News and Analysis

Greece burns, Pandora burns bright, Green Latern flickers, and a PR agency gets burnt. Can I come up with more metaphors? No, I'm burnt out on them. So on with the Progeek News Roundup!

Economics:
In the last year, the average pay of bank chiefs in the US and Europe rose 36%. Yeah, I' sure it was earned. Let's see if this story has legs and gets people's attention.

The Greek government has been reshuffled and this is amidst protests over austerity measures. Frankly, I think Greece is screwed for a generation – and considering the rampant corruption I'm not surprised – the question is now how well the damage can be contained.

Pandora's stock surges by 63%, an insane amount. Look, they're nice, sure, and they do some neat stuff, but this is way overvalued for a company that makes no profit. I'm going to say it – I think this is going to raise bubble fears, and I think we're going to see a kind of mini-bubble. Read some of my opinion here, where I'm quoted before these insane numbers came out.

Geek Law:
France continues to lead the way in first-world internet-crunching behavior with broad laws to give the government huge amount of censorship powers. I'm gonna mention again I really don't like where this is going and in general don't trust Sarkozky – he seems to want to be a big dog in controlling the internet to judge from this and his little summit awhile ago.

Oh come on. Dolby sues RIM for violating its audio patents. I guess these issues are common, but I find the timing a bit suspicious – RIM is down, and I wonder if Dolby sees them as vulnerable. Either way not good for RIM.

Comics:
Mini-story developing, so far the reviews of 'Green Lantern' don't seem to be too good. As of this posting it's 23% fresh at Rotten Tomatoes..

Music:
Sony is bringing it's music service, Qriocity, to Android. This competes with Google's own music service. And maybe HP's service if it happens. Meanwhile both compete with Apple, and . . . you get the idea. Between this and Pandora, have I missed something? Are music services still not so widespread we need more?

Anyway if this is a trend, you might find some viable career options in music tech. I just don't know how long it'll last.

Publishing:
A library is lending Kindles. Each loaded, each focusing on a different genre. Fascinating, and I sense some new business model may be coming into being here . . .

Security:
Really? LulzSec versus Anonymous? This sounds interesting – and hey, a business idea would be hack reports to cover, well, things like this.

In less amusing hack news, Google is removing a lot of spyware-tainted apps from the Android Market. Man it is Mac versus Windows again – with Android in the role of Windows. This is why I'm pretty careful with my apps, but this is just sad. Google and others will need to be careful with PR, and you'll need to make sure any App you put out has a good rep.

Bitcoin may not be so secure, as this heist shows. I always had the gut feeling Bitcoin was too good to be true. Let's see what happens, because though I can see this working, I see too many options for failure without careful navigation.

Social Media:
Ning is going to allow people to charge for access to the social networks they run. Sound like a bad idea? I disagree – allowing people to create and monetized a valued social network may be a great business plan. Imagine a specific, selective, social network focused, say, on one profession or theme – I could see people ponying up money for access.

Technology:
The Chrome books are available. Yes, I'm tempted.

Video:
Warner launches an on-demand video service in China? I didn't see that coming. Sounds like Warner is getting a jump on foreign markets (other companies may need to pay attention). Might be a market to look into for your work.

Video Games:
The PR Firm handling Duke Nukem threatens to punish sites running negative reviews. I don't know how many there are running POSITIVE reviews. Anyway this flashed across Twitter as well last night and the company in question, The Redner Group, was pretty humiliated, and rightfully so. A good reminder to hire the right PR firm – and I have the feeling Redner may not be doing to hot in the future.

There's a bit of confused news, but EA seems to be ready to throw down with Steam with their new distribution system. The confusion is who pulled Crysis from Steam – it appears to be Valve. Also people may not like some of their policies.

Suda 51 is making an Evangelion Rhythm Game. I got nothing.

STORY OF THE DAY: Are we in the midst of a tech bubble?  Again?

– Steven Savage

Economics/Geekonomics:
Thoughts on if the current slowdown is temporary or a double-dip recession is happening. It's got some good data, but isn't exactly committal.

A focused by powerful legal smackdown against MERS in New York. If you're following the issue it's worth taking a look at – and looking at the comments. I'm still wondering when/if this issue is going to expand further into consciousness – say . . . around a campaign . . .

