News of The Day 12/24/2010

It's Christmas Eve, but the news never sleeps.  Ok that sounded corny, but you know what I mean

Economics/Geekonomics:
Ten Reasons to be cautious in the 2011 market. May be a bit over people's heads, though you'll see why I'm in money markets until at least March . . .

A fraud ruling in Minnesota has deeper meaning for Wells Fargo. Enough came out and was said in the decision – and the nature of the decision – that it may be open to more lawsuits.  Remember there's a lot unsaid and unexplored in the housing mess, and lawsuits could come awful fast if enough comes out.

Geek Law:
Kodak patent lawsuits could threaten many photo sharing sites. Sounds like they're trying to make an example of Shutterfly. I'm not sure they want to take on such a common service and risk some serious bad will.

Is the FCC trying to kill Hulu. I have no ideas, since the FCC seems to use a magic eight-ball half the time to determine actions. Or is the FCC working to play companies and sources off each other? Or . . . oh, hell if I know. But this is worth reading since it may well affect what you do in media.

Media:
MediaBistro's 2011 predictions which have some pretty good stuff in them. I'd analyze it – but just go read it.

Technology:
Presented more for oddity's sake, but Zumox got $9.7 million for creating an electronic version of physical mail. It's an odd little venture, and I'm not quite sure of what their goals are – it lets you get electronic versions of physical mail. Someone also thinks they're worth about $10 million dollars of investment though.

Does Unhosted have a solution to the loss of data ownership with the growth of SaaS?  I can see a whole other business evolve around SaaS support.

Video Games:
Multiple 'Woah': Moblyng raises nearly $11 million to make HTML 5 games. They're also known to team up with Playdom, and they're in Money Dumping Ground Redwood City, and they've done a lot of games. Toss on the over $10 mil they've gotten and why do they not have your resume? Also if they do well that will propel HTML 5 further into public awareness (though I'm still looking the cash and foundation they have . . .)

QUESTION OF THE DAY: What are you doing this Christmas?

Steven Savage