although I have my issues with Zynga as a company, it's not much different than any other game or service that runs on microtransactions. The real lesson here is that emotional and financial investment in a web-based game controlled by a third party is always subject to cancellation. People need to recognize that their micropayments are for temporary gratification, and not permanently.

Admittedly, there's nothing inherently wrong (from a business perspective) about a company choosing to shutter some of its lower-performing properties in the interest of reducing costs. The problem is that Pincus has a history of building up a large and popular product, getting a decent-sized population of users, then destroying it through poor management or general asshattery (see Tribe.net). Why anyone thinks he's a good CEO is beyond me.

your listening data is already being collected. She may or may not be asking for listener email addresses, but if not, the statistics on your likes and dislikes and other listening patterns are part of the music genome project anyway. How would the artists' ability to view your listening patterns (without identifying you specifically) violate any right to privacy that isn't already given up as part of your agreement when creating an account to use the service?

Oh, given the cranial-rectal inversion around here sometimes, it's still a site for proctologists

a drilled chamber in rock wouldn't be smooth. The magma would find points of weakness in the hole and blow out the side of the mountain. Assuming it didn't cool before it hit the outside

to do that, wouldn't you need a drill that was large enough to relieve the pressure, and made of a material that could withstand magma temperatures, AND a pipe to corral the lava, AND hope that the process of drilling doesn't cause additional stress points in the mountain that could blow?

ah, thanks for the clarification! I was confused. CREDO is coming out to $57/month, with unlimited 4G LTE data plan, and minimal minutes (400 minutes - not on the website) and text messages (300). Plus, I like that they're a progressive company, so aligns with my values.

I (as of 30 minutes ago) ordered a Samsung SIII from CREDO, after eyeballing it on their site for a while. And for my unlimited 4G LTE service, I'll be paying $30/month less than AT&T

sure, it's certainly reusable and we're not going to stop producing it any time soon, but this isn't exactly going to help get us off of emission-producing combustion engines. I'd be interested to know the fuel efficiency and emissions of this fuel compared to fossil fuels. Anyone happen to be an expert on this? (my brief internet research isn't coming up with anything particularly helpful)

It also has a lot to do with brand awareness. Before the trial, Samsung was kind of a "generic" brand, not a hip brand like Apple. Now it's gone up against Apple and has a sheen of the bad boy, and people will remember its name when they go looking for phones.

nope, pretty sure I meant what I said. But the point is taken. Perhaps if people understood both science AND technology (including popular technology, vis a vis marketing concepts), there would be less conflation of unrelated concepts.

In a saner world, our educational systems would teach science and technology...