We make a lot of fun of people who forsake any semblance of a life in favor of playing ‘social’ games on Facebook, well, alright I do but if you were honest you would admit you do the same.

From Farmville to Plants vs. Zombies; or any of the knock-offs and big money wannabes, people are talking about social gaming, either about the making of them or trying to figure out the reasons for their rampant success and money making.

Of course the big boy of these perpetual money machines is Zynga with their reputation of mimicking other people’s work and how much money they are making off of the the back of Facebook and members of the service.

However do we really know who all these people are that play all these games for hours on end, or with some it is more like days on end. This is the question that the team at Flowtown decided to try and figure out and use the information to create a nifty infographic.

via visual.ly

Will social gamers please stand up and introduce yourselves [Infographic] is a post from: The Inquisitr

This might not seem all that important but the thing is that officially the Google Wallet, the fancy payment app from Google, is only available right now on the Sprint version of the Samsung S 4G. However, according to an Android blog called Droid Life the app has been spotted on an unlocked version of the Galaxy Nexus, Google’s flagship handset, that was using an AT&T SIM card.

Of course this will probably be great news to a large number of people who are looking forward to being able to use Google’s payment service for all their purchase needs, well at least in stores that will support it.

Curiously though the payment system uses Near Field Communication (NFC) circuitry to allow for retail purchases using your smartphone but even though this NFC technology is making its way into more and more smartphones as standard technology only Sprint owners of the Galaxy S 4G are ‘technically allowed’ to use the Google app.

Of course NFC payments using smartphones is being declared as the next big are of commerce as we all excitedly throw away our wallets and dive in head first to paying for everything with our smartphones, which of course all the providers, hardware and software, want us desperately to do since they will all make a nice slice of cash off of our purchases; not to mention but add extensively to their coffers of aggregated data.

via CNET

It seems the unlocked Google Nexus on AT&T is sporting the Google Wallet App is a post from: The Inquisitr

A man who was caught on camera shooting a change machine is now being hunted by police – despite the machine refusing to cough up a single cent. In a word, fail.

The armed robbery took place in Winter Haven, Fla., at the ‘Busy Bubbles’ laundromat. CCTV footage shows a man bursting into the laundromat, unloading several rounds from a semi-automatic handgun into the change machine, and then fleeing after the device failed to give up its bounty. Outfought by a change machine. No wonder he’s hiding.

Despite the fact that no money was stolen and nobody was injured (an unarmed change machine aside), police are still after the perpetrator because he fired a weapon in an attempted robbery – the official term for the charge is ‘criminal mischief.’

The shooting went unnoticed for some time before police were contacted, because it was only after the manager saw the machine and checked CCTV surveillance footage that the shooting was discovered.

The suspect is described as an African-American man, average height and weight, wearing a gray hoody and dark baggy pants.

Florida has some of the highest levels of weapons-related crime in the U.S., yet attacks on inanimate (and totally innocent) objects are, er, slightly rarer. Well done to the change machine for holding out.

Man Shoots Change Machine, Goes on the Run is a post from: The Inquisitr

Facebook is apparently quite the money making machine, which it should be I guess with almost a billion users (and yes it is almost there) but this is nothing compared to how much money it will be worth once it goes public with a much rumored IPO.

If you think that MArk Zuckerberg is rich now it is nothing compared to after his company hits the stock market with its initial offering. It is suggested that when Facebook does go for its IPO the company will have a value of anywhere from $10 billion to $100 billion.

No matter how you look at that is a honkin’ lot of money and social media guy Greg Voakes decided that in order to easily understand the enormity of the money involved it needed a handy dandy infographic to help us navigate through the flood of money.

via AllThingsD

Infographic explains just what the humongous Facebook IPO will look like is a post from: The Inquisitr

Say what you will about Bill Gates but there is no denying that he has had an impressive impact on our society during his leadership at Microsoft and continues to be a force of change through his foundation along with his wife Melinda.

According to the figures in the infographic Bill Gates has given $28 Billion to various charities since 2007, which apparently accounts for almost 48% of his net-worth.

One of his biggest charitable efforts has been towards the eradication of malaria and an end to polio. He was also instrumental in the creation of The Living Pledge which is an effort to get the richest people in the world to publicly commit to giving away half their net-worth in their lifetime.

The multi-billionaire Warren Buffet is probably the most well known name to take the pledge.

via Frugal Dad

Since 2007 Bill Gates has given away 48 percent of his net-worth for charity [Infographic] is a post from: The Inquisitr

In a follow up to my piece yesterday on researchers finding Cocaine in the air all over Italy, I have decided that after a little more research that it is official…Cocaine is everywhere!

