Instead, PodTech's buyers get a company that may not have been paying employees after a "reorg" and was pretty much entirely in hock to its bankers, says our tipster. On the one hand, the company has tried to drum up new business while on the other, quiet calls were being made behind the scene looking to unload what scant assets the company held — kudos to the unnamed acquirer for picking up "classic Robert Scoble!" Might we suggest removing "Pod" from the name of the company? With the iPod displaced by the iPhone and podcasting moribund, it's what the cool kids like Adam Curry are doing.

On his blog, Sethi unfolds a tale of Arrington conspiring to keep Blognation unfunded. Sethi claims he had to deceive people about his company's lack of funding because he needed to combat Arrington's supposed lies.

BlogNation, Sethi argues, would have received funding if Arrington hadn't revealed a questionable term sheet, supposedly showing a British investor's interest, three days before it was due to be signed. Now, Sethi says, he has put Scotland Yard on the trail of the leaker, supposedly for criminal prosecution.

You'd think the tale of BlogNation would end here. But no. Failed PodTech CEO John Furrier, who still hasn't found a new job, is interested in the auction. We're rooting for him to win. He'd make a perfectly entertaining leader for this dud of a company.

"I will be doing something else on January 15th, but still am not finalized on what that is. I will let everyone know on January 15th what I do," Scoble writes in TechCrunch's comments. What does that mean? Most likely, Scoble hasn't actually closed on the job yet. Don't worry, Robert, you'll always have a home here on the 'wag!

Oh, wait. That's Fran Norris Scoble, headmistress of Pasadena's Westridge School, not egoblogger Robert Scoble. My mistake!

Everyone who attends will receive an award, and everyone's a presenter, making the event more of a party than a PodTech egofest. Gary Vaynerchuck of WineLibraryTV will cohost the event scheduled for November 30 somewhere in Los Angeles. Sounds all right to me. If you're going to celebrate loser-generated content, the least you can do is not have it run by a loser-generated company.

I love the way he tries to order me around like I work for him. His family must fucking hate him.

John Furrier 7:02am September 27th who are you? I see you in the groups... I also couldn't have missed the Nantasket Ave mention. I grew up in Hull in the summers... NU grad in the 80s... what is your story

Tree Shapiro
11:54am September 27th
Hi John,

I'm an old (c 1938) professional gambler. The daughter of my best friend (alav ha-shalom : may he rest in peace) from my old neighborhood got me into this internets kick.

I love watching these bullshitter experts on the internet, it's almost as much fun as the tables, and I'm not as mobile as I once was.

You seem like a nice guy. Although, in my opinion, the best Babson has ever turned out is Scott Sharp. (Kind of joking.)

I'm not a bridge jumper, John. I know my tells. That's all you need to know.

All the best,

Tree Shapiro

(I'm sure you've heard the expression "Go to Hull". But maybe that was before your time. :-)

John Furrier
3:43pm September 27th
where is your old neighborhood.. I know who you are. Trivia question: If you're a gambler what was the only place in nantasket beach where you could gamble or close to gamble on the strip in Pargagon Park. Clue: it was next to Josephs (a pizza resturant).

If you can answer this question then you're a real gambler

Tree Shapiro
5:35pm September 27th
I grew up on Morton Street in Mattapan, the youngest of 11.

If you're talking about JJEastman's (the only place that had tables) then I know what you're talking about. Otherwise gornisht helfin. You're the one who started this conversation. I have no need to prove myself to every goyisha kop who comes along.

We didn't go to Nantasket to gamble, but to take out broads and go for a bite. There was some card playing at the Clarion. My brother in law Benny Yanoff had a place on Harbor View. He had a deli in the financial district (Boston) called The Hole In The Wall which was pretty much a bookie joint back in the day. He's gone now too, but the place might still be there. We are living in different worlds.

Where did you grow up? Newton?

John Furrier
5:00pm September 29th
I grew up in New Jersey and Hull in the summers.

we are in different worlds

Tree Shapiro
Today at 8:03am
Yes John, you're right. In the world I live in you don't refer to yourself as a Bostonian after having grown up in New Jersey; although it's almost understandable.

John Furrier's current personal blog.
John Furrier's old personal Bostonian blog.
PodTech.
John Furrier on ValleyWag.
Notable Alumni of Babson College.

