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Business

Grocery-Cart TV for Kids of Shoppers

A New Zealand firm is betting on a U.S. market for a shopping cart that lets young children watch videos while their parents shop. Shaped like a car, the Cabco cart rents for $1, part of which goes to retailers like Wal-Mart and Publix, who are testing their popularity. Child-development experts are wary, but Cabco says offering customers the carts can add as much as $100,000 to a store's receipts.

Grocery-Cart TV for Kids of Shoppers

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Environment

In Nevada, Solar Power on a Massive Scale

In the desert south of Las Vegas, crews are assembling a giant array of curved mirrors. The Nevada Solar One project will use the sun to power a steam turbine that, in turn, will create electricity for 40,000 homes.

In Nevada, Solar Power on a Massive Scale

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Technology Lets Parents Track Kids' Every Move

For every mother who ever told her kids she had eyes in the back of her head, modern technology can now do one better-- allowing Mom and Dad to watch their kid's every move -- even from across town. New gadgets let parents know every time their children drive too fast or visit someone they shouldn't.

Technology Lets Parents Track Kids' Every Move

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Food

Biodynamic Wine? Try It Before You Smirk

In the world of specialty farming, biodynamic agriculture goes beyond organic in its arcane rules. The basics are that a good grape begins in the compost heap. A growing number of California wineries have joined this international discipline — and they're producing critically acclaimed wines.

Biodynamic Wine? Try It Before You Smirk

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Guitarist Behind 'Canon' Video Revealed

In the past eight months, a video of a young guitarist playing a modern version of Johann Pachelbel's Canon in D Major has become a sensation on the Internet. The video has been viewed on YouTube.com more than 7.6 million times -- but nobody knew the identity of the guitarist. Recently, that changed.

Guitarist Behind 'Canon' Video Revealed

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Marketplace Report: Google-eBay Ad Deal

Google will begin selling advertising on eBay with an aim of helping to connect buyers with sellers. Steve Tripoli of Marketplace talks with Alex Chadwick about the details of the new deal.

Marketplace Report: Google-eBay Ad Deal

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Phone-Throwing Contest in Finland

Bet you've wanted to do it at least once. Say, after a frustrating talk with an annoying service representative, just throw your cell phone as far as you can. The urge is sufficiently widespread to have given rise to a Mobile Phone Throwing World Championship. Now in its seventh year, it was held over the weekend in Finland, with a hundred contestants from around the world. This year's winner was a Finn who threw a late model Nokia nearly 300 feet.

Phone-Throwing Contest in Finland

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Penny-Stock Spam Yields Profits -- for Some

A new study suggests that spam e-mails advertising penny stocks can have a real effect on the stock market. And someone is making good money as a result -- though it's not usually the recipients of the spam. When people respond to the e-mail by buying the advertised stock, it can bump up the price of the stock.

Penny-Stock Spam Yields Profits -- for Some

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Freecycle: A Web of Free, Unwanted Things

The Freecycle Network began as a pretty simple idea: Folks could post lists on the Web of things they no longer want -- but don't want to merely throw away. Now the freecycle.org network has spread internationally. NPR's Ted Robbins introduces us to the man who knew that one person's trash was someone else's treasure.

Freecycle: A Web of Free, Unwanted Things

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Opinion

Gadgets and the Back-to-School Set

Commentator Laura Lorson talks about the huge amount of stuff -- and mind-boggling number of cell phone minutes -- that the average student seems to need as part of the annual back-to-school shopping spree.

Gadgets and the Back-to-School Set

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Business

Flaming Batteries Prompt Dell, Apple Recalls

Leading computer makers Apple and Dell both announced massive recalls of some laptop computer models recently due to batteries that might catch fire. We hear from an Arizona man whose truck was destroyed by a laptop that caught fire, and talk with the founder of the HowStuffWorks.com Web site about why some batteries can overheat to the point of ignition.

Flaming Batteries Prompt Dell, Apple Recalls

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Apple Recall Targets Laptop-Battery Danger

Apple Computer announces it is recalling nearly 2 million notebook computer batteries that could overheat and catch fire. The batteries, like 4 million recalled by Dell, are made by the same supplier, Sony.

Apple Recall Targets Laptop-Battery Danger

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Marketplace Report: Apple Settles iPod Suit

Apple Computer settled five patent lawsuits over iPod technology by paying $100 million to music device rival Creative Technology, which had threatened to block imports of the iPod until the patent issues were settled.

Marketplace Report: Apple Settles iPod Suit

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Apple Pays Rival $100 Million in iPod Patent Dispute

Apple settles a patent lawsuit involving the iPod's content menu system. Creative Technology will receive $100 million from Apple to settle the dispute between the two music-player rivals.

Apple Pays Rival $100 Million in iPod Patent Dispute

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