Greenpeace blasts Nintendo

Greenpeace gave Nintendo a failing grade Tuesday on its effort to recycle game consoles and phase out the use of toxic chemicals, says CS Monitor.

In the environmental watchdog`s sixth quarterly guide to "green" electronics, released 27 November, Nintendo became the first manufacturer to receive zero out of 10 points.

Greenpeace says the Japanese video-game company - which has not yet issued a statement responding to the report - provides no information on the materials used in manufacturing its consoles, or on its plans to cut hazardous chemicals.

An exploding mobile phone battery apparently killed a South Korean man, in the first such known case in this gadget-obsessed country, according to police reports, says CNN.

The man, identified only by his family name Suh, was found dead at his workplace in a quarry Wednesday morning and his mobile phone battery was melted in his shirt pocket, a police official in Cheongwon, 135km south of Seoul, told The Associated Press.

"We presume that the cellphone battery exploded," the police official said on condition of anonymity.

Microsoft`s new second-generation Zune music/photo/video player is a pleasure to use, says the New York Times.

It fixes a long list of things that made the original Zune problematic. Best of all, the new Zune is starting to develop its own identity. The echoes of Microsoft executives saying: "It`ll be just like the iPod, only ours," aren`t quite as loud on this one.

Confident design steps are evident in all the new models. The back is metal like the iPod`s, but textured and, therefore, far less likely to show scratches and dings.