Career:
Tips on how a recruitment agency can help you – Good advice. I'd also note that recruiting agencies are good for long-term networking, and you meet some pretty interesting people.
Economics/Freakonomics/Geekonomics:
Japan in a deflationary spiral – Beyond the usual bad news, this may at least keep people aware of what can happen to other countries.
There are how many Starbucks near your office? A nice example of what is probably going to get hammered in the consumer cuts – some places have serious luxury coffee density.
Media:
Rights for Terminator may be in the air. Again – A good cautionary tale about the ownership – and handoff – of media properties. The kind of thing you want to be aware of because if you work in fannish areas like media, such legal acrobatics are things you'll see.
Publishing:
Sony's eBook Store adds self-publishing tools – With a better cut for the author than Amazon, some possible deals with Scribd, and these new tools? Sony's certainly making highly aggressive moves in the e-book arena. This is good news for tech people and authors/publishers – though it's also something else to keep track of your your career.
According to a survey, 72% of publishers are looking for new business models – With additional information for you, the writer/publisher/editor/etc. to chew over.
Social Media:
A bit of sports geekery: What sports team social media can teach you about policy – A few lessons and a neat example of learning from your hobby. Also the New England Patriots have made Facebook their social media home base.
Technology:
More on the iPad – Which does seem to be a big iPhone. The source seems reliable. I'm not sure this is going to get much interest at the supposed 1 grand price tag, but it sounds like Apple is giving themselves time to market it.
Video Games:
There are 254 institutions with video game courses, in 37 states – So start doing that research for your career. While you're at it, perhaps you might get some time in teaching at one of these . . .
Funcom cut's 20% of it's staff – Sad. I guess Age of Conan didn't help them, but still.
The new Star Trek Blu-Ray has unlockable costumes for the Star Trek MMO – There's some interesting synergy there. Not sure if it's going to have any major benefit, but an interesting idea to observe.
What's up with SquareEnix? (SquareEdiosnix?) They're apparently aiming for layoffs (A 200-300 person job cut) and also claim they'll double profits in the next five years. No idea here, though I doubt Square Enix is going to do as well as they expect without major efforts and reorging (which may be part of the layoffs), and expanding/ensuring market reach. At least you know now not to go sending resumes for a bit.
– Steven Savage