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Amtrak is excited to announce the launch of a new train service - the 2107 Microblogging Express. Please view the video below to experience a trip on the new 2107 Microblogging Express. We make a variety of station stops and connect to all local service.

This service even includes new services Posterous and Identi.ca.

People referenced in the video: Sarah Perez, Marshall Kirkpatrick, Robert Scoble, Louis Gray, Steven Hodson, Corvida and Steve Rubel. Our special tickettaker is Tamar Weinberg.

In the video below, NY-based Tumblr founder David Karp provides an update on the micro-blog business. He explains that Tumblr is the easiest way to share anything online. He also describes how important the "reblog" concept is for Tumblr. Reblogging is where you share what someone else has posted on Tumblr to help it gain viral growth.

For some stats, David noted that Tumblr has 310,000 users (no word on active), 120,000 posts per day and they host 15,000 custom domains. The user number is up from 75,000 last October.

view the video »

I spent this morning at an event hosted by The Media Kitchen. A variety of NY-based VC firms along with their portfolio companies presented general business updates. I captured a ton of video and will post my thoughts and the videos over the next few days. The Media Kitchen put together an absolutely hilarious opening video. I cut two snippets that I thought would be beneficial for anyone trying to grow their startup.

The first video has the puppet (Gary) interviewing Tumblr founder David Karp about what makes Tumblr so popular. Rather than give away the reason, just watch the very short video.

In this video, the puppet asks MobLogic host Lindsay Campbell and Wallstrip host Julie Alexandria how to keep viewers engaged. This could be the first time that Julie and Lindsay have appeared together!

Update Wednesday - David Karp tells Silicon Alley Insider that he has no idea what this Norbum is. David's statement: "I'm not involved with Norbum, I don't know what it is, and I would never make fun of homeless people."

Update - Thursday - Jakob Lodwick notes that this .org site is not his either.

When Jakob Lodwick left was fired from Vimeo earlier this month, I immediately predicted that Lodwick would be working with Tumblr founder David Karp. It seems this might be closer to reality with some investigative journalism just completed by regular CN visitor and author, James Thomas.

This past Saturday, Lodwick posted about some new domains that he registered. The list includes:

• D***S***.COM
• BA******RO****.COM
• n*****.com & .us
• n*****s.com & .us
• n*****ist.com & .org
• n*****ists.com& .org
• n*****ism.com & .org

The previous day Lodwick posted that he had dinner with Karp per his blog post and calls Karp a, "soon famous face."

This is where Thomas went to work. After some Columbo-type maneuvers, we know the full names of some of the domains that Lodwick registered:

• norbum.com
• norbum.us
• norbums.com
• norbumist.com
• norbumist.org
• norbumists.com
• norbumists.org
• norbumism.com
• norbumism.org

Anyone know what a Norbum is? Let's complete the picture before the new year rings!

Photos by: David Karp & Zach Klein

Tumblr. If you aren't sure what Tumblr is, check out my video review. The interview is about four minutes long and is embedded inside. So what exactly is Tumblr? Scott says it's the "easiest way to share yourself". Scott is smart not to call it a micro-blog because that would mean his tool would be out of popularity if/when blogging loses it's sexyness. Some other comments from the interview:

• They are very big in Japan
• Tumblr reached the same traffic levels in 2 months that it took Digg 8 months to reach
• Scott noted 75,000 users - How many active?

Peter at SAI has some additional financial details on their $750k funding which he says makes Scott a paper-millionaire.

Here is one thing I haven't seen mentioned: tumblr is a spammer's dream. It gets Google indexed and more importantly, Technorati considers it a blog so it gets indexed in the inbound count. Just wait until the spammers realize this!

For the last day or so I have been hearing more and more about tumblr. Gina Trapani wrote an excellent overview of tumblr on Lifehacker and you should check it out. She goes into detail on how the service works.

For examples, see http://netneutralitycanada.tumblr.com/ and http://project.ioni.st/

My initial question is sans mobile/sms, is tumblr a better twitter? tumblr allows you to capture your thoughts but offers you more without being as intense as a full blog. Instead of moving to a place where we post tiny 140 character snippits, tumblr allows you to grab and share things from your life and the Internet easily and quickly. Short-form is hot right now and tumblr appears to have it nailed spot on.

Found a great video? tumble it and others can see it. Same with chat logs, photos and links. Of course you can post larger blog-style entries as well.

I could easily see tumblr woop twitter in a 10-round KO if they were to add mobile, IM, and friends. Perhaps I would leave out the followers.

come inside for my video review of tumblr plus discussion on twitter vs. tumblr.