Your Technology

By M.M. Buechner

Space Blast Revisited

What does the evergrowing pool of adult videogamers want? Why, an update of their youthful obsessions, of course. Given the success of Frogger and other remakes of classic arcade games, a revamped Asteroids is a sure win. In the new version, available on both PC and PlayStation, you still get to blow space rocks to smithereens--but now you do it in vivid 3-D.

Don't Do (Fake) Windows

As if the tech titans of Redmond, Wash., didn't have enough trouble, counterfeit copies of Microsoft's Windows 98 have landed in the U.S. The company has this warning: check your disc. True copies have a hologram near the hole in the middle that flips from "genuine" to "Microsoft," plus a heat-sensitive thread woven into the certificate of authenticity. A fake might work, but if it malfunctions, tech support won't be able to do a thing for you.

Amazon's Rising Tide

The web's highest-flying retailer may finally have figured out how to wring enough cybercash from its customers to actually make a profit: offer more things to buy. Amazon.com has started selling consumer electronics, games and toys (all billed as holiday gifts) as well as movie videos to go with its books and music CDs. For the hapless holiday shopper in need of ideas, Amazon's new "gift matcher" will make suggestions based on the recipient's interests. And for the truly indecisive: gift certificates you can e-mail.

--By M.M. Buechner