. >>> and you may be one of the millions of adults addicted to farmville and words with friends. tonight meet the man who has made them so addictive and made a fortune in the process. >>> and the stuff girls say. the web videos that remind everybody of someone in their lives. tonight we meet the unlikely star of the show. >> i know, right? >> do me a huge favor. >> did i lock the door? shut up. >>> "rock center" gets under way now. captions paid for by nbc-universal television >>> good evening and welcome to "rock center." we'll report on that cruise ship disaster in italy in just a bit but first tonight we wanted to bring you the reporting of our colleague ted koppel who is just back from the campaign trail and the report from the front is pretty devastating. specifically, the way we elect our presidents has been changed perhaps forever by the u.s. supreme court. two years ago in a case called citizens united, the court said in its ruling, in effect, political spending equals political speech. and is therefore, protected under the first amendment. now in these gop primaries, we

that they were another way to share and connect. >> reporter: take farmville the company's first bigers cultivate an online farm with crops, live stock and homesteads. have you ever farmed anything in real life? have you ever owned a plot of land, planted a crop? >> i've never planted a crop but i really would like to. >> reporter: like every game in zinca's stable farmville is free for anyone to play. 150 million people play zynga games every month and most don't pay a penny. fewer than 3% of players ever pay for the special cow or snow covered castle. but those die-hard players spent enough to push ziynga's revenue to nearly $800 million last year. people are spending real dollars on something that's not real at all. they're spending real money on a virtual cow or a virtual crop. >> or people spend money every day on movies. you watch it. it's an entertainment experience. >> reporter: kate snow, nbc news, san francisco. >> you can see more of the man behind virtual entertainment tonight at 10:00 on "rock center with brian williams" right here on nbc 4. >> all right. coming up on ne

. >>> more than 150 million people play games like farmville and dream zoo every month.ng the most gaming. nbc's kate snow caught up with the founder of zenga, maker of some of tonight's most popular games for "rock center" tonight. >> reporter: if you haven't started playing yet, zenga hopes you will. most of the games are launched through facebook but some are available on your phone or ipad. their biggest audience is me -- moms -- squeezing in a little game time. real people playing games together in a virtual world with purple sheep. that's the brain child of 45-year-old mark pinkus who founded zynga, maker of farmville, citiville and words with friends. >> the way we approached games is they were meant to be played between people, together. it's another way to share and connect. >> reporter: take farmville, the company's first big hit. players cultivate an online farm with crops, livestock and homesteads. >> have you ever farmed anything in real life? have you ever owned a plot of land? planted a crop? >> i have never planted a crop but i'd like to. >> reporter: ten

betting the farmville. why zynga's fun and games are serious business and rich greenfield is here to say doubt zynga as an investment at your own pairl. a private school now costs more than $40,000. is this everything that's wrong or right with education in america? we'll dig in, mandy. >> we certainly with. i'm mandy drury. happy to be back. steve liesman over to you with the details. >> thanks very much. the federal reserve reporting the january results of its senior loan officers survey of banks and it's some interesting results here. demand has risen for commercial and industrial loans reversing the prior quarter that showed a decline. and this is really interesting, loan demand for small businesses at the highest level since 2005. this is the net first banks rortsing an increase in demand. small business borrowing and demand for small business been one of the keys we've been looking for turnaround in the economy. it's unclear but maybe this is a really good sign. demand for consumer also turning positi

