News Of The Day 11/17/2010

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Ups and down today. Bad for 4Kids and Lucas Arts, Great for Glam Media and LinkedIn, and geeky career news all over the board. Lets go!

Anime and Manga:
4Kids is not doing much 4 Profit it seems. Numbers don't look good. Pretty much this is a death/buyout watch as far as I'm concerned.

Media:
Glam Media is hiring and growing. Might I suggest they need a resume?

Discussions on the role of the media mogul. One thing I do take from this is really the era of the mogul as we knew it is over – its companies and services that are the stars.

Mobile:
Google Docs can now be Edited from iPhone and Android browsers. Considering how much use Google Docs is getting this is a good idea, and positions them as more of a mobile collab tool. Of course at this rate mobile collab is sort of an expected norm. Still, shows Google is keeping up with everything.

Movies:
I'm still double-taking on this. Amazon Studios has started. It seems to be a kind of weird networking/demo/collab combination that thenmakes awards and gives exposure. It also alows optioning. I somehow feel that we don't have a full picture yet – or I don't. However this does make me think that between ClearSpace, this, and other efforts, clearly Amazon wants much more of a hand in media production.

Publishing:
Disney brings the cool again with designer comics in itally. You get to select from various stories, put in a message, and produce a custom comic. Honestly, this is something every publisher of comics and serial media should be looking at.

Paging Kno and eBook companies: Campus Bookstores are competing with eBooks and online retailers. I'd imagine the Campus Bookstores are a microcosm of the future considering their clientel is often tech-savvy and looking to save money. I also wonder how much e-Learning has cut into their margins, but they're not aware.

Social Media:
Meebo has raised $25 million. I admit I keep forgetting they're around, but they're expanding beyond what they were.

Eternal Crush Object LinkedIn is adding one person a second to its membership rolls.

Technology:
Apparently feeling left out, HP jumps on the video conferencing bandwagon. Which may be the get-Cisco's market share bandwagon.

Flash Memory may not sound exiting, but it is cool, useful, and Anobit, a flash memory maker, just raised $32 million. Considering how its being used more and more? Yeah, they need your resume, though you'd probably have to move to Israel (unless you're there).

Video:
Hulu Plus is out, it's $7.99 a month, and it's on Roku boxes. More a note that something to base predictions on, worth following. I also suggest that, if the Roku box fails and its technology is used in another tool, that tool be called the "Aaang." Anyone?

Video Games:
Game Social Network GameGround raises $5.3 Million. A social media tool for gamers sounds like it has too much competition from . . . well, everyone. However it has a good team and good investors, and a pretty ambitious reach. The fact that SoftBank is involved encourages me, so I'm going to suggest they're resume-worthy.

Looks like Wisconsin's Film-Based tax credit also paid off for Frozen Codebase. Come on everyone, follow Toronto and Ottawa's lead!

Wow. LucasArts has had layoffs. Sounds like it's related to the Old Republic MMO's transition to EA. Still not good for the people employed there – and probably a reminder to hold off on sending that resume.

OnLive (where are they anyway?) competitor Gaikai goes open Beta. Let the games begin . . . literally.

QUESTION OF THE DAY: So just what can come of the Amazon Studio idea?  Or is there enough to even guess?

– Steven Savage

The Geekonomy And Institutional Memory

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Geekonomy and Institutional Memory

Ah, Institutional Memory.  If you aren't familiar with this concept, it's basically the knowledge transmitted inside an institution – like a religious organization, club, or business.  In the business and career world, it's vital to preserving process, policies, and appropriate technologies.

In the high-speed Geekonomy I'm starting to wonder if we've got a problem with not having enough of it.  Not enough good business processes, not enough preservation of good ideas and designs, and not enough learning lessons.

Think about every time you looked at an insane game controls scheme and wondered if the designers had learned anything from the last twenty years.  Look at all those times a technology company made a boneheaded maneuver that any other company made decades ago – and learned how to prevent.  Consider every situation where some supposedly innovative new tool or idea had been done to death before.

I think the Geekonomy is having issues with Institutional Memory.

