Avatar photoSteven Savage

News of the Day 12/6/2010

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Google breaks into eBooks, Sprint Upgrades, and OnLive takes on . . . Netflix? Lots happening today, so let's get to the news!

Career:
Seth Godin hits it out of the park and into hyperspace with this post on the world's worst boss. Must read.

Mobile:
Sprint to spend $5 billion to upgrade it's network. An intelligent choice – and it may mean they're hiring . . . and maybe AT&T should take a hint.

Movies:
The Live Action Yamato does well. I like what I see and hope it gets further distribution. Curious how this affects "Cool Japan" issues.

Publishing:
And here we go again (in a good way): Google's eBookstore is live, with a heavy emphasis on courting indie bookstores. Give Techmeme a check and see what people are saying here. This tells me that Google wants to make sure it keeps the book market/e-publishing market frothy, and this is a definite shot at Amazon. So will they do comics next?

(And now I have to upload my book again . . .)

Social Media:
GroupOn walked away from the Google offer and is looking to emulate Facebook.

Technology:
OK try and follow this rumor: AOL is considering a breakup/merger/restructuring combo that will combine it with Yahoo. A bit more of a view into the complexities of the oft-discussed (especially here) possibility of a Yahoo-AOL merger.

A nice, sane response to the idea that we’re in another tech bubble.

Ouch – Major Outage At Tumbler.

Video:
OnLive to get into streaming movies. OK, NOW they have my attention. If they try to be an entertainment device without a device (or with a small one) they may have a model here. This could also be a sign of concern or desperation, but as for now my opinion of OnLive has gone up a bit. Certainly Netflix is in their sights – which makes me think they might want to try being a Google-esque spoiler for other streamers and services . . .

Video Games:
How one man made a hit game for mobile.

QUESTION OF THE DAY: Would Movies change the game so to speak for OnLive?

– Steven Savage

Resume Worthy Roundup For November 2010

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Let's see what companies did Resume-Worthy things in November . . .

  • ANY publisher involved in the Japanese Manga portal.
  • Game Ground – They got $5.3 million in investment, and though they're in the seemingly overloaded space of game social, they seem to have it together in the form of investors and management team.
  • Gazillion – Someone gave them $60 million.  One of their studios made Lego Universe.  What are you waiting for?
  • Glam Media – They're hiring.
  • Marketo – They got $25 million in investment and do marketing and email work.  Also they've got a nice location.
  • Meebo – Someone invested $25 million in them.  And they're Meebo.
  • Netflix – Look, just trust me at this point.  They're all over the news.
  • Next Issue Media – They want to be the 'Hulu for Magazines' and I appreciate the boldness.
  • Plastic Jungle – Their gift-card exchange site is either brilliant or stupid, but I'm leaning to brilliant, and investors seem to agree to the tune of $10 million.
  • Real Gravity – They got $3.2 million in investment and are working on video content distribution.
  • Rovio – They made Angry Birds.  They are everywhere.  They are going on console.
  • Samsung – Smart company, and though the Galaxy tablet didn't have the greatest review, sales look good. (And having handled one, I think some of the negatives were A) Due to earlier android issues, and B) That they targeted a specific form factor).
  • Sunmerlight – I reccomend them as they have a pretty contrarian strategy which could be bad – or brilliant.
  • TokBox – They've got some years under their belt, and $12 million in investment – and video conferencing is a cool area to work in.
  • Turbulenz – They have an online game platform in the works, and $5.3 million in investment.
  • Yammer – Someone gave them $25 million. (What, is $25 million some magic number?)
  • Zuora – They have a rational business idea (billing/subscription management) and $20 million in investment.

What are you waiting for?  Get cracking!

– Steven Savage

How Cheap Is Also Confusing

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Does it seem that a lot of things, especially things in the geekonomy, are cheap or for that matter free?

I've got books on discount by ordering online.  I can get epic games for my Smartphone for pennies or dollars.  I've got eBooks that are usually cheaper than buying the physical book.  I can save money with a simple Netflix subscription that brings me endless streams of DVDs and endless streaming of shows.

The geekonomy is filled with cheap (and Cheap's unltimate manifestation, Free) . . . for all the expensive entry fees of the technology.

Cheap is something people are understandably interested in.  We like to save money and spend less.  We like to get more for less.  Cheap isn't the only thing we're interested in price-wise, but it is certainly a driver for us.

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