Weekend tech reading: A love-hate relationship with Firefox

Why we love Firefox. and why we hate it Admit it. You are in a love-hate relationship with Firefox. Either Mozilla gets Firefox right and you are jumping up and down, or Mozilla screws up and you threaten to ditch the browser in favor of Chrome. Mozilla’s passionate user base keeps Firefox dangling between constant ups and downs, which is a good thing, as long as Mozilla is going up. Unfortunately, that is not the case right now. Mozilla’s market share has been slipping again at a significant pace. There has been some discussion and finger pointing and it seems that the rapid release process has to take the blame this time. Are we right to blame the rapid release process? ConceivablyTech

Confessions of a middle-aged games writer I am 40 and I write about video games for a living. It is only just striking me that this might be weird to some people. 17 years ago, when I first started out in this idiotic profession, everyone thought I had the best job in the world -- and I did. Thing is, I think I may still have it. But 17 years later, I catch the odd askew glance, the odd furrowed brow. What, 40? And still writing about games? And all of a sudden I feel like one of those professional footballers who don’t retire at their peak, but instead bounce through a succession of lower league loan deals and pay-per-play contracts, clinging on. Just clinging on. Hookshot

Please don’t call it Trash-80: A 35th anniversary salute to Radio Shack’s TRS-80 Quick -- name the most important personal computer of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Those of you who mentioned the legendary Apple II–that’s fine. I respect your decision. Forced to think objectively in 2012, I may even agree. But if you just named Radio Shack’s TRS-80, you made me smile. Your choice is entirely defensible. And back in the TRS-80′s heyday, I not only would have agreed with it but would have vehemently opposed any other candidate. Time

How Apple conducts market research and keeps iOS source code locked down In an interview with Fortune a few years ago, Steve Jobs explained that Apple never does market research. Rather, they simply preoccupy themselves with creating great products. And when asked about the market research that went into creating the iPad, Jobs responded, "None. It isn't the consumers' job to know what they want. It's hard for [consumers] to tell you what they want when they've never seen anything remotely like it." Network World

Has your G+ account been suspended? Don't seek shelter from Google I first noticed the problems about a month ago. I tried to promote a TY4NS blog post on Google Plus but nothing happened when I clicked the G+1 button. I figured it was probably a glitch in the plug-in code. I have an attention span of about 4.2 seconds for this sort of thing, so I just moved on. A few days later I got an Gmail message and decided to add the sender to one of my G+ circles. But Google wouldn’t let me. Another glitch, I figured. ITworld

'Hardcore gamers love GameStop' - CEO Paul Raines When most U.S. gamers think of brick-and-mortar games stores, they think of GameStop. The Grapevine, Texas-based company operates more than 4,000 stores across the country; it owns the Game Informer magazine; and its used game business is unrivaled. Once a fully brick-and-mortar retailer, GameStop is now adopting and embracing a multi-faceted digital strategy, which has proven lucrative for the firm. GameSpot

Guy spends two years building amazing life-size, working WALL-E Ever since he first rolled into our lives back in 2008, we've loved WALL-E, the lovable trash compactor robot at the heart of the Pixar film of the same name. He's cute, he's loving, he's brave, and he's just plain neat. Too bad he's only a cartoon, right? Well, not anymore. Mike Senna, a California robotics enthusiast, was best known up until a little while ago for building a life-sized, working R2-D2. Blastr

Nixeus Vue 27": A $430 WQHD (2560x1440) S-IPS LED monitor Monitors with resolutions greater than 1080p have always commanded a premium. While 1920x1200 monitors have become rare, 2560x1440 (WQHD) and 2560x1600 (WQXGA) continue to have a steady, but costly, presence in the market. Even brands such as Doublesight (which don't command the same recognition as, say, Dell or Samsung) price their WQHD offerings around $1000. AnandTech

Yahoo sued after disclosure user names, passwords stolen Yahoo, the operator of the biggest U.S. Web portal, was sued for negligence over its disclosure that as many as 450,000 user names and passwords were stolen from one of its sites. A Yahoo user who said his login credentials were posted online after a hacker infiltrated a company database on July 11 filed a complaint July 31 in federal court in San Jose, California. Bloomberg

Groupon and its pivots: A mega, meta mash-up of the news Groupon is my personal favorite poster child for the shortest cycle time of rise and fall ever. [Its] long journey from flailing startup to multi-billion-dollar Wall Street obsession has played out like an opera, with subplots involving orgiastic young sales reps, brutal German managers, a puppet-master chairman, and amazing levels of greed. Fast Company

Three decades of the Commodore 64 The BBC was kind enough to point out that one of the most significant early personal computers, the Commodore 64, went on sale in August 30 years ago. For many people, this machine was their introduction to personal computing, and for two members of the Ars staff, thinking about the machine brings up strong memories. Ars Technica

Yes, I was hacked. Hard. So maybe you saw my Twitter going nuts tonight. Or you saw Gizmodo’s Twitter account blow up. Or you saw this in AllThingsD. Or this in the DailyDot. Although embarrassing, Twitter was the least of it. In short, someone gained entry to my iCloud account, used it to remote wipe all of my devices, and get entry into other accounts too. Emptyage

DARPA clears path for advanced communications, sensors DARPA researchers have created the world’s first solid state receiver to demonstrate gain at 0.85 terahertz (THz). This is the latest breakthrough in the DARPA THz Electronics program in its quest for transistor-based electronics that will enable electronic capabilities at THz frequencies. DARPA

Internet pirates will always win Stopping online piracy is like playing the world’s largest game of Whac-A-Mole. Hit one, countless others appear. Quickly. And the mallet is heavy and slow. The NY Times (also: Where Is Bourne? Not in an electronic version)