More than 30% of the camera phone owners surveyed said that they plan to purchase a digital camera because they got into digital photography from camera phones. The survey was aimed toward owners of camera phones in the United States, and inquired about the amount of images one captures, deletes, prints, and archives with their phone.

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The survey also showed that the biggest imaging activity camera phone owners participate in is archiving the images and sharing them through email.

For the millions of American women over 35 who face the conundrum each morning of a closet full of clothes but nothing to wear, there is little solace to be found at the vast Palisades Center mall here. With nearly 300 stores and more than half of them aimed at teenage consumers, this temple of consumerism in Rockland County, about 25 miles north of Manhattan, is full of clothes, but for women of a certain age, many find little to buy.

"These stores are for skinny little girls," said Irene Giachetti, of New City, N.Y., as she was tugged at by her teenage son on a back-to-school shopping mission. "It's very difficult to find anything for me."

So it is with considerable interest in the retail industry that Gap Inc., the nation's largest chain of clothing stores, chose the Palisades Center to introduce a new chain yesterday aimed at that unwieldy and indefinable category known as grown-ups. These are customers who are past any longing for shrunken polo shirts and low-slung denim styles ubiquitous at youth-oriented stores like Abercrombie & Fitch, yet consider themselves too hip for conservative stores like Ann Taylor or Talbots, and too frugal to pursue the elitist designs that make up that minuscule slice of apparel known as high fashion.

The new chain, Forth & Towne - poetically sandwiched at the mall between branches of Forever 21 and Justice: Just for Girls - is aimed at a market that might be called the new forgotten woman. Even though women of the baby boom, now age 41 to 59, accounted for 39 percent of women's apparel purchases last year, shoppers who are much younger, 11 to 30, enjoy nearly five times the retail options, according to industry figures.

• Match Me If You Can by Susan Elizabeth Phillips (William Morrow), the funny new contemporary romance about a woman who runs a dating service for wealthy men.
• The Resilient Writer by Catherine Wald (Persea), an inspiring collection of tales of rejection and triumph from 23 top authors, collected by the editor of RejectionCollection.com.
• Lean Mom, Fit Family: The Six Week Plan for a Slimmer You and a Healthier Family by Michael Sena, CFS (Rodale).
• She's Got Issues by Stephanie Lessing (Avon), the hilarious new chick-lit novel about making it at a top fashion magazine in New York City.

Various accessories, like a 20-gigabyte detachable hard drive and wireless controller that will come standard with the premium version, will be sold separately and can be added to the less expensive "core" console.

Other features that can be added to that console include a wireless controller and TV remote, a headset for the Xbox Live online service, and an Ethernet cable for high-speed Internet connections. Microsoft said it remains on target to ship the new Xbox to stores in North America, Europe and Japan this holiday season, ahead of Sony’s PlayStation 3, which is slated to replace the market-leading PlayStation 2 sometime next spring.

Robbie Bach, senior vice president for Microsoft’s home and entertainment division, said the company is breaking new ground by offering consumers a choice. "Historically, there’s been one price point and one configuration. You got it whether you wanted it or not," Bach said.

Brinkley and CoverGirl parted ways in the mid-1990s, but it was an "amiable separation." Put it this way, she continued to use CoverGirl makeup, she said with a laugh in a recent phone interview.

When the company approached her earlier this year to rekindle their relationship, Brinkley didn't blink. After all, it's fun work if you can get it, says Brinkley, who spent this day romping on the beach with her horse, dog and her two younger children, daughter Sailor, 7, and son Jack, 10, with the cameras rolling for the TV and print ads that break this week.

"We've been having a ball today. It's like a time warp. It's as if those 10 years between never happened," she says by cell phone from the shoot in the Hamptons on New York's Long Island. Of course, what is different is that Brinkley is now 51 and she's pitching a line called Advanced Radiance, makeup intended for women 30 and older.

