News of the Day 11/2/2009

Career:
A look at working-from-anywehre – With a few things I never thought of.

Economics/Geekonomics:
Wal-Mart doing massive price-cuts throughout the holiday season – Why is this relevant? Simple – I think this is an example of Wal-Mart's own little chunk of the Everything Wars, and it's obvious their goal is to smash the competition hard and in a way that leaves them standing. The same strategy I think many others are hoping to carry out in technology.

Is Japan headed for a massive meltdown? – A somewhat hysterical but interesting piece making the rounds on the internet. When you clear away the hysteria, I think there's something here – Japan going into debt and spending money (not always bad in a crisis), but not reforming the problems that led to the crisis (bad period).

Mobile:
Nintendo appears to be looking to add 3G functionality to the next DS – Not surprising, though the current plans seem abit overblown (and expensive for Nintendo). Still they're moving forward or at least hoping to – and that may change markets (and development) massively.

Publication:
'Advocate' Magazine to become an insert in 'Out' magazine – The article brings up the interesting fact that there's more than the publishing industry affecting the famous magazine for gay men – it may be that they're no longer distinct enough, that they're mainstream enough they don't need the Advocate. Thought for the day – how many other publications may be in danger or changing due to social shifts on top of the economic ones?

Here's something we don't see enough of – but may in the future. A long-gone paper ressurected online. There's an uber-contrarian approach, ressurect a dead print paper ONLINE. Give you any career ideas?

Books are surpassing actual Applications released on iPhone – This is more than I expected frankly, and makes me think my calls of the limit of the iPhone may be too cynical. Let's see how it pans out, but this is very interesting.

– Steven Savage