News of Day 10/5/2009

Economics/Freakonomics/Geekonomics:
Nouriel Roubini and others on the recovery – What does 'Doctor Doom' say? Pretty much the stock market gains aren't realistic, and more stimulus is needed. He sounds less negative than he has, at least.

Despite some lousy numbers there's a slight sign of recovery in the job market after 18 months. I'm not going to get too optimistic. In fact It'd take a year of definite job growth and a return to 5% or so unemployment for me to get optimistic.

Feeling like the news hasn't covered economic issues affecting the average American? You're right.

Anime and Manga:
Crunchyroll picks up Fairy Tale and Sasameki Koto. Sasameki Koto is the first title from Media Factory Crunchyroll has picked up, and seems to be part of diversifying their offerings.

Media:
MUST READ: What's media evolving into? Media as a Service. Just the way Software is becoming a service, it may be a model for media. A good article for anyone whose job or interest is in media, from comics to TV and more. See Crunchyroll, above . . .

Publishing:
Conde Nast closes four magazines – They were basically losing money, but these are big names like 'Gourmet' and 'Modern Bride.' Money loss aside, these are historical changes, and will doubtlessly recofus attendion on the plight of the publishing industry.

Social Media:
Get the stats on Twitter's valuation and investments. I just get uncomfortable reading these.

Why Social Media marketing/media efforts fail – A concise read that hits all the high points in my opinion. Good for marketers and those with their own business.

Technology:
Adobe Flash is everywhere . . . but the iPhone except that Adobe is releasing a product to turn Flash Apps into iPhone apps. So in short, the iPhone can't run flash on the web, but you can make iPhone apps in flash – which probably means we'll see a lot of people making even more iPhone Apps. Flash is a mostly unavoidable part of online life, so I still see this as a disadvantage for Apple – it seems more Adobe is targeting retention of developers.

You Can Haz Analysis of ICanHasCheezBurger.com success – Interesting (mostly for the additional links), and a reminder that, among all the many internet businesss, one of the most well known ones involves silly captions.

Video Games:
A vote is coming in the Venezuelan National Assembly on a ban on violent video games – Not a big impact necessarily, but I note it as these things often seem to propigate . . .

– Steven Savage

Success is Applying Fandom

I talk about applying our fannish and geeky interests to our careers.  This brings up a subject I haven't really discussed:

What is SUCCESSFULLY applying your fandom to your career?

It's one of those things that seems obvious – until you really think of it – so I wanted to classify and clarify what I mean.

What is successfully applying your fandom to your career?  I'd say it's the following:

  • When your fannish interests have a place in your life that you're aware of (it may be only to blow off STEAM due to your career).
  • When your fannish interests provide resources – from knowledge to contacts to more – that you effectively and consciously leverage in your career.
  • When your fannish interests and career are not in conflict but support each other (perhaps at some point they may border on the indistinguishable).

That's successful fan-to-pro to me.  The two support each other and you're aware of how your fandom can be used in the bigger picture (again, if only to relax you).

-Steven Savage

“How” is the only sure path to “can’t”

I talk to a lot of people who are very, very sure of what they can't do in their careers.

They can't be writers.  They can't be artists.  They can't be travel agents.  They have a giant list of can'ts.  It's often larger than their cans.

When I talk to such people, I also learned very quickly that the majority of them really have little or no awareness of the career they've given up on.  They hear something, read something, or make an assumption, and then kill off their career plans right there.

The only way for you to decide you can't do something is to know how it's actually done.

Read more