Sorry for the delay in yesterday's news.
Our sympathies go out to the victims, their familes, and their friends of the horrible Oslo attack.
Economics/Geekonomics:
State unemployment is little changed. Don't expect it to get much better between the budget kerfluffle and expiring benefits.
Geek Law:
In an apparent desire for suicide, Lawsuit-happy Lodsys files some patent infringement charges against Rovio. I get the impression Rovio are people who don't like to me messed with and may just put the smackdown on Lodsys.
Comics:
The Captain America film does pretty good on Midnight showings – about $4 million (more than recent superhero films by $800,000 to $500,000). The reviews I'm hearing seem pretty decent to good, though it seems the films choices and tone don't sit well with everyone. This may make up for the lackluster 'Green Lantern' performance, comic-film wise, and as always, the impact of this will affect other comic adaptions.
Mobile:
Verizon added a lot of subscribers second quarter – 1.3 million, largely due to iPhone 4 and 4G Android devices. Sounds like they're doing well – and may be worth looking into, though I wonder if a mobile falloff has to happen at some point.
Movies:
OK, now apparently we may see a live-action Voltron film, and it's in the hands of Relativity media. This jumps on the ever-overloaded nostalgia wagon with a beloved property, and it sounds hard to screw up – but I'm sure it can be managed. Let's see what Relativity does.
News:
With the continuing Murdoch/News of The World/Hacking scandal here's a good look at modern newsonomics for you. Also the Nieman Lab sounds like it's worth following.
Social Media:
Facebook is the most visited site on the internet, and one of the most hated according to recent ACSI research, which shows that Google+ may indeed have a very wide opening. And one point made here is they don't "delight" the user. So this could shake things up social-media wise – Google+ and others (yes, others) may have a bigger opening than many realize.
(My reaction to Google+ was like when I began using a Mac, which is probably very informative if you think of it . . .)
Technology:
'Lion' is out for Mac. So you know. I see no reason to link to it because it's everywhere.
Video:
Interesting: Apple seems to be considering a purchase of Hulu which would compliment their Ecosystem nicely. A good deal all around I'd figure, though I wonder if, at this rate, Apple is going to start looking TOO insular. It'll also boost them against Amazon's upcoming ecosystems of course – and makes me wonder where Microsoft is in all this mess. (Peter Kafka advises us not to take this too seriously and makes some points about options and reality).
Video Games:
Looks like you will have games on Google+. It sounds like (thankfully) a separate stream. Some additional postulations in the article are interesting. Game developers (and Android game developers) – pay attention.
A bit of weirdness: Irem pulled a bunch of games from the Japanese Playstation store, as well as related content, and closed themed lounges in PlayStation Home. This was done with no announcement. This makes me wonder what's up, of course.