Your Technology Mar. 22, 1999

INSTANT GRATIFICATION Polaroid has finally caught up to the disposable camera crowd with its new Pop Shots. For $20 you get 10 instant color photos and a choice of indoor or outdoor settings (flash or no flash). Just snap the picture and pull the "rip cord" to eject. When you run out of film, you can slip the camera into the envelope provided (postage paid) and mail it back to Polaroid for recycling.

ESCAPE THE PITCHMEN Sick of junk mail and sales calls during dinner? Spend a few minutes at www.populardemand.com and be free at last. The site promises to remove you from direct-mail and telemarketing lists (but, sadly, not those of e-mail spammers) at no cost. It can also tell you about good deals on stuff you're really interested in--without revealing your identity (or e-mail address) to the vendor.

A LIE-DETECTING PC? Even when a liar wags his finger, his voice will betray him. That's the premise behind Fortress, a $30 lie-detector program you can download from www.digitalrobotics.com to your PC and use to test your friends and family (with their consent, of course) or sound bites pulled off the Net, TV or radio. It analyzes recordings in any language. Beeps during playback signal an effort to deceive.

--By M.M. Buechner