The next big scare will probably be the Year 2038 problem.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_2038_problem Get ready for the Y2K scare version 2.
Hopefully, the independent bookstores will be able to advertise themselves enough to attract the market for paper books that is still out there once B&N is gone. The brick and mortar bookstore market is smaller now due to internet sales and ebooks, but I think it will continue to survive for many years.
I think it is silly to talk about the next generation of consoles at this point. We are all expecting Sony and Microsoft to announce their consoles at this years E3, with a release in Christmas season 2013. Nevertheless, even this is still speculation, for all we know they may not announce it until E3 2014 and release dates could be as far away as 2015. It all depends on exactly how long the two companies want to benefit from the current standing of the console market. Microsoft and Sony are roughly neck and neck when it comes to console sales and since the tech is over 6 years old, manufacturing probably doesn't come at the same cost as it did back in 2004-2006. The switch to a new console is going to be risky since they now have "casuals" who have bought into their peripherals (which they have been hyping and developing for the last couple of E3's). Who else besides those that really love to play video games are going to justify to themselves to buy another console when they already have a working DVD player/Netflix/Kinect/etc on the one they have now?
I saw this in theaters! Amazing shots and interesting cinematography. The message it tells is only done through the juxtaposition of the different scenes. Some of it I "got", some of it I didn't. I enjoyed it all the way through (with the exception of one very odd scene) nevertheless.
This is good news, I don't care for the libertarian free market attitudes of valuing labor based on how well someone else pays them for a job. Only problem I have is that the difference between certain states in cost of living seems to be greater than the relative difference in minimum wage such as, California and Montana. Although people are quick to point out that an exuberant minimum wage will drive business away to other states, I fail to see how it is reasonable to let many people struggle to live in LA or San Fran since rent is so expensive and in some areas, $8-$9 just doesn't cut it sometimes. But maybe the problem is only this big in California (the only state I really have any experience) due to certain propositions that have drastically altered property taxes.