Today the Huffington Post is reporting that a study in the United Kingdom, which has been dubbed the Cocaine capital of Eruope, has found that 9 out of 10 diaper changing stations have traces of cocaine on them.

This in light of a CNN report that 90% of all currency in the United States has traces of cocaine on it too!

Seriously, I am not sure what is going on in the world but it would seem as if a lot of it is focused on cocaine.  Granted both researchers acknowledge that not all the samples tested were probably used for illicit purposes.  As far as currency goes, once a bill is contaminated it may have been put into a money counting machine and contaminated others.

Back to the baby changing stations though, it is highly unlikely that they could have been cross contaminated. I mean, there is always the possibility that a local drug dealer could have stopped by a restroom to relieve himself and left a couple of packages of cocaine on the changing station, but 9 out of ten of them?

There have been alot of talkbacks on this subject with posters coming up with some interesting ideas to keep babies rear ends safe from the highly addictive stimulant.

One Huff Post Reader suggested “Just for fun, some of those changing stations should swing shut when there’s no weight on them after, say, a minute. That’ll make for some pissed off addicts ”

Do you think Cocaine is everywhere?  What can we do about this phenomena?

Seriously, Cocaine is EVERYWHERE! is a post from: The Inquisitr

There was a “belief” that as a result of the global financial crisis we would see a drastic cut in carbon emissions. I say “belief” because a new report out shows that instead of there being a reduction there is evidence that emissions in 2010 soared past anything expected by scientists.

In fact both scientists and economists are worried that we are entering a terrifying “lose-lose” spiral where the increasing financial instability is linked – very closely – to climate instability.

The report, which was published today in Nature and says  that the impact of the 2008-2009 global financial crisis was short lived because of strong emissions growth from the emerging economies to the point we experienced some of the highest total annual growth ever recorded.

It is believed that last year we pumped some 9 billion metric tons of carbon into the atmosphere and emissions were up in all the countries that the study’s researchers looked at. This included the U.S. who jumped over 4 percent while China jumped 10.4 percent. Even the normally carbon emissions conscious Europe saw a jump of 2.2 percent.

Julie Steinberger, a University of Leeds ecological economist and contributor to the reports said this:

The economic crisis should have been an opportunity to invest in low-carbon infrastructure for the 21st century.  Instead, we fostered a lose-lose situation: carbon emissions rocketing to unprecedented levels, alongside increases in joblessness, energy costs and income disparities.  Surely the transition to a green economy has never seemed more appealing.

Appealing yes but appealing means nothing to companies that can continue to maximize their profits.

via io9

Report finds ecological collapse and economic collapse go hand-in-hand is a post from: The Inquisitr

It turns out money can buy happiness and now Economist Angus Deaton and Noble prize-winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman have determined that the exact amount needed for ultimate happiness is just $75,000 per year.

The pair of researchers examined data from the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index and their findings shown that people become increasingly happy as their household income increases until it reaches $75,000 annually.

The study says that once the $75,000 level has been reached people tend to flat-line emotionally from their high. Deaton explains in the Gallup’s Management Journal:

“Your emotional well-being is as good as it’s going to get at $75,000.” Deaton goes on to add “It’s like you hit some sort of ceiling.”

Perhaps the most interesting part of the study is that it holds up even in big expensive cities like New York and Los Angeles.

Now before you go and find a $75,000 job the research also shows that happiness has to be measured in two axes, the first being the day-to-day emotional well-being of the person being evaluated (of which having friends is the most important) and second is the long-term “life evaluation” which requires setting realistic goals.

When all is said and done the study found that:

“The very best thing that can happen to people is to spend time with other people they like.”

It should also be noted that “life evaluation” continued to rise as a persons income passed $75,000 annually.

Do you think money can buy happiness on some artificial level based on how a person spends plans for later in life and who they hang out with?

[Image via ShutterStock.com]

You Need Exactly $75,000 Per Year To Be Happy is a post from: The Inquisitr

A Florida woman who left 10 $100 bills in an envelope for her husband to deposit when he returned home quickly learned that it was a bad idea when her husband realized the bills were missing. It turns out that the family’s dog Tuity decided to snack on the bills and envelop, quite literally devouring $1000.

Speaking about the missing money the husband told the St. Augustine Record:

 “I thought somebody broke in originally.”

Christy Lawrenson added:

“She ate the bill, the envelope … everything.”

After some thought the couple gave Tuity just enough peroxide to puke up the money and then pieced together the bills.

It turns out that even after chomping on the benjamins nine of the bills were still good enough to be returned for new tender at their local bank branch, although one of the $100 notes was missing an important section and could not be returned.

