May 25, 2003

New technology promises to speed automobile repairs and reduce errors; small company Microvision is pioneer in field; photos (M)

IT used to be easy to ignore Kia, or laugh it off as the bottom-feeder of the auto market -- South Korea's answer to Yugo. When Kia began establishing American dealers in the mid-1990's, it mainly attracted buyers -- usually young, on a tight budget, or both -- in need of few-frills starter cars. For about the price of a used late-model vehicle, these shallow-pocket customers could drive away with a factory warranty and that new-car smell. That's all changing. Sure, Kia still claims the lowest-priced sedan sold in America, the $9,995 Rio, but with the introduction in 2001 of the midsize Optima, followed a year later by the Sedona minivan, Kia is gamely bootstrapping itself out of the basement -- even a full-size family sedan, the Amanti, is on the way. But Kia's best shot at breaking into the big leagues may be the 2003 Sorento, a midsize sport utility that extends Kia's reputation for creating vehicles that deliver a lot of equipment for relatively little money.

Article on America's curmudgeons in light of national event called Great American Grump Out, organized by group calling itself Smile Mania, which aims to stamp out grumpiness, pessimism and negativity with series of happiness exercises; Andy Rooney, Fran Lebowitz, Bill Maher and others comment; photos (M)

Calls for greater steps to curb spam intensify, as quantity of spam rises to drown out other e-mail; there are wide range of proposals for taming spam; most of bills in Congress are built around imposing penalties for sending deceptive e-mail; volunteer spam fighters are creating lists of Internet addresses of spammers to boycott; Internet service providers boast of their spam-fighting tools, and some are preparing to dig even strong barriers around people's in-boxes, blocking mail from anyone that recipient does not already know; excerpts from conversations with seven people who have some ideas for a solution; photos (L)

Discussion of Andrew Jarecki's documentary Capturing the Friedmans, winner of Grand Jury Prize at Sundance Film Festival; interview with clown David Friedman, known as Silly Billy, inspired Jarecki to make movie that examines charges of child molestation that sent Arnold Friedman and son Jesse to prison; interview; photos (L)