A life-size version of the new Monopoly token, via the Today Show's Instagram. (Photo: Instagram)

Today is a triumphant day for cat lovers everywhere, but especially for those who despise ironing. Hasbro's Facebook stunt, devilishly proposed to distract us from the fact that Monopoly takes for-freakin-ever, has reached a delightful conclusion. Today reports that the iron token is getting the boot, and will be replaced with a sparkling cat token. Congratulations, Internet!

Last month, Hasbro asked Facebook users to vote in order to save their favorite Monopoly token. As it turns out, the iron, the hat and the wheelbarrow weren't exactly fan favorites, and were all in danger of being voted off. Though it's sad to bid adieu to a classic Monopoly token, the introduction of the cat is a wonderful acknowledgment that cats are the most glorious creatures to ever walk this fine planet.

We eagerly await more tokens that pander to the young and web-savvy, such as an angry Internet commenter piece and a Snapchat boob token.

Poor wheelbarrow. (Screenshot: Facebook)

When was the last time you finished a game of Monopoly--like actually finished it, didn't get bored in the middle, get up to grab a drink and then just never return? We assume it's been quite some time, as Monopoly is basically the jury duty of board games: lots of sitting around, not much action, maybe getting into a tussle with a weird old guy over ethics, etc.

Now, Monopoly maker Hasbro has resorted to a viral stunt in order to detract from the fact that the game is absolutely interminable, and it's taken to Facebook to play out its hostage situation in real time.

"Save Your Token!" cries the Facebook voting app, where users can vote to save one of eight existing game pieces. So far the dog and the car--a.k.a. the pieces you and your brother always fought over--are safe, but wheelbarrow lovers are bound to be devastated. The poor ’barrow has received only 3 percent of the vote and is in danger of disappearing from the game forever in a cruel display of corporate bravado.

Hasbro intends to replace the losing piece with a new one, but the choices are sure to divide avid Internet users, who must choose between a cat, diamond ring, guitar, helicopter or toy robot.

As we all know, having to choose between a cat and a robot is basically Sophie's choice. Not cool, Hasbro.

NY is en fuego for the Fire

There was a reason Jeff Bezos came all the way to New York to unveil Amazon's new suite of Kindle e-readers and tablet devices. Like the iPad the Kindle is first and foremost a device for consuming media, with the new Kindles going beyond the book to offer music, television and movies as well. And the Big Apple's high end publishers are thrilled to have a second dance partner for the party beyond Apple.

As the NY Times reports, Amazon's new Kindle Fire tablet will come with a digital newsstand front-and-center where users can buy magazines and newspapers. To glossy publishers, this sounds like a haven from a digital world dominated by Angry Birds.

“When you’re lost in the middle of 100,000 apps, you only have people who find you when they’re looking for you,” Bob Sauerberg, president of Condé Nast, told the paper. “This helps with getting consumers in. They pick what they want, and we sell them more of what interests them. And everybody is happy.”

Apple has been hoping to introduce its own newsstand for some time, and is expected to announce one within the next month. But Cupertino has struggled to come to terms with magazine publishers over their cut of subscription revenue. And sales of subscriptions on non-iPad devices, like Barnes and Noble's Nook, have already surpassed iPad sales for publishers like Hearst.

This new line of devices are all priced below $200, meaning they are most likely a loss leader to help Amazon establish themselves in the tablet market. So far it seems to be working, with the Kindle Fire and various flavors of Kindle sitting claiming the entire top ten for best selling gadgets on Amazon. Come Christmas time, the tablet market is going to look very different than it does today.

via Reuters

Eric Schmidt made his much-anticipated appearance in Washington D.C. yesterday for the Senate antitrust hearings on Google. Sadly, it was not the show Betabeat was hoping for.

Not only did Congress fail to familiarize itself with how the internet works and seem confused as to whether they wanted to chastize Google or beseech it to bring broadband to their home states. But Mr. Schmidt, who could always be counted on for a wry/terrifying turn-of-phrase during his tenure as CEO, seemed to have been coached into submission.

He did, however manage to sneak in a few quips into his prepared remarks.

First with his opening words, "Good afternoon Chairman Kohl, Ranking Member Lee, and Members of the subcommittee. Thank you for inviting me here today." That's more read-between-the-lines funny than funny haha as Mr. Schmidt's reluctant RSVP was under threat of subpoena. The part where he condescended to Congress like he was Mark Zuckerberg and they were the Ad Board was also mildly amusing, "We get it," said Mr. Schmidt. "By that I mean that we get the lessons of our corporate predecessors. We also get that it's natural for you to have questions about our business." As natural as a child asking its parents why the sky is blue.

But the real disappointment came during the question and answer part of the hearing when Senator Herb Kohl, a Democrat from Wisconsin who chairs the Senate antitrust panel, asked him, point blank, whether Google was a monopoly. As Business Insider reports, Sen. Kohl asked:

But you do recognize that in the words that are used and antitrust kind of oversight, your market share constitutes monopoly, dominant -- special power dominant for a monopoly firm. You recognize you're in that area?

The suddenly press-appropriate Mr. Schmidt responded:

I would agree, sir, that we’re in that area....I'm not a lawyer, but my understanding of monopoly findings is this is a judicial process.

Going to jail is no longer a good strategy

As Dennis Crowley pointed out on Twitter yesterday, foursqaure's robust API has allowed developers to create thousands of interesting apps that are running primarily and in some cases entirely off the services data.

We already told you about Fourcraft, which turned New York into a giant game of risk. Today it's Foursquaropoly (tough name), which layers the basic principles of the classic board game Monopoly on top of Big Apple check-ins.

Players are given $10,000 to start and can purchase a building if they check-in and find its not owned yet. After that, anyone who checks in pays rent to the owner. The owner must pay an upkeep on the property. Price, rent and upkeep are all determined by the popularity of the venue, with the most well trafficked check-ins, like the Empire State building.

Foursquare's API is a fascinating business play. The more users interacting with the service through consumer-facing apps, the better their data will become. And over time, that data will become valuable enough that it can be licensed out to other companies that want to use it for business.

You can find out more about the game and its creators here.

Foursquaropoly from Deanna McDonald on Vimeo.