In a last ditch effort to get back their final $100 bill the couple has sent the money to the US Treasury with an note explaining exactly what happened to the tender and they are currently awaiting a response from the government.

Their note to the Treasury might possibly be the first “my dog ate my homework” equivalent that the agency has received.

Have you ever had a family pet eat something of value that you left sitting within their grasp? Share your stories in our comments section and remember that leaving edible objects around your home is an invitation for a pet based meal attempt.

[Image via ShutterStock.com]

Dog Eats $1,000 Then Pukes Up $900 is a post from: The Inquisitr

You see that image at the top of the post?

That apparently is the most expensive photograph in the entire world and proves that some people really do have more money than brains. I mean it’s a pretty plain looking picture really. A nice river maybe but somehow I just don’t think that even the real thing would be worth the price that someone paid for a photographic reproduction.

So how much did some moron pay for this photograph that is titled “Rhein II”?

Try $4.3 million.

Yes that is what I said – $4.3 million for .. well .. a photograph.

via Bit Rebels

The world’s most expensive photograph and you can see it here for free is a post from: The Inquisitr

When one thinks of data security companies like VISA don’t generally show up near the top of the list but the fact is they have a global security system that would probably equal some government agencies. At least this is what Michael Fitzgerald from Fast Company found out recently when he was allowed a behind the scenes look at the company’s “NASA-like command center”.

While he wasn’t allowed to disclose the exact location he was able to get a really good look at the company’s newest, and most modern U.S. data centers, otherwise known as Operations Center East (OCE). VISA acknowledges that the data that flows through their networks is probably some of the most wanted information by black market hackers and as a result their operations centers could be compared to modern day fortified castles.

Some of the efforts taken to keep the data, and the data center safe include:

• Four conduits bring electricity into the building so that if, for whatever reason, one of the conduits gets destroyed there is backup power at all times.
• Each pod within the complex has two rooms with UPS in order to condition the power coming in and make sure there are no system threatening surges.
• Also in those two rooms there are 1,000 heavy duty batteries
• Additionally each pod has two massive diesel generators that are capable of generating 4 megawatts of power

This is also one of the first of VISA’s operational centers that has been built to not only withstand California-style earthquakes but also Midwest-type super tornadoes.

According to Fitzgerald the only thing that could take down one of these centers is us:

The only thing that might take down the OCE, it seems, is us. Transaction growth has averaged 7% to 17% annually. Visa expects the OCE to handle growth into the 2020s, but at some point, of course, something will give.

image courtesy of Fast Company

VISA’s incredible effort to protect your data is a post from: The Inquisitr

The U.S.’s credit rating will be downgraded again before 2011 is out, Bank of America Merrill Lynch economists have predicted.

Back in the first week of August, America’s ‘AAA’ rating was cut to an ‘AA+,’ by credit agency Standard & Poor’s. Yet the new ‘AA+’ rating is not infallible, according to a report filed on Friday.

The Bank of America Merrill Lynch paper said there is little hope of a breakthrough for the congressional “super committee” on deficit reduction. The group was formed to locate $1.5 trillion in deficit cuts over the next ten years by November 23rd, 2011. Ethan Harris, North American economist at BoA Merrill, writes:

“The ‘not-so-super’ deficit commission is very unlikely to come up with a credible deficit-reduction plan. The committee is more divided than the overall Congress. The credit rating agencies have strongly suggested that further rating cuts are likely if Congress does not come up with a credible long-run plan. Hence, we expect at least one credit downgrade in late November or early December when the super committee crashes.”

The U.S. has not been alone in losing its shiny ‘AAA’ rating, with Spain, Italy, Greece, Ireland, and Portugal all downgraded in 2011.

The current S&P outlook on the U.S. rating is ‘negative,’ and S&P has warned it “could lower the long-term rating to ‘AA’ within the next two years if we see that less reduction in spending than agreed to, higher interest rates, or new fiscal pressures during the period result in a higher general government debt trajectory than we currently assume in our base case.”

There are five credit agencies that evaluate a country’s credit worthiness, including Moody’s Investors Service and Fitch Ratings. Both still rate the U.S. ‘AAA,’ but Moody’s also has a ‘negative’ outlook.

U.S. Credit Rating Could Be Downgraded Again Soon [We're All Doomed] is a post from: The Inquisitr

Filing patents, and their subsequent granting without any serious investigation, is a daily occurrence it seems in the tech world. Everyone does it and even in case where prior art or even common sense would dictate otherwise companies amass war chests of patents that seem to be more about crushing innovation instead of fostering it.

