News Of The Day 9/16/2011

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Sorry folks, your reporter for a today is a bit under the weather, so this roundup may be a tad light.

Economics/Geekonomics:
This is unpleasant – Michael Bloomberg thinks unemployed graduates can mean economic-driven riots in 2013.  This fits Paul Kedrosky's predictions, and he's pretty level-headed.  I obviously hope not, but this was said in front of congress.  I'd watch this to see if this concern has legs and makes its way to larger media (as the US isn't handling it's economic problems very well I can see inappropriate reactions to this news).

A few thoughts on the continuing EuroCrisis to read.  I agree they're really trying to delay or soft-land the inevitable.

Mobile:
The AT&T/T-Mobile lawsuit draws in several states. I consider this a pile-on and think now it's not going to happen. Which leaves AT&T a bit more vulnerable, and other mobile carriers with an idea of where the boundaries are – and they'll plan accordingly.  Note, I consider all bets off if this gets into the political sphere, and it may well with the elections.

RIM continues to slump.  No one is surprised.  Allow me to reiterate – get out.  The people that thought RIM could turn it around are now wrong.

Publishing:
The picking over of Border's corpse is progressing.  Sad, but also important to follow. (EDIT: I had put Barnes and Noble, which I blame either on illness or seeing into a parallel universe.)

Social Media:
Some depatures from the Twitter board. Not sure if it means anything, but this is TWITTER, so we have to report on it.  I still wonder what their next step is as things are awful quiet.

Technology:
Google is working on it's own newsreader in the vein of Flipboard/Zite. I'm surprised it took them this long. Interesting questions – what of ads and will it be on iOS?  Google's disruprive approach means they're probably targeting this for a reason – so what is that reason?

Video:
Reflections on Netflix and it's pricing plan and occasional PR issues. Also a good note – TV in some ways IS improving.

Video Games:
71% of iPad Owners Play games. If you work on iPad games, you may now make a 'Ka-Ching' noise.

QUESTION OF THE DAY:Will RIM manage to save itself?

– Steven Savage

Frustration Friday: You Know, You All Can’t Win

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So GameStop has a kind of approved/branded Tablet.  Amazon has a tablet.  Everyone else has a tablet.  And I just keep thinking . . .

. . . not everyone can win.  At least not everyone can be The Tablet.

I mean it's obvious, right?  But I the thing is that a lot of Tablets don't seem to be specialized, or pitched at a specific audience (even the GameStop tablet), but an attempt to create a Universal Device.  It's obvious that in a fight to be The One, not everyone can win.

Maybe some companies hope to be One of The Ones (in many cases that seems to be Google's plan), but I just get the intuiton that down deep people think their companies will "Win".

And not everyone can or will.  Worse I think the attempt to be The One may prevent some companies from achieving legitimate successes.

– Steven Savage

Late Breaking Geekery 9-14-2011

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And we've got a bit more news that rolled in . . .

Amazon has a content deal with Hearst.  If you think this isn't going to boost sales of the Kindletab (Tabkindle?  Kindlelet?  We need a nickname) you're not paying attention.  Hearst is huge and has access to a complete ton of content.  Takeaways:

  • Amazon has its fingers in big AND small publishing.  So they're covering a lot of bases.
  • This is a big deal and is free publicity.
  • Amazon should have your resume.

Wal-Mart acquires a mobile/social ad targeting startup known as OneRiot.  Sounds like they're interested in their data mining, but I'd note that WalMart is moving heavily into the social space – and having a mobile ad network can pay off in other ways.  Though I've waffled on the possibility of a Wal-Mart ecosystem, having the ability to, say, get ads on it could make it more viable.  Imagine if you will a free Wal-Mart tablet with ads . . .

– Steven Savage