Sears verus Netflix, viruses versus Android, Group On raises money, and the housing market should keep being horribe. It's your must-know geek job news!
Careers:
Mashable and more are hiring.
Hiring in Silicon Valley isn't a cakewalk.
Economics/Geekonomics:
MUST READ: A look at why house prices will drop another 20%. What makes it a must read, beyond the repercussions, is that this is told with huge amounts of graphs that help illustrate the points well. It's informative geekonomically and a good example of explaining things.
Some food for thought on the fact that Foreclosure speeds vary from State to state. From the commentary on this, I wonder if banks and related firms actually are not just disorganized/fraudlent about many foreclosures but don't have the manpower dedicated to them. That sounds like a self-fulfilling prophecy where the foreclosure process could simply grind to a halt as understaffed companies and groups can't keep up with the backlog and increasing scrutiny.
Initial jobless claims are down. I'm hoping this is a sign of improvement.
Comic Books:
An interesting question: Is the Spider-Man musical hurting theater? An interesting read on both that theory and how tough Theater is. I also am coming to the conclusion that, as actor Sam Gregory says, that this is a circus – and no one wants to back down.
Mobile:
The smaller Horseman of the CorpTechPocalypse? Enterprise mobile app company Appconomy raises $1.5 million. OK, not a lot of money, but I'm not sure they need that much, and they have a serious focus on business mobile apps, which fits a lot of our recent discussion on corporate IT going away into SaaS, service, and mobile. I'm going to want to watch these guys.
And there's a trojan that can affect Android. Android has arrived.
Publishing:
Kindle allows eBook lending. That's a clear good idea and provides more power to the Kindle – though at the time you can only do it via the web. Beyond this noteworthy feature – and Amazon further cementing its dominance – there's some good analysis here on Nook versus Kindle. Just remember self-publishers you need to decide if your book is loanable or not.
Some great thoughts on Newspapers and why the problem is trying to retain the format when information is important. Social Media:
Looks like Social Media didn't have a huge influence on purchasing choices. If that holds that's trouble for some commercialization efforts.
Technology:
Groupon planning to raise a ton of money – As in hundreds of millions MORE. The analysis here is one I agree with – I think the money can stabilize them in a global market, expand, and go for an IPO. Everyone's eyes are on them, which means of course everyone is going to be predicting their failure at regular intervals like Twitter. Are they worth working at? We'll I've got about 950 million reasons to give it a shot, but it sounds like they're going to be unpredictable for awhile.
Will Google be a phone carrier – and is there more to it? Beyond the usual suggestions, the article looks at the net neutrality fight as far more than people may have seen. Could the flaws in the net neutrality plan suddenly mean Google is at an advantage . . . go on and let your mind wander (and if even half this is true, Google needs to be treated as a political/cultural entity, not a business one. Well it needs that anyway.)
Video:
Is Sears competing with Netflix? OK, yes, that sounds weird but it seems they kind of are. You may laugh, but remember they have a huge physical footprint (and think of Redbox's use of physical footprint). Yes, it's incredibly strange, but if you told me ten years ago I'd be playing MMO's on my phone I'd also have laughed.
Finally Matt Smith, the Eleventh Doctor, gives a child suffering Leukaemia the best Christmas Ever. Good show Mr. Smith.
QUESTION OF THE DAY: Let's not speculate if Sears could take on Netflix – let's ask HOW.
– Steven Savage