News of the Day, October 14, 2009

Job Market

Freelancing: A Career Choice of a Lifestyle?: An analysis of what it means to go it alone. Kind of on the "rah rah" side, but does present some solid advantages of ditching 9 to 5. (Among them: You can be there for friends and family when they need you).

Economics/Geekonomics

Retail Sales Decrease in September: However, when you subtract the motor vehicle industry, there's a tiny uptick, which may be an encouraging sign.

Too Big to Fail: An in-depth look at the myth that some banks are too big to collapse, and why that's just not true. 

Publishing

Another venerable old publication has been saved from the chopping block: BusinessWeek has been purchased by Bloomberg after being owned by McGraw-Hill for 80 years. We imagine the new media-savvy business data company will go in an electronic direction with the publication, but it's just good to see it salvaged, especially in light of the Conde-Nast massacre.

The Future of Sci-Fi: A U.K. publishing blog ponders the future of science fiction in a world where the genre is mainstream, or at least almost there.

Neil Gaiman Writing Twitter Novel: Which may be the single geekiest statement you'll ever see anywhere.

Video Games

After all this talk of "No new consoles for a long time!" it seems that Microsoft is looking ahead to the next generation of Xbox: Word has it that AMD has already won a contract to produce semiconductors for the next generation. If Microsoft is indeed making moves to upgrade, expect action from the other two camps - or at least loud "We're not working on any new consoles!" denials. (Which, at least in Sony's case, usually translates into, "It's all done but the box design!") Nintento is apprently already getting busy on the handheld side, with a next-generation DS planned for late 2010.

Okay, it's not quite the PSP Phone, but Sony has launched a mobile phone that allows users to access their PS3 media content via a local 3G network or the Internet. Yet another step toward gaming consoles as total lifestyle devices.

Anime/Manga

A legal battle is in the works between American and Japanese companies over adaptation rights to the classic manga Old Boy, which was published here by Dark Horse Comics. Apparently, the American firm had secured the rights to the title, then idled out, and a Korean film adaptation was made. This is the first cross-Pacific suit of its type we've heard of, and it may not be the last as animanga gets increasingly mainstream. 

Social Media

A new social media search tool called Aardvark has opened to the public. The service allows users to ask a question and then look across social networks to find experts who can provide the answers. A nifty service that may also have value for business networking. 

Twitter is now offering a spam reporting feature, where previously users had to E-mail the service to report junk in their accounts. Meanwhile, recent figures are indicating that growth of the service is flattening out - at least for now. (We don't think they're exactly going away in the near future, though). 

Technology

Reports are surfacing about Barnes and Noble's Android-powered E-reader, which is being described as a Kindle/iPhone hybrid. Sounds like this device has the potential to be a game spoiler for a lot of players, including both Amazon and "Our tablet will be a Kindle competitor!" Apple, not to mention putting Android in a LOT of hands. Definitely keep an eye on this. 

Microsoft has sold Razorfish, its digital ad agency, to a French ad holding company called Publicis Groupe. However, it is retaining a small stake in its new parent company, so they're not letting them go entirely. The Seattle-based Razorfish has 2,000 employees across three continents and may be looking to grow in the future, so keep an eye on them.

Digital music is currently a hot segment of the Everything Wars: The founders of Skype and Joost are now starting a new subscription music service called Rdio. They're entering a crowded field here, with the likes of Pandora and Last.fm riding high, so I'd toss a resume to their competitors before I'd go with them. (Besides, Skype and Joost were both underachievers.) Meanwhile, Sony is giving Apple a black eye by not releasing the posthumous Michael Jackson album "This Is It" to iTunes, saying that the House of Jobs insists on a single-song-download policy, while they only want the album sold digitially as a whole. Instead Amazon is getting an exclusive on the mp3s. This may be the start of an Apple backlash in the music industry - stay tuned. 

Boxee, in conjunction with Cliqset, has launched a chat-through-your-TV service. This seems to be an outgrowth of the side chats on video sharing services like Hulu, and it's hard to see who the target audience is, other than computer-shy grannies. (Protip: It's a good thing to base a service on a need, but make sure there's a clearly defined need for the service before you launch).   

And now, some news of the weird: Car engines have gotten so quiet that some people are looking for ways to make them noisier for safety's sake. Your tech know-how may end up being used in some very unexpected - and strange - places.

- Bonnie