Techwatch: Nov. 17, 1997

BORN AND BRED ON THE WORLD WIDE WEB

Preparing for junior's arrival raises a diaper load of questions: Bottle or nipple? Thumb or pacifier? Cloth or disposable? For answers, just click on BabyCenter.com a new Website for parents-to-be with a due-date calculator and tips from baby doc T. Berry Brazelton. Best of all: the baby-namer database of 5,000 given names, from Anglo-Saxon to Yoruban, searchable by gender, origin and popularity. A Gaelic name that starts with B? No problem: Blaine. Here's hoping your Yoruban baby isn't Aina: a "complicated delivery."

LUDDITES NIX LAPTOPS ON U.S. SENATE FLOOR

The 21st century will have to take a backseat to Senate tradition. That's the lesson Senator Mike Enzi (R., Wyo.) learned last week when his request to bring a computer to the floor for note taking was soundly rejected by the Rules Committee. "We didn't start out with laptops," says chairman John Warner (R., Va.), "and I don't think we'll see the day."

VIRTUAL SPA: FROM GEEK TO CHIC

This is probably not what Bill Gates had in mind when he promised that computers would change the way we live, work and play. Cosmopolitan magazine's new Virtual Makeover CD-ROM ($39.99) may be geared to women looking for a quick, noncommittal way to experiment with their hair and makeup, but it's being sold by Sega Soft as a coed toy. And once America's protogeek sees what a good stylist can do to spruce up his look (those bangs! that pallor!), we're sure it will find a home on his hard drive.

GEARED UP

CASH 'N' CARRY Harried investors out to lunch can track the market's madness with Wireless Wall Street ($90, Digital DJ/Sharp). The palmtop pager serves up real-time stock and market info, plus radio, traffic and sports.

NO LIES Look out, Lava Lamp. The Truth.Seeker ($149, Sharper Image) may steal the prize for the most far-out, or farfetched, desktop sculpture. Digital circuitry detects stress in a supplicant's voice, flashing red for prevarication, green for honesty.

DATA POINT

SEINFELD WANNABES Walter Mossberg and Stephen Manes may be among the best-known tech journalists in print, but that doesn't mean their new public-TV show, Digital Duo (airing this fall), will succeed--especially since geek TV shows aren't exactly nipping at Jerry's heels.

Seinfeld 20.3 million households

Number of homes as a fraction of a Seinfeld*

The Site MSNBC CANCELLED

CNET Central Sci Fi .005

The Web Sci Fi .006

Great Stuff CNBC .006

Computer Connection CNN .013

Future Watch CNN .013

*Average number of households per telecast