News and Analysis

News of the Day 9/10/2009

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Career:
We love our technology, but the new trend in video resumes might not be exactly for you. This is a must-read for those of us interestedin creative resumes.

Start networking in college now – great advice, and not just for college students.

Economics/Freakonomics/Geekonomics:
Household income is down, obviously, and it's not pretty – It's also widespread.

Those graphs at Econompicdata also point out the issues with employment here.

What is missing in the economy? Trust. A roundup of commentary and writing on this vital issue. This is vital for understanding a lot of economic issues, social issues, and business issues. I'd go as far to note that trust is also valid to your career and your small business – as it's kind of sparse right now. How many companies out there don't have trust – and how many do?

Anime and Manga:
Seven Seas is moving some titles to electronic media.

Comics:
The industry is reacting to the DC shakeup. A nice roundup from various people in the industry. I of course figure the reorg is incredibly obvious (and this may be a case of job opportunities of course). However I think one of DC's strengths is not being leveraged – characters that aren't top stringers. Metal Men has excellent animated potential (or game potential). The Blackhawk series has great game potential (gamers never get tired of WWII). You could MAKE an entire MMO of the Green Lantern Corps alone.

Mobile:
Info on Android's place at Motorola and it's own recovery plans.

Publishing:
Google is working ona payment system for content – I'm going to watch this one, it has a chance to be a market they're well-suited to leverage.

The whole Google-Amazon-book-rights debacle continues with Amazon being slammed by an author's group. At this rate I am ready to yell "enough" – it's clear good sound policy has been replaced by legal wrangling for some time.

Video Games:
And as you know Apple is going after the game market. Though there are plenty of games, what I've seen hasn't impressed me – I don't think the iPhone is going to replace the mid-to-hardcore gamers use of handhelds, but it does have a chance to snatch the casual market easy, and this is an additional selling point. The problem is Apple needs the right big titles to sell (and better App Store relations). Not something for Sony and Nintendo to panic over – but something they'll need to keep in mind.

The Everything Wars just got more complicated with this move. Apple now moves into gaming, which challenges Sony and Nintendo, and peripherally old enemy Microsoft. The iPhone now is a gaming platform, but there's Android (from Google) moving into it's space (and tons of Linux apps and tools to leverage). Don't forget we've also got the whole eBook mess in this as well.

Toys R Us' game tradeins are covering all sorts of games – Sounds like a bit of a publicity stunt, but an interesting one.

Wizardry 101 has had a successful year – Five million subscribers, good buzz, very nice. We remember when it first game out.

-Steven Savage

Save us all from regional ignorance

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Recently, Bonnie posted a link to an article on the rather unsettling fact that only about 60% of employable Californians are working.  Yes, that doesn't necessarily mean they're looking for work – but it's a lower percentage than previously (the peak was 65% of the population working, which doesn't sound very excting either).  What I find most intriguing as this news rockets around the internet is that a lot of posters commenting on it don't really seem to know what they're talking about – which is a valuable lesson for relocation.

As I am a person that moved to California a few years ago, I quickly became aware that California is best understood as a country because of its level of complexity.  I also became painfully aware that, when it comes to California, most people don't know what they're talking about – this is a state with a huge constitution, complex politics, interesting issues in raising taxes on the state level (think it can be done with a simple majority vote?  Wrong, it takes 2/3), a prominent place in the US and world economy, and more.  Some Californians seemed clueless, but they were nothing compared to people I'd encounter in other states who assumed that, somehow, they were experts on where I'd relocated to.

And this is why all my past advice on using your fandom contacts and good research to understand targets of relocation is important.  California is on the high end of Incredibly Complex States, but it's not the only one.

And when you assess relocation, there's often a lot of misinformation.

Read more

News of the Day 9/4/2009

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Career:
Law may not be a geeky profession, but it is one many consider. Here's an article on why being in law school is probably a lousy idea – it costs a lot, opportunities are lessening. Frankly, it seems we've got too many lawyers. A blogger adds some venomously insightful additions here. This isn't a new phenomena – I've been seeing issues of "law overload" happen since the late 80's. I also have known successful lawyers, and I assure you they put in absolutely insane amounts of effort to get where they are.

A clever student uses some art and an unusual public contest to land a job – Very clever, and inspiring.

A great list of brand strategy principles – Good for personal as well as company branding.

Economics/Geekonomics/Freakonomics:
Roubini talks, you listen. The 'Doctor Doom' of Economics sees a U-shaped recession likely with the chance of another dip into recession. This is in line with other predictions I've been seeing, the upshot being it's gonna be tough for 3 or so years and we might have a relapse. I myself am pretty much embracing the new normal and staying frugal, working on career I enjoy AND that pays well, and staying informed and nimble.

Anime and Manga:
Crunchyroll teams up with Media International to broadcast Beast Player Erin – Once again, the Crunchyrollers get something cool (I'm intrigued) and get it out with global simulcasts. It's been awhile since I've talked (or drooled) over Crunchyroll, but they're still players – and perhaps moreso with so much of ADV up in the air.

Publishing:
$150 seems to be the magic cost for e-readers to go mass market. Sounds about right to me, intuitiviely – however I'd also note that e-readers working on other devices (iPhones, netbooks, etc.) can change this equation. Still, worth noting – and I feel this is possible. When the prices keep dropping, expect more of a seismic shift.

Synergy:
Twilight embraces the Habbo virtual worlds – Though what a "Jacob's Barn Door" is in the virtual furnishing world I don't know . . . I may not want to. Anyway, for those of you in marketing, I think virtual worlds like Habbo, Gaia, etc. are unavoidable.

Video Games:
The challenges Harmonix faced on the way to making Rock Band – This should be required reading for anyone looking to make games, innovative products, or their own business. An amazing story.

Atari gets snippy with Turbine over their lawsuit – This one has the stench of 'ugly and will not end well' all over it. I'd avoid resumes to Turbine and possibly Atari until this resolves.

BottleRocket Entertainment closes – They weren't a prominent studio, but did some nice work on the "Mark of Kri" series. Sounds like things were nasty with Namco as well.

Star Trek Online goes closed beta – This of course is huge. If ST: Online works it will be a major game, major presence – and lock up a chunk of the potential SF MMO market and spawn imitators. If it doesn't . . . well it could get ugly. So this is a big step, and it means we need to keep watching the game because it will have a big impact either way.

– Steven Savage