They specialize in providing data and analytics on financial data. Clearly they didn't think it was too much of a leap to go from analyzing securities to analyzing baseball players.
The article mentions Google Font API and Typekit as sources of fonts online, but there's another option that's worth looking at: The Open Font Library (http://openfontlibrary.org/)
The fonts hosted there are free (both as in beer and as in freedom). It's interesting to see how they apply the concepts around free software to another medium, like fonts.
They also package them up as @font-face with all the variations needed. I would be warned though, font rendering varies so greatly, that unless you test extensively, most will not be good enough for anything but headings.
The issue people are upset about isn't what Verizon was willing to commit to -- obviously any concessions from them that move toward an open and neutral internet are a positive step.
The problem lies in the commitments Google appears to be willing to make. The compromises that Google have laid out are clearly not a worst case scenario, but I personally hope for a better policy than "it could be worse" to emerge from this discussion.
It doesn't quite fit the bill of replacing TechShop, but you should check out Alpha One Labs (http://www.alphaonelabs.com/). It's a community hackerspace in Brooklyn that follows radical inclusivity – anyone is welcome to join, and as soon as they outgrow their current space they find a bigger one.
It's just getting off the ground, but there's a interesting group of people there. Drop in for one of the weekly meetings, tuesdays at 7.
And they just got a laser cutter (which they'll also let you use it just for asking!).
