In Brief: Oct. 2, 2000

WHAT'S IN A NAME? If you thought dotcom marketing insanity reached its peak with the naked guy in those Buy.com ads, think again. IUMA.com the Internet Underground Music Archive, is offering $5,000 cash to any parents willing to give their baby the first name Iuma. So far, no fewer than five babies, including little Iuma Ross, right, of Williamsburg, Pa., have benefited from the campaign. At least they didn't name the kid Yahoo.

SOUND AND FURRY Staid and serious chipmaker Intel has branched out into frivolity with a line of high-tech toys called Intel Play. The latest is the Computer Sound Morpher ($49), which looks a lot like a personal communicator from a '50s sci-fi flick. Armed with Intel's Morpher, kids can record voices and other sounds and then edit, distort, remix and generally transmogrify them on their PCs. Warning: parental commands may lose some authority when played back in "chipmunk" mode.

ARE YOU E-MAILIN' ME? Passengers in New York City taxis are generally too busy fearing for their life to get bored, but in that unlikely event, they can now pass the time by surfing the Internet. The Web portal Yahoo has mounted Palm VII handheld computers, which can access the Internet wirelessly, in the backseats of 10 New York cabs; it also painted and upholstered them in purple. Unfortunately, you still won't be able to hail one when it's raining.

--By Lev Grossman