Actual middle school located in Poteau, Oklahoma.

Submitted by:

MrSpkr

Melissa wanted to pay for a hard drive at Fry's Electronics with a check, but management discouraged her from doing so by making her jump through what she feels was an unreasonable hoop. She was told she'd have to use one of the store's computers to log on to her account in front of a worker and prove she had enough money to make the purchase.

She writes:

I went to Fry's Electronics in [redacted], Indiana to purchase an external hard drive. My backup hard drive for my computer had failed and I needed a new one. Everything went smoothly until I had to pay. The problem was that I had chosen to pay by check, one of the listed accepted payments. The purchase amount was for $143.36.

After providing the cashier with my phone number and in-state driver's license, the cashier said she needed to further verify my account. A few minutes later, the manager came over and said that in order to "verify funds" and for "my own security," I had to use one of Fry's public computers, login to my personal banking account using my password, and show the cashier my account information! This is UNACCEPTABLE.

The manager did state that this was a one time process because it was the first time I had written a check at Fry's. However, it is not my first purchase from Fry's (four months ago I bought a netbook and used my debit card). I have used checks at department and grocery stores for $100 plus purchases, and have never been asked to login to my banking account and show my personal information to the cashier.

I am astounded I was asked to do this. I asked the Fry's manager on duty if I could see the written policy corresponding to the request. She pointed to the written check policy posted at the register which displays "verify funds." She also had the nerve to say that the verification was for "my own security." Fry's, please don't insult me further by trying to say that it's in my own interest to log-in to my banking account on a Fry's public computer and allow strangers to view my banking information.

She ended up paying by credit card.

If you still pay for stuff with checks, are you ever nudged into similar predicaments? And would you please identify yourself so I can avoid getting in line behind you at grocery stores?

Slacker Radio has gained its share of popularity among music fans for offering a nifty cache feature that other mobile music apps lack; after creating a station, you can save it for offline use (perfect for underground subway rides or long plane trips). Now it's distinguishing itself from other services even more by incorporating still more diverse content.

Slacker isn't the first service of its kind to incorporate news content Sirius | XM does something similar but this move does serve to give Slacker what could be seen as an edge over Pandora, which only serves up music and doesn't allow caching.

For 14 days, basic Slacker users will be able to access ABC News content; Slacker Plus users can keep on tuning in after the two-week period ends (the Plus subscription is $3.99 per month). The content which includes segments from Good Morning America, anchored by Robin Roberts, George Stephanopoulos, Juju Chang and Sam Champion; and Nightline anchored by Terry Moran, Cynthia McFadden and Martin Bashir is located within the mobile app in a folder marked News, and works in much the same way music stations do (i.e. you can skip stories).

You can also choose to add hourly news updates to any of your stations, but the process to do so is laborious, to say the least. First, you have to futz around on the website, create a station, go to the Fine Tune tab to select that option, save the station, make it a Favorite, and, if you're already logged into Slacker on your mobile device, sign in and out to make the Favorited station appear. Sure, you can choose to Fine Tune any pre-existing station which is easier than creating your own playlist or choose to have ABC News turned on for all your stations by surfing over to Account Settings, but all this still requires signing online. We wish it were possible to do all that within the app, as going through all that song-and-dance degrades the whole easy and accessible aspect of it.

More About: abc, App, Mobile 2.0, music, News, Slacker-Radio

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Ki Mae Heussner / ABCNEWS:
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg Talks to Diane Sawyer as Website Gets 500-Millionth Member Zuckerberg Says New Movie is Fiction;' Claims He Never Agreed to Share Facebook Ownership If Facebook were a country, it would be the third largest one in the world.

The site has grown at an incredible rate since its inception, and it's always struggled to keep up (technically speaking) with user adoption. Ever since its userbase spread beyond the tech elite to more mainstream social media users, the site has been subject to a seemingly unending string of growing pains.

In response to a wave of failures last month during the World Cup, Twitter engineer Jean-Paul Cozzatti posted that the company's network was improperly configured, leading to downtime and trouble with features.

Cozzatti claimed that the company had doubled the capacity of its internal network, improved its monitoring and rebalanced its traffic to prevent future downtime.

For much of 2009, Twitter's biggest challenge was coping with our unprecedented growth (a challenge we happily still face), he wrote. But as this week's issues show, there is always room for improvement.

Apparently, the improvements made last month were not enough to keep up with user growth and their demands on the service.

Cozzatti posted again today to address Twitter's issues Monday, comparing the engineering team's work on scaling the app to riding a rocket. To give you an idea of how fast that rocket is soaring through the social media universe, we reported in April that the service had 105 million users. In his post today, Cozzatti said Twitter now has 124 million registered users.