Consider the situations:
1) We have companies forming out of stretch that didn't exist a few years ago – or a few months ago.  In some cases they're doing cutting edge technology so they not only have to invent themselves, they have to re-invent themselves for things that never existed.
2) We have huge amounts of technical churn in todays Geekonomy.  Things change, evolve, and get forgotten.  Companies, people, and organizations not only are inventing and discarding technologies, they may not fully be aware of what they're creating and discarding.
3) We have companies entering spheres of business they didn't do previously.  In many cases, sure they may hire people or acquire companies that have some Institutional Memory.  But as we've seen . . . sometimes they don't.
4) We have sudden onslaughts of interest in various media that were once purely limited to geek culture – games, comics, etc.  Does it seem that the same thing gets re-invented?  Like say the superhero origins that are all the same or the standard game adaptions . . .
5) We have young people going into business and companies that are also new and cutting edge – and they have, despite their talents, not an in-depth idea of the lessons of the past.  They may not belong to the associations or groups others do, or even have had the same experience.

I think you get my point.

For we progeeks, let's keep this in mind – because frankly, I do think this is a problem.  Certainly every time I see the repeat of a lame game design or a company making the same mistake, I wonder if anyone is learning here.

Let's remember that this means for us progeeks:
1) If you're an older geek (like myself), you can't count on Institutional Memory at a job or company.  It may not be there – or you may have to provide it.
2) People that can maintain – and leverage – Institutional Memory will have a real advantage and be valuable in the Geekonomy.
3) Companies that have a strong Institutional Memory and can apply it – and move with the times – will have a serious advantage in the modern economy.  You may want to work there . . .
4) There could be a whole business opportunity for you in working in Institutional Memory for Geekonomy-based companies.  Who maintains process, analyzes lessons learned, ensures communication . . .

Institutional Memory is vitally important for survival of a business, and indeed an economy.  In the Geekonomy, you can keep that in mind as it just might provide you some opportunities . . .

– Steven Savage

News Of The Day 11/16/2010

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A lot of news all over the map geek-news wise, so let's go!

Career:
Into Med Tech? Here's a list of companies in the San Diego Area.

Culture:
Seth Godin is on a role with a discussion about arrogance. He notes arrogance is now used as a substitute for competence . . .

Economics/Geekonomics:
Yeah, don't expect an extenuation of jobless benefits. Yeah, I know jobless benefits are actually pretty stimulative. And yeah, the unemployed aren't just going to vanish or find jobs without these benefits.

Geek Law:
TechCrunch in the center of a post-acquisition legal battle. This has been building for awhile, but it complicates life after the acquisition.

Mobile:
Panasonic will start selling Android smartphones, making them . . . really not that unique. Sounds like a good move for them, considering they kind of sat out the whole smarthone thing.

Music:
An Indie Band Survival Guide? Sounds interesting. *I* might check this out to see if it's useful for other media . . .

Publishing:
Part twoof the Paid Content article on why the future of the digital book is big. Interesting, and frankly the point about economics being a driver is important. I'd also add that, with POD and Printers, the print book is going to be easier to get if wanted.

A review of the Color Nook. It sounds good overall, if a bit heavy and the app store isn't open.

Technology:
Official Google Voice iPhone App available. So after all the issues with acceptance, the HTML 5 version, here's an App for Google Phone. I'm not exactly sure what this means, except the controversy may be over.

Adobe doesn't seem primed to sell to Microsoft. Their CEO seems pumped and notes Adobe is certainly doing better. Doesn't mean much except it somewhat clamps down on the possibility of a sale.

Video:
TechCruch reviews the Boxee Box. Sounds pretty decent.

Video Games:
Zynga releases two games on Yahoo. This continues their efforts to get beyond dependancy on Facebook. Smart move on their part. I also figure this will encourage others to make similar efforts.

Bizarre Creations is closed. Looks like their latest game didn't do good enough (and had some bad timing). That's 200 people out of work, and a pretty good reminder that gaming isn't that stable right now, and how important hits are.

A look at how motion control plays into our emotions. There's going to be a whole book on the subject, so that might be worth it for you game pros to pick up.

QUESTION OF THE DAY: Is Panasonic too late to the game?

– Steven Savage