lantern

"tiny computer programs called cookies"

I had a good laugh at the article until I realized this wasn't supposed to be a joke. This is a serious article right?

It doesn't look like anyone has explained the real danger of plugging into one of these.

Any malware, skeezy content, etc. can be avoided by simply not opening files and having your computer not autorun usb drives. But the real issue (at least the one that always comes to my mind) is if, say, the "USB device" was just a male connector connected directly to wall power. This would at least fry your computer's USB, possibly more.

It would also be trivial to set up a simple circuit inside a USB drive casing to step up voltage and potentially fry your computer's ports.

Cute, but this isn't Reddit.

This is really cool. It's also quite similar to a game I have in the works. It feels very polished, and there's very little latency.

Okay I think I see. So you're making a service like HSN's FlexPay, but this service will be available on any retail sites that opt-in to your service for payments. That sounds doable as long as you get retailers on board.

This idea of payments plans/deferred payments seems very similar to how credit cards already operate. However, I could see this being viable if you offer low interest rates (I assume you'll have interest) and if your yearly membership fee is reasonable (I assume there is a fee).

Personally, I don't think I would use it. I prefer to spend within my means, and I have a credit card otherwise.

Good luck on your startup; it seems like this will be quite a large undertaking as you will be essentially acting as a credit company.

I'm curious to see how well they'll do. Amazing; they even have achievements for holiday sex. <sarcasm>I can't wait to see this site showing up in my facebook feed...</sarcasm>