Fan To Pro - The Blog of Professional Geekery

Convention Spotlight: WindyCon

You can find the summary of the Convention Ideas here.

WindyCon is one of the older conventions in the United States (I attended one in 1986).  As I've been researching conventions and their "professional events" I was glad to go and see what was up with the convention.

WindyCon is a convention held near Chicago, currently held in Lombard, IL.  Indeed if you're a fan, geek, what-have you in the area, you probably know about it.

WindyCon's fan-to-pro events put a large emphasis on writing  - there are workshops, panels, and soforth for writers interested in science-fiction.  What really stands out is their manuscript review, modeled after the Worldcon Writer's Workshops.  This is something other conventions could definitely emulate.

It works like this:

1. Beginning authors send in manuscripts.
2. WindyCon arranges professional authors and editors to critique them.
3. There are face-to-face meetings between those who submit manuscripts and the pros themselves.
4. There's live feedback and Q&A.

This is a model I think could be extended to any number of profan activities - art, game design, website design, cosplay, etc.  It gives the experts time for review, gives solid feedback, and encourages a professional approach from the start.  My guess is it also would be good for networking or networking could be added to and encouraged at the events.

WindyCon has been doing this for several years.  It sounds like it's worth giving a try at your own convention.

Of course if you're in the area, you could also attend WindyCon and get the full experience yourself . . .

- Steven Savage

Hard and Easy Are Not Stable

We face a lot of challenges in our life and there's many things we find easy.

Never assume that these things are stable values.

News of the Day, October 30, 2009

Job Market

Ways to Stand Out at Work During The Good Times and Bad Times: Among them, share information you've gained in niche areas with others - which sounds like a good use for your fandom skills.

Social Media

Facebook has retooled its privacy policy to include, among other things, accesibility to people's Facebook pages through search engines like Bing if they set their privacy settings to "everyone." (a likely result of Facebook's recent data-sharing deal with Microsoft). So if you use Facebook, be careful how you set your privacy if you don't want your page to be an open book. 

Video Games

Nickelodeon has chosen Playspan as its virtual goods partner for Neopets and two virtual worlds it has in development. Playspan sells gift cards in outlets like 7-11 which can be used online to purchase virtual items and currently offers its services for more than 300 games. This is a very big deal in the virtual goods and online multiplayer community - Nickelodeon is a huge name to get into the "money for nothing" business and this shows how huge "freemium" games have become.

Nintendo suffers first profit loss in six years: The company says there had "been a miscalculation" as to the extent that the bottom would drop out of the games industry. The fact that the Wii seems to have reached its saturation point and the DSi didn't set the world on fire didn't help, we're sure. We're not saying Wii 2.0 is imminent, but it may happen sooner than originally thought. 

Sony Suffers 2nd Quarter Loss: The state of the yen is cited as the cause. The good news, however, is that sales of the Playstation 3 were way, way up thanks to the price cut (which must have the execs kicking themselves and wondering why they didn't do it before). 

Capcom profits up 58%: Apprently bucking the gaming industry downturn, they rode the Monster Hunter and Resident Evil franchises to continued success. They found something that works and stuck with it, always a smart thing. 

Gamasutra's Weekly Job Roundup: You know what to do.  

Technology

RealNetworks Turns a Profit: This despite the fact that subscribers are way down for their Rhapsody music service - the gains came mainly from cost cutting and sales of RealPlayer Pro. The company is looking for future growth from the video games it's offering for Facebook and iPhone, but they acknowledge that it's hard to turn a profit from them since these games usually sell cheaply.

Epix, a joint venture of Paramount, Lionsgate and MGM that will include online streaming of movies, as well as a movie channel on Verizon FIOS, has officially launched. So far, only people with the TV channel will have access to the online movie library, so this is a pretty big coup for Verizon, which is, of course, battling both cable and satellite services for eyeballs. Expect more studio-sponsored streaming business like this in the future - would not be surprised to hear an announcement of a competing service on DirectTV within the next week or so.

YouTube U2 Concert Generates 10 Million Streams: It's said to be the biggest event in the company's history, and it will mean more and more major televised events moving online. If you know streaming technology, you will definitely be in luck job-wise.

Android-Based EeePC 'Smartbook' To Arrive Early Next Year: Asus' on-again, off-again project is on again, and this time, there seems to be no mention of it being dual-boot with XP. It's going to have a light price tag, too, about $180. If this succeeds, it'll open the floodgates for Googlebooks, so this is definitely one to keep an eye on, especially if you want to get into making Android apps.   

Comics

Comixology is offering a lineup of Marvel Comics titles through its iPhone app, including X-Men and Captain America. Unfortunatley, they're currently available only in the U.S., though that restriction may be lifted in thye future. Comixology had previously offered comics from small publishers, so this Marvel deal is a huge boost for them - and for the cyber comics industry in general.