"There is such an age phobia in this country and this ad is showing me being comfortable with the age I am. I think it's a good positive image, something you don't see enough of. ... CoverGirl is making an effort to show a wide range of beauty -- different ethnicities and age groups," she says.

The ROM claims to give a complete body workout in just four minutes. It uses two exercise stations to engage almost all the muscle groups in the body while combining a cardio and strength workout. It's quickly becoming a favorite among celebrities such as Tom Cruise, Sylvester Stallone and Stephen Spielberg, not to mention being used by the U.S. Women's' Olympic Swim Team, U.S. Navy Seals and the Phoenix Fire Department.

"Ellipticals are the best piece of equipment to use. They train all leg muscles with less force on joints than even walking," says Dr. Joseph Mercola, who heads mercola.com, a popular health Web site. Ellipticals also save time by combining strength and cardio workouts. Springing from the same concept are now machines such as the Cybex ARC trainer, it uses the gliding motion of an elliptical, but gives the feeling of hiking or running bleachers -- because who has time for outdoors anymore?

What were once novelties in the dorm and classroom have become essentials: laptops are increasingly more common in lecture halls, as is the ability to get on the Internet through a wireless connection -- to find course materials during class, to check e-mail messages during a study break or, at some colleges, to watch "American Idol." Tiny flash drives allow students to pass work back and forth when wireless can't be found and network jacks are not around.

As far as which type of computer to bring, it depends on the institution. Some have strict technology guidelines. For example, do not bring an iMac to the Citadel in Charleston, S.C., because the academy provides only technical support for computers with the Microsoft Windows XP operating system and Gateway PC's at that. "If you bring another kind of computer, we will supply a network connection address, but otherwise you are on your own," the Citadel's Web site says.

Other colleges take a more ecumenical approach. The Web site of Carleton College in Northfield, Minn., says, "We don't make any recommendations with regard to PC's or Macs - whichever you prefer is fine." Within universities, individual departments may require specific computer configurations or software, so check beforehand.

But all colleges agree that any up-to-date computer should be able to get Internet access through Ethernet and wireless connections. So don't bring clunkers. As Carleton's Web site puts it, "It is important, however, that you bring a computer that's new enough to work on our network and run the applications you'll need to do your work."

She said this year's hot extras give students comfort and convenience. Storage ottomans provide storage and extra seating, and lap desks designed for laptop computers include wrist guards to protect against carpel tunnel syndrome.

"Seamless mobility is here, now with the availability of Razrwire," said Bruce Hawver, vice president of companion products, Motorola's Mobile Device business.   "Motorola and Oakley are bringing innovative wearable technology to life. With this one-of-a-kind Bluetooth-enabled mobile eyewear, active consumers can stay connected while moving from one environment to the next."

"Razrwire's fully integrated design takes advantage of the world's best eyewear and wireless technologies to give freedom of life, movement and communication anywhere and everywhere you want to be, so now seeing and hearing is believing," said Cos Lykos, vice president of business development, Oakley.   "Our partnership with Motorola expands the possibilities of Oakley's new electronics category, offering our engineers an expanded arsenal to develop new and innovative electronics products."

Tea in the United States has never had the popularity of coffee, nor do Americans drink as much tea as consumers abroad. Indeed, the lion's share of U.S. retail tea revenue is generated by sales of ready-to-drink bottled and canned ice teas. However, as Americans become more health conscious and the health properties of green and white teas become more widely publicized, tea has acquired a new cache.

As traditional black tea sales decline, specialty tea sales continue to grow. This is a very competitive arena, with many small companies vying for shelf space and attention. A marketing partnership between Kraft and Tazo Tea, owned by Starbucks, may catapult this brand to leadership in specialty teas.

"Green tea is hot right now -- in fact it's getting dangerously close to becoming a cliche, for a food to contain green tea," said Don Montuori, publisher of Packaged Facts. "White tea is the newest trend, and it's said to have even more health advantages than green tea. But, it may not take off with the same trajectory as green tea, since it's more expensive and the flavor is more subtle."