Geek Law:
Apple strikes a patent agreement with Nokia, essentially settling their litigation battle. Well, for now. I'm wondering if Nokia is going to start playing patent troll at this rate (they have enough unsurety as it is). They could even be a not-so-secret weapon for Microsoft – and some people think Android may be next.

Anime/Asian Culture/Manga:
Yu-Gi-Oh has set a guineas records as the best-selling trading card to date. Man, has it been 12 years? Looks like it's still going . . .

Virtual star Hatsune Miku's Anime Expo Concernt is so big not all seats can be sold. It just keeps rolling – and I wonder if the phenomena is going to ever get its own American or European equivalent (hint, hint, you creative people).

Cleantech/Greentech:
Google invests $280 million in residential solar power. Always diversifying it seems.

Ecosystems:
A rumor that Amazon is going to stream movies to its branded tablets? Yeah, I'm not surprised, though it's nice to have a bit more of a reliable source.

Media:
How Rich Antoniello turned a magazine into an online ad network that's highly choosy.

Mobile:
Gartner says Microsoft will beat Apple mobile-wise by 2015. Challenge accepted . . .

Publishing:
The Small Business minister of Australia predicts bookstores will be mostly wiped out by online shopping in 5 years. I'm not sure about 5 years, but I do agree with him that A) there will be less stores, and B) businesses may need to be aware. I myself am trying to imagine the social shifts that could occur in such a world as well . . .

Security:
Now an arrest of 32 people in Turkey suspected of hacking possibly thought to be members of Anonymous. As usual I'm suspicious that they're using Anonymous as a cover to arrest these people, but I can say that regarding hacking "shit is getting real" very quickly these days.

LulzSec launches attachs on various gaming sites. It's a pretty hefty load of attacks. Thoughts on this A) These things are just proof of the need for better internet security and the opportunities there, and B) I don't think they're winning any friends anymore.

Considering the recent issues of hacking and hacktivism (and the bizarre legal and political activities in France), I'd watch to see if concerns offer hacks and security metastasizes into cultural memes. If it gets into a bunch of films and TV, if it keeps in sensationalistic news, then you may see a lot of political and social actions on hacking – most of it, doubtlessly, ill-advised.

Social Media:
Facebook was quick to counter claims of a decline. Well with tons of IPO value you can kind of understand it – and you have to move fast in the age of social media. Still it seems like they're a bit oversensitive.

Pandora's IPO is coming on 6/15. So let's see how much people want IPOs post-LinkedIn.

Technology:
Some pretty noteworthy venture capitals – E-retail market targeted TellApart raises $13 million, Parking App maker Streetline raises $15 million(For a parking app? Wow!), and Lego Universe-alike Roblox raises $4 million. Some pretty odd stuff here, which has my attention. But Streetline's $15 million haul for a dead-practical application is pretty telling – its smart and simple.

Video:
Comcast is trying to work with Facebook and other firms for a 'next generation TV experience' which I'm guessing is pretty much the same as what Apple and Google are trying, and what Amazon might well do.

Video Games:
Well, the overall consensus is Duke Nukem is at best lame, so here's a review that seems to sum up the low points. The main issues seem to be the offensiveness-that's-not-funny making the lameness even worse – and the offensiveness seems to be really bad. I'm a fan of Gearbox, both historically and for the insanely awesome 'Borderlands,' so I'd like to think they can move beyond this salvage operation.

Steam is allowing micro-transaction games. This is considered a big deal because of the move to freemium/free-to-play receiving some validation. Smart move by Steam.

Video Game Sales hit a four year low – Now that's games, consoles, and accessories. It doesn't sound like it includes microstransactions, some DLC, and so on. But it's something to watch – and to figure out why (or if this is an anomaly).

COOL SITES:
Want to keep up on cleantech? There's a site for that.

QUESTION OF THE DAY:Amazon's movie streaming is obvious – so what do you think they'll do that most people aren't seeing?

– Steven Savage

Legal actions, police actions, why Groupon will fail, changes to Windows development . . . what a day in geeky career news!

Economics/Geekonomics:
We've had six weeks of stock market declines. And the evidence usually indicates this is followed by a rally – or a crash/correction. I'm not sure myself, so I present this interesting data.

Geek Law:
iCloud communications sues Apple over the iCloud name – and to be fair, they seem to have a pretty open case and no malice. I'm with the author – I think they'll settle. I just have to wonder though did Apple do any research on the name – because it seems this would have come up pretty easily.

