News and Analysis

We just lost the charismatic,driven, and talented Tony Curtis, and now I'm sad to say we lost the writing/producing genius Stephen J. Cannell. Just looking over this list I'm amazing how famous some of his work is.

In these moments I always remind myself that its up to us to replace the greats no longer with us.

Now to the news:

Career:
The people that will get a bigger raise than you. I'd also note they're likely to get the job beofre you too.

PR Skills – relevant no matter where you go

Economics/Geekonomics:
Gold is 'Hyper-Overbought' says Dennis Gartman. I think he's got a point, gold buying in a crisis seems to be a fad, not a rational calculation. Hmm, could we have a gold bubble . . .

Savings is up, and here's just how they're saving. Mmmm, delicious infographic!

And another yummy infographic, State Debt represented visually. Not only is this informative, this graph is a work of sheer genius. Appreciate what this tells you about relocation, AND the graphical brilliance.

Cleantech investement seems down – I do agree there was a bit of a bubble.

Technology:
Don't expect the flood of apps to let up – There's money (and low delivery costs) in there, and lots of investors.

Microsoft's lawsuit against the Motorola Droid? Targeting Android according to this article.

Video Games:
Taliban removed from multiplayer by EA in next 'Medal of Honor' – I imagine it was rather too close. This makes me wonder just what game companies will do with historic events – considering they've mined WWII, will there be more issues of historical sensitivity in the future?

An everyday life MMO/casual game merger? Not sure what to make of this, but it sounds like an interesting fusion of gaming – playing (originally) ordinary people in a setting. Presented for curiosity.

MUST READ: The Social/Social Media Sensation of Minecraft. Lots of great insights and tidbits. I'm intrigued by the social nature of the success – but also the idea of a constantly-updated game being part of the future.

QUESTION OF THE DAY: Minecraft – exception or the future of game marketing?

– Steven Savage

OK look no snappy lines.  We have a LOT of news!

Big News For Nerds Today: AOL acquired Tech Crunch (a site we use a lot here). Some thoughts here, posted before the announcement. I find that this purchase fits AOL's news-focus (and may enhance TechCrunch's ability to go local), and the event-organizing side would give AOL other things to do. I'm tentatively positive on this, and want to see what else AOL has up their sleeves – I can see them making a kind of media juggernaught out of spare parts, one that might provide a lot of opportunity in the future. Certainly their new add project, Project Devil seems innovative

Career:
Networking for young people. A great article for those of you whose networks are limited due to your lack of being old.

LinkedIn has improved company profiles. This is pretty sweet (and makes things harder on, say Crunchbase. It makes LinkedIn even more of a useful research tool for careers, reporting, etc.

Economics/Geekonomics:
That story on rating agency shennanegans is more complex than we thought – and there may be less guilt for some parties than thought. A bit econo-heavy but might be worth reading if you're . . . well, like me.

Green Dot, the successful tech company you never heard of. Here's a lesson in success, and why you can never quite be sure you're on top of all issues.

Anime and Manga:
Whats up with Del Ray's manga? There are no new titles for solicitation listed after November 2010. More a curiosity than anything else, so let's see what happens.

Mobile:
It's looking a lot like you'll see Google Voice for the iPhone. Looks like that kerfluffle was settled – and it may make people more willing to develop for the iPhone.

Publishing:
Resume-worthy alert. Verve Wireless raises $7 million. They work in wireless and ad distribution for newspaper and other media companies. Sounds promising.

More news on new Fan To Pro Crush Object Kno: a look at their plans. Some of the same stuff for yesterday, but what can I say – new Crush Object.

Social Media:
Twitter's Streaming API comes out of Beta which means that apps using Twitter are going to get a lot more real-time – and this changes Twitter's potential from microblogging to regular updates. They're also bigger than MySpace, and have the CEO of Google's confidence that they can monetize.

Facebook IPO in 2012? Possibly Might want to get in if you want those juicy stock options . . . and a Facebook IPO would become an event unto itself.

The top 5 brand trends on Facebook, to give those of you into advertising and social media something to think about.

Technology:
NetShelter raises $15 million. They sell ads on a variety of websites and tech-focused blogs. Nice bit of change there. Sounds like they're worthy our attention if media and tech is your bag.

Trends in Web Logos – good for you graphic designers and webmasters to see what's popular, and what's annoyingly overused. I have to say I can't argue with this list . . .

Open Office separates itself from Oracle – big news for the popular open platform. Where does it go from here?

Video:
Hulu Plus on both Roku AND Tivo? Apparently so. This might also help the troubled Tivo. Is it just me or is every video service wanting to be like Netflix and be everywhere? That makes sense, but I think it means video tools are going to have to keep piling on the services just to keep up with each other – it could get even crazier out there.

Video Games:
Zynga gets new offices as they move on up. Meanwhile PopCap CEO disses Zynga by calling them a marketing company and suggesting their time will end. I sense increasing tension here . . .

Minecraft is making $350,000 a day. I wonder how much of that is due to the mention in Penny Aracde 1, 2(though I hear it's a good game period). A heck of an indie success story – and maybe some techniques to emulate?

Frogster interactive doubles revenue. If you're in Berlin, they may be for you . . .

Virtual Goods:
Virtual Good Market expected to increase by 40% in 2011. The Inside Virtual Goods report focuses on 2011 being a maturing of the virtual good market – and note this covers almost every technology using them. I still think the market has to top at some point.

QUESTION OF THE DAY: What do you think AOL's strategy is after this purchase?

– Steven Savage