Scalability and uptime are the team's top priority; in fact, Cozzatti noted, other projects are being put to the side until these problems can be thoroughly solved. He stated that Twitter's engineers have made more than 50 performance and optimization tweaks since the site's World Cup woes, including doubling throughput to the database that stores tweets, improving how the app uses memcache and improving page caching of the front and profile pages, which helps to reduce page load time.

Nevertheless, There are still times when we run into problems unrelated to Twitter's capacity, Cozzatti admitted.

Monday's issues serve as a perfect example. During the database malfunction and restart which covered a 12-hour period users were unable to login, sign upor update their profile information and design. In the end, wrote Cozzatti, this affected most of the Twitter ecosystem: our mobile, desktop, and web-based clients, the Twitter support and help system, and Twitter.com.

While Twitter is getting its own data center this fall and is actively recruiting more engineering talent, the company clearly needs to implement the long-term solutions we're reading about. To have the cultural cachet of a web service such as Google search, Gmail, Facebook or any of the apps we rely on for day-to-day work and life and we have the distinct impression that Twitter does, indeed, hope to be part of that cadre it must first and most importantly achieve an acceptable uptime ratio. All the partnerships, revenue and media buzz in the world can fall a bit flat when the app itself doesn't work.

That being said, we're certain Twitter can and will make the needed improvements for scalability, and growing pains are good pains to have.

Are you confident that Twitter can become reliable and stable in the near future? Or do you foresee more significant downtime from this service? What will it take for Twitter to grow as quickly as its users require?

More About: developers, down, downtime, engineering, scalability, twitter

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Disney has released the newest trailer for TRON: Legacy at Comic-Con, and it's spreading around the web like wildfire.

TRON: Legacy is the much-anticipated sequel to Tron, the 1982 classic that follows hacker Kevin Flynn's journey into the virtual world of the ENCOM mainframe. Jeff Bridges is reprising his role as Flynn in the sequel, which is due to be released on December 17, 2010.

This trailer not only shows off the cutting-edge, techno-style special effects that make the world of TRON; it also dives deeper into the storyline and the relationship between Bridges' character and his hacker son Sam Flynn (played by Garrett Hedlund). Comic-Con attendees got an extra bonus, though: eight full minutes of footage from the upcoming film.

The film trailer has been a hot item around the web. The movie wins nostalgia points with children of the eighties, and it also wins the hearts of technology and computer geeks. After seeing this trailer, we're more excited than ever for this film.

What about you: Are you excited? Are you planning on going to see the film later this year? Let us know what you think in the comments, but please, no reaction videos.

More About: entertainment, f, Film, movie, movie trailer, TRON, tron legacy

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Simon Rogers / Guardian:
Wikileaks Afghanistan files: download the key incidents as a spreadsheet Key incidents from the Wikileaks Afghanistan war logs selected by Guardian writers. As a spreadsheet, with co-ordinates Get this data INTERACTIVE: These key incidents mapped Glossary of military terms

We've already brought you ways to share music on Twitter, but the solutions below will help you share the spoken word. Whether you want to sing happy birthday to someone, rant, or make a heartfelt apology, we've found five services that can help you out.

All the services we've tested have three things in common they are all completely free, they don't require a phone (i.e. they are web-based solutions), and they are all easy to use. There are differences between them, so it's worth having a read through our experiences so you can see which would best suit your own needs.

1. Chir.ps

Chir.ps is a super simple way to broadcast your voice to your Twitter followers. After signing in with OAuth, it's just a matter of entering your name for your personalized Chir.ps page before you can get going on the recording side of things.

The on-screen recording is again, simple just authorize Chir.ps to use your computer's mic, hit one button to start, say your piece, and then hit stop. You can preview your recording and once you're happy with it, add text and then tweet it.

There's a slight delay before the tweet will hit your stream, and when it does Chir.ps will have added a shortened URL (like this: http://chir.ps/6hb) to your message which people can click through in order to hear your audio.

While still decent, the audio quality of Chir.ps did not seem as great as other services we used, but the site does offer a listen count, so you can see how many people have hit play, which we do like. Here's what your message will look like when people click through to Chir.ps:

2. AudioBoo

AudioBoo (because sound is social) offers an iPhone and Android app as well as an online service, but for the purposes of this article, it's the web-based offerings we're interested in.

Once you've signed in with OAuth and chosen your AudioBoo username, the online recording takes place in a pop out window, which also gives you the option to upload a common audio file.

If you record via the site, you can talk (or sing, or hum, or groan or whatever it is you want to do) for five minutes, after which you can preview your ramblings. Once you're happy, give the recording a title and AudioBoo saves it down into the Your Boos section of the site.

From here you can choose to share your audio to Facebook, get an embed code for it, or tweet it, which creates a short URL like this: http://boo.fm/b154817

AudioBoo's sound quality is good, but there's no way to see how many people have tuned-in to listen to your broadcast, although there is the capability to comment on Boos. This is what your Boo will look like:

3. Twaud.io

Twaud.io is another service that lets you both record online and upload files. Recording online is easy: Just sign in with OAuth, authorize use of your mic and you're good to go for a generous thirty minutes worth of record time, which is practically podcast length.

