Kindle Not Competing with iPad

I was very happy to read yesterday that Amazon's Kindle is not being positioned to compete directly with Apple's iPad.  Rather than beef up the features it would need to position itself along side the iPad as a multi-use tool, the newest versions of the Kindle will increase it's advantage where the iPad is weakest: it will be much cheaper (starting at $139), lighter (8.5 oz), and thinner (1/3 of an inch), making it the most accessible and convenient e-reader on the market.  For more details check out this link.

I think this is a smart strategy.  We've seen countless brands try to compete with the iPhone to become the smartphone leader, and most of them fail because they try to compete with Apple at what it does best: develop innovative, high-quality products that can do many things pretty well.  By sticking to their original game-plan Amazon is ensuring that the Kindle continues to be the best e-reader on the market.

If the next few generations of Kindle continue to become cheaper and lighter I bet most iPad users will own Kindles too!

Social Gaming is Big Business

On Tuesday afternoon two large companies threw their hats into the social gaming ring.  Gamestop announced their plans to acquire Kongregate Inc., a social gaming forum for free-to-play gaming. Kongregate currently hosts 10 million monthly players.  Just hours later Disney announced plans to purchase another social gaming platform, Playdom, for around $763 million.

I'll be curious to see how many companies follow their lead in the next few months.  More information can be found here:


Social-game makers scooped up in acquisition deals

GameStop Buys Online-Games Distributor Kongregate

21st Century Resume

I've been working on my master's degree for a couple of years, and in December I'll finally graduate.  I have a meeting scheduled with a VP at my present place of employment to discuss career options, but it's time to update my resume in case that doesn't work out.  But updating my resume entails so much more than it used to!

Today a resume is so much more than just one document that I send to potential employers to review.  I need to make sure that I present myself properly online as well.  Here's a quick look at everything I need to update:

• Resume (paper version)- Yes, this is still going to be important.  Even in the digital age this is still something that most prospective employers will expect.  I think I'll mine done by a professional resume writer to give it a little more polish than the current version.

• Social Media- Once I have a revised resume to work from I need to make sure that all of my online profiles are updated for consistency.  I'll also make sure to include links to my LinkedIn and Twitter accounts as well as my blog.

• Search Results- It also doesn't hurt to make sure nothing embarrassing comes up in a Google search of my name.  Actually I don't expect this to be an issue for me: searching the name Pat Henry brings up 14,400,000 results, none of which have anything to do with me.  Still, worth checking just in case :)

I also wish I'd gotten around to stating a website earlier this year, because that would be a terrific way to further promote myself in the digital world.  As it stands I think the time and effort is better spent elsewhere, at least until I'm done with school.  Otherwise I think I have a decent list of things I need to do to have a fully updated  resume.

I hope this brief list may provide a good starting point for anyone else trying to update their resume.  Anyone with other tips is welcome to share them in the comments!