News and Analysis

Sad News, Joanne Siegel, wife of Jerry Siegel and model for Lois Lane passed away at the age of 93

Economics/Geekonomics:
MERS lacks right to transfer mortgages. Why do you care? The company behind MERS holds half of all US mortgages and was created to assist with mortgage transfers (and of course get around mortgage paperwork). In short, it's processes don't comply with the law, a ton of banks and loan agencies used them, and this can screw up transfers, foreclosures, everything.

Gee, people behind derivatives trading wouldn't engage in Astroturfing, would they? Stupid question, they would. A lot of people make a lot of money – and screwed a lot up – and are afraid of new regulation. Remember new regulation may not just stop some transactions, it might just dig up old things . . .

Geek Law:
The Righthaven case could make things more complicated for media companies, depending on how the decision goes. never thought about this, probably worth reading.

Cleantech/Greentech:
WOW. Brightsource raises $89.6 million. They're working on a solar thermal plant in the Mojave. That's a lot of cash for an interesting venture. Oakland is not exactly the idea workplace for people (neither is the Mojave), but man that's a LOT of money . . .

Soldagim, which makes self-tinting windows (which also help control temperature and building environment) raises $10 million. Sweet little piece of technology. They also got a loan to put a factor in Missisippi. Smart people, good tech – it might not be sexy, but I like what I see here. Resume-worthy.

Mobile:
Tango, which makes a 3G/4G video calling app raised $8.7 million. They've got a slick product there, and it scales well. I suspect they'll probably get bought by someone, but it may be a place to get into for the benefits (and the buyout oppos). Resume-worthy.

Publishing:
Looks like Apple really does want a 30% cut of subscriptions under many conditions. This is something I'm both uncomfortable with, yet also understand – as Apple's logic seems to be they're why the person got the app in the first place. At the same time 30% seems like an awful lot. This is more aggressive than I expected, and I think it's a bad move for Apple. Read the whole thing to get the picture.

Social Media:
Ads that allow you to 'Like' and share them? Maybe it's the technophile in me, but I like this idea from RadiumOne. Sure they used to be someone else, but I really think this is idea is clever, and at least someone is rethinking Ads. Let's see how they do – and you may want to give them a reuse.

Technology:
GetJar, which has its own App store on many platforms, raised $25 million. Sounds resume-worthy.

HTC (the guys who are investing in OnLive), launches a powerful 7" Android tablet.

Video Games:
Zynga is still trying to raise funds, and they're going to some big names (Fidelity, T. Rowe). After Goldman got a piece of Facebook, I'd certainly consider a piece of Zynga (which does make things).

Pokemon card game goes online. I didn't see this coming, interesting to see.

QUESTIONS OF THE DAY: How are people going to react to Apple's pricing?

– Steven Savage

No I don't know what was up with the Grammys either. I think I hallucinated a Peacock and muppets singing with Gwennyth Paltrow. But I do know we've got geek news!

Demographics:
Sounds like someone in Kentucky gets megaregions. Could Kentucky leverage its advantages by taking a super-regional/megaregional approach?

MUST READ: Ed Glaeser on how to unleash our cities. Some smart stuff, some controversial, all interesting. I'm coming around to the idea that a focus on cities is needed in government, business, and culture.

Culture:
Are we in an age of a kind of Digital Feudalism and content farming? This article has me thinking, starting from the AOL-Huffington Post marriage, but going farther. It also suggests t me content providers (I don't know if I like that term) need to think way far ahead to have a profitable business . . .

Comics:
DC is canceling some titles apparently to make room for the Flashhpoint mini-series. I suspect there's more than we think here, but that's me.

Social Media:
Twitter's CEO wants it to be like plumbing. Humorous metaphors aside, I get the idea – it's is on the way to being there. A few other fun details on Twitter are in this article.

UberMedia, the Twitter Tool company, just raised $17.5 million. They're building a nice suite of third-party Twitter tools. Smart people, good folks on the team, I'd say send them a resume . . . and keep in mind some of these social media services spawn pretty nice ventures on their own.

Technology:
Zendesk releases their customer support platform on the iPad. This is serious CorpTechPocalypse stuff – because Zendesk is a SaaS customer support system that's pretty good (I use it), and it's on the iPad, which is basically more famous and beloved than Justin Bieber. That's a powerful combo, and another example of how various trends are coming together to change corporate IT.

HTML 5 is done in 2014. Mark your calendars. Maybe we'll get a guy dressed as a Peacock to sing about it.

Interesting: Credit Card fraud is up 62% since 2009.

Take some time to examine the common feuds in technology.

Video:
Netflix is on the Boxee. Note Boxee also supports Vudu (which I forgot). I think we have reached the point where Netflix support is NOT optional – it's expected.

Qualcomm's latest processors should make running video on Android devices easy. Netflix is of course mentioned. Slick stuff – and tells me Qualcomm is keeping an eye on the future pretty well. Oh it also tells me that video may be a reason for people to trade in devices in the future . . .

QUESTION OF THE DAY: What is left for Netflix to be ON?

Finally, catch my interviews at the Geeky Manifestos Blog.

– Steven Savage