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Inspired now to host your own Brew-vitational? Jeff Alworth's Beer Tasting Tool Kit has all the gear and literature you need (down to brown paper bags and twine, in case you don't have any lying around) to conduct a proper blind tasting. In case you don't already know the lingo, the kit also comes with a handy "how to" booklet with a glossary, standards for different styles, and detailed scoring charts to note your every sip, swallow, and aftertaste. Beer Tasting Tool Kit by Jeff Alworth (Chronicle Books)

WALL STREET Dow Jones posts 3rd record close The Dow Jones industrial average racked up its third consecutive record close yesterday after a day of extreme volatility, but technology stocks were crushed under the weight of profit-taking after the recent runup. The Dow ended up 16.65 points, or 0.16 percent, at 10,411.66, surpassing Tuesday's high of 10,395.01. The technology-laced Nasdaq composite index and S&P 500 were down. "It's absolutely incredible," said Hugh Johnson, chief investment officer for First Albany Corp.

SAN FRANCISCO - Amazon.com Inc. is getting into the app-selling arena by opening an online store to distribute software for smartphones and tablet computers running Google Inc.'s Android operating system. The Amazon Appstore, unveiled Tuesday, includes free and paid apps from Android software developers. The online retailer decided to focus on the market for Android apps because of its rapid growth, said Aaron Rubenson, who is in charge of the Appstore's business operations. Since 2008, a slew of phones and tablets running Android have been released, and Google's own Android Market app store, which is available on these devices and online, now offers more than 150,000 apps.

Margie Tannenbaum keeps a pile of free paperbacks, three green lawn chairs, and a knee-high evergreen tree outside her used-book store on East High Street to goad the skeptics. The downtown, she said, is on its way back. Opened just two months ago with fewer than 2,000 books, Tannenbaum's Evergreen Bookstore has doubled its inventory, increased sales, and, most important, staked its claim as a pioneer in the borough's quest to infuse new life into its dilapidated downtown.

NEW YORK - Major websites, including Foursquare and Reddit, crashed or suffered slowdowns yesterday after technical problems rattled Amazon.com's widely used Web servers, frustrating millions of people who couldn't access their favorite sites. Though better known for selling books, DVDs and other consumer goods, Amazon also rents out space on huge computer servers that run many websites and other online services. The problems began at an Amazon data center near Dulles Airport outside Washington and persisted into the afternoon.

The editorial cartoon projected above keynote speaker Jeff Bezos' head in the Grand Ballroom didn't need an explanation, and the founder of Amazon.com didn't provide one. "I can't figure out how you caught malaria," a puzzled doctor says to a feverish, sickly looking patient. "Well," the patient replies, "I did order that mosquito off Amazon.com " The booksellers in the audience laughed, and Bezos chuckled - actually, he honked - with them. Nearly a thousand strong, mainly owners or employees of independent bookstores, they had come early for the opening educational days of BookExpo America, the annual gathering of about 30,000 book-industry professionals held here at McCormick Place last weekend, a rite of spring in which publishers display and sell their fall and winter wares, and booksellers scrutinize and buy them.

Talk is: Nostradamus did it again. Truth is: He didn't. Widely circulating e-mail messages have declared that the famed 16th-century penner of predictions foretold Tuesday's World Trade Center attack. The buzz has piqued so much interest that three books about the seer were among the top five sellers on Amazon.com yesterday. Yet people who research such things say the prophecies are almost entirely bogus. Still, people have been frightened by the predictions, because they talk about World War III or the destruction of humanity, said Barbara Mikkelson, whose Urban Legends Web site investigates such stories.

In a blow to Amazon.com Inc., the online retailer's president, Joseph Galli, said yesterday that he would join VerticalNet Inc., of Horsham, as president and chief executive officer. Galli, 42, will replace Mark Walsh, who will become VerticalNet's chairman. The changes will be effective tomorrow. The news stirred massive speculation as to why Galli, who joined Amazon from Black & Decker Corp. just 13 months ago, would leave for VerticalNet. Questions also focused on why Walsh, who has been VerticalNet's chief executive for three years, would give up that post.

GIZMO: Case controversies plague the Kindle (with M-Edge to the rescue!) and taunt Apple's iPad 2 "secrecy. " Also, a cautionary tale about tech magazine cover headlines. KINDLE KLUNK-UP: Just a month ago, Amazon.com was bragging about the huge success of its third-generation Kindle, the best-selling item in company history. Now, and only under duress, has the online giant come clean (kinda) about problems with this e-reader when it's installed in a $34.99, made-for-Kindle carrying case.