News of the Day 1/11/2011

Verizon gets the iPhone, sucking the oxygen out of the newsroom, and . . . well other stuff.  But iPhone!

Economics/Geekonomics:
A look at the Massahusetts 'Ibanez' Case that some think may unravel the mortgage market. This may be a bit tough reading, but basically a major policy in foreclosures was invalidated – and apparently banks are facing the attention of unhappy investors over this.

Publishing:
eBooks are booming in Great Britain.

Social Media:
MySpace goes through with its massive cuts. I'm sure we have more of this story to come.

Groupon is nearly done raising that $950 million. I'm not surprised they're getting money, but wonder if they really are overvalued by now. They are buying up other companies, so I think their goal is to crush competition first – and globally. Not sure of the stability of that idea, but I'm not going to say "don't work there," they seem promising at least in the short term.

Technology:
Trade-file-by-touch company Bump raises $16 million which seems like a good investment. They've got a lot of attention and a solid basic idea – so send a resume!

Verizon:
There is now an iPhone available from Verizon. This is stunning news to anyone not living on a different planet in an alternate dimension, under a rock, asleep. Everyone else knew it was coming.

And now more info on Verizon:

Video Games:
Microsoft's mobile gaming device is Windows 7 Phone, which makes a whole lot of sense as that's the way the trends are going.

QUESTION OF THE DAY: Does Microsoft's strategy indicate the death of the portable gaming device, since Sony is trying the same thing.

Steven Savage