Science and Tech

When a prank video of a Domino's Pizza employee adding unsanitary ingredients to sandwiches became an instant hit on YouTube, the chain didn't respond in the traditional way with a statement issued through the mainstream media.

Dan Frakes' 3-year-old daughter likes to play in the sand, finger paint and sing along to "The Wheels on the Bus."
The preschooler can do these things the good old-fashioned way. She can also do them in a decidedly new way: by using Dad's iPhone.

OK, I am getting excited.
Not just because I got my Defense points back in Mafia Wars (thanks Zynga!) but because Microsoft has unleashed a "release candidate" for Windows 7. What pundits like me think this means is a 2009 release for this new version of Windows, which is designed to push Windows Vista to the curb and get us all to buy new computers.

The all-electric car -- which had a brief heyday less than a decade ago before the car companies killed it -- is about to make a comeback.
Charged up with lighter, more efficient batteries and competitively priced with gasoline-driven vehicles, the new offers will be marketed and sold primarily as second cars.

The global recession presents a golden opportunity to go green, says a British economist known for his clear-eyed analysis of the costs and benefits of tackling global warming.

I promised myself I wasn't going to write this column, but Alan in Colorado made me.

Massive wildfires that have become increasingly common in recent years are a flash point for climate change, which in turn will spark additional devastating fires, research released Friday indicates.

"Ninja Blade"
Platform: Xbox 360
Genre: Action
Publisher: Microsoft
ESRB Rating: M for Mature
Grade: 3.5 stars (out of 5)

Microsoft Corp. is fighting for its life on the desktop and it is not where you think.
Windows remains important and the release, maybe even this fall, of Windows 7 is critically important. But what is more important is the continuation of Office, the hugely popular collection of office tools like word-processing, spreadsheet and presentation software.

The wind turbine is a symbol of an alternative to an oil-based economy. But on radar, it looks like a storm.
That has raised concerns that a proliferation of wind farms could result in the appearance of severe weather where there is none, and even false weather alerts.