Ecosystems:
HP is in the initial stages of creating a digital music service – apparently starting with an outreach to entertainment. OK so now everyone is apparently doing this – though HP does seem to be thinking a bit radically as of late, so it may be a more "outrageous" approach. Certainly they seem the Ecosystems evolving and may want a part of it – or not to be left behind.

On the other hand? With all these music services, they either can't all survive, will be spun off/merge to get wider reach, or will survive and evolve. You need to be aware of what's up – though with everyone jumping on this bandwagon, it may be a place for your career or services.

Publishing:
Thoughts on what Amazon should do with it's Kindle iPad App. Some good thoughts – and I'd missed the use of HTML5 apps to go around Apple. Complicated, complicated again – and a reminder that in Ecosystem times, these little wars aren't over by a long shot. (And if you're a developer you're at least looking into HTML 5, right?).

Speaking of Kindle, Radio Shack is now selling it. Yeah, I keep forgetting they're around (oh, how far they fell from the time I bought resistors there). Of course in an age of gadgetization, Radio Shack might just be poised for a comeback as a kind of all-device store – . . . hmmmm. Keep that in mind for later.

Security, Outages, and More:
Codemasters, the game developer, got hacked. So, age of more hacks or are we just hearing more about them now?

Looks like Anonymous attacked a Spanish police site after the arrests. I still think the arrests had little to do with Sony. I also think Anonymous could become a convenient scapegoat for hacked companies, and am curious as to how their public image will evolve.

Nintendo and Epic are hacked too.

Social Media:
Facebook growth slows for the second month in a row. Whats weird? It's loosing people in developed nations, while gaining them in the developing world. That's actually pretty important since it may mean they've got an obvious growth cap – and that could affect stock value when the IPO rolls around. It also may be a good indicator that specialist initiatives like Backpane are viable because a market cap hints at untapped potential.

Oh, and it looks like Facebook's IPO could top $100 billion.

Tablets:
Asus is apparently selling a ton of Ee e Pad Transformer tablets. Well, let's see if it's worth it – but it IS Asus.

Technology:
Cafepress to go public. I don't think they'll get a rush like LinkedIn – but if they DO, then I'd take it as a sign of an existing or potential bubble. Watch this space. Oh, and it might be worth sending them a resume if they're getting all ambitious – San Mateo is a lovely place.

MUST READ: Why Groupon Is Poised For Collapse. A deep analysis of Groupon's practices and business that point out definite flaws. A lot of this reminds me of issues in the financial industry that led to the economic collapse, and it sets off my warning bells. I always figured Groupon was un-viable due to the inevitable issues that always come up with advertising, but the flaws in their model are explored in detail here. My cynicism is further increased – and note that a Groupon collapse could be one of (many) phenomena that get people to pull back from the tech market.

MUST READ PART II: THE MUSTREADENING: Development for Windows 8 is going to change radically – As it appears to be heavily based on web standards. If you've never been a Microsoft programmer, it's usually a constant ritual of keeping up – to give you an idea, I stopped programming 8 years ago and at this point the dominant dev technologies are largely things I never had to deal with. Well the next step, Windows 8, sounds pretty damn radical, and it may mean programmers have a lot to learn and adjust to. If you're keeping up with Windows, or want to develop for it, keep up with this news.

On the other hand if you work with a Windows competitor, this is awesome news because they're going to make things much harder on devs. And on a third hand, this sounds like Microsoft is trying to change radically as predicted here.

Television:
HBO wants to adapt Neil Gaiman's 'American Gods' into a six-season arc. Remember my theory that HBO might become The Epic Adaption Network? This would be that and then some – since getting six seasons would have to expand on the book. This is a big bet on HBO's part, and I'm seeing all sorts of possibilities – that they could become an Epic Engine (and suck up all sorts of after-broadcast profits), that they become a kind of production/distribution house, etc. Certainly it's courageous, and those working on or with media properties may want to eye HBO.

Video Games:
Nintendo président Fils Aime is interviewed and discusses the Wii U. He seems pretty adamant the Wii U controller is not going to be a tablet substitute or even a DS replacement. He's a bit dodgy about some things, so I don't think we're getting it all, needless to say.

THQ closes two of it's studios.

QUESTION OF THE DAY: Will Microsoft's move to changing development – again – help or hurt Windows 8?

– Steven Savage