. >> take farmville, the company's first big hit.armed anything in real life? have you ever owned a plot of land? was it a crop? >> i've never planted a crop. but i'd really like to. >> like every game in zynga's stable, farmville is free for anyone to play. 150 million people play zynga games every month and most don't play a penny. fewer than 3% of players ever pay for that special cow or snow covered castle, but those die hard players spent enough to push zynga's revenues to nearly $800 million last year. people are spending real dollars on something that's not real. they're spending real money on a virtual cow or a virtual crop. >> people spend money every day on movies, right, you can't take them home with you. you can't wear them. they go away, right? you watch it. it's an entertainment experience. >> we were with mark when zynga has its ipo of 100 shares of stock to the public in mid december, but in the months since, the stock hasn't lived up to what some thought. it's been below its initial trading price, so we ask him about

farmville? that's tonight's number. [ male announcer ] your favorite foods fighting you? fight back fast with tums. calcium rich tums goes to work in seconds. nothing works faster. ♪ tum ta tum tum tums >>> i stumbled across a story i couldn't believe. according to the british divorce website, divorceonline, yes, there is such a site, a third null all divorce petitions filed in the uk last year that cited unreasonable behavior also mentioned facebook. not kidding. that's a sharp increase from 2009 when one in five petitioners mentioned facebook as a reason they were fooling for divorce. this is probably why we have seen social media cheating sites popping up online. according to a rep from the company, quote, social networking has become the primary tool for communication and is taking over from text and e-mail in my opinion. that's mark keen from divorceonline. if some one wants to have an affair or flirt with the opposite sex, that's the easiest place to do it. also a profitable place. which brings us to $100 billion. the dollar amount facebook hopes to be valued at as

>>> and farmville, mafia wars, just how much would you pay for those online games?ve you one heck of a number next. [ding] announcer: clean kitchen surfaces, utensils, and hands with soapy water. one in 6 americans will get sick from food poisoning this year. keep your family safer. check your steps at foodsafety.gov. >>> so video game players can be a pretty passionate bunch. they'll spend thousands on games, gear and memberships, but the fan of one game went above and beyond. i mean stratospherically. a chinese man spent $16,000 on a virtual sword. $16,000 on a virtual sword. i'm sorry, i just must live in another century. for the game of wulin. it is not even being released in china until the spring. now, of course, not every gamer is that crazy. sorry if i'm offending some of you who are that rich. but some of the thriftier gamers purchased things for $2500 and the hook of departure sheath for a paltry $1600. well, even if you aren't that into gaming, you'd be surprised just how much people spend on casual games, which brings us to tonight's number. 680,000. tha

>>> and farmville, mafia wars, just how much would you pay for those online games?we give you one heck of a number next. releases armies of snowmen masseuse who cuddle up with your soreness and give out polar bear hugs. technology. [ male announcer ] new bengay cold therapy. the same technology used by physical therapists. go to bengay.com for a $3 coupon. i took some steep risks in my teens. i'd never ride without one now. and since my doctor prescribed lipitor, i won't go without it for my high cholesterol and my risk of heart attack. why kid myself? diet and exercise weren't lowering my cholesterol enough. now i'm eating healthier, exercising more, taking lipitor. numbers don't lie. my cholesterol's stayed down. lipitor is fda approved to reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke in patients who have heart disease or risk factors for heart disease. it's backed by over 19 years of research. [ female announcer ] lipitor is not for everyone, including people with liver problems and women who are nursing, pregnant or may become pregnant. you need simple blood tests

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your wife says she really likes farmville, what is she doing on facebook? farmville, that's tonight's number. ♪ now i'm a geologist at chevron, and i get to help science teachers. it has four servo motors and a wireless microcontroller. over the last three years we've put nearly 100 million dollars into american education. that's thousands of kids learning to love science. ♪ isn't that cool? and that's pretty cool. ♪ >>> according to the british divorce website, divorceon line, yeah, there is a site, a third of all divorce petitions filed in the uk last year that cited unreasonable behavior also mentioned facebook. not kidding. that's a sharp increase from 2009 when one in five petitioners mentioned facebook as a reason they were fooling for divorce. this is probably why we have seen social media cheating sites popping up on line. according to a rep from the company, quote, social networking has become the primary tool for communication and is taking over from text and e-mail in my opinion. mark keenan. if some one wants to have an affair or flirt with the

