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Jack is back, why Bowie is important, Selena Gomez goes MMO, and the Kno is a big name in raising money. The stars are out tonight in geek news!

Career:
What are you going to do less of? A nice thought-provoker.

Economics/Geekoomics:
MUST READ. A look at the Greek meltdown on the large and small scales that is a must-read as it also looks into the cultural and individual aspects of the economic collapse. From rampant tax cheating to land deals and more, you kind of get the impression Greece has lost its civic life and . . . isn't coming back anytime soon. Plenty of cautionary tales here. Also, I think the EU is going to be coping with this for a decade, and the bad blood could last LONGER.

US Infrastructure . . . kinda is lousy. This is bad news, but if something is done about it (say . . . stimulus spending and such) it could be a sign of where jobs are. Don't knock things like civic engineering as a geektastic job – it's got science, engineering, planning, history, and more.

Demographics:
Only 4% of people in the UK game industry are female.  Something to think of if you're a woman in IT in the UK.

Geek Law:
Jack Thompson Respawns. This time he is calling on the Secretary of Defense to stop the release of Medal of Honor. He's against a mishmash of things including the ability apparently to play the Taliban in multiplayer, the fact that he thinks it could be used for training, and some preorder issues.

Music:
A look at the importance of David Bowie. A good bit of history, some things to make you think, and a look at a legend. His influence extends from anime characters to Lady Gaga, so take a moment and reflect.

Publishing:
Wow. Educational tablet maker Kno raises $46 million in investment. It's challenging to be sure – they're up against the iPad and cheaper Android and Wintablets. However they are focused and have been raising a lot of cash. Resume time? Also if they succeed, I'd want to see just how they managed to make a balanced product in this market.

Social Media:
Zynga's adaption of Facebook Credits is for most everything involving Facebook. Note it's not for everything.

A look at how Ping may grow. I'm not sure myself, so I present this for speculation.

Technology:
Google Instant Is Available. Go on, try it, you know you want to.

Companies that provide 'Shadow IT' – stuff used in companies that isn't approved but is used for work. A look at what people are really doing, and a reminder that people will get their jobs done even if it means other tools. Besides good tools I also see this as a reminder of how unofficial adaption may be a great marketing tool.

Video Games:
Wizard 101 partners with . . Selena Gomez. Is this gaming truly gone mainstream? Seems like we're seeing more and more synergy moves as is, but this is a bit of an odd one of mixing a celebrety into the plot of an MMO.

No Final Fantasy XIII DLC. I'm not sure people's expectations for it had been maintained, but there you are. I'm wondering if they're sort of making a break with some past product as SquareEnix seems to want to go more virtual.

PopCap thinks the Facebook game era is ending.I'm not sure I believe that, but I think it can be diluted by other gaming opportunities.

QUESTION OF THE DAY: Celebrety appearances in MMOs – good idea or bad idea?

– Steven Savage

Stardoll goes interactive fiction, Bettie White is in her own comic, and Backup tech company Backupify may want you! Welcome back from the weekend, let's check out the must-know geek career news!

Economics/Geekonomics:
Fan To Pro Crush Object Richard Florida goes mapilicious once again and maps troubled housing markets. Quick summary: Parts of California and Florida have seriously troubled housing markets.

Angel Investor Joe Caruso says startups need to focus on customers. Words of wisdom.

Geek Law:
Certification policy in South Korea may be onerous for indie game developers.

Anime/Manga:
Animation studio Office Ao filed for Bankruptcy. Apparently a lot of small and medium animation companies reported revenue drops.

Comics:
Bettie White gets her own comic – a biography. Actually an interesting idea, even if it's riding a kind of odd fad/meme (not that she's not one funny lady). The publisher's founder feels this may bring more people into comics.

Stan Lee slips on a guest appearance, it looks like there is a Doctor Strange film in the works.

Multimedia:
There's going to be a Doctor Who Wii Game. It will have a Sonic Screwdriver Wiimote. This is the kind of media synergy that brings tears of joy to my eyes. The DS will get it's own stylus.

Random House teams up with Stardoll for online story project – Including voting on direction of story, exploring the setting, competitions, and more. All I can say is AWESOME, and that a lot of other companies out there should pay attention to this as I can see it being big (or if it's not, it's a good learning experience).

Technology:
Backupify specializes in social media storage and backup technology, raised $4.5 million dollars, and is in a hiring spree. Go for it.

News in Taiwan told via animation? There's an interesting business model. Presented as a curiosity (reminds me of the manga news, actually).

Video:
Here comes Google TV, though not enough detail for my taste on the service. What does interest me is their work with Logitech and Sony, which suggests some solid hardware, and some interesting future partnership possibilites (Google TV on PS3/PS4?).

Video Games:
If you're a gamer, you know Gearbox has ressurected Duke Nukem. There will also be a demo. Between showing the game at PAX, and this, Gearbox is doing some savvy marketing – building trust with the target audience. As long as Gearbox can make a good game with some stand-out elements they're golden – and on top of this and Borderlands, well-positioned.

QUESTION OF THE DAY: Random House/Stardoll teamup – experiment, half-baked, or wave of the future?

– Steven Savage