Steven Savage

PC's are down, VC's are down on newer startups, Demand is down with going public. Let's . . . oh, hell, you know what I'm going to say. Let's skip the pun and get to the news!

Economics/Geekonomics:
The 20 most influential blogs in Financial Media – I read a decent amount of these (in fact I often post to them from here). Go and see if any sate your Geekonomic needs.

Guess what? A lot of big names think the size of banks is hurting the economy.

Venture Companies not as interested in younger startups.

Science:
Cleantech has done surprisingly well in 2010, here's a look at trends.

Comics:
Archie is going simultaneously digital and print – released at the same time. You may not think much of Archie, but they're doing a lot of experimenting with the brand, which is worth paying attention to. Besides, he's survived decades . .

Media:
Demand media moving ahead with going public.

Publishing:
An author looks at how Amazon is making publishers less relevant. A nice, concise analysis.

Technology:
PC Shipments lagged behind expectations in Q4 2010. No one is surprised of course.

Video Games:
For those of you missing the obvious, a further look at the fact Minecraft is insanely successful. I'd further ad what is missing here is that Minecraft built a community.

Sony wants those Jailbreaks off the net, wants damages, and is willing to get legal to do it.

This guy creates Hello Kitty mashups. I include it as it's cool. Like Fezes, or bow ties.

QUESTION OF THE DAY: Who will understand – and apply – the social lessons of Minecraft?

– Steven Savage

Verizon gets the iPhone, sucking the oxygen out of the newsroom, and . . . well other stuff.  But iPhone!

Economics/Geekonomics:
A look at the Massahusetts 'Ibanez' Case that some think may unravel the mortgage market. This may be a bit tough reading, but basically a major policy in foreclosures was invalidated – and apparently banks are facing the attention of unhappy investors over this.

Publishing:
eBooks are booming in Great Britain.

Social Media:
MySpace goes through with its massive cuts. I'm sure we have more of this story to come.

Groupon is nearly done raising that $950 million. I'm not surprised they're getting money, but wonder if they really are overvalued by now. They are buying up other companies, so I think their goal is to crush competition first – and globally. Not sure of the stability of that idea, but I'm not going to say "don't work there," they seem promising at least in the short term.

Technology:
Trade-file-by-touch company Bump raises $16 million which seems like a good investment. They've got a lot of attention and a solid basic idea – so send a resume!

Verizon:
There is now an iPhone available from Verizon. This is stunning news to anyone not living on a different planet in an alternate dimension, under a rock, asleep. Everyone else knew it was coming.

And now more info on Verizon:

• They'll sell a version of the iPad that connects directly to its network via an embedded chip – Serious lock-in and a direct shot at AT&T. OK, another shot.
• Some predictions the verizon announcement will hurt Google/Android

Video Games:
Microsoft's mobile gaming device is Windows 7 Phone, which makes a whole lot of sense as that's the way the trends are going.

QUESTION OF THE DAY: Does Microsoft's strategy indicate the death of the portable gaming device, since Sony is trying the same thing.

– Steven Savage