farmville? that's tonight's number. ay cold, it's pro-cool technology releases armies of snowmen masseuse who cuddle up with your soreness and give out polar bear hugs. technology. [ male announcer ] new bengay cold therapy. the same technology used by physical therapists. go to bengay.com for a $3 coupon. this was the gulf's best tourism season in years. the same technology used by physical therapists. all because so many people wanted to visit us... in louisiana. they came to see us in florida... nice try, they came to hang out with us in alabama... once folks heard mississippi had the welcome sign out, they couldn't wait to get here. this year was great but next year's gonna be even better. and anyone who knows the gulf knows that winter is primetime fun time. the sun's out and the water's beautiful. you can go deep sea fishing for amberjack, grouper and mackerel. our golf courses are open. our bed and breakfast have special rates. and migrating waterfowl from all over make this a bird watcher's paradise. so if you m

its other games like farmville are played by tens of millions of people. google this morning expanding personal results to your search. if you're logged into google and a member of google plus as well, google will look for your social circle toance answer for your query. the personalized real-time search where the answer is tailored for you is the future. it's just really, really hard to get right. >>> let's go to las vegas now where the consumer electronics show is in full swing. we asked scott budman to find us cool gadgets. >> reporter: welcome to 2012 ces, gadgets galore. we'll start with hp, this is the spectre, just unveiled, ultrabook made out of guerrilla glass, 1399, comes out in february. we've got apps and technology that will help you lose weight. this is a company called digital storm liquid cooled computing. not to mention i-robot. this one aimed at health care will deliver prescription meds wherever you are. and finally, a way to use your smartphone to control your remote camera, touch your phone once to start, and once to stop. from las veg

he is following four people, including the creator of farmville.ink it's a typo. >> you never know. >> that's cool in itself. it's 6:26. still to come a bad drive-up banking. we'll show you the aftermath next. >>> plus, possible closure for the woman who almost lost her family when a small plane crashed into her east palo alto home. >> and we've been talking about how dry it's been around here. a front providing a lot of moisture through the north bay. i'll take it out for you city coming up after the break. >>> and while that heads into the area, i have a stall in a typically bad commute spot.bu d commute today. dinner? candles? i wanted it to be special. oh, what's this? it's progresso's new loaded potato with bacon. mmm, it's good. honey, i love you and... oh my gosh, oh my gosh.. look at these big pieces of potato. yeah but honey, i love you and... is that what i think it is...it is... it's bacon. honey look. [ male announcer ] progresso rich and hearty... 4 new flavors, you can lose yourself in. what's that? big piece of potato. [ male announc

mark zuckerberg killed a bison and mounted its head on the wall, which explains why today all my farmvillenimals migrated to friendster. [ laughter ] get this, guys. [ light laughter ] nothing like a good friendster joke, huh? >> steve: yeah. [ laughter ] >> jimmy: according to a new survey, the most annoying word of 2011 was "whatever" -- [ laughter ] which is why i always go with the much less annoying option "whatevsies." in honor of christmas, a town in the uk held a reindeer race on friday night. and of course, it happened to be right when my grandma was crossing the street. [ laughter and ohs ] >> steve: where was this? where? >> jimmy: i didn't tell you? >> steve: no. what happened? [ laughter ] >> jimmy: you know my grandma, right? >> steve: yeah. >> jimmy: she -- got run over by a reindeer. [ laughter ] sorry about that. >> steve: where? where? >> jimmy: she was walking home from our house on christmas eve. [ laughter ] >> steve: so, how'd that -- ? i know your grandpa is a man of faith, he loves santa. he loves all the -- >> jimmy: as for me and grandpa, yeah, we still believe in

