How Much Is That Doggie In The Window

GADGETSRun Rings Around Your Friends

You won’t find this in a box of cracker Jack. Dallas Semiconductor’s Java Ring (972-371-4000; ) is a tiny computer that looks like a class ring–but instead of a gem, it contains a chip called the iButton. At Celebration K-12 school in Disney’s planned community in Orlando, Fla., students are using the Java Ring as an electronic key to access buildings. Since it’s a ring, kids are less likely to lose it. In the future, the ring may also function as a library card, an electronic ID to log on to PCs and a digital wallet to pay for cafeteria food, as well as authentication for students’ online homework.

PHONESYou Can’t Be Too Careful

What do mobile-phone users fear more than having their numbers cloned? The possibility of brain damage from radiation exposure. There’s no proof of a health risk yet, but British-based EMX Group () is manufacturing a chip for mobile-phone batteries that fluctuates the signal so that the brain is no longer exposed to a steady signal. The chip will add $37 to the price of a battery, which hits stores in July.

WEBA New Way to Phone It In

The new phone service PageTalk () lets audio-impaired websters spruce up their sites with voice files, using no more brain power than it takes to leave a voice-mail message. Phone messages to PageTalk’s toll-free number are posted to the user’s Web site almost instantly, and can be updated at will. The sound quality of the resulting RealAudio files is more eight-track than CD, but PageTalk won’t charge a dime to add your voice to the cacophony of cyberspace. Free speech on the Internet, it would seem, is alive and well.