Writer, Agilist, Elder Geek
You're busy networking (or at least should be). You're trying to hook up with that mentor, find a connection to get a job, get to know a company better, and so on. You spend a lot of time connecting and schmoozing and getting to know people.
So, are you giving anything back?
I've often heard Twilight called a modern "Penny Dreadful." I myself am no fan of the series – I find it overblown and turgid, and frankly feel the manga incarnation looks superior in artistry to the novels.
But when people call it a Penny Dreadful, I think they're missing an opportunity here, and they're dismissing a valid business model.
Let us be honest, there is plenty of room for guilty pleasures: overblown romance, cheesy action, video games filled with more explosions than dialogue, and so on. There is plenty of room for the "Penny Dreadful," the overblown, trashy, and ultimately just plain fun.
There is room for the literary/artistic equivalent of junk food in our lives.
This is a perfect time for it.
Plenty of iPhone news, print by email, and SoftBank is getting into American Social Media companies . . . it's your must-know geek news!
Economics/Geekonomics:
The Five Steps of a Bubble, a nice and readable look.
Anime and Manga:
Looks like Ankama and Tokyopop are teaming up. to do some German publishing.
Funimation keeps going, working on a film with BioWare based on Dragon Age: Origins. I knew there was enthusiasm for Dragon Age to be a multmedia propery, this fits. It also shows Funimation isn't in as dire stratis as some may fear.
Television:
Find out what it's like to work in the writer's room in TV – In an insightful mixed interveiw. Must read for anyone interested in media writing.
Seinfeld went off the air 12 years ago. It's Made $2.7 billion since then. Reruns/syndication are hugely profitable for some shows, and a good reminder making the right show can be an investment.
Mobile:
It's an iPhone roundup:
Social Media:
Yahoo is serously integrating with Facebook. They've got nothing to loose, and it's useful. Still I see this as another sign Yahoo is just kind of . . . there. Just trying to survive.
Zynga's next target is Japan. It just allied with SoftBank. RockYou got $10 million in investment from Softbank. Hmmm, it seems SoftBank is trying to cover as much ground as possible – so who might they ally with or invest in next? Check more on them here. They're even the only iPhone carrier in Japan . . .
Technology:
HP is working on printers with their own email address. So you print by sending an email – which makes it great for mobile devices. A nice idea, and one I can see having many uses beyond the mobile (try, sheer convenience).
Video Games:
The latest issue of the Review of General Psychology is all about gaming. Tasty, tasty research for techs, game programmers, marketers, and more.
QUESTION OF THE DAY: Print by e-mail sounds like a great idea – so what are the potential problems?
-Steven Savage