. >>> back in the day before ipads, ipods, farmville, zynga and the whole deal, bowling was a big deal in the bay area. a lot of local bowling alleys have shut down in the past ten or 15 years. but bowling is making a comeback in one san francisco neighborhood. here's joe rosato, jr. >> reporter: for generations, people have entertained themselves by heaving a heavy ball toward a bunch of defenseless pins, only with the number of bay area bowling alleys closing over the years, it almost seems as if the pins are taking their revenge. but in san francisco's mission district, a brand-new bowling alley is taking shape in a former electrical supply warehouse at 17th and van ness. >> this will be our gallery wall. >> reporter: summer peterson and molly bradshaw are the minds behind what will soon become the mission bowling club. >> this is the view from the mezzanine up top which is our secondary dining area. >> reporter: six lanes of bowling, fine dining and a bar all under one industrial-sized roof. >> this area will be the seating for the bowling. so leather-tufted groovy couches, beers,

pay your way to the higher levels similar to games like farmville and, jessica and raj, that's how zynga makes money. >> the take away. jessica was like bring your dog to work. >> bring your dog to workday. >> yes. >> we should have more creative environment like that. >> there you go. >> let's bring in jeff ranieri. how you doing. take it away. >> doing good. puppy-cam. pretty cute. have the camera fixed on it all newscast. probably get pretty good ratings. heard from cheryl hurd about increased fire danger. did go down in the record books for the driest december ever on record. most bay area cities right now ranking in the top 20, driest, water years, ever, at this point. when you thing it can't get any worse. we are under record heat today. well it wasn't disruptive. wasn't sweatering out here. definitely something we don't need. 72, santa rosa. 69. napa. 66. because of all the warmer temperatures. associated with dry air. if we have a system getting close by. it is all going to get evaporated by the dry air. just no sign of any rainfall at least for the bay area right now. 72 in sant

that, you know, of people who admit to cheating at these games, these social games, the likes of farmvilleline b half of them, 48% of those in the u.s. and the u.k. said they actually cheat in real life as well. this compares to just 14% of people who said, you know, they don't cheat online and they did admit to cheating in real life. we're talking about cheating like taking the hotel towels, cheating on tests in school or cheating on someone in a relationship. it was an interesting finding by the folks at pop cap. they're behind the bejeweled game. >> if only half of the people admit they cheat, that's probably a little low. >> reporter: they're just the ones admitting to it. >> thank you very much. have a nice day. >> reporter: have a great day. >>> up next, they've been camped out for months. now d.c. mayor vincent gray says it's time for occupy d.c. protesters to go. that's ahead. >>> also, today marks 30 years since the tragedy of air florida flight 90. 78 people were killed when that plane hit the 14th street bridge and crashed into the icy potomac. a look back on that day when fox 5

charlottesville, down i-95, farmville, richmond, moderate and heavy rain getting its act together and that is what is going to be moving into our area about five through 6, 7, 8:00 this evening. even though we haven't got an lot, we are going to see this wave of some moderate and heavy rain moving into our area in the next hour or so 46 the temperature, cooler that yesterday, but a little above average here in temperatures. wind out of the east at 3 miles per hour but any rain that we get, moderate or heavy will allow the winds to pick up a bit. temperatures throughout the area, 43 in fairfax county, rens and chantilly, mount rainier, adelphi, 46. 43 up to the north in montgomery county. warm spot, 48, annapolis, maryland. temperatures, those will be rising during the overnight period to about 50 degrees by 11 p.m. so, a mild overnight with more, much more rain that is going to be moving n meanwhile, as we take a look ahead, our weather coming up, it is going to be very odd the next 36 to 48 hours. i will have the details on that jim, in just a couple of minutes. >> all right. we will

