A low price is earning Amazon's Kindle Fire a lot of press. We take a fine-tooth comb to this new tablet and turn up some surprising results. While there's a lot to like, there are also plenty of quirks. We go over the good, the bad, and the ugly.

When Amazon announced it was going to produce a tablet, we weren't surprised. At some point, everyone...

Many Mini drivers accessorize their cars with things like checkered-flag decals on the mirrors or the Union Jack on the roof. Colby Trudeau chose something a little more radical.

When Trudeau’s family took delivery of an electric Mini E two years ago, they gave the little EV a big upgrade: a 4.4 kilowatt solar-power system on the roof of their San Diego home. Going solar offset the Mini’s operating costs and covered most of the household energy costs, dropping the family’s monthly electric bill to around $25. When the Mini went back to BMW after its lease expired earlier this year, a Chevrolet...