Yes, I've been anti-ads in the past. I agree with Dave Winer that more money can be made around the blog than with it. Fast Company wanted to try it so we're going to try it. I've never needed to put ads up in the past.

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

And Scoble knows the right man for the job: himself!

If I were working in PR there, I'd invite in regular bloggers (not just A-List egoists like that Scoble guy) and let them talk to the engineers so they can see what the engineering intent is when they are doing things that are tracking us. And stop talking like an advertising executive. More and more of my friends are getting freaked out by just how much data Google (and other advertising based companies) are collecting and the inferences they are starting to make about the kind of people we are.

Scoble, everyone already knows what you would do! If you want to return to the job of corporate schill, there's no need to re-use your pitch from several years ago. There's sure to be a Google recruiter at the next A-List blogger event you attend.

Yesterday I went to lunch at a country club over on Sand Hill Road. They wouldn't let me in because I was wearing jeans. "Excuse me?" I said in my head.

They are totally gonna get a call from his agent.

The suits vs. the geeks [Scobleizer]
Photo by Dave McClure [Flickr]

Sure, there are some mockably grandiose statements, like "Asking the question 'Why does Sun matter' is the equivalent of asking 'Why does the Internet matter?'" But there's also a cute story about Schwartz explaining Internet network clients to his five-year-old daughter.

All in all, this little chat isn't earth-shattering (at one point Schwartz seems to confuse increased phone-texting use with increased Java app use), but it's good for personal color, a way to see Schwartz "beyond the ponytail" and all. Scoble promises more such CEO interviews to come.

Jonathan Schwartz on why Sun Microsystems is relevant [ScobleShow]

• Phone fraud offender Hewlett-Packard takes another giant leap towards becoming even more of the class bully, this time with news that they actually conducted feasibility studies to figure out how to plant spies in news bureaus. To be continued tomorrow. Don't worry, by then we'll find out the government was involved in the conspiracy. [NY Times]
• Ex-Rocketboomer Amanda Congdon finds a new gig touring America. This time around the vlogger is honing her chops on the road to L.A. We just hope blogger Robert Scoble stops propositioning her. [Scobleizer]
• The Baltimore Sun got tired of writing about the ethics involved in snitching and gang violence so now they just interview bloggers like Sean Bonner of the Metroblogging network. We know how they feel. [Baltimore Sun]
• Google Co-Founder Larry Page and I have something in common. Unfortunately for me it isn't making wads of cash or being business-minded, but an affiliation with the University of Michigan, where Google just opened up a new AdWords office. [Michigan Daily]
• Al Gore's pet project Current TV finally launches their own public portal with Yahoo. That's an inconvenient truth for Google, which has Gore on its board and plays content-maker to Google Current, a semi-hourly show based on Google searches like thong girl. [Current TV]

— Beth Gottfried

• Ex-Microsoft blogger Robert Scoble may miss out on Burning Man, but he'll have fun visiting the Googleplex today with Googler Matt Cutts. Insert cruel "don't empty the snack room" line here, and send phonecam pics of Scoble to tips@valleywag.com. [Matt Cutts, photo by ~C4Chaos]
• Jason Calacanis tells everyone in the Internet industry, blog or die. Somewhere, Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz is pumping his fist and shouting "Yessss!" [Calacanis.com]
• RSS pioneer Dave Winer says an army of unnamed people are pissed at publisher Tim O'Reilly. (And it's totally not Winer's bitter recrimination for not getting an invite to last weekend's exclusive "Friends of O'Reilly" Camp, nor the two men's ongoing battle since 2000.) [Scripting.com]

My wife and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary (and first overnighter away from the twins!) last weekend. During lunch on Saturday, I spied a Google hat across the room and recognized the face beneath - Robert Scoble. I don't know how we kept passing in the night at tech conferences, but we'd never met. I ambled on over and introduced myself and met Jeremy Wright as well.

