News Of the Day 8/23/2010

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Pay to blog? Venture capitals ups and downs? Seth Godin's Last Book? Looks like a lot to talk about today!


Economics/Geekonomics:
8 realities of startups and their economics – A pretty good look at what startups face.
corporate earnings will come under pressure. He also brings back his speculation that a lot of executives are doing "buy, strip, and flip" on companies which isn't encouraging.

Demographics:
Richard Florida looks at where blue collar jobs will be in the future.

After a surge in venture capital spending, Massachusetts saw a decline last month.

Geek Law:
Net neutrality in handy poster form.

Phiadelpiha charging bloggers for a business licence if they have revenue-generating ads. Sounds like more like a desperate revenue-generating attempt on the part of the city.


Anime and Manga:
Members of the manga industry speak on the market – It's on various subjects, of course, but piracy does keep coming up. A few unique insights here – including how little printing may cost in a liscened project, and some thoughts on scanilations and obscure titles.

Black Butler's creator speaks out on scans and fansubs, touching on a few issues rarely covered. She apparently cut to the chase on the fact that people making anime and manga do need a way to make money in order to live and create. The discussion of her statements sounds interesting as well – more links here for you to peruse.


Publishing:
. It also has acquired some funding, but the amount hasn't been made public. I don't know much about them, but it has me intrigued. I'd like to know how much money they've raised as well.


Mobile:
Pocketgear raises $15 million in funding – they also claim they're the largest app and content marketplace. They have a lot of partners and content on a lot of platforms. Might be career-worthy.

Video:
Sony persists in it's online video offering Crackle, and upping it's promnence on PSN. I hadn't even heard of Crackle, which says something,

Technology:
Cloud Computing provider Nimbula raises $15 million in funding. They were founded by people who helped set up Amazon's service, so they have the experience needed. They have money, feel like tossing them a resume?

Writing:
For your amusement: Trends in Fantasy Cover Art. Sounds like if you want to be unique, put a unicorn on a map on your cover.

Marketing/Internet Guru Seth Godin says his next book will be his last as he looks at alternate ideas for engaging people and spreading ideas. I'm not really sure what's beyond this. Sounds like he isn't either. Really not sure how to react to this.

QUESTION OF THE DAY: What do you think is a good way to make a unique cover for a fantasy novel – that'd sell?

– Steven Savage

Signs You’re a Progeek

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Ways you know you're a progeek:

  • When you hear about economic "megaregions" you think of MegaCity One from Judge Dredd or Hive Worlds from Warhammer 40,000.
  • You scan Monday Through Friday for ideas you can actually use on the job.
  • When you get news about things like the Thundercat revival, your first reaction is excitement, but your second reaction is always to ask what it means for you and your career.
  • When you see the Doctor's Sonic Screwdriver, you think how useful it'd be for setting up a computer.  Bonus geek points if you make the Sonic Screwdriver noise when no one can hear you.
  • You are excellent at Spreadsheets partially due to your commitment to professionalism, partially for using them to crunch gaming stats.
  • Whenever you hear about economic news in a major city, you can name the major conventions of that city, major game companies, and/or major authors/artists that live in that area.
  • Whenever your favorite comic is made into a film you can discuss its demographic appeal after you finish your victory fist pump.
  • You are able to discuss the evolution of the MMO, and who ripped who off, without using obscenities unless you want to.
  • You're able to estimate the costs of your cosplay group's next outfit in your head because it's just like your department's budget.
  • No matter the crew, no matter the starship, you see their relationships as an org chart.
  • You make lists like this and send them to your co-workers.

– Steven Savage

Geekery, Trends, and Megaregions

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I live in nerd central.  I'm in Silicon Valley.  I can WALK to the headquarters of important companies.  I've found myself in random conversations with famous people in gaming.  I have casual conversations with people about multi-million dollar deals.  Local news here is international news on an economic and cultural scale.

This is one of those areas that I've been talking about a lot lately – the Megaregion.  Those big economic/social/technical/industry clusters that seem to be the future of economic development.

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