Nintendo's Wii. Sony's PlayStation 3 Elite. Microsoft's Xbox 360. They promise a whole new generation of high-definition gaming, but when it comes to the crunch, it's the same old story. As our search for greener electronics continues, it was time for the game consoles to go to our labs for scientific analysis – and all of them tested positive for various hazardous chemicals.

Our analysis, published in our new report, Playing Dirty, detected the use of hazardous chemicals and materials such aspolyvinyl chloride (PVC), phthalates, beryllium and bromine indicative of brominated flame retardants (BFRs).

More information on our international site »

This time last year Steve Jobs was ignoring our calls for a greener Apple, but yesterday he revealed the new MacBook Air – the thinnest notebook on the planet and Apple’s greenest computer so far.

It uses less brominated fire retardants (BFRs) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC), but it hasn’t eliminated them entirely. Had it done so, it would have made Apple an ecological leader.

Question: switching from a computer running on Windows to one running on Linux could slash computer-generated e-waste levels by 50 per cent. True or false?

With Christmas getting ever closer we've some unfestive bad news for gaming giants Nintendo, makers of the popular Wii, Gamecube and Game Boy consoles. They've achieved a spectacular zero score in the latest edition of our quarterly Greener Electronics Guide - the first time such a feat has ever been accomplished.

The guide ranks companies on the toxic content of their products and their willingness to take back and recycle them once they become redundant. This is the first time that we've included gaming consoles, giving Nintendo the chance to leap straight into last place - an opportunity they grasped with both hands!

You might be looking forward to the European launch of Apple's iPhone in November (we were certainly looking forward to the possibility that the iPhone would prove Steve Jobs' newfound commitment to the environment).

Unfortunately, the iPhone's beauty only runs skin deep. A team of scientists got hold of one, dismantled it and uncovered nasty stuff that other phone makers have already stopped using, including two types of hazardous substances:

Our international office has the full story - including a report (pdf) and a slideshow of high quality images.

It's that time again; we've just released our latest quarterly Greener Electronics Guide, which ranks manufacturers on their toxics and recycling policies and practices.

One of the most serious consequences of the dramatic floods which swamped parts of England in recent weeks was the loss of clean drinking water. Even now that the citizens of Tewkesbury have running water once again, it will be a few more days before they can safely start drinking their tap water.

For me one of the coolest things about our new-look site is that we're carrying a lot more streaming video courtesy of the good folks at YouTube. But did you know that we now have our own YouTube Greenpeace UK Video Channel?