And AOL exec Jason Calacanis has a working lunch on a Saturday:

saturday 4pm calacanis at shake shack in madison park new york alone with burger, fries, and reading the book Wealth of Networks between checking his blackberry. he looks hyperactive even on a sat afternoon... taking notes, eating, reading and emailing

Got a geek celebrity (or a real celebrity) in your sights? Tip tips@valleywag.com.

Speaking of Apple, they are readying a dizzying amount of new products. I wish I could camp out at an Apple store during the World Wide Developer Conference on August 7th. I wish I could say more, but that'd get me sued by Steve Jobs and I don't need that kind of heck right now.

Fast-forward to this morning at the WWDC. Steve Jobs announces two new products, one of which is a rack-mount server. As dizzying as a kiddie carousel.

What was Scoble doing? Option 1: The ex-Microsoft blogger was bluffing, betting that Apple would finally deliver the iPhone or the touchless iPod so he could look like the insider that he used to be at Microsoft.

Option 2: He really does know something, and he won't shut up (as every Apple employee has learned to do).

If the former, that's pretty shady. If the latter, that just goes to show you shouldn't share your secrets with Scoble. But he's a great person to feed a false leak — which, of course, is Option 3.

McLaws is right on Windows Vista ship date [Scobleizer]

I think it's interesting that I met two of my favorite bloggers for the first time at BlogHer (both of whom are men, Guy Kawasaki and John Battelle).

You can lead a horse to water...

What I learned from BlogHer [Scobleizer]
Photo by Alex Feldstein [SmugMug]

• Guy Kawasaki was the first prominent high-tech corporate evangelist. During his tenure at Apple, the brand rose from an obscurity to the official computer maker for all cool consumers. In the last few years, the practices he started are responsible for the popularity of the iPod, the "switch" ads, and the smug satisfaction of every designer in your local wifi café, sneering at your Dell.
• Robert Scoble served as Microsoft's de facto representative to bloggers when he started pimping his company on his site, Scobleizer. It all worked so well — until Scoble's ill-advised porn shoot. Just a few months later, Scoble left Microsoft. Coincidence? Heck no.
• Vint Cerf is supposed to make people feel more at ease about Google and the Internet. How can anyone feel at ease next to Mr. Oh-so-snappy-in-my-three-piece-suit (pictured)?

Earlier: Nerdfight! Blogger Shelley Powers smacks down Zooomr
Photo 1: Thomas Hawk [Zooomr]
Photo 2: YouTube video [Valleywag]

That's right, I'm talking about the Bubble.

Today's Bubble Threat Level is Elevated. The causes:

• The Valley's best on-camera snarkers just sold out to the bubbliest podcast company, PodTech. Blogger Robert Scoble, who just left Microsoft for PodTech, hired Eddie Codel and Irina Slutsky of Geek Entertainment TV. Some say it's their wit and experience, but everyone knows it's just because Eddie's got great tits. [Laughing Squid]
• Mark Cuban, who sold Broadcast.com to Yahoo for $5.7 billion, is calling the Internet overhyped. This is like Paris Hilton saying there are too many fake celebrities. [Mark Cuban]
• Cartoonist Hugh MacLeod has invaded Chicago with his wine-shilling art. [Flickr]

Photo: "it was this big" [vvt on Flickr]

Ex-Microsoft blogger Robert Scoble, who rocked the tech news world when he left for podcast company PodTech two weeks ago, linked to the real estate tour page for his for-sale Seattle-area home. Now, with the Power of the Internets, everyone can see that Scoble and his wife Maryam prefer those furry toilet lid covers. Scoble might even throw in the high-def TV, he wrote.

The $450,000 asking price is only time-and-a-half what Scoble paid for it in 2003, according to a Zillow.com chart. Looks like someone's about to learn about the housing bubble the hard way when he moves to the Bay Area.

Buy our house [Scobleizer]
Zestimate [Zillow via g-WH!Z blog]