Fan To Pro - The Blog of Professional Geekery

Upcoming Podcast

We have our usual Podcast tomorrow at 9:30 EST, 6:30 PST.  Our special subject is just what is going to happen to the idea of a sequel in the world of DLC, e-books, and online content?

- Steven Savage

Progreek Pride: Communication In The Geek Nation

Halo action figures once made my job easier.

I had to get to know a team operating several servers on a project I worked on at a past employer - and being the Project Manager I had to get to know everyone.  This included people who I'd never met,  on a team I didn't know existed.  I needed to get to know them - and get some things moving project-wise.

Fortunately, someone had Halo action figures.  Sensing a fellow geek, I struck up a conversation with that team member, and had an instant in to the team.

Being an unrepentant geek helped my communications with others.

Convention Idea: Must-Use Technology

The roundup of convention ideas is here.

There's a lot to be said for professional-themed panels.  Voice acting.  Game programming.  Writing.

There's also a lot to be said for "peripheral" professional-themed panels.  Networking.  Making portfolios.

However, to these focused and peripheral panels, let me add one more suggestion to put in your convention event witch's brew.  What about doing panels on must-use technologies like making webpages, podcasting, and so on?

For most geeky and fannish careers, technology is an indispensable part of what you do, how you find a job.  Of course, as fandom is generally technical anyway, these technologies do double-duty in their usefulness - helping you out in your geeky endeavors and your career:

• Websites allow for "personal branding", to establish a common point of contact for professionals, and to display portfolios.  Do people know how to make them easily enough?
• Podcasts can do everything from self-expression to establishing oneself as an expert to just building social skills - and a consistent podcast is a great testimony to passion and skill.
• Social media is . . . well everywhere.  If you DON'T have some social media panel at a reasonably sized con, you're missing out.
• Smartphones are everywhere.  What can fans get out of them professionally and personally?
• There's many, many other subjects like Apple versus Mac, best free software, etc. . .

Best of all you can find people able to speak on these subjects easily among your regular convention attendees and staff - since they're probably using them.

So next convention, don't forget fantech.  You've got a lot you can cover - and a lot of resources to draw on.

- Steven Savage

News of the Day, February 26, 2010

Nokia struggles to make a comeback, a high-profile plagiarism case is the talk of the manga industry, and don't look for the Playstation 4 any time soon! Join us as we wrap up the week in news!

Economics/Geekonomics

Mortgage Delinquencies Increase Strongly in January: Another sign we're definitely not out of the woods yet, as is existing home sales below expectations.

Smartphones

Android May Outsell iPhone in Middle of the U.S.: The Google OS is reportedly ahead in eight states, but there's a catch: Verizon, home of the Droid, has much greater coverage than AT&T in those parts of the country. Sounds like a good idea for Apple to not renew its exclusive deal with AT&T.

Nokia Charts its Comeback Plan: The once-mighty cellphone maker is preparing for life in the smartphone world with some high-end models, but they're  definitely on the "see how it goes before you even think of sending them a resume" list.

Palm Cuts Revenue Forecast: They're lowering expectations after sales of the Pre and Pixie fell short. Hopefully, their new deal with Verizon will turn things around, but . . . see what we said about Nokia above.

Computers/Web Tech

Browser Wars: The Sequel: An analysis how increased competition, especially from Google's Chrome, is driving improvements throughout  the industry - including to Internet Explorer, which Microsoft pretty much ignored after it kicked Netscape to the curb. (We all know, of course, that Mozilla rose from the ashes as Firefox).

Online Dating in a Slump: Match.com purchased Singlesnet.com, but Match.com itself has lost traffic, as has the rest of the industry. Another victim of the recession, and another area of tech it may be best to avoid, job-wise, for awhile.

Social Media

Facebook Patents the Social Media News Feed: Which could get interesting legally if other social media sites utilize technology that falls under Facebook's filing. Keep an eye on this one, especially if your work, or plan to work, in this area. (Meanwhile, Facebook says it's taking a 30% cut on revenue from its Credits virtual money system, leaving developers to take a whopping 70% cut).

Netbooks/Tablets

iPad Accessories Planned Already: The device isn't even due until next month, but companies such as  Belkin, Scosche, and Griffin have peripherals on the drawing board. Tablet accessories are about to become a booming market, so this is a good one to get in on the ground floor of.