Just hit the record button, hit it again to stop, and then press play to review whatever it is you've just uttered. Once you're done on the same screen there's a box to enter up to 100 characters of text, then just press the Twaudio it! button and you're done.

Twaud.io's URLs are super short (http://twaud.io/ls4) and play automatically when someone hits the link. Those who listen to your recordings also get the option to download them, get an embed code, retweet them or comment on them, which is sent as an @reply to the creator.

Sound quality is good, and the site tells you how many listens you've racked up, which is also good for an ego boost. This is how your message will appear to others:

4. Chirbit

Chirbit doesn't offer OAuth sign-in as it's not designed solely for the microblogging service, but setting up an account is a pain-free process, all the same.

Once you're in, you can use the service to record up to two minutes of audio, as long as you've given the appropriate permission just by hitting the onscreen buttons. After you've listened back and decided you like what you hear, you can give the clip a title and then add it into a category.

The default category is a Chirbit and any casual users who are interested in occasionally using this as a social tool need not worry about the others (such as audiobook, joke, pickup line), which are designed to help the Chirbit community find content more easily.

To save your Chirbit, you hit send and it will then appear on your Chirbit homepage. To get sharing, hit the cog icon on your recording and the site gives you the option to post it to Facebook or Twitter, making you a nice little shortened URL in the process. Here's one we prepared earlier: http://chirb.it/5LAfeM. And here's what viewers will see, which includes the option to respond:

5. ShoutoMatic

As well as offering a paid-for service where celebrities will record a message for you to tweet, ShoutoMatic also offers the infinitely more useful and free service of letting you record your own tweets.

Head on over to the site, either sign up for an account, or connect via Facebook, and you're ready to start shouting, as it were.

On the simple interface you just hit to record, review and save the clip. If you've signed in with Facebook it will prompt you to post it on there, but you can skip this bit.

After you've saved it, you can e-mail, download, post to Facebook or tweet your audio. If you tweet it, then Shoutomatic makes you a neat shortened URL (like http://bit.ly/ckvllv) and adds the text Check this out to your tweet, which obviously, you can choose to delete.

There is no listen counter on ShoutoMatic, but people are able to reply directly on your message page. Here's what anyone following the link to your message will see:

BONUS: Pockets

If you're in the United States, Pockets lets you send targeted voicemail to an individual Twitter user. As you will see in the video demo above, Pockets will call you and record your message, which is then sent as an @reply to the recipient who can click through to the Pockets website to listen.

More Twitter resources from Mashable:

- Top 20 Sites to Improve Your Twitter Experience
-10 Ways to Share Music on Twitter
- Twitter to Facebook: 5 Ways to Post to Both
- HOW TO: Create Custom Twitter Backgrounds
- HOW TO: Get the Most Out of Twitter #Hashtags

[Img credit: Pixey]

More About: audio, AudioBoo, chir.ps, Chirbit, how to, how tos, pockets, shoutomatic, social media, Twaud.io, twitter, twitter tools, voicemail

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Hey, they're just doing their part to help prevent prostate cancer. Ms. Fix-It

A few WordPress superstars have teamed up to create WPEngine, a new and very exciting platform that promises to do all of the above and more.

WordPress has become the killer platform for many bloggers, small businesses and developers/consultants with multiple clients.

However, there's a middle ground between a WordPress.com blog and a hosted WordPress site that a few apps are attempting to cover. This middle ground includes people who don't have the technical skills of a WordPress developer or even a website administrator but who still want to take advantage of a greater part of the WordPress ecosystem of plugins and other benefits.

About the Product

WPEngine offers a WordPress VIP-type experience for smaller-scale websites, and it includes top-notch support, one-click backups, optimization for speed and scalability, and security features that include automatic software upgrades. Also, you'll be able to use any WordPress plugins, themes, custom CSS or JavaScript you like.

The platform gives users a set of specially curated plugins that have been vetted for security and have the WP Engine team's absolute recommendation. If there is a plugin that isn't in our list, reads the site, you should feel empowered to use it anyway.

Most of all, WPEngine promises its users simplicity and a seamless transition and integration experience.

The platform seems like it will work for bloggers, for businesses, and also for small dev shops that need to keep an eye on several WordPress-based sites.

About the Team

While the product sounds fabulous and, indeed, just what the WordPress ecosystem needs, product is only part of what makes a good startup; the company also needs to have a great team. WPEngine was developed by Aaron Brazell, a well-known figure in the WordPress universe who authored The WordPress Bible; blogger and developer Jason Cohen; and Cullen Wilson, an Austin-based developer. The startup is also under the wing of Ben Metcalfe, who has made a habit of picking good bets in the startup world. His last pick, NutShell Mail, experienced the Silicon Valley version of a Cinderella story and was acquired recently by Constant Contact. Altogether, it's a bit of a dream team for a WordPress product.

