Fan To Pro - The Blog of Professional Geekery

Launch or Be Lunch, Day 2 - Oh Shi---: Tweaking (the Way You Want to Go)

We're now in launch week.  Needless to say, this is a terrifying exciting time.  But hey, we're consumate professionals, so we'll take it in stride, bravely moving along with a dance and a song.

Are Some Businesses Around Because They're Familiar?

There are many things we can say a business is. A business is a tool to deliver goods, or do tasks. A businesses away to consolidate and in theory improve economic functions. A business is a way for people to effectively earn a living. There are many things indeed that we can say a business is.

(Yes, I could talk about corruption and so forth, but stick with me here.)

The business is also social institution and understanding that is important to analyze the future of businesses–when they actually have any.

Creative Futurism

Over the past week, our news reports have featured a couple of cases of old dogs learning new tricks, vintage companies getting into new areas. Now, we see this kind of thing all the time - after all, adaptation to the marketplace is essential if a company is to survive. But what's interesting is these are three companies engaging in a smart kind of creative futurism that may change their futures.

Welcome to the Android Feeding Frenzy

Kmart isn't exactly a name synonymous with anything geeky. Their game selection is usually iffy, their DVDs dqually so. Electronics? Meh. Maybe if you need new batteries for your Wiimote, that's about it.

But this week, the eternal-butt-of-jokes discount store found itself at the epicenter of a geekquake when it advertised an Android tablet for $150 - about a third of the asking price for an iPad. Instantly, technophiles descended on the stores, advertising circulars in hand, looking for the devices - only to find out they weren't there. Stores apologized and issued rainchecks, and as of this writing, I've yet to come across a blog post from anybody who's gotten their hands on one (save for a Cnet post speculating that the Augen Gentouch will probably be a piece of junk).

All this has revealed two things about the tablet market, though - Android is here to stay, and he-or-she who will come up with an inexpensive, reliable Android tablet will rule the world - or at least the budget-conscious segment of the geekosphere.

Epic Handhelds

I have Dragon Quest IX on my DS.  If you're not familiar with the series, they're epic Japanese RPGs with their own style.  Dragon Quest VIII on the PS2 had an incredible amount of gameplay - I put 80 hours into playing it.  From everything I've seen in DQ IX, and everything I hear, this tiny cartridge is packed with as much content as the PS2 disc.

For people not familiar with gaming, handhelds like the DS may not seem to be the place for epic games that last 40, 50, or more hours.  It's too easy to assume portable gaming is casual gaming.

Of course this isn't true.  Handheld gaming gave us Pokemon, games people could put hundreds of hours into playing.  There are epic RPGs for various handhelds, from Golden Sun to Shin Megami Tensi: Strange Journey.  Hand-held gaming has had epic for quite some time.

However, as I've played Dragon Quest IX, which proves to be more addicting than its' predecessor, I've started to speculate that epics are not only well-suited to handhelds, they may be an ideal place for them in the future.

The Subscription Age

You ever get a magazine subscription - and sometimes read it?  You still renew it you know . . . just in case.

Or maybe you get comics in a pull at a comic store.  You buy them, and might even read them.

Or a book club.

Or . . .

Well you get the idea.  We all have experience with subscriptions one way or another.  However in an age of eMedia, DLC games, and the iPad-ness, think about what kind of subscriptions you're going to see.

I think we're going to see a lot more subscriptions in the future.  Your business models, your publishing models, and your estimates on profitability are going to need to keep this in mind.  If you're writer, an ePublisher, a game developer, this will be a factor.

No, New Technology Won't Destroy Culture, Part Whatever

Ever encountered the idea that the internet and online technologies will somehow destroy the barrier between professionals and amateurs, leading us to a horrible world without the glorious quality media we're used to?  That's a joke of course, between fears of Harlequin self-publishing to the "Cult of the Amateur" balderdash, we're all familiar with it.

I've recently found yet another reason this fear is a total load of hamster leavings beyond the many I've stated before.

Tablet Time?

So, as we deal with the inevitable age of the Tablet, the question is: why now?

This is something I see coming up a lot lately: why the heck are we suddenly enthusiastic about tablets (and by we I mean everyone).  Really, why is everyone so enthused about an idea that's about a decade plus old by now?

Actually I think it's because this is just the right time.

Upcoming Podcast 12/13/2009

Bonnie and I are tentatively back on our Sunday schedule, and our next podcast is on 12/13/2009.  We'll discuss the week in review, and take a look at changes in the Everything Wars (want to bet we're going to mention tablets?).

- Steven Savage

The Tablets Are Coming, The Tablets Are Coming

It's amazing, sometimes, how fast things move in the world of tech. Something that one day seemed to be a project that would never come to fruition, a frivolous idea, a joke . . . suddenly becomes the harbinger of the Next Big Thing.

A few months ago, Apple's tablet was merely a rumor, and a baffling one at that. It sounded like a huge, overpriced iPod. Nobody was quite sure what role it would fill (A netbook without a keyboard? A super-sophisticated E-reader?) It was being thought of as Apple's folly even before it was officially announced.

But the more people talked abut it, the more they realized this may be something after all, especially if it ran the full Mac OS. And apparently, other companies paid attention to the talk as well, because, apparently, there's a genuine challenger to the Mac tablet in the works.

The tablets are coming. Welcome to the next battleground of the Everything Wars.