Twitter is Profitable, stocks weren't, Firefox is up, changes in gaming, and explanation of how Duke Nuken fell. Put on your seat belts, we're taking a ride straight for the heart of the Geekonomy!
Career:
Seth Godin notes you can't be afraid of bad ideas.
Economics/Geekonomics:
You know there's been more hiring in temporary areas. A further examination of what this may mean.
Lousy stock returns last decade, and not surprising.
Movies:
Avatar earns some $232 million this weekend – Giving it a good chance of not being the flop predicted. I'm also predicting big foreign box office. I am also following this prediction with predictions of "really bad imitations that will lose money." This may also continue Hollywoods interest in big budget films.
Hollywood did surprisingly well in 2009 despite the lousy economy.
Social Media:
Twitter is now profitable,thanks to deals and cost savings – Looks like myprediction last year of a Twitter sale continues to be incredibly wrong. Now let's see how Twitter gets treated – and courted – with this news.
Mashable's Must Read Social Media Books.
Technology:
Firefox 3.5 is now the world's most popular browser – Now beats even IE 7.0. It beats a pre-installed piece of software now, which represents a big shift in both application awareness and technical influence.
Video Games:
Game startups did raise $600 million in Venture Capital the last year – but that was a severe drop
How Duke Nukem died. A good must-read for folks in gaming.
Take-two sells off it's distribution branch – This means focusing entirely on publishing. Not a bad idea since they got a chunk of money for it and they can outsource easier (and if they're counting on DLC being the future).
Oberon Media lays off 100 people.
Writing:
Carol Tice has her advice for 2010 for you freelance writers, though a lot of this is good for any writer.
QUESTION OF THE DAY: With Twitter now profitable, what will this mean for them?
-Steven Savage