News and Analysis

Sorry for the delay in yesterday's news.

Our sympathies go out to the victims, their familes, and their friends of the horrible Oslo attack.

Economics/Geekonomics:
State unemployment is little changed. Don't expect it to get much better between the budget kerfluffle and expiring benefits.

Geek Law:
In an apparent desire for suicide, Lawsuit-happy Lodsys files some patent infringement charges against Rovio. I get the impression Rovio are people who don't like to me messed with and may just put the smackdown on Lodsys.

Comics:
The Captain America film does pretty good on Midnight showings – about $4 million (more than recent superhero films by $800,000 to $500,000). The reviews I'm hearing seem pretty decent to good, though it seems the films choices and tone don't sit well with everyone. This may make up for the lackluster 'Green Lantern' performance, comic-film wise, and as always, the impact of this will affect other comic adaptions.

Mobile:
Verizon added a lot of subscribers second quarter – 1.3 million, largely due to iPhone 4 and 4G Android devices. Sounds like they're doing well – and may be worth looking into, though I wonder if a mobile falloff has to happen at some point.

Movies:
OK, now apparently we may see a live-action Voltron film, and it's in the hands of Relativity media. This jumps on the ever-overloaded nostalgia wagon with a beloved property, and it sounds hard to screw up – but I'm sure it can be managed. Let's see what Relativity does.

News:
With the continuing Murdoch/News of The World/Hacking scandal here's a good look at modern newsonomics for you. Also the Nieman Lab sounds like it's worth following.

Social Media:
Facebook is the most visited site on the internet, and one of the most hated according to recent ACSI research, which shows that Google+ may indeed have a very wide opening. And one point made here is they don't "delight" the user. So this could shake things up social-media wise – Google+ and others (yes, others) may have a bigger opening than many realize.

(My reaction to Google+ was like when I began using a Mac, which is probably very informative if you think of it . . .)

Technology:
'Lion' is out for Mac. So you know. I see no reason to link to it because it's everywhere.

Video:
Interesting: Apple seems to be considering a purchase of Hulu which would compliment their Ecosystem nicely. A good deal all around I'd figure, though I wonder if, at this rate, Apple is going to start looking TOO insular. It'll also boost them against Amazon's upcoming ecosystems of course – and makes me wonder where Microsoft is in all this mess. (Peter Kafka advises us not to take this too seriously and makes some points about options and reality).

Video Games:
Looks like you will have games on Google+. It sounds like (thankfully) a separate stream. Some additional postulations in the article are interesting. Game developers (and Android game developers) – pay attention.

A bit of weirdness: Irem pulled a bunch of games from the Japanese Playstation store, as well as related content, and closed themed lounges in PlayStation Home. This was done with no announcement. This makes me wonder what's up, of course.

– Steven Savage

Books-A-Million expands, BoA may be in trouble, the e-manga are on the March, and the Potter ebook news is confusing. Time for the news!

Economics/Geekonomics:
Bank of America may be in trouble. This does not surprise me with the Countrywide acquisition, but still. So see if anything comes of this.

By the way, an important note – between all the bad economic news, the debt ceiling fight, and benefits running out for many in December, I'm putting it more than likely a double-dip recession will occur without government action.

Anime and Manga:
Get a glimpse of the 'Supernatural' anime. It's releasing next week, so let's see how this does – since a good showing (and 'Supernatural' fans are passionate) may lead to other interesting cross-ocean collaborations.  As noted earlier, we've speculated east-west adaptions might go better in one direciton than the other.

Big news Jmanga.com launches August 17, 2011. This could be pretty big, seems to be leveraging its unique resources, and has strong alliances. Let's see how it goes, but I'd definitely pay attention as it sounds like it has worldwide focus on many levels.

Comics:
A fun article on superheroes who still need movies. Food for thought, perhaps?

And DC's Superman semi-reboot has the stench of Spiderman around it with Lois Lane's new boyfriend. Yeah, they're dropping the marriage and everything. I'm really becoming concerned some of the DC semi-reboot is a bad idea.  Parts of it feel very pandering.

Media:
Looks like a "fan" advocacy group against scalpers is a front group for ticket companies. Lovely. A good reminder of the politics behind entertainment and culture.

Publishing:
Books-A-Million purchases some Borders stores. Not sure how it positions them – I haven't followed BaM much lately. I am curious as to how they'll adapt to their new position as #2 – but they are involved with the Nook, eBooks, and some diversity.  Of course how they'll maintain is a question.

Looks like the 'Pottermore' books COULD be handled by Google in an intriguing bit of media involvement. Oh and there's other involvement such as Google Checkout. An interesting partnership, don't you think?

This gets more interesting as, apparently Amazon will also get the books on Kindle. So we've got competing rumors here, and even more repercussions (such as the possibility it means Amazon will support EPUB). Just read both articles.

Movies:
Samuel Jackson Producing Live-Action Afro Samurai – which is a glorious group of words. I'd be curious to see how this works out as the series' oddball sensibilities woud be interesting on the big screen, but also I'd see if it peaked interest in other odd properties.

Technology:
MUST SEE: How tech companies are inter-related. Print this out and put it by your desk or something.

Video Games:
Microsoft's Game Business has grown 30%. Wonder where they'll be investing their time – and yes, it's obvious. So remember where they may be putting their money – there are jobs.

QUESTION OF THE DAY: How well do you think the JManga portal will do?

– Steven Savage