Pretty diverse bunch of news today, so dive on in!
Economics:
Delicious chart porn of Employment data. Enjoy, econogeeks!
Demographics:
State population growth isn't directly correlated with productivity. A nice bit of information next time someone talks simplistic demographics.
Geek Law:
*Sigh* I think this is gonna become a permanent category.
Several studios sued the streaming service Zediva – and its a list of some serious big boys. Zediva lets you watch movies online, but the movies come from an actually playing DVD – yeah, a potential loophole on streaming. This should be interesting to watch.
Google may face a U.S. Antitrust probe. I'm wondering if Google might use this to take on parts of the legal system they don't like as well (lately they seem to be questioning the current use of the patent system)
Anime and Manga:
NEC Biglobe in Japan starts a digital manga publisher in the US and Japan. They've got some ambitious targeting as well – and an interesting "ticket" system. As far as I can tell this is separate from other ventures we've been following. Enough people are going into eComic/eManga space – I can't see them all surviving.
Media:
No, Google's changes didn't seem to affect at least one big content farm. A look at how Demand Media works in handy infographic form is insightful.
Disney Online has management changes and a focus on Innovation. No, literally, there is a team named Innovation. I'm actually somewhat positive on this as good idea incubation can be very effective, so let's see what Innovation comes up with – or if it's just a buzzword and DO keeps meandering.
Music:
Thoughts on why band names are weird.
Technology:
GoDaddy's elephant-shooting stunt seems to have helped its rival Namecheap.
Some changes at Google as the Product Head steps down – and won't be replaced. Sounds like the different Product lines will be a little more independent for awhile – if not for far longer. Not sure what this says about Google strategy – I'd like to give it a few months.
Video Games:
After the jailbreaking lawsuit, it looks like Sony has two Hactivist groups after it, and things sound like they may get not only aggressive, but personal. Speculation – since it seems we're seen an onslaught of legal battles in the Geekonomy, are we going to see more hacktivism in response?
Outspark aims straight at the middle ground of gamers with Divine Souls, a kind of fighting/RPG mix. Their aims are intriguing, walking the fine line between casual and massive games, and looking for the "midcourse" audience. Game looks fun, though they have a lot of rivals. Also can we GET some of these games on Mac? Please?
QUESTION OF THE DAY: Is there room for "middle" games?