Writer, Agilist, Elder Geek
I had to wait a day before posting it, but our sharp-eyed master of remakes, Scott, pointed out this gem of weird nes:
The Canadian Pension plan, combine with Microsoft and an equity fund may buy Yahoo.
I'm still processing this one – though it recalls my speculations on Soverign Wealth Funds and their geekonomic effects (and the Pension system is kind of like one). This may be the weirdest piece of tech news we've had in awhile.
BofA keeps dying, movies get a new lease on life, and Crunchyroll rules the world. Geek news time!
Economics/Geekonomics:
A nice, cynical look at the inevitable death of Bank of America, and the fact some people should be in deep trouble over some deals. Worth reading if you want a bit of a better view, and if you're feeling a need to be cynical and depressed. Let me repeat – don't send them a resume and frankly, don't bank with them.
Anime and Manga:
Crunchyroll is going to just stream some stuff right from Japan. I'm not surprised, though I still feel that Crunchyroll is in a kind of ninja mode and people are so used to it they don't appreciate it's power. Or what would happen if someone bought them . . .
Publishing:
Amazon eying Kindle for Japan this year? Nice move, gizmo-friendly population, though it may loose them some allies.
Remakes:
Troma selling the rights for two remakes, in this case "Class of Nuke 'Em High" and "Poultrygeist." Weirdly the "Nuke 'Em High" series is still continuing. Considering Troma has a lot of well-known and semi-known cult classics under their belt, they may see this as a moneymaking opportunity of the first magnitude.
Social Media:
Facebook getting into the job scene? It's in an initial stage obviously, but this is intriguing on a number of grounds:
Technology:
Microsoft has record revenues thanks to XBox and servers. Frankly for all the past mistakes, the Xbox is an awesome device, and some of the server offerings are . . . well anyway. Microsoft seems to be doing well for this economy.
Technology and bad news:
BuyWithMe has huge layoffs – I never even HEARD of these guys and they're in a death spiral. Probably a good warning that just because you never heard of a company does not mean extensive research isn't in order. Man.
Groupon's IPO value is dropping. Frankly I wonder if they're in a race to get it done – then sell off. It's future isn't promising.
Video Games:
Free realms reaches 20 million people. Impressive, though they haven't discussed active gamers. Free Realms kind of got eclipsed lately – maybe we should pay attention?
How Angry birds conquered all. Good read.
QUESTION OF THE DAY:So can Facebook make it as a job search tool?
– Steven Savage
Adaptions of Transformers? A source of jokes. GI Joe? A film stunning in its mediocrity. If it's not equine and friendly and little, it seems most re-adaptions of cartoons aren't too good, and of course I snootily turn my nose up at them. Hell, we have one blogger here whose entire goal is to dissect adaptions, leaving me more time to be self-righteous if charming and personable.
Today I heard about J.J. Abrams and a Micronaut movies and I suddenly felt a visceral "yes!" echo in me head, and I understood just why people would be interested in these seemingly majority-terrible adaptions.