GDC is over (surprisingly calmly), there's legal adventures winding down and starting up, and everyone's ready for the iPad. Let's check out the must-know news for geeky pros!
Career:
Never leave home without a business card – Not sure I agree on what it should have, but I agree with the idea.
Economics/Geekonomics:
The ever-wonderful Econompicdata shows that the American consumer is unhappy, yet spending more. With those two factors together I have to wonder what the duration of this is – and if it's been due to pent-up caution, need, etc.
Catch up on just what happened with the Great Recession as Yves Smith of Naked Capitalism launches ECONNED – the book, the trailer, and more. I like Yves and would listen to what he has to say. Frankly the screw-ups, the bad regulation (or lack of it), and more needs to be called out.
Richard Florida calls out a possible US Brain Drain – Which I feel he has reason to be concerned about. I've witnessed countries aggressively recruiting talent at GDC, openly suggesting work Visas or immigration to people and selling their countries strong points. Canada, especially, has a precise immigration system meant to bring in talent . . .
Anime and Manga:
Tokyopop has an manga internship for students coming. So if you qualify or know someone qualified, you know what to do. Or just spread the word. This is also heay on promotion, so it sounds like it'll be pretty educational.
Geek Law:
Netflix cuts its latest promotion due to legal reasons over privacy.
Sounds like China isn't backing away from pressuring Google – And Google may not be backing down. China comes off looking awful bad from this, and though it may be a big market it IS a limited one. I expect China to crack – eventually and slowly and in a piecemeal fashion – if only because trying to keep up control of the Internet is a loosing battle.
Media:
Reuters plans to syndicate third-party video news producers – That could be useful to many people – reelancers, up-and comers, etc. I can also see it being a way to take on content mills and leverage their brand in this case.
Publishing:
How are people preparing for the iPad? Find out! – A look atwhat people are doing to prepare, with different styles, etc.
Earings up, sales down at Books-A-Million
Technology:
Apple's iPad orders are open – Two to a customer, sorry. So let's see how these numbers look . . . By the way, Crunchyroll is giving an iPad away, which tells you what direction they're heading.
Video Games:
At GDC Sid Meier says most game devs have it wrong – And goes into his theory on games. I don't agree with all of it, but agree with some of it. Then again I have some theories of my own . . .
And where is the Wii going next? Not sure if it's going anywhere. I still bet some improved version has to bein order, but I am not sure how Nintendo would bull this off . ..
Writing:
How someome moved from unemployment to freelance writer.
QUESTION OF THE DAY:Is there a brain drain in the US, and what are it's geekonomic implications?
-Steven Savage