Big moves in mobile, Big news in Manga, it's an economy-sized helping of news for professional geeks!
Economics/Geekonomics: Chart Porn: Comparing US states to countries, economically, and the same for Chinese provinces. This is pretty cool, and is a neat way to get a grasp of economic differences. It's weird being in California, which really is big enough and complex enough to be it's own country.
Why Canada won't have a housing bust. With assorted political and economic chaos, any bit of stability is a good thing, and this is in favor of Canada, which has two heavily Geekonomic cities.
Alan Greenspan is ranting, Paul Krugman notes he can shut up.
Side note, with the military action in Lybia, I'm seeing higher gas prices. Let's see how long this lasts . . .
Demographics:
US Falls out of the top 25 most globalized nations. Ouch.
Anime and Manga:
As you know, a new edition of Sailor Moon is coming from Kodansha. They're making a heck of a move with this, and I suspect that releasing Big Backlog is going to be very important for them right now – fast and easily profitable.
Mobile:
Well, yes, you probably heard AT&T is buying T-Mobile. This is surprising in one way (as it just happened) and not in another as it's an obvious strategy. There may be approval issues however, I'm sure it will take some time, and you know Verizon is now eyeing Sprint. We could well end up with only two careeirs (despite rumblings of making competitors), giving me a flashback to the days of breaking up AT&T. Ironically. Look for consolidation in the mobile space, but down the road (as in up to ten years), expect a possible move to break up companies.
Publishing:
Very interesting: Disney wants to replicate its European magazine success with American magazines. Yes, in an age of e-Publishing they're going print for this. Remember with their Marvel properties they have a broader range of opportunities, so I'm a bit curious of what this means for them. Disney's clearly making a lot of changes at once – so though this may mean opportunities, it can also means shifts that impact you (if, say, you work there).
Social Media:
Facebook is serious about payment systems and more. It sounds like Facebook wants to do everything, and it seems they're taking on Paypal, Netflix, Google . . . I feel they're trying too much. Watch out, if they take a fall it might be a doozy, because once you add features it's hard to back out, especially when money is involved.
Technology:
Not exactly progeeky, but seriously, why Photoshop Zooey Deschanel? She's already quite attractive. I think people are really going a might nuts with graphic tech these days.
Google says the Chinese government messed with Gmail. The suspicion is the Chinese government fears a repeat of Egypt and Libya (though I'd expect if it came to that it'd be smoother).
Television:
'All My Children' may face cancellation. The Soaps keep dying off (and in some cases moving to the web). It's really the end of an era.
Video Games:
Why the hell did it take so long for a marketplace for in-game merchandise for multiple games to launch? MMGN sounds like a winner if it's done right, and it's incredibly obviously needed. Seriously, resume-worthy – and look for others to want a piece of this action (like Paypal or Facebook or eBay . . .)
Ngmoco (owned by DeNA) calls out Sony and feels they're in trouble in the hardware world. Interesting, considering their Android ambitions . . .
The PC Gaming Alliance loses Sony DADC, and Dell scales back. I barely know about these guys, that says something. With the losses of others, I think this may be a signal that PC gaming isn't going to be what people thought it was – but will be more Apps, and web delivery.
Rovio is going to go public in the next few years. If they're still hot, they're going to rake it in. That could propel Rovio into full multimedia company status, with lots of cash to use.
QUESTION OF THE DAY: So do you think Verizon will go after Sprint after the AT&T purchase?
– Steven Savage