So it isn’t surprising that the reaction to Apple filing a patent for “In Application Purchasing” has not been  “if it will be used” against competitors, like Google and Microsoft, but rather “when it will be used”.

Apple first filed the patent in April 2010, almost a full year after the technology was first introduced, but the patent just showed up in the US Patent Office (USPTO) on October 9, 2011. Now the interesting thing here is that Lodsys LLC, a private patent (troll) holding company already holds a similar patent, although it is considered to be wider in scope to Apple’s filing.

This hasn’t stopped Apple from licencing the “customer-based product design module” patent from Lodsys which has caused a bit of confusion as to how Apple can file their patent in the first place if there is any resemblance to the one from Lodsys.

Now there has been no word that Apple will go on the offensive if they are granted the patent as outlined in the filing but given that in-app purchases are becoming the backbone on mobile monetization Apple may at some point figure out that by suing competitors for similar processes they can keep their lead.

via Redmond Pie

Apple’s “In Application Purchasing” patent filing creates a mobile timebomb is a post from: The Inquisitr

In what sounds like a passable Simpsons storyline, executives at Fox have reportedly said the show will have to be closed down in the spring unless cast members are willing to take a 45% pay cut.

Dan Castellaneta probably owns the most famous Simpson voice, that of well-meaning buffoon and father Homer. Julia Kavner voices Marge, while Nancy Cartwright is tearaway son Bart. Each earns an estimated $8 million per year, yet now Fox is seeking to cut their fees. As one source from the show told the Daily Beast:

“Fox is taking the position that unless they can cut the production costs really drastically, they’ll pull the plug on new shows. The show has made billions in profits over the years and will continue to do so as far as the eye can see down the road. The actors are willing to take a pay cut of roughly a third, but that’s not good enough for Fox.”

For its part, Fox feels continuing the show without decreasing production costs is impossible:

“We believe this brilliant series can and should continue, but we cannot produce future seasons under its current financial model. We are hopeful that we can reach an agreement with the voice cast that allows The Simpsons to go on entertaining audiences with original episodes for many years to come.”

It seems neither side is willing to budge, though other solutions may be available. In past disputes, executives at the network have threatened to hire sound-a-like actors.

The cast have also offered to take a 30% cut in exchange for a percentage of the show’s profits from global syndication and merchandising, an offer Fox has turned down.

Though its last decent gag was about ten years ago, The Simpsons has played a major role in modern American culture since its debut in 1989. Currently in its 23rd season, its disappearance from screens would mark the end of an era. While it probably won’t return to the unrivaled brilliance it displayed at its peak in the ’90s, it would leave a gaping hole for many viewers.

[Via Daily Beast]

The Simpsons Could be Cancelled if Cast Refuses Pay Cut is a post from: The Inquisitr

Mean Workers Make More Money [Study] is a post from: The Inquisitr

You would have had to been living with your head buried deep in the sand over the last month not to have heard about the “debt ceiling” crisis facing the United States that was only averted at the last moment by both parties and the White House.

However one of the other big fears to arise out of this debt ceiling crisis was whether or not the United States’ credit rating would be downgraded by the various credit rating agencies like Standard & Poor’s (S&P), with many worried that if it was downgraded the effect on the U.S. could be really bad.

Well that scenario has come about as S&P issued a press release late on Friday announcing that they were downgrading the credit rating for the U.S.

From their press release

– We have lowered our long-term sovereign credit rating on the United States of America to ‘AA+’ from ‘AAA’ and affirmed the ‘A-1+’ short-term rating.

– We have also removed both the short- and long-term ratings from CreditWatch negative.

– The downgrade reflects our opinion that the fiscal consolidation plan that Congress and the Administration recently agreed to falls short of what, in our view, would be necessary to stabilize the government’s medium-term debt dynamics.

– More broadly, the downgrade reflects our view that the effectiveness, stability, and predictability of American policymaking and political institutions have weakened at a time of ongoing fiscal and economic challenges to a degree more than we envisioned when we assigned a negative outlook to the rating on April 18, 2011.

– Since then, we have changed our view of the difficulties in bridging the gulf between the political parties over fiscal policy, which makes us pessimistic about the capacity of Congress and the Administration to be able to leverage their agreement this week into a broader fiscal consolidation plan that stabilizes the government’s debt dynamics any time soon.

– The outlook on the long-term rating is negative. We could lower the long-term rating to ‘AA’ within the next two years if we see that less reduction in spending than agreed to, higher interest rates, or new fiscal pressures during the period result in a higher general government debt trajectory than we currently assume in our base case.

via Wall Street Journal

Members of the Tea Party in the United States believed that nothing bad would happen if the US defaulted on their debt payments or if the country’s credit rating got downgraded. Well I guess we’ll get to see whether they were right or if in fact this downgrading will indeed hit the country hard, causing further hardship.