- Bonnie

Convention Ideas: Pay a Visit

You can find the roundup of other convention ideas here.

When we plan convention events, there's a tendency to keep events focused ON the convention itself - doing things there at the hotel, building, etc.  You paid for that floor space, youíre going to bloody well use it.

Floor space aside, for professional events, you might want to think out of the box (or the hotel).  Depending on where your convention is located, you may want to think about doing some professional events outside of the convention.

News of the Day, October 29, 2009

Job Search

Multi-dimensional online resumes aren't the norm yet, but they will be. A company called VisualCV is among those allowing job seekers to build a page including items such as a design portfolio, writing examples, audio and video clips, links to off-site work, a thesis and awards. Build one of these sites now if you want to be ahead of the curve.

Economics/Geekonomics

Is the Recession Over?: We may be past the Great Recession, the panics and the bailouts, but we still have to deal with an "ordinary recession" before we can return to prosperity, according to analysts.

Technology

There's a reason the baseball postseason has been littered with cell phone ads: Big Sports is now seriously selling mobile game coverage via phone. The lastest league to do it is the NBA, which is offering a streaming package for both iPhone and Android starting at $40 for a "league pass," including 40 available games per week. 

The founders of Yahoo Music have created Dashbox, a subscription service that allows video producers on both the pro and amateur level to access a library of usable music. Good news for aspiring filmmakers who want to stay out of unauthorized music-related legal trouble.

Google has officially announced its music search service, which will allow people to type a title, an artist or even a few words of a lyric and see results from Rhapsody, MySpace, imeem, Pandora and Lala. Meanwhile, in other music news, MySpace and Facebook are talking about sharing music content through a Facebook Connect integration.

Yahoo and Microsoft extending deadline for search deal: It was supposed to be finalized Tuesday, it won't be. Look for this one to be short-lived and another symptom of Yahoo's troubles - they're also looking to shore themselves up by increasing revenue from international sources. We repeat that Yahoo shouldn't be on the resume short list, at least for awhile.

Hulu to stay with free ad-supported content: They'd mulled the idea of going subscription-based, but thought better of it. Considering the rate they're growing (they definitely ARE on the resume short list), it was smart to not fix what wasn't broken.

Iceberg reader E-reader for iPhone upgraded: With all the fuss over the Nook and the Kindle, keep in mind that smartphones are E-readers too, and apps like this will put the concept in a lot more hands.    

Video Games

After cutting its earnings forecast by 23 percent as a result of a Wii sales slump (and being overtaken by the PS3 in North American sales for the first time with the introduction of the PS3 Slim), Nintendo announced it will launch a new version of the DSi with a larger screen, to be known as the DSi LL in Japan and the DSi XL elsewhere. It's scheduled to be released here in the first quarter of next year. The slump was probably inevitable - after all, everyone who was going to buy a Wii probably already has one, and the company has also suffered from a lack of blockbuster games this year.

There's a labor dispute over video game voice acting work currently going on between the Screen Actors Guild and various game publishers. Apparently, revenues over games where one actor voices multiple characters is the sticking point, and one agreement was just rejected by the union. Keep an eye on this, especially if you want to get into voice acting - it cold set industry precedents.

Disney has announced details of its Mickey Mouse game, to be titled Epic Mickey. This has the potential to be a blockbuster - it's said to be a dark, Tim Burtonesque tale in which the mouse is pursued by his forebearer, Oswald the Rabbit, who was banished to the Cartoon Wasteland after Mickey's success -  and since it's primarily for Wii, it could be the kick in the pants Nintendo is looking for. The House of Mouse is also considering multimedia properties for the title, including a movie and comics (perhaps taking a cue from the successful Kingdom Hearts manga?). Epic Mickey is scheduled to debut in the fall of 2010, so expect the next 12 months to be full of the biggest buildup since Beatles Rock Band. (We can see this leading to revivals of other classic characters in similar settings - Epic Woody Woodpecker, anyone?) 

Social Media

Facebook has revealed Platform feature upgrades that will take place over the next six months, including Open Graph, which will allow users to "become a fan" of a non-Facebook page as if it were in the Facebook network. Application-to-user and user-to-user notifications will be removed, and instead developers will use stream, Inbox, and E-mail. Worth noting because Facebook is so extensively used nowadays for business and job-hunting purposes, as well as networking.

Publishing

Esquire Magazine is reportedly pouring very big bucks into creating an 'interactive print edition'  that is designed to simulate a Web site, with pages that play videos through a process called "augmented technology." A gimmick to be sure, and probably not something that any magazine is going to do over the long term - Esquire parent company Hearst is also reportely working on a magazine E-reader designed to simulate a print reader, which would be a better use of their time and money.