Finally, the platform got the following 140-character thumbs-up from WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg this afternoon: I think it's a nice complement to first-party solutions, especially for businesses that use [WordPress] as a CMS.

About Signup and Migration

We talked a bit with some of the WP Engine team today about migrating blogs including themes, customized TypeKit fonts, comments and more over to the WP Engine platform, and it's a process we're eager to test. We'll be trying it out soon, and we will report back on the results.

In the meantime, if you're interested in learning more, sign up for WPEngine's beta program. The platform will be open to the public very soon. You can test the platform for 15 days free of charge, and it costs $50 per month thereafter. There are no contracts, and you're free to move your blog elsewhere at any time.

What do you think so far? Is this something you'd be interested in trying? Do you think it will be useful for businesses and WordPress developers? Let us know in the comments.

More About: aaron brazell, ben metcalfe, Wordpress, wpengine

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Shared by robdiana
If you use Oracle and your query is a bit slow, read this. Please read this. Your DBA's will love you for it.

select prod_category, avg(amount_sold)
from sales s, products p
where p.prod_id = s.prod_id
group by prod_category;

------------------------------------------
 Id   Operation              Name   
------------------------------------------
   0  SELECT STATEMENT              
   1   HASH GROUP BY                
   2    HASH JOIN                   
   3     TABLE ACCESS FULL   PRODUCTS
   4     PARTITION RANGE ALL        
   5      TABLE ACCESS FULL  SALES  
------------------------------------------

   GROUP BY
      |
     JOIN
 _____|_______
 |            |
ACCESS     ACCESS
(PRODUCTS) (SALES)

When you read a plan tree you should start from the bottom up. In the above example begin by looking at the access operators (or the leaves of the tree). In this case the access operators are implemented using full table scans. The rows produced by these tables scans will be consumed by the join operator. Here the join operator is a hash-join (other alternatives include nested-loop or sort-merge join). Finally the group-by operator implemented here using hash (alternative would be sort) consumes rows produced by the join-opertor.

The execution plan generated for a SQL statement is just one of the many alternative execution plans considered by the query optimizer. The query optimizer selects the execution plan with the lowest cost. Cost is a proxy for performance, the lower is the cost the better is the performance. The cost model used by the query optimizer accounts for the IO, CPU, and network usage in the query.

There are two different methods you can use to look at the execution plan of a SQL statement:

1. EXPLAIN PLAN command - This displays an execution plan for a SQL statement without actually executing the statement.


2. V$SQL_PLAN - A dictionary view introduced in Oracle 9i that shows the execution plan for a SQL statement that has been compiled into a cursor in the cursor cache.

1. EXPLAIN PLAN command


2. V$SQL_PLAN


3. Automatic Workload Repository (AWR)


4. SQL Tuning Set (STS)


5. SQL Plan Baseline (SPM)

SQL> EXPLAIN PLAN FOR
 2   select prod_category, avg(amount_sold)
 3   from sales s, products p
 4   where p.prod_id = s.prod_id
 5   group by prod_category;

Explained.

SQL> select plan_table_output
 2    from table(dbms_xplan.display('plan_table',null,'basic'));

------------------------------------------
 Id   Operation              Name   
------------------------------------------
   0  SELECT STATEMENT              
   1   HASH GROUP BY                
   2    HASH JOIN                   
   3     TABLE ACCESS FULL   PRODUCTS
   4     PARTITION RANGE ALL        
   5      TABLE ACCESS FULL  SALES  
------------------------------------------

• plan table name (default 'PLAN_TABLE'),


• statement_id (default null),


• format (default 'TYPICAL')

SQL> select prod_category, avg(amount_sold)
 2   from sales s, products p
 3   where p.prod_id = s.prod_id
 4   group by prod_category;

no rows selected

SQL> select plan_table_output
 2    from table(dbms_xplan.display_cursor(null,null,'basic'));

------------------------------------------
 Id   Operation              Name   
------------------------------------------
   0  SELECT STATEMENT              
   1   HASH GROUP BY                
   2    HASH JOIN                   
   3     TABLE ACCESS FULL   PRODUCTS
   4     PARTITION RANGE ALL        
   5      TABLE ACCESS FULL  SALES  
------------------------------------------

• SQL ID (default null, null means the last SQL statement executed in this session),


• child number (default 0),


• format (default 'TYPICAL')

1. Directly:

   
   SQL> select plan_table_output from
    2   table(dbms_xplan.display_cursor('fnrtqw9c233tt',null,'basic'));

   
   
   
2. Indirectly:

   
   SQL> select plan_table_output
    2   from v$sql s,
    3   table(dbms_xplan.display_cursor(s.sql_id,
    4                                  s.child_number, 'basic')) t
    5   where s.sql_text like 'select PROD_CATEGORY%';

   
   

SQL> alter session set optimizer_capture_sql_plan_baselines=true;

Session altered.