U.S. ‘AAA’ credit rated downgraded by S&P, let the disaster scenarios begin. is a post from: The Inquisitr

Alarm clocks are a necessary evil that even with their much hammered snooze button continue to haunt our mornings and we continue to do our best to ignore them

Well if you are a compulsive ignorer of morning alarms I have found the perfect clock for you but it might get a little expensive to use but the idea is that you insert a bill in the top of the clock and when the alarm goes off it starts to shred the money.

Like I said it could get to be an expensive way to wake up unless you develop some pretty quick reflexes.

via SlipperyBrick

The $100 Shredding Alarm Clock is a post from: The Inquisitr

Here’s proof you don’t have to be one of the big boys in gaming to make millions: Minecraft creator Markus ‘Notch’ Persson has made a personal fortune of $33 million from his indie hit Minecraft. And he has a sweet hat. Beat that.

The $33 million figure came up in a Reddit ‘Ask Me Anything’ thread. Persson revealed that 800,000 Minecraft downloads had shifted at €9.95 ($14) while the world-building game was in alpha. A further million copies sold once it hit beta and had its price pushed to €14.95 ($22). The result? €23 million, or just over $33 million. All from a game that was developed for one week before going on sale.

Cool Swedish cucumber that he is, Persson isn’t freaking out and buying Learjets or ostrich feather undies. He just blots it out of his mind: “It all ends up in an account somewhere, and I try not to look at it. I get a normal salary these days for day to day stuff, but there’s a big pile somewhere. Paypal takes a cut, there are taxes, and such, but it’s still a huge wad of money.”

I can’t begrudge Persson a cent of that dough because (a) he seems like a top-drawer guy and (b) it’s actually heartening to see an indie dev cracking the big-time.

[Reddit, via Gamasutra]

Minecraft earned its creator $33 million (so far) is a post from: The Inquisitr

That up there is British lady Dawn Matthews and her 11-year old son, the interestingly coiffured Brendan. Neither look that happy, and with good reason, because silly old Brendan just spent $1,700 on Xbox Live, using his mother’s credit card. Oops! And HA! According to the Daily Mail:

“Dawn Matthews entered her debit card details into the family Xbox to pay for Brendan’s subscription to his favourite game. However, Brendan repeatedly clicked on additions and extensions – racking up a £1082.52 debt to her account over six months.”

While Brendan pretends he didn’t know what he’s doing (even though he’s ELEVEN), his mom is, predictably, playing the blame game, claiming Microsoft are at fault. Somehow:

“But Dawn wants her experience to be a lesson to other parents and blames Microsoft for making it ‘too easy’ for her son to spend the money. She said: ‘Brendan is 11 and knows his times tables but it was only when I explained to him that he realised how much money he had spent. ‘When he is in gaming mode he can’t be thinking about the money. You can’t put all that responsibility on a young boy. It is impossible to monitor everything your children do. These companies should take some responsibility.’

Yeah, yeah, pull the other one, Dawn. Commendably, Microsoft has refused to back down, pointing out that a simple parental control could have prevented Brendan’s ‘unwitting’ spending spree.

[Daily Mail, via Geekologie]

Child racks up $1,700 bill on Xbox Live, Microsoft refuses to refund is a post from: The Inquisitr

Never mind the data dump by Wikileaks of diplomatic cables. Never mind that the FCC wants a do not track option for consumers.

If you want something to make you really break out in night sweats try on the fact that Federal law enforcement has been tracking Americans in real time as they use their credit cards, loyalty cards and travel reservations. Not only are they doing this but they are doing it without getting court orders.

This information comes from security researcher Christopher Soghoian as a result of a Freedom of Information request and the 10 page Powerpoint presentation (pdf) reveals that the surveillance often occurs with a simple subpoena, which allows the Feds to sidestep any Fourth Amendment protections.

As the document makes clear, Federal law enforcement agencies do not limit their surveillance of US residents to phone calls, emails and geo-location information. They are also interested in calling cards, credit cards, rental cars and airline reservations, as well as retail shopping clubs.

The document also reveals that DOJ’s preferred method of obtaining this information is via an administrative subpoena. The only role that courts play in this process is in issuing non-disclosure orders to the banks, preventing them from telling their customers that the government has spied on their financial transactions. No Fourth Amendment analysis is conducted by judges when issuing such non-disclosure orders.

Uhmmmm .. does anyone see anything wrong with this?

Americans’ credit cards being tracked real time is a post from: The Inquisitr