Sponsored by Facebook

It hasn't been a good couple of weeks for Chick-Fil-A's PR. Bad enough that the restaurant chain may have taken to using fake sock puppet Facebook accounts to defend itself over the internet.

Social media is now a $16.9 billion business, according to 2012 estimates by Gartner.

Most Apple fans couldn't wait to download OS X Mountain Lion, the eighth iteration of the OS X software line for Mac, and as a result, the Mac App Store was flooded early Wednesday morning with download requests for the $19.99 upgrade. Most early adopters of Mountain Lion love the beast, but most major software upgrades are not without their fair share of bugs, issues, errors and omissions. Would OS X Mountain Lion suffer the same fate?

Investors in Facebook stock are bracing themselves for something wild. The market is bracing for big swings in Facebook Inc (FB.O) shares after the social media company reports earnings for the first time as a public company.

Chad Everett, the star of the 1970s TV hit Medical Center, died Tuesday at age 75 after a battle with lung cancer - a diagnosis he allegedly kept secret from his friends, according to actor Kevin Sorbo. Everett had a long-lasting marriage with Shelby Grant, an actress who also appeared on Medical Center. The couple were married for 45 years prior to Grant's death in June 2011.

Greece has removed triple jumper Voula Papachristou from its Olympic team following posts she made on Twitter mocking African immigrants and expressing support for the fascist Golden Dawn Party.

There's always a big buzz whenever Apple releases new hardware or software - or really, any time Apple does anything publicly - and today is no different. Apple released OS X Mountain Lion this morning, which is the eighth edition of its OS X software for Mac. Many will have upgraded to OS X Mountain Lion by now, but others are waiting to know if Mountain Lion is worth upgrading to immediately. Here's why you should wait.

Apple promised a July release date for OS X Mountain Lion, the eighth edition of Apple's OS X software for Mac, and the company came through. As confirmed by Apple's fourth quarter earnings conference call on Tuesday evening, OS X Mountain Lion promptly released on Wednesday for $19.99. The upgrade is exclusively downloadable via the Mac App Store.

Facebook Inc. (Nasdaq: FB), the world's largest social networking platform, is expected to post a profit in its first quarter as a publicly traded company following revenue growth in the April-through-June period.

Social games developer and creators of CastleVille Zynga is preparing to report second-quarter earnings, even though the company has seen massive dips in its user-base.

It's officially the last week of July, which means that Apple has seven days to release its brand-new operating system for Mac, also known as OS X Mountain Lion. Users that upgrade to Mac OS X Mountain Lion will discover scores of useful features -- more than 200 of them, according to Apple. Here's a guide to the best and most important features in Mountain Lion.

According to an Aurora PD spokesperson, authorities are not investigating a second person of interest in the Colorado shooting that took place on Friday at the Century 16 Movie Theater. A Fox affiliate in the Denver, Colorado area recently ran a report with information that the spokeswoman said the news outlet took out of context.

Fast food chain Chick-Fil-A is losing legendary puppet designer Jim Henson’s flagship characters – The Muppets.

Later this year, Snoop Dogg, the legendary rapper and cannabis fan will be releasing a reggae album produced by Diplo of Major Lazer titled Reincarnated under his new name Snoop Lion.

The Food Network crowned its next Star on Sunday night, and as predicted, 27-year-old Brooklyn chef Justin Warner was named the winner of Season 8 of The Next Food Network Star. Of all of the past Food Network Star winners, Warner was the first chosen entirely by an online audience vote. Even though the voting system resulted in the right winner, the system should be axed entirely.

Yet another report has surfaced that indicates production of Apple’s next generation iPhone ‘5’ has begun. According to Digitimes, a report from Taipei has said that Shanghai’s Pegatron has begun manufacturing the new iPhone.

Plenty of folks have been working themselves into a frenzy over the prospect of new gaming consoles. When word came earlier in the month that a Kickstarter project had raised over three million dollars to create a $99 gaming console, the internet was abuzz about the system, which promised Android-powered open source gaming, heavily moddable, with plenty of games utilizing a free-to-play structure (akin to some titles on Facebook or on your mobile device).

Twitter is hosting a special page for London Olympics 2012 that brings together athletes, their families and fans on a common platform in association with Comcast Corp's NBCUniversal.

Both Bristol Palin and Willow Palin -- daughters of Republican lightning rod Sarah Palin -- have been criticized for their homophobic remarks in the past, and it appears Bristol's son Tripp has picked up on the habit.

China will be in focus again in Asia as the slowdown in the second quarter economic activity and the dovish comments by Premier Wen raised expectations of a further reserve requirement ratio cut.

Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) looks to be gearing up for something big. The tech company is pushing for more overtime hours by certain staffers beginning Wednesday, meaning that a big release will likely be on the way soon. Many agree the release probably will be the latest iteration of the Macintosh OS X operating system.

Sesame Street, created in 1969, could have declined to embrace social media with the rise of the Internet. But successors of the program's founders have mastered social media to capture a new generation of fans and hold on to existing devotees.

Karlo Dizon, a Guam Redditor for three years, is competing in a primary race against longtime Guam Delegate Madeleine Bordallo to be the party's candidate in the general election for Guams' nonvoting delegate seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Should Dizon win, it could be, as one person says, the biggest upset victory in the history of Guam politics.

Machine guns rattled overnight in Syria's largest city, Aleppo, 220 miles north of Damascus, which itself is seeing an escalation of fighting.

Hundreds of people gathered at the vigil for victims of the Aurora 'Batman' movie screening massacre, which left at least 12 dead and over 58 injured. Candlelight vigils and memorial masses are being held by community leaders and friends and relatives of the victims in the Aurora area.

Les Claypool and Co., renowned for bizarre spectacles and eccentric costumes, are offering fans a 3-D-enhanced live musical performance. We're still not sure what exactly that means.

Next week's barrage of earnings releases offers further guidance on the health of U.S. companies.

As the country woke up to the news that suspected Aurora, Colo., shooter James Holmes killed 12 people and injured at least 38 others during the midnight premiere of The Dark Knight Rises, another James Holmes was bombarded with friend requests on Facebook from people thinking he was the shooter.

Two months after the trading fiasco in the initial public offering of Facebook (Nasdaq: FB), the No. 1 social networking site, tech IPOs are soaring again. Palo Alto Networks (Nasdaq: PANW) and Kayak Software (Nasdaq: KYAK) shares soared in their IPOs.