SQL> select prod_category, avg(amount_sold)
 2   from sales s, products p
 3   where p.prod_id = s.prod_id
 4   group by prod_category;

no rows selected

SQL> select SQL_HANDLE, PLAN_NAME, ACCEPTED
 2   from dba_sql_plan_baselines
 3   where sql_text like 'select prod_category%';

SQL_HANDLE                     PLAN_NAME                      ACC
------------------------------ ------------------------------ ---
SYS_SQL_1899bb9331ed7772       SYS_SQL_PLAN_31ed7772f2c7a4c2  YES

1. Directly
   

   select t.* from
   table(dbms_xplan.display_sql_plan_baseline('SYS_SQL_1899bb9331ed7772',
                                              format => 'basic')) t

   
   
   
2. Indirectly
   

   select t.*
       from (select distinct sql_handle
             from dba_sql_plan_baselines
             where sql_text like 'select prod_category%') pb,
            table(dbms_xplan.display_sql_plan_baseline(pb.sql_handle,
                                                       null,'basic')) t;

   
   

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
SQL handle: SYS_SQL_1899bb9331ed7772
SQL text: select prod_category, avg(amount_sold) from sales s, products p
          where p.prod_id = s.prod_id group by prod_category
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Plan name: SYS_SQL_PLAN_31ed7772f2c7a4c2
Enabled: YES     Fixed: NO      Accepted: YES     Origin: AUTO-CAPTURE
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Plan hash value: 4073170114

---------------------------------------------------------
 Id   Operation                 Name               
---------------------------------------------------------
   0  SELECT STATEMENT                             
   1   HASH GROUP BY                               
   2    HASH JOIN                                  
   3     VIEW                   index$_join$_002   
   4      HASH JOIN                                
   5       INDEX FAST FULL SCAN PRODUCTS_PK        
   6       INDEX FAST FULL SCAN PRODUCTS_PROD_CAT_IX
   7     PARTITION RANGE ALL                       
   8      TABLE ACCESS FULL     SALES              
---------------------------------------------------------

Formatting

1. Basic
   The plan includes the operation, options, and the object name (table, index, MV, etc)
   
2. Typical
   It includes the information shown in BASIC plus additional optimizer-related internal information such as cost, size, cardinality, etc. These information are shown for every operation in the plan and represents what the optimizer thinks is the operation cost, the number of rows produced, etc. It also shows the predicates evaluation by the operation. There are two types of predicates: ACCESS and FILTER. The ACCESS predicates for an index are used to fetch the relevant blocks because they apply to the search columns. The FILTER predicates are evaluated after the blocks have been fetched.
   
3. All
   It includes the information shown in TYPICAL plus the lists of expressions (columns) produced by every operation, the hint alias and query block names where the operation belongs. The last two pieces of information can be used as arguments to add hints to the statement.
   

select plan_table_output
from table(dbms_xplan.display('plan_table',null,'basic +predicate +cost'));

-------------------------------------------------------
 Id   Operation              Name      Cost (%CPU)
-------------------------------------------------------
   0  SELECT STATEMENT                    17  (18)
   1   HASH GROUP BY                      17  (18)
*  2    HASH JOIN                         15   (7)
   3     TABLE ACCESS FULL   PRODUCTS      9   (0)
   4     PARTITION RANGE ALL               5   (0)
   5      TABLE ACCESS FULL  SALES         5   (0)
-------------------------------------------------------

Predicate Information (identified by operation id):
---------------------------------------------------
2 - access("P"."PROD_ID"="S"."PROD_ID")

select plan_table_output from
table(dbms_xplan.display('plan_table',null,'typical -cost -bytes'));

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Id   Operation              Name      Rows  Time      Pstart Pstop
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
   0  SELECT STATEMENT                    4  00:00:01             
   1   HASH GROUP BY                      4  00:00:01             
*  2    HASH JOIN                       960  00:00:01             
   3     TABLE ACCESS FULL   PRODUCTS   766  00:00:01             
   4     PARTITION RANGE ALL            960  00:00:01      1     16
   5      TABLE ACCESS FULL  SALES      960  00:00:01      1     16
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Predicate Information (identified by operation id):
---------------------------------------------------
2 - access("P"."PROD_ID"="S"."PROD_ID")

Note Section

select plan_table_output
from table(dbms_xplan.display('plan_table',null,'basic +note'));

------------------------------------------
 Id   Operation              Name   
------------------------------------------
   0  SELECT STATEMENT              
   1   HASH GROUP BY                
   2    HASH JOIN                   
   3     TABLE ACCESS FULL   PRODUCTS
   4     PARTITION RANGE ALL        
   5      TABLE ACCESS FULL  SALES  
------------------------------------------

