Only- Electronics

For years, people who use Microsoft Office have been asking for less.

Windows Vista lands in stores Tuesday, more than five years after its predecessor Windows XP debuted. With that much time for Microsoft to rewrite its operating system, you might expect it to be a sharp break from the Windows we’ve known.

Gas hydrates… hot new fuel source or environmental menace? A blanket of pollution covers a village in rural China. And the role of immigration in American hi-tech startups. Plus the return of The Plastic People of the Universe.

TV as most people have known it has a little more than two years to live.

Everybody’s favorite topic: The weather. It’s warm in Moscow. There’s no snow in the Alps; no problem. The Philippines worst environmental disaster: How to clean up an oil spill? Ancient air conditioning in Dubai. And our main man in Prague is using the sun to power his cellphone.

LAS VEGAS The Consumer Electronics Show amounts to a weeklong State of the Union speech for the computing and electronics industries. Thousands of companies gather here each January, filling acres of exhibits with every imaginable device that can beep, blink or buzz.

Two tech podcasts this week. This one about gadgets, phones and games. The new iPhone from Apple. New software to detect angry callers, and when those angry calls go halfway around the world to the Philippines. Cars in Detroit. And two stories in Israel: Observing the Sabbath high-tech style and video games for Israelis and Arabs.

LAS VEGAS

A special Tech Podcast exclusively devoted to the topic of climate change. What does all this weird weather really mean? How are the world’s governments tackling greenhouse gas emissions? What YOU can do to limit greenhouse gas emissions. And a few examples of the impacts of climate change from Brazil and Australia.

How is 2007 just like 2006 — and 2005? Google’s Gmail site is still in beta, as is Microsoft’s Live Mail and the new version of Yahoo Mail.