Video Games

Plants vs. Zombies iPhone Game Generates $1 Million in Sales: PopCap Games set a nine-day sales record for the app store. Keep in mind, though, that  this is the exception, rather than the rule, and the "you won't get rich designing iPhone apps" saying still stands, nine times out of ten. (Needless to say, PopCap Games is also a company to watch).

Sony America CEO Can't Imagine the Future of Playstation: Jack Tretton says he isn't even thinking about the PS4 because the PS3 hasn't even reached its midlife crisis - so count on it being around awhile. (Good thing, since it's just starting to gain steam in the marketplace).

Gamasutra Network Jobs Lineup: You know what to do.

E-Books

How Amazon Innovates: A look at how its corporate culture ultimately resulted in the Kindle - and how Microsoft's didn't.

Anime/Manga

Controversy Rolls On Over Nick Simmons Manga: Gene Simmons' son apparently plagiarized entire pages of Bleach for his "American manga," Incarnate, and has also been accused of lifting art from titles such as One Piece and Hellsing, as well as DeviantArt fanarts. Fortunately, Viz got on this one fast and they're taking action - another sign that geek law is going to be a very profitable career. (And remember folks, steal art and you'll get caught, no matter who your daddy is)

Comics

Captain America Movie on Hold?: Rumors to that effect have surfaced after director Joe Johnston's "The Wolfman" flopped. Given how hot comic movies though, are, and how talked-about this project has been, we imagine Johnston will merely be replaced, rather than scrapping the whole film.

QUESTION OF THE DAY: Can Nokia make a comeback, or is their entrance into the smartphone game too little, too late?

- Bonnie

Frustration Friday: The Best Isn't The Best - Again

OK, let me go and say something I've been telling people for awhile.

Your competency at a profession is not based on any one skill.  It is based on if you have the skills that SUPPORT that skill so you can use it, and thus have a job and a career.

• If you're the world's greatest artist and have no social skills, you're probably not going to get hired, or even let people be aware of your talent.
• If you're the world's greatest writer and you're disorganized and ever complete anything, that legion of half-finished novels will never see an audience.
• If you are a brilliant programmer and don't know the industry you're in, then you will not be able to deal with clients, make plans, and get the job done.

For that matter if you're a brilliant ANYTHING and can't do a job search, network, and market yourself you're probably in trouble anyway.

News of the Day 2/25/2010

Scribd goes e-doc, Google in the crosshairs in Italy, mathematical meanderings in gaming, and Phil Foglio talks comics! Forward my Career Geeks, into the field of must-know news!

Economics:
Unrest in Greece over economic solutions - With plenty to consider in the post and the comments itself. Dig in here to get an idea of traditions of protest in various countries, economic impact, and other tidbits that'll help you understand things better.

Geek Law:
Google executives found responsible for privacy violations. Its a bit complex, so give it a read. My personal take is that most of this is political, stemming from Italy's media ownership issues (as in the Prime Minister is a big media mogul). However there are also issues of how Google is regarded in Europe.

Comics:
Phil Foglio discusses the how and why of his comic-turned webcomic award-winning series Girl Genius (a crush object on several levels). The Foglios are a remarkable example of artists and artistic careers - and of a couple sticking together through thick and thin - that you can learn from.

Media:
Dave Madden of Wild Tangent has something to say to the New York Times - Learn from Online Games. He spells it out pretty well - a paywall is an immediate turnoff, monetizing by choice has many options, and that choice can actually help establish value. A good read. Also if this is the kind of talent at the top of Wild Tangent you probably want to get them a resume.

Publishing:
Business to business editors on their own in learning digital skills - Which may explain some digital transition issues. Career tip:learning own your own is necessary in any career, even if your employer doesn't pay for it.

Scribd goes for e-distribution, has API for e-distribution applications - Scribd seems to be trying to expand what they do a lot lately - and this makes using their e-pub service more desirable and far-reaching.

Google patents way to turn magazines into individual e-articles - Which of course means a look at converting periodicals, which means that at some point there will be more lawsuits whenever Google converts whatever periodicals it has its eyes on. A bit of both technology and Geek Law here.

Video Games:
The Top Ten most expensive video game budgets ever. Some surprises, some obvious answers, and some insights into game expense as well. A good read for anyone in the industry or who wants to go into it.

Just where does that money go in the price of a game? Find out here. The data comes from OnLive however, so it may be a tad biased, though it does seem to roughly fit with what I understand of related industries.

Hi5 buys Big Six - In an acquisition sure to create many lame number jokes. In reality it's part of Hi5's continued growth and bears watching to see what they do next. I'm very positive on the company's future.

