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News of the Day 8/7/2009

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Career:
Networking tips for shy people

Social Media:
The whole Twitter/Facebook/Livejournal Denial of service attack was apparently against one anti-Russian blogger. I'm sure there's more to shake out, so let's see what's next. Career tip here: as the internet and social media become more ubiquitous, more companies will get dragged into regional issues. A little more here.

Technology:
More info and more theories on the Apple Tablet – I'm increasingly biased towards the idea it's more of a giant iPhone than a true Netbook. Which of course means its basically a netbook, but still. If it IS more of a giant i-not-Phone this may also be a boost to iPhone app writers (if Apple doesn't pull their software . . .), and may open a few new fronts in the Netbook arena – because face it, it's in the netbook space.

On the subject of Apple, the iPhone store mess still has legs and has gone as far as higher-ups emailing bloggers and a well known Apple booster getting VERY bitter. As predicted, there's apparently an undercurrent of resentment of apple out there over the iPhone handling. To boot, ever consider how the app store handles customer relations for developers?

So just why does Google want with On2? A few theories here, the most interesting are that A) they're consolidating their video work, and B) the possibility of building a gaming platform. I'm not sure anymore, but to lean to the wild side, since Google's been working to mess with Apple and Microsoft, a gaming system (or Chrome OS based game system) would seriously throw Microsoft off (as well as Nintendo and Sony).

Did you know Adobe Acrobat Reader is a major target of malicious attacks? A scary read that notes Adobe may have to learn from . . . Microsoft. Good ammo for security concerns if you're in IT, and important period. As I've said about Flash, Adobe is very omnipresent, but people don't pay attention to that very much.

Microsoft actually got the office.com domain – Which must have been costly (though probably not to them). That's a great bit of branding for their web version of Office – and the Everything Wars continue . . .

Video Games:
Is the Marvel MMO back in production? Seems like it. Of course with City of Heroes, Champions, and DCU it's awful crowded, but Marvel does have a big name draw advantage – and a load of films coming out. Toss a resume out to the studio and see what happens. I can easily see this being cross-promoted with the films they have planned – if they can get it out in time. A big push could mean jobs . . . and on that superheroic subject, an analysis of why Champions should worry City of Heroes.

The push continues to have Philadelphia's government encourage the gaming industry there. I see this as possible if Philly gets it right – Philadelphia is in an absolutely ideal location for it physically, has its history and culture, and is a good bet in general. On that subject – are you working to get fan/geeky jobs and companies supported in your community?

-Steven Savage

Self-Esteem and Fandom

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I'm a proud geek, a professional geek – Geek Upgraded, Geek 2.0 if you would.  I make money with being a nerd, a fan, it's my life.  A lot of us are, or are partially, but sometimes we miss something when talking to our fellow geeks and fans.

We miss that people are often made to feel BAD about their fannishness, what they geek over, etc.  You, the reader, may be a person who'd like to make a living at what you love, but you're used to feeling that your hobbies are a bit silly, or immature, or irrelevant.  Despite shows with geek heroes, it's a bit hard to stand up and say, for instance, that you really want to be a novelist of fantasy fiction (even with the success of say, JK Rowling or Terry Pratchett).

These self-esteem issues are difficult on the potential professional geek (if not the current professional geek).  Most anyone knows that self-esteem issues can shoow down the greatest of minds and the deepest of imaginations.

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Blogging, Bundling, and Brainstorming

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Awhile ago you all witnessed me mitigate my disagreement with the "everyone must blog" feeling that seems to percolate around the internet, especially in the career-sphere.  I admit that I still think not everyone needs to blog, but agree that blog involvement done right IS a good idea – it gets your name outs there, teaches discipline, builds connections, and informs people.

The problem is that a blog requires content otherwise it's really just a placeholder with an index attached to it.  I've been doing this blog with Bonnie for over a year, and as our early readers noticed, we began adding more and more content over the last few months.  So I'd thought I'd share just how I do non-news content.

First and foremost, let me reiterate what I've said before – don't blog about something if you dont have a reason to.  In fact, these techniques won't help much if you don't have any real reason to write.

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