race as of today:

It would be ironic if the failure of the two New York front-runners propelled a third New Yorker into the race - one who could break the 150-year-old two-party lock on the presidency. That outcome is awfully unlikely - but not impossible.

No. 28

I noticed this morning that the 28th review of The Blogging Church had been posted on Amazon. That was a nice surprise. More significant, though, was what the reviewer, Lisa Colton, had to say:

I work with synagogues, and found the approach of blogging for "ministry" can be useful and much more broadly defined than for churches alone. Very easy to read, full of practical examples.

I love hearing about the creative ways the book is being used. Though the focus is certainly on evangelical churches, I'm glad to know that others have found it helpful as well. Thanks again to Lisa and everyone else who has taken the time to post a review or send feedback!

All you have to do is step up, and get down

The Microsoft Table parody was awesome, but this video on the new Wii Fit is absolutely hilarious.

A Review of Strictly Right

I recently read, Strictly Right: William F. Buckley Jr. and the American Conservative Movement. I was very excited to come across this book. In fact, I asked for it as a present. I have been following WFB since I was a teenager and couldn't wait to get a full picture of his professional life and his role within conservatism and the Republican Party.

Unfortunately, this is not the book for that.

Strictly Right is written from an insider's perspective, but a completely uncritical, cloying one. There is more time spent of social details about National Review parties and what type of hostess and decorator Buckley's wife was than on editorial debates and business decisions. I was dumbfounded to have to wade through minute details of who skied with who and which daughter of this important person used to ride horses with this other important person when they were young. You will learn nothing about Firing Line, but a great deal about chateaus by the time you're finished. There's also a surprising amount of space is given to each Buckley novel, including excerpts.

The authors, who were both involved in NR and Republican politics, can't resist being a substantial part of the story, turning it into more of a memoir of their experiences than a true account of Buckley's life and impact. You'll wonder why so much time is spent on Spiro Agnew, who one of the authors worked for. Additionally, they reference themselves throughout with the odd device "one of the present authors" such as "one of the present authors recalls". You'll also find pages of shallow American history, such as a retelling of Vietnam, for little purpose other than filling pages.

For people who were supposedly such insiders, I don't know that you will gain any actual insight into WFB or learn new details that have not been made public elsewhere. It reads more like a scrapbook for former employees of NR, with an emphasis on staff personalities and health problems, the social calendar and the authors' own experience.