trends – Page 28 – Steven Savage

Those Powerful Christmas Gifts

January 5, 2011 by Steven Savage

(Some of this was covered in a past podcast, but I wanted to revisit the idea).

What do the Kindle, the iPad, and Smartphones have in common with Gift Cards?

If you answered "flat and I'm sick of hearing of them as gift options" you're close, but I think you're missing the larger picture. Though I too nearly burnt out on Kindlepadphone news over Christmas, despite my high news-capacity (news is mental jello to me), I believe there is something important about the sales of the Kindle, iPad, and Smartphones over the holiday. In fact, I think there's a trend here that is worth exploring as it's going to affect technology use, and sales, and any jobs related to them.

We've all heard how Amazon's Kindle sales have been awesome. (I did my part in contributing to them as you saw). Of course it seems that iPads are selling like crazy(at least in estimates) and have been doing well since the beginning. Smartphones appear to be hot gifts. So what is this trend beyond "technical stuff sells" that I'm all worked up over?

Christmas, Economics, and The Holiday Spirit

January 3, 2011 by Steven Savage

It seems that in this Holiday Season, a lot of people I know didn't feel very much Christmas Spirit. When I talked to them they said not only they didn't much "sense of the Holiday", but neither did many of their friends. This seeming lack of a Yuletide enthusiasm had me curious, as such things appeal to my psychologist-side, but I couldn't find an answer – until a talk with a co-worker helped clear things up for me.

The Production Revolution Isn’t For All: Money

January 2, 2011 by Steven Savage

I've been spending the last few columns on the Production Revolution, the changes in technology that let any of us produce media. Specifically I've been bringing up the factors that limit people from taking advantage of the tools and technologies available to them and making successful media careers or side businesses. I've discussed the limiting factors of lack of time, the lack of technical skill, and the lack of marketing skill.

I'm not finished discussing the traumatic truths of the Production Revolution limits yet – I've got one more reason why the new tools and tech out there aren't going to turn everyone into a potential artist, musician, or popular author.

Money.