**************************************
UPDATE:

John Furrier
Today at 9:13pm
Report Message
my family has been both in the city and north and south shores since the 1800s ... more of a bostonian than a new yorker/jersey...

I know who you are

*************************************

Well then, why the fuck do you keep emailing me with "I know who you are"?
You started this "conversation", John. You handed me New Jersey on a paper plate. Surely you have more important things to spend your time on than sending me thinly veiled "I know who you are" threats, Sport.

I will admit that I was happy you did get some extra work on The IT Crowd. You really are funny. Loren Feldman has nothing on you.

In the Valley, the habit is to focus on future, not past. Furrier offers to tell readers of his blog what he learned — but only in private email. What's the use in that? We'll do you the favor of recapping Furrier's big mistakes, and the lessons he ought to draw from them, for him, in public.

Talent
Mistake: Furrier couldn't resist signing niche "talent"with little chance of attracting advertisers. Conversely, boring tech-related content has attracted advertisers but no mainstream audience.
Lesson: Talent — creative or otherwise — should be hired to serve a business mission, not the CEO's ego. Hiring people you like can be excused by "going with your gut" — but gut decisions are best backed up by numbers.

Business Plan
Mistake: It's still not clear to this day whether PodTech is a content network or a provider of video services. Riding the novelty of video podcasting worked only as long as podcasts were novel.
Lesson: Spotting a trend is one thing; capitalizing on it is another. Exploring nascent technologies is never a bad idea — but it requires moving quickly to learn from one's mistakes. And that, in turn, requires being able to admit them.

Image
Mistake: Furrier hoped to attract funding and advertisers by throwing lavish events like Bloghaus at the Bellagio at CES 2007 and the "Vloggies" award banquet. Neither had much impact. Meanwhile, the company's operations were chaotic, and contributors went unpaid.
Lesson: Creating an image is better done through a company's day-to-day work than through big parties.

Anyone trade notes with Furrier? Forward his email. We're curious how closely his lessons match ours. Unlikely, though. That's why we're sure his next venture will be equally fun to blog, horrible to watch.

Why was the event heavy on the storytellers and light on subjects? "All these fucking PR people!" one friend. "It's like walking through a pig trough."

The biggest Yahoo personality was "peanut butter manifesto" author Brad Garlinghouse, who was spotted deep in a long conversation with AllThingsD's Kara Swisher in a corner by the bar. The biggest name on the Facebook side? Spokeswoman Brandee Barker, who was quite a fan of the photo booth (and, apparently, Swisher, whom she pried away from Garlinghouse for some close contact).

No surprise, really. Yahoo and Facebook executives were likely distracted by negotiations over taking a stake in Facebook. And really, OutCast couldn't have planned it better: The Valley's press corps was drinking and eating instead of staking out restaurants and hotels in Palo Alto. Brilliant!

Indeed, the number and cailber of the journalists who appeared says something about the spell they've cast over the tech media. Spotted in the crowd: author and BusinessWeek columnist Sarah Lacy, GigaOm's Om Malik, USA Today's Janet Kornblum, Michael Bazeley of the San Jose Mercury News, Jessica Guynn of the LA Times, Bloomberg's Ed Robinson and Wall Street Journal reporters Vauhini Vara and Don Clark. On the less-prestigious side, Red Herring editor Joel Dreyfuss was there, and upon meeting me, instantly began haranguing me for our coverage of his publication's death spiral. "Why didn't you cover Business 2.0?" he asked, alluding to that magazine's recent disintegration. Um, I thought we had?

Ubiquitous videoblogger Robert Scoble showed up. I asked after his newborn son and inquired about how online-video startup PodTech, his ostensible employer, was faring. "Much better than last month," he replied. "Wait, what happened last month?" I asked. "John got fired!" he shot back, shocked that I had forgotten such a momentous occasion. Wait, fired? Didn't John Furrier, PodTech's founder and former CEO, "step down"? You learn something new at every one of these parties.

Scoble's readers say Kyte's video quality is horrible, bogs down Internet Explorer, and isn't searchable. It doesn't matter that Scoble, compares it favorably to PodTech's video technology and concludes "I loves Kyte and will keep using it." His audience, for once, disagrees. And without an audience, there'd be no Scobleizer. Can't we dream?

Update: Scoble comments on his blog: ""For Valleywag: I just signed a contract with PodTech for Q1, 2008, so am not going anywhere. Nice guessing, though!"