Writer, Agilist, Elder Geek
Let's face it, my professional geeks, we love it. We also need it – hey, how many of us work to push the envelope or even get beyond envelopes entirely (we must not bow to the envelopes). For that matter, these days, innovation is needed both in a changing world and to deal with old ways of thinking and producing.
We are all about innovation.
The problem is innovation is often about leaving things behind.
You know how much college costs? If you do these days, you probably think about it with a shudder of dread. Things are pretty freaking expensive these days, education wise. You don't even want to know how much (or how little) my entire college degree cost in the 80s – with dorm fees.
I've actually talked to teachers who worry that the expensive college degrees are becoming a detriment not just financially, but psychologically, making people loose interest in college. Yes, seriously, I've heard people worry that students don't want to go to college because it's too expensive and won't pay off. That's a terrifying thought.
And let's face it – college is insanely expensive, pay rates are going down, no one knows where the jobs are, so on and so on. It's scary.
Know what scares me? The possibility that a college degree might be considered a form of conspicuous consumption.
Dish gets Blockbuster, Accel buys into Legendary Pictures, and the Haunted Mansion guts upgraded. It's an odd news day, so let's get to the geeky job news!
Economics/Geekonomics:
Some charts to give you an idea of what's up and true in the new federal budget battle. It appears Ryan's plan is, frankly, deceptive and unhelpful, so I'm not sure how useful this is – but it's interesting to get all the details. There's already a mini-scandal brewing over Ryan's data. Pay attention folks, a government shutdown and future policies are gonna affect you.
Demographics:
A look at Ohio. As a former Ohio resident, I feel the state has NOT lived up to its potential, and this gives me hope for it. Ohio also had a lot of advantages – one of the reasons I stayed there for quite some time.
Media:
This is interesting: Accel partners invests in Legendary Pictures. Accel put money into Facebook and other tech – sounds like they see a shift to media as a good idea. Hmm. Wonder what they're trying – or what we should know . . .
Disney is upgrading the Haunted Mansion.
Tablets:
The Xoom's sales are kinda dismal. I'm surprised, and I think the reviews have seemed a bit harsh – though I suspect the iPad 2 sucked the air out of the room. This may get some people to rethink Android/Tablet strategies, so pay attention as that may affect your job if you're in mobile or dev.
Zoho docs will be on the iPad. Zoho has a pretty sweet suite of web apps that do various office features like spreadsheets, word processing, etc. THIS gives the iPad a direct app that competes with Google Apps, which I'm sure is not lost on Apple. This also further "normalizes" SaaS – and continues the CorpTechPocalypse.
Technology:
A startup fund just for designers. This is a great idea in my biased opinion, so keep track of it folks, this might just found your next company.
Looks like Twitter is getting a tax break, producing some snark. The snakiness of the article compares with other comments I'm seeing, and I'm not sure if it's good for Twitter's image, especially these days. The concerns over companies getting breaks, sitting on cash, etc. isn't going to wear well with people in the Great Recession.
Wow. The Commodore 64 is coming back.
Video:
Youtube is going to spend a LOT of money on original content. This may explain a few stirrings I've seen in the Silicon Valley area. They have the cash to burn . . . this could be useful if you make programming, or just want to work at Youtube.
A look at the finances of video streaming which looks promising and does seem to be a trend. I will continue to crush on Netflix now.
Dish Network picked up Blockbuster for $320 million, $228 of that in cash. What do they plan to do with it? My guess is fold in what they can, move into video service, and drop/sell the rest – which means competing against other services (and more "kill your cable"), and maybe some job oppos later. Also, another look at what Blockbuster did wrong
QUESTION OF THE DAY: So what do you think Dish can/should/will do with Blockbuster?