This is going to be our last week in review done in text format – instead we're going to be doing weekly shows every Saturday reviewing the geeky career news and discussing progeek issues at Fan To Pro on BlogTalkRadio! We haven't set an exact time, but we plan to shortly.
So, let's get to reviewing the news of the week for career geeks!
Lots of Google news. Google makes it easier on people to use special widgets on the web, further cementing their presence and mindshare. Big news however was their mega-collboration-communication tool in the works, Google Wave, which has open source elements, and a Twitter integrator. I'm guessing this is google's big push post-android to shore up web presence and, as I mentioned, dilute the chance for others to dominate in various areas.
Facebook got a huge $200 million investment. That's a lot of money, but really only a 2% ownership of the company. Still that's a giant amount of cash to get, and good for Facebook. As a side note, it seems we've got more Russian investment in social media (remember Livejournal?). Interestingly Facebook may have peaked among users 55 and older. Facebook is facing a number of challenges and advantages.
(Also, don't forget the advice you have a social media backup plan).
Hulu took on Boxee, launching it's own desktop (and I suspect making a play for X-box installation). Boxee of course offers to work with them. Hulu, for all it's dominance, seems surprisingly insecure, and i want to watch what they do – it could be something self-defeating.
For gaming, the sad note high reviews are no guarantee of sales.
My big takes this week are Hulu, Google, and Facebook. Hulu seems to be wanting to expand fast and furious, Google already is (and let's face it, a clash involving YouTube is coming. Again), and Facebook is working to expand. Those are the 3 to keep an eye on this week.
– Steven Savage