Nintendo says there won't be a Wii replacement anytime soon - I don't buy that myself, and it's only the statement from one person. But this will be noted around the geekosphere.

Someone ports Quake 3 to Android - I include this because it's just plain cool.

Gamestop's CFO resigns - Apparently to takea position at Walmart. Not sure if this is a big deal for the ambitious game store chain, but noted in case it is important in the future.

Writing:
How a freelance author failed - and learned - For all you hopeful writers out there, a good chance to learn from someone else's mistakes.

QUESTION OF THE DAY: Will Google face problems being "nibbled to death" internationally?

-Steven Savage

A Game Machine - Or a Machine That Plays Games?

I mentioned yesterday I'd been playing Dungeon Fighter on my Netbook.  As I played it, it struck me that, with this game, I now had something to play when I travelled, all in convenient Netbook size.

Then it struck me and I nearly yelled "It really IS a portable game device!"

News of the Day 2/24/2010

More financial meltdowns, less adult content on Vudu, and more money for Zillion TV! Change your channel to "Geek Career News" and let's see what's on!

Career:
10 ways LinkedIn helps in a job search - Short, sweet, and useful.

Poewar, a writer's resource, has a dynamite job hunting to do list that's good advice for anyone.

Economics/Geekonomics:
Freddie Mac seems to be worried about more home foreclosures - I'm more concerned about commercial real estate, but only in that seems to have a bigger chance to go bad. This is Not Good.

Geek Law:
Yelp is involved in a class action lawsuit over review removal and claims of blackmail pay-to-remove-bad-reviews. This is one I just found out about, so I bring it up due to Yelp's prominence. I'm not sure how legit the claims are. On the heels of discussion of Zynga's past and the ever-increasming prominence of internet reviews and data, this is important to follow as it may set precidents.

Video:
ZillionTV gets $10 million investment from Qwest. Good for Zillion, which launches in a few months. Good for Qwest who gets a piece of the action. Possibly good for you if Zillion goes and uses that money to hire people. ZillionTV, for all it's doing, often gets overlooked in the news, which might be an advantage to them as they can come out of no-where into the market.

Wal Mart buys streaming movie startup Vudu, and closes its adult section. Not surprising, but it brings up the question of what else Wal Mart may remove to maintain it's image (as one commentor notes, you can't get pornography, you can get horror films). I'm not sure Wal Mart really knows what its getting into with the streaming movie business and think this isn't the last time we'll see them pulling things out of Vudu.

Video Games:
Bluehole Studios of Korea has created a new gaming company, En Masse Entertainment in Seattle. First - well new company in Seattle, so send resumes. Secondly, they have a good starting staff. A company to watch - even if you don't send a resume.

Take Two opens a Japanese office - Previously they did it via partnerships. Considering some of the great properties they have, this is a good move for them.

Question of the Day: Does Wal-Mart's move to clean up Vudu weaken their hand in getting people interested in the service?

- Steven Savage

Free, Fremium, and More in the Great Recession

So recently I put the game Dungeon Fighter on my Asus Netbook.  Dungeon Fighter is an interesting game - a side-scrolling beat-em-up game and an MMO at the same time.  You play one of several unique classes (that at times vary from fantasy archetypes or expand them), fight monsters in modular dungeons, and have colorful sprite-based fun.  It's easy, simple, surprisingly deep, and the Priest class whacks enemies to death with giant crosses, scythes, and rosaries, so how could I resist.

The game is of course free-to-play, but you can blow cash on getting extra equipment, respecs to re-build your character, and, of course, character clothing so you don't look like everyone else.  Very standard model.

So as I played this game, I debated if I wanted to get some credits in the game for extras.  It suddenly struck me that the freemium, free-to-play, and other free-but models differ from the usual monthly-charge MMO games in another way besides the obvious.

They allow you to timeshift your expenses.

News of the Day, February 23, 2010

Gaming, gaming everywhere: We're putting a lot of our money into it, Warner Bros. wants direct control of it when it comes to its Batman titles, and it's going to be a big part of the new Windows Mobile OS. But wait, there's more: E-books and Twitter and streaming, oh my!

Job Market

Monster Lays Off 200: The job search supersite says this is part of an ongoing two-year restructuring program. Yes, yes, it's ironic that employees at a job search site will be using its services, but it's definitely a sign of a changing job search market and a swing away from "traditional" services. 

