News and Analysis – Page 8 – Steven Savage

News Roundup 4/11/2014

April 11, 2014 by Steven Savage

Culture

A look at “bro-culture” in Technology – Also includes further revelations on Pax Dickinson (and his apologies) and some in-depths experiences.
Some old-timer advice for younger techs. You make the call on how much is advice, how-much is old-timer, but there’s some good points on cities . . .

Green Tech

How the US can shift over to renewable resources – with state by state detail. Fascinating for greek geeks, science geeks, and writers.

Publishing

Independent bookstores are still growing.

Writing

Writing advice from Mystery Science Theater 3000.

Video Games

Microsoft to dig for buried ET Videogames.

Link Roundup 4/4/2014

April 4, 2014 by Steven Savage

Comics

Need to find a comic shop? Come here to http://www.findacomicshop.com/.

Culture

The Mozilla saga ends – with the CEO stepping down. A good warning over what will be fallout for years to come from Prop 8 and other anti-gay activities.

Economics

A look at a “parasite economy” from the point of view of an instrument company.

Media

Amazon jumps on the video gizmo train. Now the question is what happens in an oddly crowded market . . . centered around a few big service providers, and one where Amazon kind of is but is disregarded.

Technology

Tablets and e-readers are big among older Americans. I’ve seen this first-hand, and it’s a reminder that you may need to adapt your software to this changing population and technical footprint.

Video Games

How a Video Game jam completely went down the tubes and the cluelessness evolved. Read in detail.

Writing

Why it’s so hard to write a YA novel.

Link Roundup 3/28/2014

March 28, 2014 by Steven Savage

Automation

Automatic cupcake dispenser. Allow me to continue to emphasize really, at some point I expect a food automation revolution. Really.

Marketing

Facebook likes aren’t as effective as you think as they work to maximize payout.

Media

Politics

The new CEO of Mozilla was a Supporter of Prop 8. He’s also not handling it well, and these two married, gay programmers aren’t happy. Employees have a Twitter campaign against him. This story may have legs.
IRS declares Bitcoin property, not currency. So now we know how it will be taxed.

Publishing

Someone may be buying ComiXology and rumor is Amazon. May mean more interesting opportunities

Technology

3D Printing Materials Market estimated to be worth $868 million in 2018. Get the resumes ready people . . .
Town loses store, replaced with giant vending machine. May encourage the automation trend.
The internet makes it easier to steal – and easier to find people stealing.
We’re not in a tech bubble. Yet. This suggests to me that we’ve got a perception issue on a tech bubble, but the numbers don’t back it.

The Whole Oculus Rift Thing

Facebook purchases – Oculus Rift? Yes, the gaming VR set. Gaming move? Google glass competitor? Randomness?
Barry Ritholz figures the Oculus Kickstarters were basically scammed. He has a point.