If you’re reading this on your trusty Sony Vaio, better turn it over and look for the fine print. Then go to this Sony site, to find out if yours is one of 440,000 Vaios being recalled because of faulty wires and overheating problems. Nineteen models in the TZ series (made in 2007-2008) are potentially problematic. Apparently, wires were improperly placed, were wearing, then short circuiting, then overheating. Sony, which announced the recall Thursday, said it has gotten more than 200 reports of overheating, including seven people who were burned, according to the Associated Press. About 72,800 of those laptops are in the U.S., Reuters said. If your product code and serial number pops up on the Sony site as one of the troubled Vaios, Sony promises to come to you for on-site repair at your house or office (or you can send it to a service center). Sony, you may recall, was also the maker of defective batteries that forced the recall of many thousand notebooks (from Dell, Apple, Hitachi and others) in 2006.

Let the faithful cheer and the pundits critique. We are concerned with something that will not impact the economy, or taxes or war. It is not of national significance: it’s Sarah Palin’s hair, the likes of which have not been seen on the front lines of American politics. It dips below shoulder-length and is a auburn, with subtle highlights. Occasionally she wears it down, but mostly it’s in an updo: one casual, such as the half-updo we saw at last night’s Republican Convention (pictured). The other is a complete updo. She tries to tone it down with bookish glasses, but nobody’s fooled. Will Palin’s looks have an impact on the election? Who knows? Let’s just talk about hair. First, think Audrey Hepburn, with the quintessential Holly Golightly updo that set a modern standard (pictured). Palin’s half-updo may look casual - but it’s not: There was some precise teasing underneath the crown of last night’s look, and the back was very carefully coiffed. Her full updo isn’t tossed together either - it’s tightly smoothed and perfectly puffed and heavily sprayed, not loose and tousled like on the red carpet or catwalk. We have found many different updos for you to consider. Allure’s video of models backstage shows famed stylist Orlando Pita talking about loose updos, those with a messy, casual feel. “There’s absolutely no technique whatsoever,” he crows. Not true. Stylists say to put mousse in wet hair, let it air dry and then smooth it out as you tie it up. BellaSugar has another recipe for a do. Daily Makeover instructs one on the step by step with each of their celeb updo pictures. We’ve found a scary similarity between Palin and Drew Barrymore in 2006 (picture her with rimless glasses: yea, kinda freaky, see the picture?), and, thankfully, no similarity with Amy Winehouse. BellaSugar has a slide show of hot updos over the last few years, as does InStyle.com; Daily Makeover has a gallery of updos. Cynthia Nixon has worn a similar style, as have Halle Berry and Maria Menounos. Palin wears basic bangs with a side part for that conservative touch, but celebs’ bangs are longer and sideswept, or pulled back tightly. Besides product (mousse, hair texturizer, flat irons, hair spray), other tools to employ in an updo attempt can include a Twistie, a carefully placed pretty comb, regular hair pins (don’t let ‘em show), tiny barrettes, the perfect brush or bust out of the conservative mold with a flashy jeweled pin.

There comes a point in every presidential campaign when the candidates are closely scrutinized by a curious country with a single question: What does your necktie say about you? Barack Obama has said he doesn’t like neckties and is frequently seen without them, even when wearing a suit. When he does wear a tie it’s usually muted, a solid pale gray or blue, or one with slim stripes. John McCain is more necktie-friendly. He wears all manner of striped ties (albeit subdued) and sometimes opts for bright colors such as yellow or orange. Since we’re going to be seeing a lot of them, we’ve rounded up some nice ties that might give the candidates a few style points. Starting at the higher end, Armani Collezioni’s navy tie with thin light blue stripes is natty for $140. A more conventional striped tie from Charvet can be had in red and white stripes on a blue background ($185). Salvatore Ferragamo’s red, white and blue striped necktie is a little more striking, and if you’re rich, snap up the Stefani Ricci silk striped tie with a dominant red tone for $210 (pictured, left). A pair of ties that don’t scream American but would work for either candidate are the Armani delicate striped red tie, or Ermenegildo Zegna’s lovely Italian silk blue tie with tiny white dots. A little more down-to-earth, pricewise, is the Calvin Klein deep red “digi square” tie for $69.50 at Dillard’s, or the blue “microbead” striped tie, also $69.50. Also very striking and a lot less costly is Target’s Merona houndstooth blue tie for $20. Some serious but excessively patriotic ties include Krisar’s American flag tie for $10, a stars and stripes look from Sterling Apparel for $18 or Jos. A. Bank’s boldly striped tie on sale for $30. A tad wackier is the waving American flag tie at Wild Ties for $15, their tie festooned with presidential portraits for $35, and Zazzle’s ties dotted with the presidential seal. We even found an Obama tie for $17 on Wild Ties, but try as we might, we could not find a John McCain tie, although there are lots of nice apparel options from his website (like a snappy navy windbreaker). We did stumble upon a tie that might tickle a gung-ho GOPer (pictured, above), and for the racier Republican, there’s one decorated with a picture of a young Sarah Palin for $30.

