Parents should ban electronic media during mealtimes and after bedtime as part of a comprehensive 'family media use plan,' according to new recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics. pediatrician:儿科医生 The influential new guidelines are…

'What's celebrity sex, Dad?' It was my 7-year-old son, who had been looking over my shoulder at my computer screen. He mispronounced 'celebrity' but spoke the word 'sex' as if he had been using it all his life. 'Celebrity six,' I said, abruptly closi…

The default background for Microsoft's Windows XP operating system -- a perfect blue sky full of cotton-candy clouds above rolling hills with impeccably trimmed grass and daffodils -- is the spring day we wish could last forever. rolling hills:起伏群山  …

Is your desktop or laptop computer starting to feel a little poky? Even after just a few months of use, your PC or Mac may start to lose steam thanks to a fragmented hard drive, too many programs running in the background, or even a rogue piece of ma…

The conference call is one of the most familiar rituals of office life -- and one of the most hated. ritual:典礼,宗教仪式 Abuses are rife. People on the line interrupt others, zone out or multitask, forgetting to hit 'mute' while talking to kids or slurpin…

AS AUTO MAKERS ADD far-out features to the latest cars at warp speed--everything from futuristic heads-up displays to simple perks like hands-free calling--the appeal of the newest showroom tech can be hard to resist. But a car, unlike a smartphone,…

Daifailluh al-Bugami was just a year old when his parents noticed that his lips turned blue as he slept at night. It was his weight, doctors said, putting pressure on his delicate airways. delicate:精致的,微妙的,易碎的 Now Daifailluh is 3, and at 61 pounds he…

Next to have their jobs automated: airport-security screeners? Aviation and government authorities are starting to use machines in lieu of people to verify the identities of fliers by scanning their faces, irises or fingerprints. Dozens of airports i…

It's a nightly dilemma in many households: A student hits a wall doing homework, and parents are too tired, too busy—or too mystified—to help. dilemma:困境,进退两难 mystified:困惑的,使难解 Ordering up a tutor is becoming as easy for kids as grabbing a late-night…

Apple Inc. 's answer to the increasingly cutthroat tablet-computer market: more product choices and free software. cutthroat:残酷的,剧烈的,凶手 At an event here Tuesday, Apple showed off a new full-size tablet--now called iPad Air--that is thinner and slimme…