News and Analysis

Career:
Start the job search? Aren't you always on one? – Food for thought.

Anime and Manga:
Kodansha makes its move with it's own comic line. It will START with Akira and Ghost in the Shell, and appears to be (you guessed it) tapping their extensive back catalogue and looking at multimedia franchises. This is a big move – they have big titles, the connections, a backlog, and ambition and knowledge. This is going to make other manga companies (with licences) nervous, and means many possible other efforts and tie-ins – and thus opportunities. Also (see Comics news below) more shifts in the comics market.

Comics:
DC comics appears to be moving to the west coast – As part of the DC reorg. If true (and so far it looks reasonable), it's a huge cultural shift for comics and represents serious changes to the DC world (and pretty much further adsorption into TW). It ALSO changes where you, the comic pro, could work . . .

Technology:
Windows 7 seems very netbook-friendly, in a market that is increasingly seeking bargains – Food for thought on how machines are selling and what sells – and what sells is often cheap.

Video:
Google paid MORE for YouTube than they thought it was worth – Apparently thinking it was a premium purchase. A bit of an artifact to think over when we evaluate Google's plans and assumptions about the value of YouTube.

More trouble too in Viacom's suit against YouTube: evidence of deliberate copyright violation by employees? I keep forgetting this lawsuit is there, but it could add more problems to the legal side of the video wars.

Video Games:
PopCap raises $22.5 million to expand into social games – The major surprise seems to be that the company is profitable, and still went and looked for cash. My guess is they clearly see Facebook and other areas as important and want to move in agressively. So it's them versus Zynga, Playdom, and the others . . .

Finally some humor:
Facebook and Superheroes.

Boss Monster Wine – Yes, geekery you can drink! I support geekiness entering all aspects of lives and salute the brewers. Now, let's see if the folks in the apartment want to spring for a pack . .

– Steve

Economics/Freakonomics/Geekonomics:
Nouriel Roubini and others on the recovery – What does 'Doctor Doom' say? Pretty much the stock market gains aren't realistic, and more stimulus is needed. He sounds less negative than he has, at least.

Despite some lousy numbers there's a slight sign of recovery in the job market after 18 months. I'm not going to get too optimistic. In fact It'd take a year of definite job growth and a return to 5% or so unemployment for me to get optimistic.

Feeling like the news hasn't covered economic issues affecting the average American? You're right.

Anime and Manga:
Crunchyroll picks up Fairy Tale and Sasameki Koto. Sasameki Koto is the first title from Media Factory Crunchyroll has picked up, and seems to be part of diversifying their offerings.

Media:
MUST READ: What's media evolving into? Media as a Service. Just the way Software is becoming a service, it may be a model for media. A good article for anyone whose job or interest is in media, from comics to TV and more. See Crunchyroll, above . . .

Publishing:
Conde Nast closes four magazines – They were basically losing money, but these are big names like 'Gourmet' and 'Modern Bride.' Money loss aside, these are historical changes, and will doubtlessly recofus attendion on the plight of the publishing industry.

Social Media:
Get the stats on Twitter's valuation and investments. I just get uncomfortable reading these.

Why Social Media marketing/media efforts fail – A concise read that hits all the high points in my opinion. Good for marketers and those with their own business.

Technology:
Adobe Flash is everywhere . . . but the iPhone except that Adobe is releasing a product to turn Flash Apps into iPhone apps. So in short, the iPhone can't run flash on the web, but you can make iPhone apps in flash – which probably means we'll see a lot of people making even more iPhone Apps. Flash is a mostly unavoidable part of online life, so I still see this as a disadvantage for Apple – it seems more Adobe is targeting retention of developers.

You Can Haz Analysis of ICanHasCheezBurger.com success – Interesting (mostly for the additional links), and a reminder that, among all the many internet businesss, one of the most well known ones involves silly captions.

Video Games:
A vote is coming in the Venezuelan National Assembly on a ban on violent video games – Not a big impact necessarily, but I note it as these things often seem to propigate . . .

– Steven Savage