Memrise Is a Viva Pinata For Language Students  Memrise is an
online farming game similar to Viva Pinata. It's built on words,
not some silly buzzlegums and mixes addictive gaming with
mnemonics to make learning a new language fun.  The concept is
brilliant but so obvious you'll kick yourself for not thinking
of it first. Each foreign word you learn is planted in your
garden. The more words you learn, the more beautiful your garden
will be.  Here's the kicker. You have to keep using these words
if you want your garden to grow. Neglect your words and your
garden will wither and die.  Languages are restricted to English
or Mandarin Chinese, but other languages will be coming soon.
It's a great idea for a web app, but imagine what would happen
if it was ported to Facebook. Yowsers. [Technology Review;
Shutterstock/BestPhoto1]