Taking a tip from Scott, at the end of each month I’m going to do a roundup of geek career news – somewhat truncated due to the holidays.
Anime and Manga
- Why One Piece is Popular. Some things to learn, and it’s not just the fact that you can watch a stretchy pirate fight a butane-powered Tim Curry.
Culture
- Viral Stories are probably BS. We knew that. Use this next time you’ve got a good debunking to get to.
- TED Talks are missing the point. Unfortunately we all kind of suspected that.
- Cartoon execs aren’t interested in girls. Why some shows are dismal – and it also seems they’re dumbing down things for males. Paul Dini dishes.
Economics/Geekonomics
- Monetary stimulus explained in coloring book form. A clever use of art, and also kind of sad that this helps explain things.
- You may want to move to Wisconsin for an innovative state? Yep, you may.
- Worst investment? Corn. Makes some of those questionable startups seem reliable.
Film
- Will the “Avenger-izing” of blockbusters kill movies? A persuasive argument that this vast, interlinked film idea could consume attention, lower effective targeting, and in general be a pain in the backside.
- Let’s hope the media learned these lessons. io9 does a smart roundup.
Education
- Online courses not doing as well as promised. No one is surprised, but this is important due to the value of education, the facts of the failure, an the way this has been overhyped.
Media
- How Netflix is winning in a few charts. There will probably be a documentary on this – on Netflix. OK jokes aside, worth reading to understand why.
Green Tech
- VC’s are avoiding greentech – which may mean bargains. Bargains may mean an eventual rush into the area. Certainly the opportunity is there, especially in America where other’s are cleaning our clean clocks.
- Tesla is making moves into China. So is everyone else. Good for spreading greentech, but I don’t know how stable their economy is.
- Climate Resiliency is now in the public lexicon. This is good for human survival – and may mean your next engagement is green tech. Ready to make a difference?
News
- The Patch Hyperlocal site is winding down – Remember when Bonnie and I were big on AOL? Yeah. Kind of ashamed of that. Hyperlocal didn’t seem to take off in the way people hoped.
Technology
- Microsoft buying Nokia may have been a no-brainer and a survival strategy. Microsoft could use a few good ones right now. Now, does it work . . . there’s the questions. I’m also not sure how much more hiring/buying they may do.
- Dell’s going Cloud (like everyone else) Worth seeing if this helps them out and opens up any opportunities.
- A look at the hyperevolving world of Open Source. This is a must read because it helps you grasp how these open source solutions come in so fast and change things. There’s tech I haven’t heard of a few years ago I work with constantly now.
- Designing for Mobile is messing with good web design? I confess I’ve wondered myself, so give this a read.
- Google is taking on Amazon’s dominance in their own way. The author looks at the strategy and why it’s a good idea.
Writing
- Print isn’t dying any time soon. Good to know – and important to know for writers.
- Booksellers are cautious on Holiday sales – for understandable reasons.
- How Demand Media failed. A story of how a content farm failed, that is telling on any numbers of levels.
- There’s an open source novel at Github. There’s an interesting project to study.
– Steve