News of The Day 3/2/2011

And now a news post that's Charlie Sheen Free . . . wait, damn it . . .

Paidcontent.org is hiring. You know what to do, so do it.

Economics/Geekonomics:
As frustration with people dodging responsibility for the Great Recession continues, Yves Smith notes it's easy to bring charges against some of those involved.

Demographics:
Uh-oh, Michigan may cut tax credits for film and video game startups. Let's see how this plays out – both for the specific results, and for Michican's attempts to re-invent itself with a Geekonomy-heavy presence.

Interesting: Cities have both increased wage inequality and increased opportunity. As big as I am on the future being megaregions, this gives me pause on the economic and cultural changes that may come.

Apple:
Yes, there's an iPad2, here's a live roundup. Here's a hands on. It's also getting popular media software iMovie and Garage Band.

At this rate? Yeah, this is Apple's "netbook".

Comics:
Wonder Woman Makeup, why?. It's an odd merchandising move as the review notes. I'm seriously thinking Warner/DC does not know what to do with the Amazonian Ass-kicker.

Media:
This is intriguing, Hillary Clinton notes American media is being pushed out by other media, specifically citing the success of Al-Jazeera. I think this is actually an important issue to consider – frankly a lot of news in America is falling behind and of little interest internationally. This also brings up the fact that in a global economy, several "culture engines" will be in competition . . . so where are you going to fit in and what are you going to do in a multipolar media world?

Technology:
A bunch of droid apps are pulled from the app store due to malware. Android really *IS* the Windows of mobile it seems. However the fast-moving activity is nice. Does give a good warning that Android's openness can also be used against it.

Amazon threatens to pull affiliates in California over proposed taxes on internet purchases. Expect more of this as cash-strapped states look for money – though this issue flares up every few years, this is a tough time.

Does virtualization change system administration? Never thought of this, but yes – when you can kill and rebuild an instance fast, why fix it? A bit of CorpTechPocalypse fuel to think on . . .

Google changed its algorythms, and is now working to deal with people inappropriately caught up. Mahalo has cut headcount in direct reaction.

Videogames:
OK I'm not sure what to think about an MMO based on Universal Studio's Monsters. I'm not sure what one can do here really, beyond a sort of Van Helsing-esque adventure. Then again it seems everyone is doing MMOs so this could be pure bandwagoning.

QUESTION OF THE DAY: What other fallout will we see from the Google changes?

Steven Savage