We’ll be thinking a lot about politics in the next few weeks: Obama and Biden, McCain and . . . whoever his running mate will be. But plenty of Americans’ are going to get worked up over something much more intense and competitive: political buttons. Collecting them is a passion of thousands that has given birth to publications, books, auctions and The American Political Items Collector, the largest group of button groupies. There’s no way to begin to dissect the complexities (and lucrative nature) of this hobby, so we’ll give you some fun facts and sites to check out. The buttons (known as cellos) were first issued for the 1886 presedential campaign. Among the most popular are Harry Truman and John Kennedy buttons, according to collector Jeff Figler.  Mark Warda, the author of 100 Years of Political Campaign Collectibles, told MSNBC  that hard-to-find buttons can be very valuable. Ron Wade, another major collector, says that a 1920 James Cox/Franklin D. Roosevelt button recently sold for more than $100,000. Want to know more? Find some history and tips at PresidentsUSA.net, or at APIC’s Web site, where you can find auctions and catalogs, such as Hake’s, PoliticalHeritage (where you can buy a William Howard Taft from 1908 for $55), or Anderson Americana auctions (where a Nixon For Peace button can be had for $35). Books like Warda’s, or Collecting Political Memorabilia or another book about identifying and evaluating buttons. So which buttons should you look for now? There will be lots of Obama and McCain buttons, but losing candidates’ buttons can become more valuable. Hillary Clinton for $3, anyone?

CVS Pharmacy, the ubiquitous drug store, is planning an assault on upscale beauty retailers. Beauty 360 is the name of the planned stores that CVS will start opening by year’s end, according to a story Friday at WWD.com.  Sources quoted in the story said the first two stores will open in Washington, D.C. and Sacramento, will be between 2,500 and 4,000 square feet and will eventually expand to 500 or 1,000 stores. Beauty 360 won’t have the words CVS in sight, although they may be in adjacent buildings or inside of existing CVS stores. The WWD story quoted a CVS executive as saying the sleek and modern Beauty 360 stores will carry 32 brands of high-end products (not counting fragrances) currently sold only in department stores or in specialty stories such as Sephora, Shoppers Drug Mart and Ulta. CVS execs crowed about their competitive edge in terms of sheer numbers. CVS will have almost 7,000 stores by year’s end, they have 4 million customers a day. They said 60 percent of the U.S. population of women live within 5 miles of a CVS. Sephora’s Web site says that they are the nation’s leading retailer of perfumes and cosmetics, with more than 91 stores in the U.S. and 400 in Europe. Perhaps the day is coming when you’ll be able to pick up some Laura Mercier or Benefit with your batteries and cough medicine.

For every Olympic games, there are Olympic pins. For collectors, the buying, trading and selling of them is  as competitive a sport as any beach volleyball game, and it’s been going on since 1896. The pin trade, an obsession for some, is labeled the “unofficial Olympic sport.” In Beijing, pin sellers have set up shop at the Olympic Expo in the Beijing Exposition Center and in the Coca-Cola sponsored pin-sales center. There are new pins and old ones from previous games, common pins that are handed out by sponsors to anyone and more valuable pins, such as those given to athletes and officials. Most pins are inexpensive - $4 to $10. Now you can join the frenzy by getting some Beijing pins. A page on the Beijing site gives the history of the pin frenzy and describes the “pindemonium” going on there now. The official U.S. Olympic Shop has an assortment of pins for sale, such as a ceramic Beijing logo pin or a YingYing mascot pin, each for $7. NBC’s Olympic online shop has pins, like a gymnastics mascot pin for $8 (pictured) and a rickshaw pin for $6. The Olympin Collector’s Club site has lots of advice and pin facts: there’s even a club member blogging from Beijing. After the official sites, you’ll have to turn to pin-selling retailers, such as Greekshops.com, Collectpins.com (where a USA/China flag Beijing pin is running $8.95), Discountpinstore (they’ve got a set of opening and closing ceremony pins for a pricey $24.89) and Athenspincollection, where you can find individual sports pins, such as a soccer pin for $8.95. When the games end, start looking on Craig’s List and eBay for the special pin you covet.