Fingernails

Women have gone to great lengths to have long, perfect nails. They've tried everything from getting exotic nail wraps to gluing on plastic press-on nails. Today they don't have to go to extremes, because shorter nails are in style, and three-inch, dragon-lady nails have bitten the dust. "I call the long nails 'Hollywood squares' because of their squared-off edges. They're very passe," says Julie Walker, manicurist and owner of Essence Salon at the Sutton Place Hotel in Newport Beach.

File this away. This is for those glamour girls desperately seeking Chanel's Vamp, sure that a dragon lady shade puts them on the cutting edge: \o7 Please.\f7 A flat matte of color is just a primer. Nails deserve more; they are a canvas in miniature. And if you ask Flo Jo, you are the artist. That's Flo Jo, the company, and Florence Griffith Joyner, the Olympic gold medalist.

Hillary Clinton broke new ground in her race for the White House. Yet some iPhone users complain that when it comes to the hot gadget from Apple Inc., women are still being treated like second-class citizens. Apple, based in Cupertino, Calif., said this week that on July 11 it would give all iPhones a free software upgrade with new features. On the same day, it will start selling a new version, the iPhone 3G, that runs on a faster data network, includes a global positioning system and costs as little as $199.

Gregory Diamond went to law school but never passed the bar exam. An aspiring television producer, he has yet to sell a show that made it on air. But this week, he managed to shake and stir the Phil Spector murder trial with an allegation that he saw a member of the defense team pick something up off the floor where actress Lana Clarkson died.

Last year U.S. women spent more than $4 billion on artificial fingernails, and business appears to be booming right into the new century. But underneath that glossy veneer is a chaotic scene of unanswered health questions, brutal competition and even claims of racism. At issue is a chemical called methyl methacrylate, or MMA.