Avatar photoSteven Savage

News of the Day 2/21/2011

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A slow day today – but we still got news!

Career:
The History of The Resume

Anime:
OK, one of the companies behind True Grit got the live-action film rights to Star Blazers. Wait, you say, isn't there a live action Space Battleship Yamato? Yes, there is. But this happened anyway.

Social Media:
Twitter reinstated UberTwitter (now UberSocial) and Twidroyd

Technology:
Ouch. Kno may give up on hardware and go for apps. Well they're thinking ahead, but it's another sign how thoroughly Apple dominates (for now).

Video Games:
Minecraft to come out on iPhone, iPad, and Android. World domination continues, as does the chance someone is going to try and duplicate the success.

Yep, Bulletstorm put the whole games are evil thing back on the map, and it seems to be a kind of low-level buzz at Fox. Big thing here is that the ESRB ratings ARE being enforced, despite claims to the contrary.

Full Moon studios arises out of the ashes of Relentless. Resume ready?

Writing:
Wait, what? Comcast has issues with the Writer's Guild? Chip Johannessen has some strong words for them, and it looks like it's Comcast versus the union. Then again it's 'versus the unions' a lot lately . . .

QUESTION OF THE DAY: Will Minecraft get more penetration on mobile devices?

– Steven Savage

Further Thoughts On The Kindle

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So I've been using my Kindle for about a month or so.  What have I found?

Well first, sorry, no major revelations about it or the Kobo or whatever.  I'm enjoying it and it works and it's pretty slick.  No real massive changes here.

Now that being said, I have had a few revelations about eBook readers and other devices that take media that we once used physically and can now be had in bits and streams.  I'd say a few of these surprised me or were unexpected.

Read more

Despite All Your Rage You Can Leave The Cage

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Are you a lab rat?

Chances are good that if you're in America, in these troubled times, your state is probably engaged in some kind of experiment.  It might be the changes in Florida () or Wisconsin's cuts (and the weird statements on the National Guard), or California's cut-and-confront budget.  You're probably seeing a lot of very experimental things.

I've ranted on this before – we're seeing a lot of social and financial experiments in the Great Recession.  Some of these are legitimate, a great deal seem to be ideology over practicality.  The thing is they're being done.

After talking to friends in different states, I've come to two conclusions about this:

  1. If you aren't paying attention to your state and local budget you're missing a lot, and could be blindsided by some very nasty surprises.
  2. You should have a backup plan in case whatever experiments going on in your state/city/location fail miserably.  Or in short, where would you move if all the geniuses making budget decisions screw it up.

Be careful.  Apply all those geeky relocation tips we've discussed here over the years.  Right now it's a pretty unsure time, and that ideal city or state you live in now could end up being the site of a failed experiment.

This applies even to me.  I love California and Silicon Valley, but I like to have a backup plan or too.  I just don't want to USE them.

– Steven Savage

* Bonus question – what's the inspiration for the post title?