Salon.com > mobile devices http://www.salon.com Fri, 04 Jan 2013 21:50:28 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Zynga slashes games and jobs in effort to regroup http://www.salon.com/2012/12/31/zynga_slashes_games_and_jobs_in_effort_to_regroup/ http://www.salon.com/2012/12/31/zynga_slashes_games_and_jobs_in_effort_to_regroup/#comments Mon, 31 Dec 2012 15:42:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13158563 Zynga dealt a blow to time wasters and procrastinators when it ended several of its games yesterday as part of a wider retrenchment, TechCrunch reported.

The social gaming company skyrocketed into the collective brainspace with addictive fare like the simulation "FarmVille" and "Words with Friends." But the public markets haven't been kind to the company. Its ongoing restructuring effort involves cutting more than 100 jobs, closing offices and eliminating more than a dozen of its titles.

TechCrunch wrote that, "Investors feared it had become bloated, free virality on Facebook had been curtailed, competitors were proliferating, and the shift of Facebook users to mobile from Zynga’s stronghold on the desktop canvas would break the company."Zynga went public in December 2011 at $10 per share. On Monday morning it was trading at $2.37. It has not traded above $4 since July.

Games shut down this month include "PetVille," "Mafia Wars 2," "FishVille," "Vampire Wars," and "Treasure Isle."

TechCrunch:

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/12/31/zynga_slashes_games_and_jobs_in_effort_to_regroup/feed/ 0 The price of airline iPad freedom http://www.salon.com/2012/12/10/the_price_of_airline_ipad_freedom/ http://www.salon.com/2012/12/10/the_price_of_airline_ipad_freedom/#comments Mon, 10 Dec 2012 18:00:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13120439 Look, I get it. I understand why the twittering masses are so excited to learn that FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski sent a letter last week to the FAA encouraging the agency to get its act together and allow airline passengers to play with their mobile devices during takeoff and landing. I have long wondered, along with everyone else, why we haven't seen any meaningful scientific evidence that the use of such devices interferes with the operation of an aircraft. Miles away from the airport, I still feel the pain for those parents of toddlers (and everyone sitting within earshot) who are denied the right to distract their spawn with the fabulous interactivity of the latest iPad. And I always die a little death every single time I have to stop checking for the latest Facebook status updates just so my Boeing 727 can get launched off the ground. Let Alec Baldwin play as much "Words With Friends" as he wants! We're talking about freedom here!

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