News and Analysis

Jailbreaking is now on the "Legal" side of the law, Comic-con was great but not what it was at the same time, Sony is getting profitable . . . lots of changes, lots of must-know geek career news!

Career:
Creating the world's best resume. I don't agree with all of this (especially the part about unemployment being a people problem), but there's a lot of good stuff here. I especially like the points on creating value.

Geek Law:
EFF gets legal exceptions allowing jailbreaking of phones. An interesting case leveraging, of all things, fair use. 1) I expect this to make some changes in smartphone company policies, and 2) Expect this case to be used elsewhere by the EFF and others.

Anime and Manga . . . and Comics and Animation:
Marvel to have 4 Anime Series (done by Studio Madhouse) running on G4. Several takes on this. 1) G4 probably needs this. 2) This will further obscure AND amplify the what-is-anime debate. 3) Some or all of these may indeed be the prime-time animated series Marvel was talking about. 4) Some of this looks quite mature, so I think this shows Disney isn't going to water things down. 5) Somehow they made Wolverine-with-supermodel-looks work.

Media:
The Biggest Winners And Loosers At Comic-Con – Including . . . comics. Comic-con seems to be less about comics all the time – while still being heavy on superheroes.

Movies:
Karl Urban to play Judge Dredd. This is interesting because it shows people think the last film is no longer in public consciousness, and choosing Urban shows a level of seriousness for the project – Urban is a very adaptable actor. I wonder if this is part of a second "British Invasion" like Bonnie and I discussed.

Social Media:
How one woman talked her way into a community management position. It's pitched Gen Y, but has lots of good tips.

Technology:
Security Tech company Red Lambda raises $10 million in investments. They're in Florida. Fancy some sun and proximity to Disney Land? Send them a resume!

Sony may return to profitability in Q1. Been quite a journey for them, but they have endured. Now once they return to profitability, what are they going to do next . . .

Looks like paying for Apps on Android is going to get easier. There's another narrowing of the iPhone/Android gap.

Video Games:
StarCraft II pre-orders at 800,000. Just so you know.

QUESTION OF THE DAY: Marvel's Anime Plans – what do you think the results will be?

– Steven Savage

A new Avatar: The Last Airbender changes the world of Four Nations, Google Editions changes print and bookstores, and the housing market . . . changes for the worse. Change is good, so let's see what's shaking in must-know geek job news!

Economics/Geekonomics:
Guess what? Expect home prices to keep getting lower.

Media:
Avatar the Last Airbender TV Series gets a sequel/spinoff. My guess is this was qued up before the movie fiasco hit, but they're probably accelerating it due to the dismal performance. Either way, this sounds like the Avatar property is full steam ahead, with a sequel set 70 years in the future, which promises steampunk, social conflict, and more. I'm quite pumped and feel the Four Nations World has a lot more tales to tell – and I wonder if this will spawn a larger media empire (that may need you . . .)

Movies:
Disney to make less films and focus to make sure large-budget films are globally merchandisable. Some of this sounds actually reasonable, some of it sounds like Disney got burned a bit as of late. Something to remember in your media career plans.

Publishing:
Here comes Google Editions – It's an eBookstore – but one that has social networking aspects and lets small bookstores craft their own eBookstores. It sounds more universal and focused on the idea that the book is cloud-stored. More competition is good, of course . . . but now we writers have something ELSE to keep track of technically.

Social Media:
Here comes Flipboard for iPad – A social media integrator that uses the magazine metaphor to make your use of Social Media (currently Facebook and Twitter) easier. It looks pretty impressive – and I like the idea of a different social media metaphor. Watch this one – it seems Google wants to support smaller bookstores, which could rally people to them.

Technology:
The hell? Some Dell motherboards have malware? That's just bizarre, and scary.

Apple Profits are awesome. No one surprised. However despite their current performance – and I suspect good future performance, Apple's position in the market has changed rapidly. They'll need to adapt – and adapt to what appears to be changing media narratives. Still they're doing awesome, and if I dare say so, deserve the praise.

Video:
Netflix wants to stream more TV shows. Sure, not surprising – but they sound very aggressive and have a STRONG user base. Could shift the balance of power out there in video land. Needless to say, Netflix is a crush object here.

Video Games:
HeyZap to make it easier to put games on any sites. Simple and slick bits of coding, let's see how this plays out.

QUESTION OF THE DAY: What do you think of Google Editions – is it one of many strategies, or a deliberate long-term change in business models for Google?

– Steven Savage