SWEET SOUNDS So you’re sucking a lollipop when a Sugar Ray tune pops into your head–in FM stereo. No, you’re not hearing things. It’s the Sound Bites Pop Radio from Tiger Electronics ($15.99). This battery-powered FM receiver transmits small, safe vibrations that travel from the spinning candy through your teeth and into your inner ear. If the acoustics in your skull don’t cut it, you can always hook up a set of external speakers.
ME MAGAZINE How to get your teenage daughter off the phone: buy her a copy of Teen Digital Diva II (Activision/Girl Games; $25.99). This PC-only software lets her create, edit and print her own teen publication (or, if she prefers privacy, her own “cosmic journal” with password protection). It features everything you’d expect from the genre: do-it-yourself astrology, numerology, relationship quizzes, a “dream oracle” that always finds something positive to say about your nightmares, and a virtual makeover room that lets you change your image to your heart’s content. You need never buy Cosmo again.
RACK ‘EM UP Fancy yourself a modern-day Minnesota Fats? Now you can sink those eight balls and hustle suckers without leaving your PC. The Real Feel PoolShark from Interact ($29.99) works with all USB-enabled computers, including the iMac. How it works is simple: you hold a pool cue (plastic one included) over a roll bar on the mouselike controller. How fast and far you move it directs the virtual cue on your screen. Also included is the PC-only game Ultimate 8 Ball, which lets you try your luck against computer players or challenge other hustlers on the Internet. No fancy finger grip is required, and you won’t break your back leaning over the table.
–By Chris Taylor
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