Note
-----
- dynamic sampling used for this statement

Bind peeking

variable pcat varchar2(50)
exec :pcat := 'Women'

select PROD_CATEGORY, avg(amount_sold)
from sales s, products p
where p.PROD_ID = s.PROD_ID
and prod_category != :pcat
group by PROD_CATEGORY;

select plan_table_output
from table(dbms_xplan.display_cursor(null,null,'basic +PEEKED_BINDS'));

------------------------------------------
 Id   Operation              Name   
------------------------------------------
   0  SELECT STATEMENT              
   1   HASH GROUP BY                
   2    HASH JOIN                   
   3     TABLE ACCESS FULL   PRODUCTS
   4     PARTITION RANGE ALL        
   5      TABLE ACCESS FULL  SALES  
------------------------------------------

Peeked Binds (identified by position):
--------------------------------------

1 - :PCAT (VARCHAR2(30), CSID=2): 'Women'

Shawn Foust is head of the video game industry team at law firm Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP.

Facebook Credits are here, and they're sparking quite a bit of debate. Credits are the virtual currency that Facebook hopes third-party game makers will use so that there's a single, consistent currency across all the games in the Facebook community. But if you're going to use Credits, you not only have to pay Facebook a 30 percent cut of any transaction you make with the currency, you also have to keep to some pretty stringent terms dictated by Facebook.

The terms are simultaneously very broad and very narrow. They're broad in the sense that they establish a comprehensive set of regulations governing the implementation of Facebook Credits but narrow in the sense that those regulations only apply to Facebook Credits. The terms do not provide a comprehensive framework for all forms of in-game currency.

That's an important distinction.

The terms only have power so long as Facebook Credits are in play. If you take the Credits out of the equation by exchanging them for your own currency, many of the rules and restrictions are no longer applicable. So the solution for game developers is to accept Facebook Credits but not abandon your own currency.

Specifically, here are a few select things the terms explicitly prohibit you from doing with Facebook Credits:

• You will not (and you will not enable or allow any third party to) sell Credits to, or trade or otherwise exchange Credits with, any third party.
• You may not accept Credits as payment for tangible goods, except in the Facebook Gift Shop.
• You may not accept Credits as payment for a currency or other stored value item that can be used outside of the application.

Further, you as the game developer are not the Facebook Credits mint. That means you lose a lot of practical control:

• You do not control the supply of Credits. That means you cannot offer a sale or giveaway of Facebook Credits (the Terms prohibit you from transferring or trading Credits to a third party). You cannot summarily issue 1000 Facebook Credits to your users to spark interest in your game. You cannot distribute Facebook Credits to the masses and live in a post-currency narco-syndicalist commune. Facebook controls the generation and distribution of Facebook Credits, not you.
• You cannot lock in value. Facebook Credits are a fungible good that can be used in any application that accepts credits. If a person purchases $100 in Facebook Credits with the intention of purchasing things in your application, if they only spend $80, the remaining $20 is free to go elsewhere.
• Credits can abandon you. Facebook retains the right to revoke your eligibility to accept Credits at any time in [its] sole discretion. That means your economy can get up and walk away in an instant.

So why not walk away from Facebook Credits? Well, it's a payment option that resides natively on your lifeline platform. I'm not going out on a limb in guessing that Facebook Credits will quickly develop into a robust and flexible payment services option that will play an important role in the social game ecosystem. You probably don't want to walk away from that.

So why your own currency?
As mentioned previously, the current terms don't extend beyond Facebook Credits. So creating your own in-game currency frees the game developer from constraints while still permitting them access to an important option for payment services.

Since your currency is not subject to the terms, you have full control over its use (subject to Facebook's Developer Policies and Statement of Rights of course). For example, you can permit trading of your currency between players within an application, which is prohibited for Credits. That means Little Jill Jellybean can send Disaster Dollars to her friend so the friend can buy spent fuel rods in Uranium Enrichment City. Perhaps that inspires the friend to play more and convert into a paid user later on.

More importantly, you have control over your in-game economy. If you want to give away Disaster Dollars to a loyal user, you can. If you want to run a contest with an award of Disaster Dollars, there's no problem. None of this is possible if you implement Facebook Credits directly into your game since the only source for Facebook Credits is Facebook.

You also can build in a safeguard from having the plug pulled. If you implement your own in-game currency you can offer your users a variety of options for the purchase of that currency other than Facebook (such as Paypal or Offerpal). Thus, if Facebook decides you are unworthy of Facebook Credits your game still has a viable means for monetization. If you rely solely on Facebook Credits you're at the mercy of the eligibility clause.

Further, offering multiple options creates a greater possibility that a particular user will find one that appeals to him or her. Users with a preference for Facebook Credits may use that option. Alternatively, if a user has a pre-existing relationship with another payment services provider and would prefer to use that provider, they can. Help them help you make money. It's not asking too much.

