Windows

There's a law of diminishing returns for environmental regulation: As more specific rules are applied to ever-smaller details, the negative consequences can outweigh the benefits. California air and energy regulators, whose pioneering methods of reducing pollution and greenhouse gases have made residents justifiably proud, are approaching that tipping point. Even as the California Energy Commission considers new efficiency standards for big-screen televisions that could end up deterring innovation and undermining its own goals, the state Air Resources Board recently made a similar mistake on automobile windows.

"We got something," Taylor Hanson of Tinted Windows sang Tuesday night at the Troubadour, "Yeah, we got something." There's no denying that: A new supergroup featuring veterans of Smashing Pumpkins, Cheap Trick, Fountains of Wayne and Hanson, Tinted Windows has a self-titled debut full of near-perfect power-pop songs, as well as a frontman who couldn't look better in his soccer-mom shag and tight white trousers. Yet more than anything else, Tinted Windows' first Los Angeles show emphasized what the band doesn't have -- namely, any collective sense of rock-star charisma.

Update: The Santa Monica estate that was the home of late film star and singer Kathryn Grayson for 65 years has sold for $7.7 million. It came on the market at $8,995,000 and was in escrow within three weeks. The Elmer Grey-designed English Tudor, built in 1926, sits on more than an acre with views of the Riviera Country Club golf course. Throughout the house are rounded archways, hand-crafted leaded-glass windows and English oak paneling. The living room features stained-glass windows, a minstrels' gallery and a cathedral ceiling.

FOR centuries, glassblowers tried to get the imperfections out of their handblown stained-glass windows. Then technology made perfection possible. "Now homeowners seem to want the imperfections back," says designer John Everage of Santa Monica. He's one of many architects and designers who say their clients increasingly ask for handmade stained-glass windows that are designed, built and installed almost exactly the way it was done 900 years ago.

It's official. Microsoft has no shame. None. They should just stop paying rent on that storage unit where they keep their shame because they, as I said, have none. The new TV ad campaign for Windows 7 (Crispin Porter & Bogusky) kicked off this week with a masterpiece of emotional manipulation that brings back Kylie, the precocious 4-year-old girl from the "I'm a PC" series. The slightly lispy Kylie -- who pronounces the product as "Windows Theben" -- is sitting at a table in front of a PC. "My name's Kylie, and I found these happy words all over my dad's computer.

Concerned that poor, inner-city residents are at high risk of being trapped in home fires, Los Angeles officials launched a campaign Wednesday in South Los Angeles to publicize the dangers of window security bars. The move was prompted by a rash of fatal fires in South Los Angeles and a Times article about the dangers of security bars that lack the required emergency release latches.

Michelle Stafford, a star of "The Young and the Restless," has listed her Los Feliz home for sale at $2,499,000. The Daytime Emmy-winning actress, who has a passion for restoring older homes, is finished with the 1933 Mediterranean revival estate and ready to move on to another project. The oversized rooms in the 4,533-square-foot house feature period details such as stained leaded-glass windows and decoratively painted ceiling beams. The entry rotunda is replicated in the lower level guest suite and leads to a terrace.

At least seven children nationwide have died since March 30 from strangulation or asphyxiation after their necks were caught by power windows. The rash of deaths has prompted safety advocates to increase pressure on Congress to enact measures that would require vehicles to have safer power-window switches. "We are devastated by these fatalities," says Janette Fennell, president of Kids and Cars, a consumer advocate group that has strenuously pushed for tougher vehicle safety.

Microsoft Corp.'s new Windows 7 computer operating system hopes to pull off a major trick with memory. Not computer memory, but ours. It's supposed to make us forget Vista. The Vista operating system, which Windows 7 will officially replace later this month, had a terrible reputation almost from the time it debuted in 2007. Because of Vista's technical foibles, sluggish operation and inability to play nicely with some other programs, consumers and professionals shunned it in droves, refusing to update from Microsoft's old, reliable XP operating system.

Modernist architect Irving Gill wasn't known for designing houses with the main rooms on the second floor, but some touches inspired by his work -- such as a creamy white exterior, the use of natural light and heavily framed windows -- make this custom home stand out on Little Balboa Island. It's a hybrid of old and new -- a bit Craftsman, contemporary and Mission-style in appearance. "Some people call it Southwestern contemporary while others label it California modern, but it's neither of those," says Glen Gellatly, who designed the house nearly a decade ago when he was with Bissell Architects.