What Kind of Job Do You Want?: We've all heard about the difference between a job and a career, but there's a third level - a calling, where your work fulfills a specific purpose in your life. 

Video Games

Americans Spend 5% Of Their Entertainment Budget on Gaming: This takes in all forms of paid gaming, of course, but that's a pretty damn big number, especially considering how many other directions the money has to go in during these troubled economic times. 

Warner Buys Majority Stake in Arkham Asylum Developer: Rocksteady Studios is a British company, and Warner was apparently impressed enough with its work on the megahit game that it wants them for keeps. Expect a long line of Bat-sequels, continuing the trend of multimedia superheroes (and DC is also indicating there's plenty more TV animation coming).  

EA's Project $10 Draws Controversy: This is a plan to combat used game sales in which people who buy an EA title new get DLC for free, but those who bought it used have to pay for the extra content. Retailers aren't happy about it, saying this will just create bad blood between EA and customers. Have to agree that this is something that could backfire and blow up in their faces big-time.

Sub Vs. Dub Controversy . . . In Japan!: Apparently, some Japanese gamers don't like the dub that was done for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and are lobbying to have American games imported in English with Japanese subtitles. A reminder that translation is a two-way street - you could do well supervising a truly good English to Japanese dub, as well as the other way around.  

Technology

Pioneer Raises Money Through Overseas Stock Sale: They need it, too - the once-mighty Japanese electronics firm has been floundering as of late. (Another case of "just because you're on top now doesn't mean you will be forever.")

Social Media

Time Spent on Social Media Increases 82%: This is between December 2008 and the same month in 2009. The very public profile of Twitter in the last year probably had a lot to do with these numbers (the service is now reporting it has 600 tweets per second), as did the "everyone's on Facebook" phenomenon. This sheer number of users just increases the effectiveness of these sites as job-search tools. 

Smartphones

How the New Windows Mobile Stacks Up Against Its Rivals: An analysis of the new OS, which will integrate gaming via Xbox Live and music via Zune (yes, Zune will have an iTunes-like service, the Zune itself isn't being converted into a phone. Frankly, I'm disappointed). Sounds like it will be a lot more competitive in the marketplace than its much-lambasted predecessor, but the question is whether it will be able to play catchup with the iPhone and the ever-expanding Android.

E-Books

Macmillan Launches Digital Textbook Editing Platform: The company that launched the Amazon revolt is now offering E-book software that allows textbook authors to constantly keep their information current. A fabulous idea that will save school systems a bundle (we can definitely foresee a time where every student totes around a tablet and/or netbook instead of a stack of books and notebooks).  

Microsoft Strikes Patent License Agreement With Amazon: It involves the Kindle and some as-yet-unnamed Microsoft project. Could this mean Microsoft is doing its own reader, or merely that they're integrating reader capability into the new Windows Mobile OS? 

Media

Wal-Mart Buys Video Streaming Startup: Vudu is a Netflix-like service that has been struggling to make a place for itself - they manufactured their own set-top boxes at first, then went to being a software-based streaming service. It's said the big-box retailer is going to bundle Vudu with the TVs it sells, comparable to what Best Buy is doing with its own recent streaming acquisition, CinemaNow. Interesting move by these companies to cut out the middleman (Netflix) and go to the public directly, but we don't see this having much of an impact on Netflix's profits. (We now wonder if the ultimate fate of Blockbuster is to liquidate its stores and become a combination of Red Box-like kiosks and a streaming service bundled with TVs sold by a retailer like Sears). 

Will iTunes Push Us to Ala Carte TV Viewing?: An analysis of whether their proposed price cut - from $1.99 to 99 cents per TV episode - coupled with Internet-to-TV technology like the Boxee Box may inspire more people to cut their cable and start downloading their programming. Food for thought when it comes to the changing media landscape. 

Geek News of the Weird

Video Games Blamed for Guys Not Going to Movies: Supposedly, the recent success of "chick flicks" at the box office is due to the fact that guys are all staying home playing video games. Uhhh, yeah, right. Guess whoever did this poll never heard of a little indie called Avatar. (Which was, by the way, very video game-like. And we won't even get into the "women don't play video games" implications here). 

QUESTION OF THE DAY: Is Apple-type a la carte TV downloads the ultimate goal and destiny of companies such as Comcast and Cablevision? (Perhaps that's why they rebranded their products Xfinity and Optimum, respectively - to get away from the "cable TV" image).

- Bonnie