- Bonnie

The New Normal varies

If you follow any economic and career news (and I'm assuming you do as you read this blog) we hear a lot about the "new normal" - what's now normal after the economic crash and changes in the world economy, and how the new normal is different from the old normal.

What I hate about this term getting tossed about is that it's done so very generally - THIS is the new Normal, THAT is the New Normal, etc.  Everything is the New Normal.

News of the Day 10/28/2009

Career:
Use a cover letter template for fast and effective cover letters - Good advice.

Economics/Geekonomics:
Consumer confidence appears to be declining - Shocking to no one of course. I note this . . . well just to note it.

See how one release can affect stock prices: What happened to Garmin and TomTom when Google mentioned free GPS 2.0 on Android. Some more thoughts on this and more here.

Mobile:
Is the blackberry doomed? I have to say yes - Android and iPhone offer more compelling, organized, standard options. If you develop for Blackberry, do pay attention to this article.

Motorola's Droid arrives November 6 - So sit back, grab the popcorn, and see what happens. Get a hands on view at Engadget.

Technology:
Dilithium Networks lands $10.9 in venture funds. They deal with mobile and converged video. Sounds like a good investment considering the increased move to mobile and all the action the market. Toss them a resume?

Video:
An argument for why Hulu charging would be a good thing - Not sure I buy it as long-term acceptance could be throttled by short-term annoyance. Still a good read.

- Steven Savage

Stereotype-Fu: Stereotype Evolved

This is the wrap-up to my original "run" of Stereotype-fu columns.  I'm sure there will be more, but I've covered most of my intended materials. 

I'm going to close with a piece of advice near and dear to my heart: Being Stereotype Evolved.

News of the Day 10/27/2009

Career:
Five handy tips on writing cover letters.

Hate Networking? So does Laurie of Punk Rock HR. However she still shares some great tips for those of you that don't hate it - or want to build up to tolerating it.

Economics/Geekonomics: Guess what? Big Banks are not necessarily more efficient. Keep up on this issue because it will keep coming up in the economy . . . (also need I say a big bank may not be the best place to work?)

Law:
Judge rules former Midway execs didn't decieve people - and this sad end of the company apparently comes to a close.

Publishing:
Barnes and Noble won't just sell Nooks - it'll sell the Que - In stores. The Que is amore expensive reading device, and they don't see it as a competitor with the Nook. But this tells me B&N is ready to invest heavily in the potential of e-readers, even more than I thought. They're also into cooperation, which could be an interesting strategy in the Everything Wars - could it be a form of dilution strategy to go for a no-dominant-winner result. We need to see how/if their moves pay off, but I'm positive (and thinking this may provide career-worthy opportunities). More here.

On that note, there's some evidence from the UK that E-books are increasing interest in libraries. Good to know if you're in the geeky profession of working in a library - and also telling about potential ways your works may get to people if you're a writer.

Social Media:
MySpace is still moving forward. It may bring it's music service to MSN and Share content with Facebook. Yes, even a potential teamup with an old rival. MySpace's re-invention continues, and it's going to be interesting to watch. It seems to be a mixture of more focus and see-what-sticks. They're certainly not gone yet.

Technology:
The Apple Tablet could be a media device - and here is a discussion of what media it could host, focusing initially on comic books. There's also apparent attemtps to shop it to Australian media companies. There's Apple Tablet/iPad news coming thick and fast recently, so I'd keep up at TechMeme for the next few days.

Video Games:
The next Rock Band will apparently focus on The Who. A good choice, but I think that in a year the whole specialized-Rock-Band-thing is going to be wrung out. I'm concerned this (along with fitness games) is going to kick off a larger search-for-fad in gaming for a few years that won't be good for the industry.

Gamebryo development engine gets more expansions - Looks like Emergent Game Technologies isn't slowing down.

- Steven Savage

Technology, Speculation, and Failure

I've talked a lot about technology in this blog - it's both a geeky subject, and something we're all interested in and dependent on.  Technology is changing fast and that changes jobs for ALL of us.

I want to address how technology is changing the nature of speculation and of failure in our careers.

For many of us progeeks and fan-to-pro types, technology is making some or all of our career ambitions easier.  If you want to be a writer, you can self-publish the first edition of your novel, comic, or book.  If you want to do a webcomic, the tools are there - including publicity tools.  If you want recognition as a history teacher you can edit wikis, write for blogs and websites, etc.  If you're a musician or an aspiring one I don't even HAVE to talk about what technology has done for you.

We all look at what technology lets us do from a positive side.  I'd like to call out another advantage that the onslaught of new technologies has done for us that we may not be looking at - speculation and failure.