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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News of the Day 8/5/2009

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Career:
Why some people hate personal branding

Economics/Geekonomics/Freakonomics:
What a double-dip recession could be like – and what could cause it – Chart filled, but even those not economically inclined can get an idea of what we're looking at. The author feels there's enough instability to create a dip in 2010 (I was betting more on macro-issues creating one in 2011-2012). However he's got some good points. Rough summary – keep a weather eye out for 18 months on the economy.

Media:
4 Kids Entertainment has put itself up for sale – Apparently following on cuts last year. Still they have a lot of properties so I expect the company will survive. They're definitely in the don't-send-a-resume category for now, I'd say. Also, they DO have a lot of brands,so once their future is sorted out, they could really put out a lot of media within those brands.

Publishing:
Sony cuts prices on it's e-book titles – Making it competitive with Amazon.com, and continuing the surprisingly lively e-book batles. Side note – it appears companies are postponing softcover and e-book releases to make more money on hardcovers.

Technology:
Apple didn't like a dictionary app in the App Store because of offensive words – A strange story, but part of what could be a trend – people now talking about rejected apps in the App Store. Brought on by the Google Voice mess. I don't know how many apps get rejected, but now that the spotlight is on them, we'll find out more – watch to see wht it means if you're a developer or in IT in general.

Tablets not going to be so hot after all? – A few points about this potential market. I'm going to agree they won't be for everyone – and that they're best when the tablet-function is OPTIONAL and has a keyboard, etc. That won't stop the hype and the developer considerations.

More on the Microsoft-Yahoo deal – Including Yahoo have options to opt OUT of part of the deal. As Microsoft is hiring past Yahoo employees I don't think this is likely, but this does give an idea of just what's up.

Google spends a ton of cash for video compression technology company – Which tells me they're still focused on video, but I'd say this may be more than YouTube – it could play well for Anrdoid and other technology efforts.

Video Games:
Playspan releases a tool for developing a huge variety of payment options for social media and games – Not noteworthy? Try 50 methods in 30 countries. This is subtle, but it could give Playspan a big edge in the market since the technology sounds easy to adapt. In short – resume worthy.

-Steven Savage