Bester News

When Tien Tzuo founded an online billing company called Zuora last spring, he had his head in the clouds. Mr. Tzuo didn’t buy any powerful computers to store data. That meant he didn’t have to hire computer experts to keep them running. He didn’t even buy software like Microsoft’s Office for ...

After home heating oil prices surged last winter, Meghan Kaiserman decided this fall to get ahead of any price spike and go thermal – that is, she chose to get a thermal-imaging home-energy audit. So, on a recent chilly morning, Ms. Kaiserman and thermal-energy auditor David Valley walked through her large ...

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After classes, Sally Peach, a student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has a long list of to-dos. She wants to hit the gym, tackle school work, and, as captain of an intramural soccer team and member of a campus health advocacy program, she has plenty of e-mail to respond to ...

While on the campaign trail this fall, Senator John McCain would laugh at government-funded research on the DNA of bears. What would he think of the research on DNA from extinct cave bears that now has elucidated the bear family tree? It’s the latest example of how scientists are using ...

You’ve got a world-changing idea. And a passion to make it happen. That’s good. But you need a third element: The ability to “pitch” your idea to venture capitalists and others who can help turn your dream into reality. Budding business tycoons or Hollywood script writers know the importance of marketing themselves ...

Prepaid gift cards – long considered the ultimate cop-out present – are getting a little more interesting this year. A new line of Best Buy gift cards come with built-in speakers. This is not a buy-this-get-that deal – the card itself doubles as a mini boombox. A plug attached to the ...

Computer features constantly make leaps and bounds. Laptop sizes shrink. Processing speeds double. Hard-disk capacities triple. So how come we never hear about significant strides in battery life? The truth is, the batteries that come with portable PCs nowadays are huge improvements over their predecessors. But these gains are often invisible. ...

In the hunt for solar systems beyond our own, astronomers have crossed an important threshold – capturing from the ground, as well as from space, the first direct images of planets around bright, sun-like stars. Since September, three teams say they have imaged planet-candidates. The most recent reports, published in Thursday’s ...

The orbiting electricians have nearly finished their work on the International Space Station. Now it’s time for the plumbers. The space shuttle Endeavour and its seven-member crew are set to launch early Friday evening for a 15-day mission to the orbiting outpost. Their assignment resembles an episode from the Home and ...