Avatar photoSteven Savage

Frustration Friday: Be a little worried

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Let's not mince words.

The world economy is not in good shape, and the economy that affects you directly, dear readers (mostly US, North America, and UK judging by my records) has problems.  The economic situation for many is at best a recession, and at most a growing catastrophe that still has yet to play out in our lives, bank accounts, and futures.

Yet I meet a lot of people who don't care, or don't pay attention.  Some are in this state due to apathy or indifference.  Others don't care out of ignorance.  The worst are people who are very convinced they know what's going on, and of course are dreadfully wrong.

If you are not at least a bit worried about the economy you are either very well off or wrong.  There's no middle ground here.

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Cultural Awareness and Careers

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In my average day I deal with people from five different countries, individuals in four different time zones, and have work shared between three different countries.  These numbers add up to make me one very busy person walking what feels like an infinite amount of very fine lines.

Whatever your work is, especially if you're a progeek, odds are you are going to have to deal with people from many different countries and cultures.  We are in a global economy (in case you haven't heard), the world is a much smaller place thanks to communications technologies, and with this economy, everyone wants a piece of the economic pie.

On top of all of that if you're in any kind of large city or development zone, like the greater Toronto area, the Baltimore-DC corridor, or Silicon Valley, then you almost certainly will work with people from all over the world.  You may not be aware of it or think about it, but take a moment and ask yourselves about the backgrounds of your co-workers and clients.

What this means is that you'd better get culturally aware.

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News of The Day 1/13/2010

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Netflix on Wii, a tax as opposed to a pox on banks, and Google comes down on China. Reverse the polarity of the Neutron Flow, it’s geek news time!

Career:
What are the hottest jobs for 2010? As you may guess by the presence of a link, someone has an answer. Some unsurprising things – some surprising. A good quick read if you’re evaluating careers.

A few thoughts on starting your own business to give you perspective, especially if you plan to use Venture Capital.

. . . or maybe you’d like to try freelance writing for now?

Is the solution to your job woes Buying a facebook job ad? Not sure, but after this story I figure many people will try.

Economics/Geekonomics:
US Cities facing large shortfalls – Which really moves the burden down the tax chain, but there you go. Remember to follow issues like this if you relocate or plan to. As a guy that lives in California, I assure you our cities vary widely by how they’re handling things . . .

Do we need a Too Big To Fail Tax? Barry Ritholtz thinks so and lays out an interesting case.

Media:
PBS doing a new standalone news website that is Supervertical as opposed to the Hyperlocal movement. Something to watch to see how it goes.

Technology:
Google to exit China? A story of hacking, spying, and more. Probably best to read the whole thing – and follow any updates.

HP and Microsoft make huge partnership on cloud computing – Sounds more high-level and data center oriented. Makes sense for HP, and for Microsoft it can increase their market share in the data center area. May be good job-wise as well.

Sprint partnering with Wal-Mart to build out WiMax? I find this interesting as it seems Wal-Mart is at the center of a lot of technology issues lately – video, game sales, etc.

Video:
Finally, Netflix on Wii. It appears it took awhile to do – and requires a separate disk – but it’s here. Now all 3 major consoles will run Netflix. Good for Nintendo, good for Netflix. Of course what does this mean for competitors potential and current (like, say Wal-Mart’s latest plans)? And as a side note, could Netflix evolve into even more of a video delivery service and carry more indie or even personally-made stuff?

Video Games:
Modern Warfare 2 surpasses $1 Billion in sales. This beats films, and appears to be due to a number of factors. Since bandwagon-jumping is a big sport in the geekonomy today, expect more of it soon. I look forward to the release of Final Borderlands X: Modern Warfare of Zelda.

Are game endings . . . ending? With the change to what games do and what people expect, is the idea of a game ending changing or vanishing?

QUESTION OF THE DAY: Will China’s activities further politicize Google?

– Steven Savage