Cool Tools:
Five social media identity integrators – If you're trying to combine your identities and make it easier, here's your guide!

Career:
Ouch, the $100,000-per-year-plus job search site's resume review appears to be a scam. I've used The Ladders myself, with mixed results, and this is making me question its usefulness and ethics. Since networking is a big deal for finding jobs, all search sites, paid or not, are something to evaluate very carefully.

Economics/Freakonomics/Geekonomics:
Yes we have an economic recovery later 2009. It will also be uneven. A long complex read, but worth your time as it points out that the volatility of the last few decades isn't going to change and the recovery will be uneven.

Another good article on what cities will grow and what cities will suffer in the future – Mostly addressing the New-York-is-in-trouble meme that keeps surfacing. Most interesting to me – I didn't know Tokyo was suffering that much. If relocating, do your research before following memes.

One out of eight homeowners with mortgages are behind or in foreclosure – Ugly, and continuing as the economy takes its toll on people. Note that it's an uneven distribution though.

Publishing:
Technical news blog network GigaOm to go to paid options. This is for exclusive content that actually sounds reasonable for the $79 a year. I don't use their service, but considering they're tech-savvy, I'd give them the benefit of the dobut that they thought this through. This is one worth watching performance-wise, and brings up the interesting possibility that some high-tech online companies might switch to subscription modes faster – and wiser – than others.

Social Media:
Users over 55 seem to be declining in Facebook usage. Demographics worth noting – are they going to other media or just losing interest after the fads? Knowing could be important if you're in social media.

Technology:
Google releases series of web gadgets for sites and blogs – Pretty much follows their finger-in-every-pie strategy. I myself have trouble keeping track of the gadgets, plugins, gizmos, and add-ons out there anyway, but let's face it – Google has mindshare. Important note here is that these tools also provide a leg up for amateurs and non-pros to gussy up their websites – further increasing mindshare and loyalty in a time where the personal web page can fall behind more advanced technologies.

Google has also announced Google Wave. It's not out yet (and the announcement is many months early, suggesting to me they want to get mindshare and interest). What Google Wave is what PM's like me call a Dashboard (or an active Dashboard), a big data-combining and interaction tool. This one is for your life – mail, conversations, etc. It's also open-sourced, and there's already a Twitter extention. This will be important for life management, but also suggests to me that Google is on it's 'next wave' of getting integrated and getting out there in people's lives. Job-wise of course let's face it working for Google would be great – but these tools are also good for job searches, our lives, and building communication.

Also in Google-ness, there's going to be a flood of Android phones soon.

Video:
Hulu launches Hulu desktop – Of course this lets them take on Boxee. Again I figure Hulu is a great choice for jobs – and as a bit of geek speculation, what if they can get this onto the X-Box 360?

Writing:
There's a sort-of-review of a blogging course. It's a bit thin and overly positive, but for $19.00 this might be worth examining.

Now with all this said, time for an aside on Google.

My take on Google is this – they don't want to rule the world – they do want a finger in every pie and to be established enough no one can jerk them around in their markets. By establishing good utilities and mindshare, they can do this with minimal conflict.

What does this mean in Geeky careers?

• First, Google's mindshare means they will affect other developers and companies simply by the fact they can easily get into certain markets. Watch out to see if Google can affect your company.
• Working at Google is still probably a great bet career-wise. They're established.
• Google is providing tools to people that do stuff they want – integrate the mass of social media, provide cool functions to websites, etc. Google is helping people keep up in a time of change. That's a brilliant strategy because people need that. Let me reiterate this – Google is making it easier to keep up with stuff, people will like that. That's a strategy to learn from.
• This creates a single point of corporate failure for many people – monoculture in a way. This does mean that simple incidents can produce seismic shifts in people's lives – and Google can be easily on the outs.

-Steve Savage