It's a big day on games – and greentech! Let's get to it!
Economics/Geekonomics:
Crude Oil is up on Middle Eastern unrest, so keep that in mind. I think long-term changes in the Mideast could help oil prices by having more stewardship of the resources – but it's gonna suck for now.
Comics:
I'm suspecting the new 'Superman' film is going the Oddball Casting Route that worked well for the 'Star Trek' film. First the rumor of Kevin Costner, now Viggo Mortenson as Zod?
Greentech:
A nice roundup of Greentech news. Nice geothermal plant in Orego, but Germany is culling solar subsidies (though I think they may be fine on their own).
Media:
Ticketfly is doing ticket sales by tying into Facebook – And it looks effective. They may just be onto something. Plus someone handed them $3 million dollars.
SaaS:
Salesforce stock rises, it tops revenue forecasts, dominates world. There doesn't appear to be any limit to what they're going to do right now – sure competitors on one side or another are out there, but they're still ripping it up. Also a good summary of their actions and success.
Social Media:
Facebook's subtle support for the Egyptian Revolutionaries. A thoughtful note as well – many companies are now based on FREEDOM of information, like Facebook, which has interesting economic implications . . .
Video Games:
TinyCo gets $18 million in investment. They make games for mobile, and apparently pretty good ones – haven't heard of them until now, but that's a big chunk of money for Tiny, and I think they might need your resume . . .
OK this is interesting: Anyone that orders the game Homefront gets a free OnLive system and access to another game. That's quite a marketing strategy – and it is historical to say the least (using the CONSOLE as the loss leader)? I'm still not sure about OnLive as it is – but this is innovative. Though I still stand by my theory they want to evolve into an overall media source.
Potential employer – or company to employ. Unity Studios and Exit Games partner to promote their products for MMO development. Think about it, MMOs are common enough people can specialize in just making them or supporting them. They also have some freely licensed tech. A good reminderof the "support" economy out there for Geekiness, and maybe a good idea to send your resumes to these guys.
News Corp is building it's own social game publisher.
Finally a beautiful story of applied geekery: A woman used Samus from Metroid as a motivator to loose weight and improve. She celebrated with Cosplay.
– Steven Savage