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Here are a few of the other noteworthy things we saw today on our never-ending journey through the wild, wild Web.

• On October 18th, 1985, the Nintendo Entertainment System debuted in New York with a marketing campaign focused on the 8-bit system's Zapper and R.O.B. (robot operating buddy) peripherals. [From: Wired]
• Minecraft player copyboy, has ported the 'Portal' gameplay experience, complete with orange and blue bocks, over to the online construction game. [From: Technabob]
• Earlier today, we wrote about the Concorde plane in our Design Flops piece, and Nathan Shedroff has been collecting Concorde memorabilia for years. Much like the iconic plane itself, the passenger experience was fully thought out with customized silverware, bottle openers and coffee pots. [From: Core77]
• Brian Solis and creative agency JESS3 created the Conversation Prism, a circular infographic breaking down the many types of online dialogue. [From: FastCo Design]

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Reuters reports that a recent study conducted by a risk consulting firm shows that, worldwide, electronic theft is now costing companies more than physical theft. While it's a marginal difference, according to Kroll's Global Fraud Report, electronic theft accounts for about 27.3-percent of fraud losses reported globally while physical theft accounts for about 27.2-percent of that total. Fraud in North America, both electronic or physical, remains low (87-percent of businesses are affected) in comparison to China, which boasts the highest level of fraud (98-percent).

Kroll's Tommy Helsby told Reuters, "Much more work is done electronically, and that creates new opportunities for fraud. It takes time for companies to catch up with that." Information-based industries, like finance, media and telecommunications, were the most common global targets of electronic theft because those businesses handle so much sensitive consumer data. This doesn't mean you should panic and disable your online accounts. An increase in electronic fraud could mean that we're doing a better job at detection.

Usually, flash games are known for punchy bursts of quick n'dirty, button-mashing gameplay -- but sometimes we crave more than a short fix. That's the theme for this week's crop of browser-based strategy games: these titles force us to juggle a multitude of complex tasks and intricate systems, each rife with addictive experiences. Of course, the hardest part of playing will be getting back to work...

'Crane Wars' may be light on strategy, but it's heavy on physics-based fun... and destruction. As a member of a unionized construction team, compete against worthless scabs to complete construction around town. By operating the construction crane, you must use to gingerly stack blocks which magically transform into a building once you've piled up enough. But making it that far takes 'Jenga'-like skills, and you're very likely to see your buildings collapse in flaming rubble before they're finished. (Sometimes this destruction is due to jerky scabs launching projectiles at your site, but more often than not, blame the crane's fickle controls.) In the midst of this, like IRL, race against steadily dwindling funds. Once your money runs out, construction comes to an end, so you need to balance swift building with care. While frustrating, it's addictive, composed of hours of content and features a charming mix of great graphics and a solid sense of humor.

Haven't gotten your fill of TV shows based on single-serving Twitter feeds? (If so, you're probably alone.) After the disappointing '$#*! My Dad Says' and the seemingly random snatching-up of @shhhdontellsteve by CBS, we figured we'd have some respite before another Twitter account turned to TV. But less than a month after Twitter fanatic Ashton Kutcher landed the deal for 'Don't Tell Steve,' the 'Punk'd' host and handbag for Demi Moore managed to sell another steaming pile of Twitter-inspired crap to the apparently desperate CBS.

Dear Girls Above Me is tale of whiny guy who lives below two obnoxious ingenues, told through 140 character "letters" directed at the titular "girls above." Each entry begins, "Dear girls above me," and is followed by an eye-rolling snippet overheard from his upstairs neighbors, such as, "'He said he was Spanish but not a Mexican. What the hell, that doesn't even make sense!' It does to the entire country of Spain." If there's any justice in this world, 'Dear Girls Above Me,' will never sully our airwaves and the only way for Kutcher to redeem himself is to reveal that this is all part of his biggest 'Punk'd' prank ever where eventually he tricks an entire network into bankruptcy by selling them worthless ideas he harvested for free from the Internet.