How do I set up my own currency?
You permit the user to purchase only one thing with Facebook Credits: your currency. Once the users have exchanged Facebook Credits for your currency, they can participate in the broader game economy. There should be no direct purchase of any items or anything other than your currency with Facebook Credits.

Once the exchange is made, you've locked up the value of those Credits in your own currency, ensuring it won't move off to another application. You also introduced the user to an economy where you control the rules. And, as most game developers will tell you, few things are more important to a game than a well structured economy. The economy can dictate the tempo of the game and can have dramatic effects on a user's interaction with the content. Normally it wouldn't be something a developer would consider ceding control over.

So there's the case for your own currency. There are arguments against, of course. Some argue that creating a separate currency is confusing and creates additional friction. Others argue that implementing Facebook Credits directly is good for the reputation of the game. I'm sympathetic to these arguments, but I find them unpersuasive in light of the root issue: direct implementation of Facebook Credits without a buffer currency effectively shifts control of a critical aspect of your game (which is often the main source of monetization) to a third party with potentially different incentives. Not good.

A buffer currency allows you to leverage a powerful new player in the payment services space while retaining control and flexibility.

Shawn Foust is an attorney with Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton's Silicon Valley and Century City offices and head of the firm's video game industry team. He focuses on tackling the cutting edge legal issues facing businesses in the entertainment, new media, and technology industries. He handles a blend of intellectual property licensing/litigation and emerging growth finance work.

Tags: Credits

Companies: Facebook

People: Shawn Foust

OK, to start, let's get past the whole PC means personal computer so a Mac is a PC thing. I'm aware. But for the sake of argument and story-telling, I'm going to use PC to refer to a Windows-based machine, whether home built or from a manufacturer.

That said, I have to repent for a sin. Though actually I guess I'm just admitting, because repenting would lead you to believe that I plan on stopping. That's not the case.

That sin is lust, and the object is a Mac.

I came into this profession as a blogger wielding a plastic-bound Logitech keyboard and 24 inches of widescreen Dell. I was determined to be the one that didn't change. I was going to profess my love of Windows 7 and the world would know that I was typing every new entry while staring at the beauty of the 4-color Microsoft flag.

It's not really that I'm a Microsoft fanboy. In fact, I've used a wealth of different operating systems, and would move to a flavor of Linux if more of what I do with audio production were supported. But, that hasn't happened, so I've stuck with the old standard.

Conversely, I'm also not an Apple fanboy. I think that the iPhone is pretty, but I don't really want one. Apple TV is one of the most disappointing products I've ever seen and iTunes on a PC is the single worst piece of software I've ever been all-but-forced to use.

But then it happened.

I'm a slave to the number pad on my keyboard. I avoid the top row of numbers as if they're carriers of some highly infectious disease. Unless I'm playing a game, this row of digits is doomed to a solitary confinement, never to be graced by my tender touch.

One day, the 2 on my trusty Logitech bit the dust. Without warning or probable cause, it simply died. I was in shock. I knew that I should have bought two of the things when I got it, but I just neglected to do so. Disassembling the $20 thing was of no use, and they were out of stock at all but the most untrusted sources. I had to face the fact: it was time to buy a new keyboard.

I started my search across the vast keyboard wonderland that is Amazon, reading reviews and trying to decide what was right for me. Time after time, the most highly rated keyboards came from Logitech and Apple. In a moment that can only be described as fiscal insanity, I shelled out $50 for the Apple Aluminum keyboard. The one, of course, with the number pad.

The next day, as the keyboard arrived at my door, I was wary of even plugging the thing in. I carefully unboxed the device, making certain that I'd be able to return it if I didn't like it. I set it in place, plugged it in and typed my first sentence.

And then it happenedAs if in an instant, I suddenly began to understand.

From the first few words, I instantly knew that I was addicted. I had never before felt a piece of hardware that was more responsive. Typing with this newfound friend was like driving a sports car that answered willingly to my every touch. With light flicks across its chicklet-laden frame, I found myself typing faster and with less effort than ever before.

I was hooked. I needed to find out more.

The next instance of my unintended investigation came with the arrival of Ostrich. Being that I'm the editor of a channel entirely dedicated to applications, it was up to me to take a look at Ostrich and figure out if it was any good.

Only one problem: I used Chrome, and Ostrich was the first Twitter extension for Safari. Well, no harm done. I'll load up Safari for Windows and, give Ostrich its due time and then I'll be back to Chrome.

I'm guessing that you can already tell what's going to happen, so I'll spare you the details. I'll just say that I'm now firmly into my third week of using Safari and I have absolutely no plans of going back to Chrome or Firefox as of this time.

Why? Because Safari, for me, is justbetter. And that's the confusing part, honestly. I can't put my finger onto why it is that I like Safari better than Chrome. They're both Webkit-based and both run essentially the same, but after weeks of using Safari and dealing with a couple of initial frustrations, I keep getting the sense that the browser is more intuitive, more responsive and simplybetter.

