If you are a last-minute Christmas shopper then this is the story for you. It’s now obviously too late to get anything shipped which is why Amazon has created their best of store, specifically to recommend the best items that can be purchased digitally. With a digital purchase there is no shipping, so you can still buy something on Christmas Day.

Facebook is looking to ramp up their advertising efforts. Starting next month, they will be displaying sponsored news stories in your regular news feed. These ads are based on things you and your friends have liked. These ads generally show the product and display the name of the friend who liked it. Previously, these ads have appeared on the right side of the screen where they are easy to ignore.

As the life cycle of Apple’s iOS has developed, there seems to be more and more emphasis on massive 3D games that rival the DS and the PSP. This is fine, I enjoy games like Nova, Real Racing and Modern Combat as much as anyone else. That said, there is something to be said for the subtle enjoyment of sitting down, relaxing and playing a simple puzzle game on my portable device.

Xbox Live is a social place. It’s a place to get together with your closest friends and play some video games. Sure, there are many terrible people on Xbox Live. In fact, some of the scummiest people in the universe seem to find themselves there. Perhaps it’s the competitive nature of gaming, or the fact that these people don’t get out much, but either way, having a good group of friends to play with is so important.

Video games are not nearly as character driven as movies and books, but characters are still important. In some cases, the story in a game can bring it to a different level. Some games make the character a nameless, faceless person that is just supposed to be you, but some decide to give the character a voice, and truly bring the characters to life.

One of the main reasons everyone ran out to pre-order Battlefield 3 was to get the Back To Karkand expansion pack for free. The game came out, and due to unforeseen circumstances, the expansion didn’t come along with it. I was a massive Battlefield 2 player, so the prospect of playing on updated versions of those maps had me more than a little excited, and the fact that they weren’t available right away left me slightly upset.

Buying books is one situation where you will seek the opinions of others before you take the plunge. After all, reading a book can be a serious time commitment, and you want to make sure it is good before you dig in and start reading. These free iPhone apps are dedicated to book reviews and nothing else. They will always be on your phone, ready to lend you buying advice before you throw down your hard earned money for the next great read.

Twitter has decided to take their video sharing service, known as Twitvid, and take it in a completely new direction. Now, instead of just being a repository for users to upload videos, like Twitpic, it is a complete video sharing platform. Instead of just posting videos you have created, you can share videos from anywhere on the web, such as YouTube, Vimeo and Twitvid, but they hope to expand the service soon.

Winter is right around the corner. This year, I am taking up a new hobby. I am going to start skiing. I have played hockey for the last 15 years, so I am no stranger to winter sports, but skiing is a completely new beast for me. Since I am a giant nerd, the first thing I did when I decided to ski was to look for iPhone apps dedicated to the sport.

UrbanSpoon, which is one of the largest restaurant recommendation applications on the iPhone, has just received an awesome update that adds a check in feature called “Dineline.” This feature is designed to help users keep track of their dining habits and remember meals they have enjoyed. The update will be rolling out on the app store any minute now, and may well be out by the time you read this.

If you are an iPhone user on a grandfathered unlimited data plan with AT&T, be careful how much data you use. You won’t get charged extra for using too much, but you will see your speeds drop from 3G to 2G. This only applies to the top five percent of data users, but it is still pretty ridiculous. If you are in that group, you will receive a text message telling you that your data is being throttled.

The video game industry is incredibly sequel driven. Some franchises even talk about their next game before they make the first one. Bioware, for example, decided that Mass Effect was going to be a trilogy before the first game even hit the market. Call of Duty is an annualized franchise where each one makes more money than the last. The fact is, it’s easier to sell a sequel to a game than make a new intellectual property.

Google is trying everything in their power to make sure their loyal users do not forget about their social network. They are adding some more Google+ integration into Gmail. If a user emails you from a Gmail account, and they also have a Google+ account, you will be able to add them to your circles right from Gmail.

iBooks has received a nice little update recently that adds a bunch of new features that users were clamoring for. The first major feature is the addition of a night-time reading mode. This makes the background black and the text white. This makes reading less strenuous when in a dark area. The next addition in this update is the inclusion of a full screen mode.

If you are interested in finding out more about the vegan way of life, and are perhaps interested in adopting it yourself, than I have some iPhone apps that will help you out a great deal. These apps offer everything from basic information on what it is like to be a vegan, recipes and ways to get more active in the vegan community and make a difference.