Steven Savage

Lots is going on with EA, Ireland is in the crapper, and Dropbox is going BIG! Lots is up, folks.

Career:
Social media is becoming big for recruiting. We knew this, but this spells out some juicy details.

Economics/Geekonomics:
Moody downgraded Ireland's rating to junk. Well not that I think highly of Moody's, but still that's bad. Greece, now Ireland . . .

Geek Law:
That streaming bill?  There are reasons for gamers to worry beyond what you may think.

Media:
BBC Worldwide is going to rent out Doctor Who eps – using Facebook credits. An interesting little media convergence for your consideration. Warner now BBC? Maybe Facebook has some advantages over Google+ right now . . .

Social Media:
Facebook makes its way onto feature phones, which is an interesting backward-step in a way, but also can open a wider market (Japan for instance is big on feature phones). A subtle move that tells me Facebook is still looking for ways to penetrate markets that aren't always obvious.

Technology:
Dropbox is raising a ton of money and is highly valued. This is a serious success story, and has quite a history worth reading about. It may also be worth throwing them a resume.

Video:
Netflix is going to raise its prices which means a lot of people aren't happy. It's a kind of heavy hike, so I'm not sure why they're doing it. Were they cutting corners? Do they have plans? Are they just greedy?

Video Games:
EA has bought Popcap games, though the exact amount between stock and cash sort of seems a bit unsure. Not surprising to any of us, and I figure that means a nice stock of more games in EA's steamalike. Though I still wonder what this means for Amazon.

For that matter, notice EA bought Ohai as well. Busy folks there – not sure it's time to throw them a resume since there will doubrlessly be post-purchase cuts.

Interesting! AT&T is going to have the Sony Ericsson Xperia.

QUESTION OF THE DAY: So just how many more companies is EA going to buy?

– Steven Savage

More from Apple, Nextlix is out of Hulu, and Louisiana is for Gamers? Lots of news!

Economics/Geekonomics:
There's more capital in Venture Cap, but it's spread among fewer companies. Looks like investors are gathering around "brand names." This could easily affect investment and the courtship of investment for startups and other companies (and if you're at all connected to any of the prominent funds, what a good opportunity).

MUST READ: As benefits end, are cut, not renewed, or run out, the US economy faces another jolt. There's a slight attempt at faux balance, but the article makes a good point that this basically is going to shock the economy. The odd thing is the existence of these benefits helped keep things going – but it may not be enough without a big jumpstart. Right now it seems there's not much hope for that. I'm going to go out on a limb now and put the double-dip recession opportunity at just over 50%.

China:
I've been thinking a lot about China lately, and Ryan Cohen adds some thoughts. A few things I take away is that China is growing and expanding – and aware of the challenges of that growth and expansion. There's plenty that can go wrong, but there's at least some awareness of it in the country. I still wonder what happens if/when China becomes a Culture Engine.

Demographics:
More U.S. adults have a smartphone than have a college degree. Here's your statistic to toss out to sound smart today.

Education:
MBAs may have screwed up the US Economy. Sounds appropriate (remember "The Management Myth"?) – and very important for the Geekonomy.

Anime and Manga:
A chance to get your manga critiqued by Shonen Jump's editor. Go for it people.

Media:
How social media and social shifts reduced the power of Rupert Murdoch. Some fascinating stuff here, and a suggestion of how a changing us-them dynamic created this massive – and growing – media shift. Side note, this also involves hacking, and could increase anti-hacking sentiment (or invite more by people wanting to prod around News Corp).

Publishing:
Google integrates it's e-bookstore into the little-known iRiver Story HD. Again, this is probably just to have some presence, but I'd like to know more about their strategy – I suspect a potentially viral one.

Apple's patents point at expanding iBooks and how they can work. It's essentially well-organized Hypermedia, but is intriguing as it could mean Apple-ecosystem specific books loaded with all sorts of features. It also could mean competitors jumping on the bandwagon, different standards, and people screaming at the top of their lungs as they to convert book formats.

Technology:
Duck and cover, Cisco may axe 5000 jobs. Sounds like they may be leaving consumer products like some recommended, but this is at a rumor stage. Stay cautious about opportunities with Cisco (and see what their competitors do as well).

Qualtré of Massachusetts gets $10 million in venture capital. What do they do? They make motions sensors and make a pretty kickass gyroscope. It's motion tech, it's in Massachusetts. Go for it – and keep in mind that motion sensors are growing in importance, so you may want to watch this sub-area of tech as a whole.

Video:
Nope, no Netflix/Hulu deal. Admittedly I can see why – Netflix doesn't need them and would have nothing to gain except icing a competitor.

Video Games:
MUST READ – AND DONATE: A Video Game History Museum to be started with Kickstarter. I'm there.

HTML5 combined with retro sensibilities? Partnering with a company to make cross-platform HTML5? I like these Lost Decade guys. Might keep an eye on them career-wise.

OK it's not a geeky state. I have a very low opinion of Governor Jindal. But the state's tax credit for game developers just got enhanced

QUESTION OF THE DAY: So what's Google up to with their embedded store?

– Steven Savage