No I don't know what was up with the Grammys either. I think I hallucinated a Peacock and muppets singing with Gwennyth Paltrow. But I do know we've got geek news!
Demographics:
Sounds like someone in Kentucky gets megaregions. Could Kentucky leverage its advantages by taking a super-regional/megaregional approach?
MUST READ: Ed Glaeser on how to unleash our cities. Some smart stuff, some controversial, all interesting. I'm coming around to the idea that a focus on cities is needed in government, business, and culture.
Culture:
Are we in an age of a kind of Digital Feudalism and content farming? This article has me thinking, starting from the AOL-Huffington Post marriage, but going farther. It also suggests t me content providers (I don't know if I like that term) need to think way far ahead to have a profitable business . . .
Comics:
DC is canceling some titles apparently to make room for the Flashhpoint mini-series. I suspect there's more than we think here, but that's me.
Social Media:
Twitter's CEO wants it to be like plumbing. Humorous metaphors aside, I get the idea – it's is on the way to being there. A few other fun details on Twitter are in this article.
UberMedia, the Twitter Tool company, just raised $17.5 million. They're building a nice suite of third-party Twitter tools. Smart people, good folks on the team, I'd say send them a resume . . . and keep in mind some of these social media services spawn pretty nice ventures on their own.
Technology:
Zendesk releases their customer support platform on the iPad. This is serious CorpTechPocalypse stuff – because Zendesk is a SaaS customer support system that's pretty good (I use it), and it's on the iPad, which is basically more famous and beloved than Justin Bieber. That's a powerful combo, and another example of how various trends are coming together to change corporate IT.
HTML 5 is done in 2014. Mark your calendars. Maybe we'll get a guy dressed as a Peacock to sing about it.
Interesting: Credit Card fraud is up 62% since 2009.
Take some time to examine the common feuds in technology.
Video:
Netflix is on the Boxee. Note Boxee also supports Vudu (which I forgot). I think we have reached the point where Netflix support is NOT optional – it's expected.
Qualcomm's latest processors should make running video on Android devices easy. Netflix is of course mentioned. Slick stuff – and tells me Qualcomm is keeping an eye on the future pretty well. Oh it also tells me that video may be a reason for people to trade in devices in the future . . .
QUESTION OF THE DAY: What is left for Netflix to be ON?
Finally, catch my interviews at the Geeky Manifestos Blog.
– Steven Savage