Few youngsters have tried so hard to change the world as Danny Seo, who has championed eco-friendly ways of living at the tender age of 12 when he founded Earth 2000, an organization aimed at saving the planet from pollution. By the time he was 18, Seo had turned Earth 2000 into the largest teenage

Apple sought assistance for iPod design; Samsung, Kia recruit top foreign talentGone are the days when it was enough for a product to be durable and reliable. Without the added attraction of savvy design, products just won’t sell, and this has become common knowledge in the industry. For instance, A

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ― Steve Jobs has been Apple’s most recognizable personality, but much of its cachet comes from its clean, inviting designs. For that, Apple can credit its head designer, Jonathan Ive.Ive, a self-effacing 44-year-old Brit, helped Jobs bring Apple back from the brink of financial ru

KANSAS CITY, Missouri ― Playboy model hopefuls from as far as Florida and Canada line the halls of a Kansas City, Mo., studio, fanning themselves, trembling in their silk robes and waiting for their moment with Jodi Vander Woude.“I promise this will be painless,” Vander Woude assures them.Vander Woude is a photographer for Playboy Enterprises. Every month, she travels across the country doing cast

LARCHMONT, New York (AP) ― Few things are prettier in a night garden than soft pools of light illuminating interesting trees, accent rocks, plants or pathways.Whether on a small terrace or in a sweeping landscape, lighting creates a welcoming and often dramatic atmosphere.But in some cases, buried-wire electric lighting can be costly and impracticable. The answer might be solar lighting.The techno

MINNEAPOLIS -- About a dozen years ago, Paul and Susan Damon of St. Paul, Minnesota, did something radical: They deliberately killed half their lawn.A few years later, they killed the rest of it.Gradually, they‘ve transformed their city lot into a small urban prairie, with more than 130 species of native plants. “We wanted to turn it into a haven for birds and butterflies,” said Paul, a landscape

Accessories give one white sofa six distinctive looksBy Stacy Downs, McClatchy NewspapersNeutral certainly doesn’t mean boring. Especially when it comes to sofas.In fact, most designers say a neutral sofa is your best bet. As seasons change and your home decor evolves, you can update a room simply through throw pillows.We thought we’d put that theory to the test with one white sofa, six designers

Two Japan Foundation-organized exhibitions aim to draw Japanese culture closer to KoreaA smart choice for poor guitarists who have nowhere to practice but their tiny rented rooms: a Yamaha guitar whose volume can be adjusted and has a headphone output so that neighbors will not be disturbed. An electronic piano by the same Japanese company, which looks like a grand piano with at least two thirds o

At a practice hall nestled at the foot of Mount Nam in Seoul, Tony Award-winning Broadway stage designer David Gallo quietly looks on, envisioning how the Korean actors and his long-time friend Gabriel Barre, the musical director, will fine-tune each act and line for the upcoming blockbuster musical “Tears of Heaven.”Although there is almost nothing but duct tape to mark the positions of the actor

 Foreign carmakers such as Toyota and GM, participate in the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Michigan, on Jan. 10. (Photos: AP-Yonhap) The Mercedes Benz SLS AMG E-CellThe Ferrari 458 ItaliaToyota's new Prius VThe Mercedes Benz A-Class E-CellGM's 2012 Buick VeranoA Tesla Roadster 2.5 electric sports carThe new MINI Paceman Concept vehicleChevrolet Sonic Z-spec conceptA newly rede