You've noticed that Twitter has slowly begun to encroach on your television with the sitcom-ization of '$#*! My Dad Says,' 'Shh...Don't Tell Steve' and, lately, some feed called 'Dear Girls Above Me.' Well, now Twitter's co-founder Biz Stone will be invading your cable box himself, appearing in a Stolichnaya Vodka commercial, as well as a print ad.

In the video ad (after the break), two Bizzes sit down in a club and lightly debate the value of Twitter. "Did it ever occur to you at that maybe Twitter is just a constant stream of meaningless babble?" asks one Biz. "You're not seeing the big picture. Astronauts are tweeting from space," replies the other. Meta!

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People, people! When are you going to learn that Facebook is not the place to air your grievances about your job, bully your dying next-door neighbor, or post pictures of strippers washing your cop car? It's also the wrong place to make a pass at your pupils! (Not that there's really a right place to do that.) But in the last six months, at least three New York City high school employees have been involved in questionable online relationships with students, according to the New York Post.

37-year-old Chadwin Reynolds, a former teacher at Fordham High School for the Arts in the Bronx, was fired after the Department of Education learned that he had friended about a half-dozen female students on Facebook, posting comments like "This is sexy" under some of their online photos. Reynolds allegedly left status updates, which were visible to his students, like "I'm not a gynecologist, but I'll take a look inside," and even pursued one student by proffering flowers, candy and a teddy bear after wrangling her phone number. Even though the Board of Education confirmed that Reynolds had been sacked due to his online dalliances, he told the Post that his case had been thrown out, and that "the Board of Ed found that the claims were not valid."

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Stolen computer capers frequently culminate with negative consequences and heartbroken owners. Occasionally, instead of the usual stories of compromised personal data and half-witted criminals, the incidents produce heartwarming tales of redemption. A Swedish professor recently experienced such a distressing and eventually gratifying laptop robbery after a repentant thief attempted to atone for his actions.

A week after the professor's laptop disappeared after being left in an apartment stairwell, he reportedly received a welcome and unexpected package in the mail. Apparently, the conscientious perp had painstakingly copied the professor's expansive data onto a USB drive and then mailed it to the "delighted" victim. The only thing missing was a remorseful apology -- and the actual machine, of course.

A Wall Street Journal investigation recently revealed that some of the most popular apps on Facebook were handing over your data to third parties, including advertising networks and Internet tracking companies. Many apps, including the popular/obnoxious 'FarmVille,' have been sending not just your own unique Facebook ID to others (regardless of your privacy settings), but also handing over data about your friends. In fact, even if you don't use one of the guilty apps it's possible that your information has been leaked thanks to a friend's poor choice in apps. (Hello 'Quiz Creator'!) Once a company has your user ID, anything public on your page becomes instantly indexable and usable data for building a profile of your habits, tastes and the company you keep.

This breach of user privacy is obviously a cause for concern, but perhaps most importantly, it raises questions about Facebook's ability to police its own platform. This sharing of identifiable data is a blatant violation of the site's terms of service. That three of the ten most popular apps were also mining data about users' friends shows that even seemingly trustworthy apps do not take the rules regarding Facebook data seriously.

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Ask any experienced manufacturer to name the key component to a winning product, and they'll undoubtedly reel off a string of theories, personal maxims and anecdotes. Then, if they're even remotely honest, they'll confess that they have no idea what they're talking about. Some ugly and even poorly made objects go on to wild success (cough, Bluetooth headsets, cough), while beautifully designed ones that any objective analysis would deem winners mysteriously suffer an early demise and are exiled to the island of misfit tech. Switched took a long, lingering look back at the best designed tech, and found what we consider to be the most beautiful objects to have been cruelly, senselessly shunned by consumers. Hit up the comments section for ones you'd nominate.

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Last week, Sony announced Netflix subscribers could go disc-free with an update for their PlayStation 3 consoles starting today, October 18th. This morning, Nintendo announced Wii owners will no longer need an installation disc to stream Netflix on the video game console. Netflix subscribers can download and install the app directly from the Wii Shop Channel (new users can get access after paying the regular subscription price). 3 million gamers have registered for Netflix since it launched on the Wii back in April. Of course, the Xbox 360 has streamed Netflix movies and TV shows without a disc since 2008 -- better late to the party, Nintendo, than never.