Techwatch

By Daniel Eisenberg, Anita Hamilton, Michael Krantz, Jodie Morse, Michele Orecklin, Alain L. Sanders, Joel Stein, David Van Biema, Susan Veitch

ALYSSA'S MOM TAKES ON CYBERSMUT SITES

Remember Alyssa Milano, the fresh-faced kid on Who's the Boss? These days a more, um, adult side of the actress, and countless other stars, is on display at unauthorized pay-for-celebrity-skin websites offering film stills, candids and digitized fakes. Alyssa's angry mom Lin Milano formed CyberTrackers to combat the sites and last week filed suit--the first of its kind--against two of them. A case to watch.

DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE

General Magic, which was building portable electronic organizers long before the Palm Pilot made them popular, has a new trick up its sleeve. At this week's Networld+Interop show, the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based firm, whose clunky gear missed the handheld revolution, will unveil a voice-activated electronic secretary, code-named Serengeti, that lets users dial in from their cell phones and ask to hear phone messages, e-mail, addresses, appointments, stock quotes and news. The service, due this summer, responds to normal speech and will be available from wireless carriers for $20 to $30 a month.

A HIGH-TECH SOUVENIR FROM THE SLOPES

After 15 years as a chef in Vail, Colo., James Gibson has a memory of every bump and turn on the resort town's famous slopes. Now he offers the next best thing to even first-time visitors. For as little as $15 a day, Gibson's Maptrek company rents skiers and trail bikers fanny packs equipped with global-positioning satellite devices that record their every move. At day's end they get a map showing their precise path and approximate speed. In the fall, Gibson will add head-mounted videocams, so visitors can replay their adventures on TV.