Bling With a Ping: The Electronic Ankle Bracelet

The hottest accessory of the season? An ankle bracelet -- the electronic kind. All the celebrity offenders are wearing them -- the D.C. Madam, former astronaut Lisa Nowak, actors Tracy Morgan and Michelle Rodriguez. But which style is right for you? Paris Hilton sported a Sentinel DualTrak for just 36 hours in her Hollywood Hills mansion before the judge threw her back in the slammer. The monitoring device, like the one that Martha Stewart wore for five months, pinpoints movement with a radio frequency transmitted over phone lines.

Need something more high-tech? Nowak was ordered to wear a GPS tracking device until her trial this fall, which allows police to cut off another diaper-clad road trip. HealthSouth founder Richard Scrushy, convicted on corruption charges, now gets a bracelet whenever he leaves Alabama -- the court let him take the kids to Disney World but not Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale or Miami. Accused madam Deborah Jeane Palfrey lost her passport and is adorned with a GPS ankle strap. (No, it's not black leather, you naughty boys.)

For B-listers who fall off the wagon? After drunken-driving arrests and probation violations, Morgan and Rodriguez got SCRAM (Secure Continuous Remote Alcohol Monitoring) bracelets, which test for alcohol in sweat. Morgan wore his at Spike TV's "Guys Choice Awards; Rodriguez flashed hers during NYC's Fashion Week. (The "Lost" actress complained that it kept registering false positives. "I was, like, 'I haven't had any liquor,' " she wrote on her Web site. She said she was told, "You can't use Listerine, no shampoo, or soap, or lotion, or perfume, with alcohol in it.")

The increasingly popular devices are the size of a cigarette pack and weigh four to six ounces; most come in a fetching industrial gray with a thick strap, said Leonard Sipes, spokesman for Washington's Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency. Offenders must wear them even while sleeping or showering; any tampering results in "Go Directly to Jail. Do Not Pass Go." About 150 people are walking around D.C. with bracelets -- typically for two to three months -- which allows the courts to track them in real time or through daily updates. "The bottom line is public safety," Sipes said.

So, how's it feel? Sipes strapped one on for a couple hours and says the experience was "a little strange, a little disconcerting."

The Buzz on Barbara Bush's N.Y. State of Mind

It's been a year since first twin Barbara Bush moved to Manhattan and we reluctantly entrusted The Dark-Haired One to the care of our tabloid cousins. Occasionally the Cooper-Hewitt museum staffer reemerges in a D.C. restaurant or brings a beau to a state dinner, reminding us of the good times we used to share, but only for a night or two -- she belongs to the Big Apple now. Here's what she's been up to after-hours, according to the New York Post and the Daily News.

Dec. 19: Draws so many friends to her 25th birthday party at Nublu that bouncers bar the door at 11 p.m. (DN)

May 3: Sings karaoke ("Centerfold" by the J. Geils Band) with cousin Lauren Bush and Lauren's b-friend David Lauren . (NYP)

May 15: Dances and sips Veuve Clicquot at Arena nightclub in "tight jeans and a sexy top," her security detail in matching white linen shirts. (NYP)

May 31: Attends a Broadway performance of "Grey Gardens" with sister Jenna and mom Laura , who sits "poker-faced" while the girls laugh. (NYP)

E! Came Knocking, Cooper Kept Talking

So what's a nice D.C. policy wonk like Horace Cooper doing on an "E! True Hollywood Story"-type show?

Two months ago, the conservative constitutional law scholar wrote an article about the serious legal questions underpinning (you guessed it) the Anna Nicole Smith case -- a story that nearly swamped the Legal Times Web site when Drudge Report linked to it. Next thing Cooper knew, the folks from the basic-cable icon that brings you "Wildest Dating Show Moments" and the forthcoming " Cameron Diaz: Sexy Angel" came calling. Cooper's debut as an E! talking head -- not, technically, in a "True Hollywood Story" segment, but a much-classier-sounding "E! News Special" -- airs at 8 p.m. tomorrow.

Cooper, a former top aide to Dick Armey who has opined for the National Review and Washington Times, more typically holds forth on topics like congressional politics or trade and tax policy, in his role at the Alliance for American Manufacturing. But he couldn't resist the debate over whether Smith's infant daughter, Dannielynn, stood to inherit millions from the estate of the late Playboy model's deceased husband.

"This is the kind of legal question that is on the exams at George Mason law school," where he was recently a visiting professor, Cooper explained. "If you put down on your exam that Anna Nicole gets the money, you'd get an F. I thought, why not explain to people why this is so obvious."

Beltway cable yakkers, take note: Although Cooper expected the usual quick-hit, 10-minute routine, E! actually spent 2 1/2 hours interviewing him, both on the Mason campus and in an L.A. studio. "There was a lot of 'That was a good answer -- but now say it in a way that we understand,' " he said.