Foursquare is adding Visa, Mastercard and debit cards to its check-in deals program as it attempts to expand an existing revenue model. The company has let users pay for the deals—which users can access after checking in at participating locations—with American Express since 2011. [AllThingsD]

The U.S. government wasted millions of dollars in its attempts to expand broadband wireless service, according to a Republican congressman. [Bloomberg]

Thomas Pynchon's next novel is said to be set in Silicon Alley, in the period between the dot-com boom and the terrorist attacks of September 11; here are some rejected plot lines. [PandoDaily]

The Visual Effects crowd is pissed off, and rightfully, it seems, about the lack of airtime it was afforded during the Academy Awards on Sunday. Television broadcasts largely ignored demonstrators protesting the state of the VFX industry, in which many jobs have been shipped overseas; meanwhile, the Oscar winner for VFX had his speech cut short, and Ang Lee, who won Best Director for his CGI-heavy Life of Pi, forgot to thank his VFX man. [The Big Social Picture]

Uber is signing up drivers in San Francisco; no taxi license needed, but there will be a test. [Engadget]

Have you seen this man? (Photo: Inherent-vice.pynchonwiki.com)

The legendarily reclusive Thomas Pynchon, author of Gravity's Rainbow and The Crying of Lot 49, is set to publish a new novel titled Bleeding Edge in September. And what weird corner of Americana has Mr. Pynchon chosen for the subject of his latest opus? Why, Silicon Alley, circa 2001, during “the lull between the collapse of the dot-com boom and the terrible events of September 11,” according to Sarah Weinman of Publisher's Marketplace.

First Mike Judge's show for HBO and now this? Our cup runneth over! Suddenly this advance copy of Lean In doesn't seem so exciting. Sorry, Sheryl.

Movie buffs/onetime teenage girls might recall that Mr. Pynchon will be revisiting some of the territory trod by Josh Hartnett in the 2008 indie movie August. However, we imagine that this take will come with a boatload more facts sure to wow members of your pub trivia team.

This news means that if you've had any offbeat encounters with oddball middle-aged strangers at General Assembly or New York Tech Meetup in the last couple of years, you've officially got an excuse to spin it into a maybe-maybe-not anecdote. Just saying.