News of the Day 1/18/2011

A big media merger is done, Michigan tries to lure tech, and "How To Train Your Dragon" goes multimedia!

Career:
Need a mentor? Here's how you get one. Nice simple bits of advice.

Regional:
Michigan launches a $120 million Venture Capital pool to help invest in their tech startups. Something to keep in mind to see how it works out, and if there's a job shift to Michigan.

Comics:
Celebreties from Justin Beiber to Lady Gaga to get comic books. Bluewater, the company behind it seems to specialize in biography and often music titles. Wal-Mart will be carrying the Beiber title. I wonder if this is a "reality show" element coming into comics . . .

Reorgs at Image and Top Cow. Also sounds like Image has an issue finding the right PR focus. Any opportunity perhaps?

Media:
'How To Train Your Dragon' looks to launch films and a TV series. This also sounds like there will be an emphasis on worldbuilding. This was a well-recieved film, and further efforts to built it into a multimedia franchise have a promising foundation.

DC goes further multimedia with A 'Fables' novel as an eBook.

Publishing:
Lulu and Smashwords get a lot of attention, but Scribd just landed $13 million in venture capital. That just stirred the publishing pot a bit, let's see how they do – oh, and with that money and the location, consider a resume.

There will be new Sherlock Holmes and James Bond novels. I want to see how these go over, especially Holmes – whose author is known for doing YA books.

Social Media:
Looks like Facebook is not sharing phone numbers and addresses.

Technology:
Cheezburger haz $30 million in venture capital. Remember this is a company that leveraged LOLCats. What they're going to do with $30 million is intriguing, especially as word is they run pretty barebones. Sounds like the focus now is to "get bigger."

A look at HP's new tablets. OK they may be running the Palm OS, but they do have a slick iPad look to them.

Of course everyone is reporting on Steve Job's health.  I'm pretty sure Apple will go on.

Video:
Comcast/NBC merger approved. Not surprising, but this is going to change issues of net neutrality, carriers, and ownerships. Comcast and NBC are a powerful package and people might not like that.

Video Games:
Hmmm. A promotion at Marvel's game division with new VP TQ Jefferson. Sounds like the right guy to have in a high position. Also note Marvel is looking to go very Multiplatform.

QUESTION OF THE DAY: What does the Comcast/NBC merger mean for Netflix?

Steven Savage