i need them to water my farmville crops. [ laughter ] >> steve: yeah. >> jimmy: they got to grow.hat's right. an app that posts a facebook status after you die. that way, you can leave a nice heartfelt message to your loved ones, or prank them and go, "i'm not dead. dig me up." [ laughter ] you know, you could do that. just saying. hey, you guys. today's national cheese day. [ cheers and applause ] and i mean this when i say it. i hope your day is as goudas mine. >> steve: hey! [ laughter ] >> jimmy: and if you're having a bad day, just hope it gets cheddar. [ laughter ] [ audience groans ] come on, admit it. that was sharp. [ laughter ] i'm sorry. those puns are cheesy. [ laughter ] seriously, i apologize for the jokes. [ light laughter ] that's not the person i want to brie. [ laughter ] [ applause ] it gets gritty after a while. [ applause ] all right. let's get on with it. >> steve: that's what cheese said. [ laughter ] [ audience ohs ] >> jimmy: that's what cheese said. very good. >> steve: not that's what she said. that's what cheese said. >> jimmy: all right. [ laughter ] y

. >> i have a couple of friends online, supposed to be working and end up on farmville, i won't say anyo. no to what? >> productive people, no to, can you bake cookies for tomorrow's bake sale, can you take my kids to the movies? you have to be aware of what your schedule is and that's why it's so important that you keep that to do list but at the same time you really, really want to not feel the guilt, and not feel the embarrassment so one thing i'd looic to do is think of your friend who is as busy as you or somebody who is busier. would this be something they should do? chances are they say no. you're thinking objectively. take your own advice and say no. >> elizabeth, thank you very much. good to see you. happy new year. >> happy new year. >>> up next, one woman says go ahead, let her kids stare. her inspirational message, right after this. tool, you tell us what you want to pay, and we give you a range of coverages to choose from. who is she? that's flobot. she's this new robot we're trying out, mostly for, like, small stuff. wow! look at her go! she's pretty good. she's pretty goo

its other games like farmville played by tens of millions of people.nd congress has set a date to allow internet experts to testify about the internet, as lawmakers consider the stop online piracy act. congressman from san jose one of the first to point out that they were debating incredibly complicated things with almost no understanding of how the internet worked and perhaps it would be a good idea to bring some people in to talk about it. >> not a bad idea. thank you. >> it's 5:25. still to come on "today in the bay," oakland police working a deadly overnight hit and run. details coming up. >> reporter: the b.a.r.t. extension project from fremont down to san jose getting a major boost. we're talking lots of cash. those details coming up. >> while i also watch the rails i'm watching an accident reported on the peninsula. we'll let you know the latest for one highway that may be blocked. >> an area of low pressure tracks closer to the bay area coast. i'll let you know if you could get a sprinkle in your city when we get to your full forecast. >> a liv

. >> that's the real farmville you just described there. three related names. before we let you go and i apologize for floating around here because of the facebook news breaking in. we're going off script. tell us some of the areas you like and leave facebook behind if you like. >> 2011 if it showed us anything there's a great despairty across the market either a bull or bear dependsing on where you were heavily alcoa kated. this year we're looking towards utilities, technology and reits. state investment trusts and diversified play in stocks, utilities provide a base and high dividend and relatively safe defensive sector if things go sour in europe. technology great earnings surprises there still. and last but not least, a look around the corner of the economic cycle, real estate investment, trust there are some bright spots on the home building side. so that's a play on the turn in this sickle if not earlier this year, hopefully later this year. >> yeah. we're going to be talking about some of the related names like the owens cornings on that world on housing

nigel cox is in his senior year at farmville central high school. he is the chairman of the youth advisory board for students against violence everywhere, a student driven organization that provides opportunity for you to yet learned crime-prevention and conflict management as well as the virtues of good citizenship, stability and nonviolence. dr. patrick mccarthy is president and ceo of the e 8 c foundation. a private philanthropy organization dedicated to helping build better futures for disadvantaged children in the united states. he is a trustee of the casey foundation and chairman of youth opportunity initiative and a director of the case the family service board of the fighters. jon corzine -- sonja sohn is founder and ceo of rewired for change. she was inspired to start rewired for change by her own life journey which began as a child growing up in an underserved community in virginia and eventually lead to her role as a principal cast member of hbo's wired. nigel cox. >> my name is nigel cox. i am chairman of the youth and freeboard which st