Make beautiful, fiery music with Adafruit's DIY MIDI-controlled flame organ (video)

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Eyebrows in the way? Singe them off with Adafruit's DIY flame organ, debuting just in time for the holiday weekend. If fireworks aren't enough to put the sizzle in your Independence Day party, all you need to light up your very own MIDI instrument are a few relays, solenoid valves, a digital music workstation (Adafruit recommends Livid Instruments' BASE paired with Ableton Live and Pure Data) and a blatant disregard for your own mortality. The official tutorial is still in the works, but you can watch the flame organ blaze with a patriotic tune after the break. If you're brave -- or foolish -- enough to attempt to build one of your own, just promise us that you won't drink and DIY.

Firefox OS hands-on: Alcatel OneTouch Fire and ZTE Open (video)

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We've crossed paths with Firefox OS before, but today marks the first time we've played with handsets running the final build of Mozilla's mobile software. The Alcatel OneTouch Fire and ZTE Open you see above are the same hardware we saw at MWC earlier this year -- in fact, the latter just launched in Spain on Telefónica for €69 ($90) contract-free including €30 ($39) of airtime for prepaid customers. We took both phones for a brief spin and immediately noticed a slight improvement in performance. Unfortunately, there's still a significant amount of lag in the UI, especially when scrolling through web pages and navigating the app tray. Website also take a while to load, even when connecting over Wi-Fi. Then again, what do you expect for €69? Check out the gallery below and hit the break to watch our hands-on video.
Note: the ZTE Open we handled was for Movistar (a Telefónica brand) and is launching today for €69 (not €63 as mentioned in our video).

Ex-Xbox chief Don Mattrick lands at Zynga, officially (update: comments from Ballmer and Mattrick)

We just got the news that ex-head of Xbox, Don Mattrick, was out at Microsoft, and now we know where he's going: Zynga. AllThingsD reports that Mattrick is officially the new CEO of the casual social gaming firm, and Mark Pincus, the current CEO, is stepping down from that position to make room for Mattrick's arrival. Fear not for Pincus, however, as the founder of Zynga will maintain a role at the company as chairman and chief product officer. Naturally, Zynga's thrilled with the hire, though we're still waiting word from Redmond on the matter. You can get Pincus' take on Mattrick at the source below.
Update: Steve Ballmer has posted a memo about Mattrick's departure, calling it "a great opportunity for Don" and thanking him for his hard work at Microsoft.
Update 2: AllThingsD has Mattrick's first letter to Zynga's employees, in which he states the "mission to connect the world through games is just getting started."

Three UK now selling Samsung Galaxy Mega on its site, retail stores to offer it July 2nd

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Call the United Kingdom home? Have a thing for overly large, unorthodox smartphones? Well then, today's a good day to be a Three customer -- or plan on being one soon. The carrier has announced that the Samsung Galaxy Mega will be up for grabs on its website starting today, while brick-and-mortar stores are expected to have it on shelves as soon as tomorrow. The enormous 6.3-inch handset is being offered in conjunction with a variety of monthly tariffs, and there's also an option that takes advantage of Three's new pay-as-you-go scheme. Better yet, the company says the Galaxy Mega is future-proof, as it'll be able to support its upcoming LTE network once it goes live. Just remember, though... Three UK is in absolutely no rush to flip that switch.