And so here I sit, typing this missive on an Apple keyboard, using Safariin Windows 7. Why? Not for lack of desire, mind you. Simply for lack of funds. I've finally gotten to the point where I can justify in my mind the cost associated with owning a Mac, but my wallet doesn't seem to care what my mind thinks.

I now understand the cost. I now also understand why Mac enthusiasts shell out the money for them without a second thought. I've used a years-old Powerbook that still ran flawlessly. I've seen a friend who still has a Mac G4 Cube in daily service without a hitch. Why? It comes down to build quality, and Apple simply can't be beaten, in my PC-using opinion.

So there it is. 900-some words later and I've finally laid it out there for flames from both sides. So flame on, my Internet-anonymous friends. Don't mind me, I'll just be over scraping change out of the sofa cushions to add to my Macbook Pro savings account.

Original title and link for this post: Confessions of a Mac-lusting PC owner.

By now, many of us have seen the video of YouTube user Hungrybear9562 (a.k.a Paul Vasquez) freaking out over a super pretty rainbow there are been remixes, interviews with Bear and even an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live (Kimmel helped Vasquez rocket to stardom after tweeting a link to the vid at the beginning of July). Yup. This video certainly was meme-tastic, and now it has a country rock cover befitting the soundtrack of some awesome '70s movie about love and loss, like Harold and Maude.

This isn't the first time Fallon has given a viral vid the Young treatment he covered Pants on the Ground (remember that classic jam?) back in January. And now, for your Fridaze listening pleasure, here's both of those jams. Fallon should seriously cut an album his comedic skills are questionable, but I would totally listen to a disc of viral covers if I had a truck and nothing but the open road before me.

Double Rainbow

Pants on the Ground

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Name: KnowPro

Quick Pitch: KnowPro apps helps people learn new topics, test for competence, or compete against friends or colleagues through social platforms.

Genius Idea: It's no secret that the iPhone can be used as an educational resource, and KnowPro's extensive lineup of tutorial-style iPhone apps demonstrates just how pocket-friendly and fun learning can be.

KnowPro has developed dozens of apps for practically any educational purpose. App categories cover subject matter such as animals, science, history, music, politics, business and pop culture.

In the science category, for instance, Board Review: Pharmacology is designed to help pharmacologists prepare for their board exam, Periodic Table of the Elements includes quiz questions on all 112 elements, and there's even an app to help with preparation for the biology portion of the MCAT.

Each app tutors users by testing them with quiz questions. At the beginning of each randomized quiz, you can set how many questions you want to answer. Then, for each question, you'll be presented with four possible answers. Get a question right and you'll advance to the next question. Get a question wrong, and you'll need to continue guessing until you get it right.

At the end of each quiz you can then publish your score to the service-wide leaderboard or publicly share it on Facebook or Twitter.

KnowPro's selection of apps is impressive, so if there's a particular subject matter you'd like to master, chances are a KnowPro app can help. The only downside is that each app comes at a price, with the more sophisticated tutorials costing as much as $6.99 apiece. Still, being able to use your iPhone in lieu of flashcards could make the expense worthwhile.

Sponsored by Microsoft BizSpark

BizSpark is a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. There are no upfront costs, so if your business is privately owned, less than three years old, and generates less than U.S.$1 million in annual revenue, you can sign up today.

[img credit: foundphotoslj]

More About: educational, iphone apps, knowpro

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Samuel and Charles Wyly, the billionaire brothers from Dallas who are large donors to philanthropies and to conservative causes, were charged Thursday with conducting an extensive securities fraud that the Securities and Exchange Commission said reaped $550 million in undisclosed gains.
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The brothers, who founded Sterling Software, a business software and services company that they sold for $4 billion in stock to the software company CA in 2000, were also charged with insider trading violations from which they profited by more than $31 million, the S.E.C. said.

Charles and Samuel Wyly, along with their wives, have donated $2.5 million to more than 200 Republican candidates and committees over the past 20 years, including over $1.3 million to the Republican National Committee, according to an analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics.

The top recipients of their largesse have been Texas Republicans. George W. Bush received at least $100,000 raised by the Wyly clan during the 2000 presidential election. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson has received $30,400 from the family; Rep. Pete Sessions, $29,000.

Other Republican senators who've received their donations include John Cornyn of Texas, Sam Brownback of Kansas, Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, John Thune of South Dakota and Kit Bond of Missouri. Sam Wyly also funded the Swift Boat campaign that torpedoed Massachusetts Democrat John Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign.

And the Wyly brothers have been busy in the 2010 election cycle, most recently writing a check dated June 10 for $10,000 to the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee. Charles Wyly has contributed to FreedomWorks PAC, which has been instrumental in the Tea Party movement. The Wylys and their companies have also reportedly contributed $353,500 to Texas Gov. Rick Perry in recent years.