Facebook recently debuted two new ad platforms in an attempt to take media to new levels; however, the ad platforms may be shortlived, as the Electronic Privacy Information Center will be filing a suit protesting the way Facebook is using its users to spread free advertising.

The first cell phone related death in Korea was recorded yesterday when a man was found dead, presumably killed by the explosion of his LG cell phone’s battery which was stowed in his breast pocket.

It’s no secret that Microsoft wants a juicy bite of Google’s market share, they’ve been trying to catch up for a couple of years now with their Live.com suite of services. More recently they’ve smartened up with a few projects like their Live Writer software for bloggers and their shared source initiative with .NET. Google hasn’t been idle either. They’ve been busy improving Google Docs and that puts Microsoft’s home turf between the crosshairs. In response, it looks like Microsoft is making a good decision by adding iPhone syncing to their Office 2008 for Mac release.

Apple users still using Tiger, the previous version to Leopard are discovering that the latest update probably isn’t worth installing just yet.  A few reports of system crashes and Macs refusing to boot after the update have come in.

No such luck for the US market or other European markets but a German court ordered Apple to sell an unlocked iPhone, the company did so but at a marked up 999 euros instead of the standard T-Mobile locked price of 399 euros.  German mobile services reseller Debitel has decided to pay customers back the difference in price.

It’s been a year of plenty for Intel, while AMD has squandered too many opportunities. The company has struggled to keep up with the hectic pace of Intel’s product roll-out and is trawling behind in the processor race. Research firm iSuppli has predicted what we pretty much already know – that Intel will top the processor charts this year while AMD falls to the wayside.

Almost no one has anything good to say about Vista and the beaten and battered operating system is being trounced by its six years older brother, XP.  In a new battery of tests, once and for all, XP is shown to be the performance champion leaving Vista in the dust.

Today, Google released version 2.0 of its popular mapping software, Google Maps for mobile phones. Most of the update isn’t a big deal, although one feature stands out: My Location.

We reported on some MacBook flaws earlier and if the scratching, dents, cracking and screen flickering flaws weren’t bad enough, this new one has to take the cake.  Some MacBooks ship with faulty hard drives which can cause you to lose the operating system, all your data and make restoration impossible.

With popularity soaring for the Wii, new and innovative ways to use the system is the next big step to take with the console.  Nintendo has already announced their version of a new shooter accessory, but it will be third party companies that will pave the way for the most interesting of accessories.

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ18K is a super zoom digital camera designed for photo hobbyists and enthusiasts who wants the feel of high-powered DSLR in a normal point-and-shoot digital camera.

An ‘ethical hacker’ based in New Zealand gave a public demonstration of an old Windows flaw at the Kiwicon hacker conference in Wellington after he discovered it was not completely fixed and had exposed some 160,000 computers in New Zealand alone.

One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) aspires to put laptops in the hands of children around the globe. While pursuing this goal OLPC has endured feral competition from the commercial segment courtesy of Intel and Microsoft. Now the organization faces politicians with priorities elsewhere and limited interest.

The Monday following the United States holiday of Thanksgiving is called “Cyber Monday”, and is considered the biggest online shopping day of the year.  Too bad Yahoo Shopping left so many merchants without the ability to accept orders.

Greenpeace has issued its quarterly ‘Guide to Greener Electronics’, a look at which electronics manufacturers rank well and which are failing in terms of environmental policy. This time around, it looks like games console makers Nintendo and Microsoft have come in for a bit of abuse.