Career – Page 54 – Steven Savage

Link Roundup 10/21/2013

October 21, 2013 by Steven Savage

In the US, 15% of youth 16 through 24 aren’t employed or in school. Needless to say that’s got some unpleasant economic and cultural repercussions down the road, and may be something we’re revisiting (and fixing) in the next decade. I suppose at least we’re still having sex.

Good for Netflix? They’ve surpassed HBO’s viewer base. Bad? The binge viewing they created may work against them. The first is obvious and should give people pause (and get you sending resumes). The second is an issue because it messes with earning reports and often involves paying a lot up front to recover it years later. Not a big issue – but a damn good reminder of the complexities of how technology changes even simple things like accounting.

Gaming has had over $5 billion in mergers and acquisitions globally. Article six thousand and whatever in “gaming is a big thing” news. But worth remembering.

Finally California is getting a bullet train and the complaining has begun. Plus side, lots of job potentials for a long time . . .

– Steven “Amortizing Your Viewing Experience” Savage

Link Roundup 10/16/2013

October 16, 2013 by Steven Savage

Oyster wants to be a Netflix for books. Color me as having no idea if it’ll work or not, but we might as well pay attention. Jeez, between this and Kindle Worlds someday we may be renting fanfic.
eBay is not expecting a good winter. So if you’ve been sending in your resume . . . be warned. Actually if you work there or are a contract, be warned.
For that matter, being at Amazon is pretty tough too.
Mattel expects to make a ton of money this year. So if Hasbro rejected you . . .
Goldie Blox, the game to promote engineering for girls has a sequel coming! Now come on let’s get an animated web series and comic!

– Steven “Rental Fanfic” Savage

Form Geek Voltron: Might As Well Be The Head

October 16, 2013 by Steven Savage

There’s a valuable lesson in the various incarnations of Voltron. No I’m not talking that giant robots are cool (obvious), that Pidge is creepy when you have him get older (surprising), or that movie adaptions are chaotic and unpredictable (depressingly true). I’m talking about the basic core idea of Being Stronger By Coming Together.

That’s a lesson we usually brush off. Giant robots made from smaller robots, power of love, friendship is magic, fighting spirit of the team, what have you are all common ideas in anime, movies, etc. The idea of Being Stronger By Coming Together is so common we don’t even think about it, and thus don’t learn the lessons. It’s probably not helped by a culture with the delusion that we somehow magically succeed without the help of (even if unappreciated) others.

But it’s a damned valuable lesson. Plus illustrating it through the idea of cool robots coming together to make an even more kickass one is a real inspiring illustration that harmonizes with our half mechanical, half magical geek hearts.

We’re stronger when we come together. Specifically I’d like to focus on the Applied Geek aspect of that – in our careers and our lives.