Economics/Geekonomics/Freakonomics:

• Consumer Confidence Extremely Low – Water wet. Wrestling is sports entertainment.
• Barney Frank plans massive new regulation in 2009 – Water still wet. Wrestling still sports entertainment. On a serious note, this is completely expected – also expect banking to regress to being a smaller part of the GDP's of countries, and a far different career choice for people. I do expect when banking recovers there will be lots of slots in analysis, IT, and regulatory compliance.
• If you're a bank CEO and you're getting bailout cash, you may be asked to show your pay information – Henry Waxman wants to see it. My guess is this will indeed be used in bailout negotiations – but I also think it's a potential way to change laws and policy on executive compensation. People are angry, and folks aren't sure those exec packages are worth it.
• Half of US Companies rated for bonds would be rated as junk – or non-investment grade – Meaning its harder for them to issue bonds and thus raise cash. This is why liquidity is important . . .
• New York faces extraordinary budget shotfall – This could change if the rumored "infrastructure investment" is for real – but either way very un-pretty and sad. Of course I'm in California, where our governor went asking for loans. Relocating? Pay attention to these issues.

Publishing

• Newspapers looking to go around AP with news-sharing consortium – AP doesn't seem to be doing anything to endear itself to people anyway. Collaborative work like this could be another blow to them – and an interesting model for others to follow.
• Christian Science monitor switches from daily to weekly, focuses more on online presence – My guess is the online focus is an experiment for now and weekly could even be monthly if it seems feasible. This is a 100 year old publication, so people are going to pay attention.

Social Media

• Social Media/job company Glassdoor.com lands $6.5 million in venture capital – Well, we wondered what'd happen to GlassDoor in these pages, and the answer is – they got a nice chunk of money. All told they raised about $9.5 million dollars in two rounds, which is a respctable sum. After watching Imeem begin to fade I'm a bit cynical on social media, but this sounds like people think this is worth it. Maybe the future of social media is specialized social media – at least the future for "getting Venture Capital."

Technology

• Microsoft has demoed Windows 7 – Considering the bad reception of Vista, this is quite critical. However I'm not sure how much it'll change – or adapt – until it's release, which is probably 2010 (annoying as I need a new laptop NOW). My guess is Vista is going to be largely bypassed by tech departments in favor of Windows 7.
• Google settles years-old book-scanning lawsuit.
• Google publishes a light roadmap for Android – Very light, but interesting. It's not really marketing-oriented, so it seems to be aimed more at the consumer/developer. Wild thought – are they trying to target the developer/geek market first, then branch out? Also consider writing some Android apps on the side to raise your profile as a programmer.

Video Games

• THQ sues Activision over Box Art Design – Well, we have our gaming soap opera of the week. I admit the cover art does look awful similar for the two boxes. However as noted in the article, these are awful generic designs. Good tip if you are a cover artist or otherwise – go out of your way to know what NOT to make things look like.
• Social game/network Playfish lands $17 million in venture capital – And it's one of many companies in this space. Social-related media is getting awful crowded, but see my above comment on Glassdoor.
• World of Warcraft reaches 11 million subscribers – At any one time, 3 million of their characters are dressed in eye-watering ensembles. 11 million? That's the number to beat if you want to take on the juggernaut.

Jobwise, Deviantart is hiring – so what are you even WAITING for!

And a thought for the day – if Amazon is looking to get into online games, with their social networking engine, are they well positioned to take on other companies in the networking/gaming space? Or is their brand too "determined"?