Napster did not last long but it irrevocably altered not only the way in which Americans absorbed music but also their belief system in what they should pay

Clyde Haberman: Grappling with the 'culture of free' in Napster's aftermath

Major automakers, for decades, heaped scorn on air bags and resisted making them standard equipment. At the start, 40 years ago or so, most people could not be persuaded to buckle up; this was before states passed laws mandating seatbelt use. Soon enough, interest turned to the air bag, a "passive" instrument that required no action by the driver and the passenger. If their car crashed, a balloon-like cushion would pop up on its own to protect them. Naturally, installing this device would make a car more expensive. In their fashion, the big auto companies balked, a stance that they maintained for many years, until their resistance finally wore out.Not that air bags were perfect. They were initially designed with 165-pound adults in mind. That made smaller people, especially children, vulnerable to injury from the explosive force of the air bag's opening. In the 1990s, 175 people died in this manner, more than 100 of them children, according to the United States' National Highway Traffi

No seat belts in future smart cars?

Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, who guided The New York Times and its parent company through a long, sometimes turbulent period of expansion and change on a scale not seen since the newspaper&rsquo;s founding in 1851, died early Saturday at his home in Southampton, NY. He was 86. His death, after a long illness, was announced by his family.

Clyde Haberman

Clyde Haberman

Clyde Haberman

Clyde Haberman: Grappling with the 'culture of free' in Napster's aftermath

No seat belts in future smart cars?

Publisher who transformed The Times for new era