Tom Bridge: I just want to know why anyone listens to that tool [Scoble].

Hey, that sounds a lot like what my wife asks often. ;-) Hey, that’s the neat thing about RSS and blogs. If someone starts to be a tool, you can just unsubscribe!

Continuing the conversation: James Robertson says Microsoft just might have a tornado. No, not my hurt ego. The Xbox! Heheh.

And, Elisa says “Let’s be fair, Scoble!” in reaction to my post about Marketing Sherpa’s post about five things that corporate types should do if they are considering blogging. She notes that I should give other corporate bloggers a break, saying that blog policies are a good thing. Personally, I hope all my competitors adopt blog policies. The more a blog is done by a committee the more boring it’ll be and the less likely it’ll be to enter into a conversation.

I’m sure there are some corporate types who look at Tom’s post above and say “no, that’s not for me, thank you very much.” That’s OK, I just hope they all work for my competitors. Hey, if you aren’t willing to be a bit controversial, what good is that? How boring. I guess that’s what people want me to be. Just a dutiful little boring cog in a dutiful little boring corporate machine.

Bah!

Interesting blog from the European Commission’s Vice-President. She calls on Microsoft (and Yahoo and Google) to behave better in dealings in China and not sell human rights down the tube. I’m with her, but think it’s a much more complicated issue than she’s letting on (as I’ve said before, in posts that got me quite a bit of negative feedback and also were quoted in the Wall Street Journal). When I was at the Global Voices conference I had some interesting discussions about the issue with Sharon Hom, executive director of the Human Rights in China organization. Someday I’d love to do a podcast with her, she was one of the most interesting people I’ve ever met — she gave me a lot of feedback about how difficult the position is over there and how to work toward getting China’s citizens the freedoms we enjoy here in the United States.

Have you checked out the new photography and new maps we’ve used on Windows Live Local? But, even better are the turn-by-turn directions. Huh? Here, check out how to get from the Google Offices in Kirkland to Microsoft’s Headquarters in Redmond. Click on each direction (the ones that say “Turn RIGHT…”). It’ll take you to that turn on the photo so you can get a sense of which way the directions take you and what it looks like. I’ve used that several times already and it’s cool and helps you to see that the system actually picked the best route for you.

Hmm, I didn’t know about this, but sounds interesting. Researchers at Microsoft have blown the lid off of a large-scale, typo-squatting scheme that uses multi-layer URL redirection to game Google’s AdSense for domains program. At least that’s what eWeek’s Ryan Naraine is reporting. Thanks to Neowin for linking to that.

ActiveWin has news on the latest Windows Vista Build 5270 that’s coming soon. I’m using it here but would like to hear your feedback (if you have access) rather than try to color what your perceptions will be. Community places I’ll be watching for reactions?

Neowin.
Channel 9.
Beta News.
OS News.

And of course the blogs (search for “Windows Vista” on PubSub, Feedster, Technorati).

Paul Thurrott is promising an “exhaustive review” sometime tomorrow on his SuperSite for Windows.

I get blamed for lots of things. But this is the first time I’ve been blamed for making someone stand in line for an Xbox 360. Phil has a lengthy post including pictures. I love his conclusion: “Scoble, the XBox 360 is going to destroy the Playstation 3.”

But then his note turns sour. He says he’s walking away from Microsoft’s Web development tools. He’s going to Ruby on Rails and won’t be back until we get the magic back. Well, that’s what we’re working hard on and why we’re doing the Mix06 event.

One question, though. Have you checked out the latest ASP.NET and Visual Studio 2005? If so, what about it turns you to Rails?

Nice new features from Technorati were just shipped, according to Dave Sifry. I like the charts and the “who’s blogging” features along the left.

For instance, search on Microsoft and look at the numbers of mentions per day. It bounces between 2,000 and 4,500 mentions per day.

Ask “is Xbox 360 a Web 2.0 product?”

Seriously. And there are some good points both pro and con. Think about it. It uses the Internet. It has a new microtransactional based business model. Has a social model where large numbers of people interact with the Web. Has a new architectural model based around rich content types, content discovery, and personalization, and has a new technical model using low/no cost maintenance, simple programming languages, and new delivery mechanisms, particularly around RSS.

But, then, some folks think Web 2.0 doesn’t exist, or worse, that there are traitors in our midst (funny).

Seriously, what do we call the “post dotbomb” Web? Basically that’s what we’re talking about here.

I don’t really care what it’s called, but Web 2.0 is starting to grow on me cause it only takes seven characters to type.

Anyway, looks like Web 2.0 is the argument of the day on memeorandum. Yes, we are a bunch of geeks who don’t have much new to talk about because all the PR folks in the industry are on vacation. Or so it seems.

I’ve heard many rumors about Riya over the past few weeks. One strong rumor, reported by Om Malik, among others, was that Riya was getting purchased by Google.

I know our M&A guys had met with Riya too and had passed on the deal after negotiations got too expensive (translation someone else had bid more than we were willing to pay). So, I was suprised that during the past few days I had heard that Riya’s deal with Google wasn’t going to happen.

Today Munjal, Riya’s CEO, said on his blog that they were going to continue on as an independent firm and that the rumors are incorrect.

This is actually very good for Microsoft and Yahoo. Why? Cause this team is high quality and the technology is great (I’ve been using the alpha recently and like it a lot).

Now, why doesn’t Microsoft purchase them? Well, I’ve been in contact with our M&A folks. We have a lot of NIH syndrome here cause we have similar technology that our research teams have developed. I’ve seen our photo/face recognition capabilities and they are pretty cool too and, indeed, are better in some areas and not as good in others.

But, digitial photography is too big a deal to ignore Riya even if you think you’ve got their technology covered. Imagine Yahoo buys this company and matches them up with the Flickr team. Oh, boy, would that make Yahoo a photo powerhouse. When I was in Paris at various tourist destinations I talked with lots of people using digital cameras. They are looking for better ways to manage their digital photos. Riya’s approach will gain high usage quickly. I think even quicker than Flickr got picked up.

Anyway, Munjal is definitely a guy to watch and Riya is definitely a company to watch.

I think ultimately this will prove to be a bigger deal longterm than AOL’s deal with Google.

Oh, and Om Malik’s reporting was on base. I had heard the same rumors too but knew that the deal could blow up, which is why I didn’t report it. That’s a cautionary tale for folks who work for, manage, or invest in startups. Don’t get excited until the deal is inked. They might tell you the deal is done, but it can always blow up. Oh, I wish I could have been inside the meetings where this stuff went on.

Anyway, hey, Bill and Steve, let’s take another look at Riya! Either way, I’m a gonna be a happy customer of Riya as soon as they ship. Right now the recognition engine and UI need some work, but it’s improving quite rapidly.

Here’s the investor’s view from Peter Rip and an answer to Peter from Tech Crunch’s Michael Arrington.

David Fugate, who works for Launchbooks, a literary agency, is looking for book authors on Microsoft’s Sparkle, Quartz Web Designer, Atlas, and FrontPage technologies/products. If you are interested, send him email at david@launchbooks.com.