Deflation, Facebook and Scrabulous

The great cheapening. Consumer prices fell for the second straight month, reports the Wall Street Journal. Deflation is looming, as consumer prices fell 1.1 percent from a year ago.

Recession to last another year. This, according to a Duke University/CFO Magazine survey of CFOs more than 1,200 CFOs in the U.S. The biggest concern is weak consumer demand, and 62 percent of the CFOs surveyed say they can't get the credit they need. (Via The Big Picture).

Facebook comes back down to earth. A year ago, Microsoft invested in red-hot social network company Facebook at the eye-popping valuation of $15 billion. At the time, we speculated that the valuation was artificially elevated by Microsoft's desire to outflank Google in the online advertising market and many questioned whether Facebook was really worth that much money. Well, the answer seems to be no. Valleywag reports that shares owned by Facebook employees are trading for between $2.50 and $5.50, implying a valuation somewhere between $1.3 and $2.3 billion.

Real, actual doldrums. Among the other effects of the worldwide economic downturn: the marine shipping industry has "seen a perfect storm" (Wikipedia's cliché, not mine). The Baltic Dry Index, as the Bespoke Investment Group explains, indicates these are truly bad times for shipping.

The year in lists. Now that countless companies are cutting back their marketing budgets, what will happen in social media in 2009? Former Forrester analyst Peter Kim talked to 14 social media experts and got their predictions. Interestingly, many of the analysts think that 2009 will be the year where social media is finally asked to deliver real, measurable revenue.

Laptops are hazardous to your health. That pain you're feeling right now—it may not be caused by the poor holiday season, the rapidly deteriorating economy, or your now-worthless investment in a Ponzi scheme. According to the Wall Street Journal, it may be your laptop. "Laptops are inherently unergonomic—unless you're 2 feet tall," according to a physician quoted in the article. Potential problems include carpal tunnel syndrome, pain in the temporomandibular joint, and myofascial trigger points. What to do? The article recommends investing in laptop stands, an external keyboard and mouse, and a keyboard tray.

Hasbro drops lawsuit against Scrabulous creators. Game giant Hasbro, which publishes Scrabble, has dropped a lawsuit against RJ Softwares, makers of the wildly popular Scrabulous game. When Hasbro took legal action against the small software company in July, Scrabulous was one of the most popular games on Facebook. The company tweaked and renamed the game, which has since lost popularity and stoked a backlash against Hasbro in the form of "Save Scrabulous" groups on Facebook. According to VentureBeat, that was enough for the game giant to give up on legal action. Writes Tam Vo: "Hasbro is happy to avoid drawn-out and expensive litigation. Because lawsuits are F-U-N."

How to avoid a holiday party disaster. Good news for HR folks everywhere! The bad economy has forced many companies to cancel their holiday parties, which tend to cause a disproportionate number of sexual harassment claims, accidents, embarrassing situations. But if your company still has enough good news to justify one, you may want to read these warnings on how to avoid a lawsuit. Check out Inc.'s coverage of the office party beat here and here.

The year in lists, vol. 2. Fast Company has a solid list of the best business books of 2008.