The Goldman/Facebook deal takes an odd turn, a film funded partially by crowdsourcing goes to Sundance, and plenty of other news for you!
Economics/Geekonomics:
Sounds like investors are expecting a market correction. With all the things that could go wrong, I'm not surprised.
Film:
A film partially funded with Kickstart is headed to Sundance. Pretty historical, and could catapult Kickstarter to further awareness. I know people using Kickstarter directly.
Mobile:
OK try to follow this story. Disney is releasing a smartphone. This is being released in Japan. It's running Android, though Steve Jobs is on the board. How many different things here can we wonder about including why?
Consumer Reports is against the Verizon iPhone. Worth reading here.
Social Media:
That Goldman-Sachs/Facebook deal? Goldman won't be selling shares in the US due to media scrutiny. It's fairly obvious they're worried about US regulations, and this action . . . will probably only increase scrutiny. It's weird all around. Side note – I'm betting sovereign wealth funds want to get their hands on Facebook shares.
Well it looks like the Golden Globe awards for 'The Social Network' are making Zuckerberg even more of a rock star. The film didn't sound too flattering, so this is telling.
Technology:
Ritholz in the Tech Today? You got it! He asks if Apple's pricing model is a negative, which I do agree with to an extent. The system seems rather restrictive and I can see it backfiring despite the advantages. I expect (or hope) for Apple to lighten up in time.
RIM's PlayBook looks well defined and designed to evolve past dependence on BlackBerry. No I still don't know what to think about RIM, and this doesn't help.
Video:
Is 2011 the do-or-die-year for television? I think the article goes a bit overboard, but it makes the point that a lot of change is putting consumers in charge, and that if they wished they could manipulate the market further. Also notes how TV execs really don't seem to get what's going on. Worth reading, though I figure that 2011-2012 is the decision point, not this year alone.
Video Games:
Don't launch your game on February 1st – that's when the black ops pack comes out for Call of Duty. Thought for professionals – tracking these important releases is probably A) vital to do for marketing, and B) a pain in the backside with shifting release schedules.
Not a good time for Sony: Infinity Ward blames them for Modern Warfare 2 hacks. I'm not sure people listen to Infinity Ward, and this sounds like bandwagon-jumping. Presented incase it becomes something more.
Microsoft may be releasing Kinect development tools. Not a surprise at all, and I bet this is for real.
QUESTION OF THE DAY: What legitimate, family-friendly tool would you build with a Kinect SDK?
– Steven Savage