Everybody loves toys. Some of us just pretend that we´re too grown-up for them, but the truth is that most adults are just closeted children. So I´ve rounded up my favorite high-tech toys for adults and children. Most of these products are already available, but a few, which I just couldn´t exclude because they made my credit cards drool, will be available later this fall, and certainly in time for the holiday season.

In case you´ve been telecommunicating from a cave, here´s a newsflash: personal digital assistants (PDAs) are all the rage. They´re handheld electronic organizers, keeping track of your contacts, appointments, expenses, random notes and more. The most popular of all, the Palm (www.palm.com), comes in different configurations, ranging from the Palm VII ($449), with its wireless Internet capability (so you can check e-mail from anywhere), to the Palm V ($329), the slim, yet powerful version favored by many professionals, to the Palm IIIc ($399), with its color interface.

The Palm´s main contender is the PocketPC. This PDA adheres to Microsoft´s specs and runs on Windows CE 3.0. Several hardware manufacturers offer PocketPC devices. Our favorite is the Cassiopeia EM-500 ($499), from Casio (www.casio.com). The user interface is a quite familiar Windows-like desktop, with the usual host of icons for slimmed-down Microsoft applications (Pocket Word, Pocket Excel, Pocket Money, Pocket Internet Explorer and Pocket e-Book). The EM-500 is more than just a PDA. It also plays music (the new Microsoft MediaPlayer 7 is also included) and videos and lets you read "e-books" with the bundled Microsoft Reader software. You can download hundreds of free (and many other for-fee) e-books from www.barnesandnoble.com. Sure, the display might be too small for comfort if you want to use the unit to read a novel on the beach, but reference titles—such as dictionaries or concordances—can come in very handy. Later this fall you´ll be able to choose from among the next generation of other electronic book readers, such as the RocketBook, SoftBook and Franklin eBookMan, each utilizing a proprietary "reader" technology for its device.

Palm has another respectable competitor in Handspring (www.handspring.com), a company started with the people who originally developed the Palm OS. The Visor Deluxe ($249) is a smart alternative to the Palm (if the Palm OS is your preferred platform), as it runs on the same operating system and features an expansion slot called a Springboard, for which numerous third-party developers have already created such useful add-ons as the EyeModule camera, the @ctiveWireless module (for turning the Visor into a two-way messaging device) and games—and the list is growing fast. Find a more-or-less up-to-date list of Springboard modules on www.handspring.com/products. The Visor Deluxe comes in a variety of iMac-like candy colors.

>> Phones To Go

Mobile phones are a necessity. They´re also a challenge. Their tiny LCDs (liquid crystal displays) let you read as many as four lines of text at a time, so even if you have a "smart" or "Web enabled" phone, you can´t use it effectively due to the squint factor. But one phone has won my heart and my "Dear Santa, I´ve Been Good" award. The NeoPoint 1600 ($199) (www.neopoint.com) has a PDA-like display, with large icons for menu options, and 12 lines of display. This phone is Web-enabled (you can browse local information, news and other data from Yahoo and other Web sites), accepts and sends e-mail, and can be used as a wireless modem for your notebook computer. The carrier is Verizon. You can access location-based information (once you´ve typed in your ZIP code) such as restaurant listings, driving directions, weather, traffic, movies and more. A convenient built-in dictionary does its best to guess what you´re typing when you hit the numeric keypad to type text, and suggests words based on the first few keys you press. The NeoPoint 1600 is also a complete personal information manager (or PIM, which includes an address book, contact list, to-do list, alarms and reminders), compatible with MS-Outlook and Lotus Organizer. There´s a jack for a hands-free kit (so you talk while you´re driving, without holding the phone). The kit is sold separately. If you´re tired of carrying a PDA and a mobile phone, throw them both away and get the NeoPoint 1600.

>> Add-ons

Tired of typing on numeric keypads or scribbling with a stylus? Two keyboards—among the many add-ons for PDAs that represent a fast-growing cottage industry—can alleviate that pain. For the Palm and the Visor, there´s a small QUERTY GoType ($49) keyboard from Landware (www.landware.com), letting you type notes in meetings or on a plane without the hassle of tapping with a stylus or using a confusing hand-recognition scheme. From Handango, there´s a free Mirror application (downloadable from www.handango.com), which turns your PDA´s display into a reflective mirror so you can covertly view people standing behind you or check for pieces of food stuck between your teeth. Check out the Landware and Fandango sites for lots more add-ons (hardware or software) for your Palm, Visor or PocketPC. And from phone giant Ericsson (www.chatb.com), you´ll soon be able to get the ChatBoard, a keyboard that plugs into certain phone models by the same company, turning your phone into a two-way alphanumeric messaging device. The ChatBoard is already selling in Europe, and is expected in the United States this fall.

>> In The Picture

And here´s a must-have for the lucky ones who have everything else. The 8" x 10" Ceiva (www.ceiva.com) ($299) digital picture frame comes with a power plug and a phone wire. Plug those into their respective jacks and start viewing pictures from your "album" saved on Ceiva´s site (you can store up to 250 images at a time). The "frame" itself can store up to 10 images and scroll through them at set intervals. There´s an annual fee of $79 for maintaining your album. The first year´s fee is included in that initial cost.

>> For Music Lovers

The year 2000 will always be remembered as The Year of the MP3 (or the year the music industry woke up to the Internet´s potential). If you have a collection of songs in the MP3 format, you know you can play them on your computer, but the best use for them is on stand-alone players, whether "Walkman"-like or full-featured stereo systems. Here are a few of the products making waves in this area: The unassuming MpPlayer ($95) CD player from EasyBuy (www.easybuy2000.com) is also the least expensive MP3 player on the market these days. Unlike "traditional" (strange term for a two-year-old phenomenon) MP3 players, such as the Nomad II from Creative Labs or the Rio from Diamond Multimedia, the MpPlayer plays MP3s off CDs rather than built-in memory. The unit supports standard audio CDs as well as those "burned" by users onto CD-R drives. (A CD-R with 200 MP3 tracks can easily yield over 25 hours of music). The interface leaves much to be desired: buttons are not clearly labeled and the volume button is too small for comfort. Two AA batteries lasted over 10 hours in my testing. The unit also comes with an AC-adapter, a headset and a cryptic user guide. Still, at under $100 you can´t beat it. A similar-looking but quite more powerful Nomad Jukebox ($499) from Creative Labs features 6 gigabytes of hard-disk space and software for interacting with a PC or a Mac. The Jukebox even can create MP3s from your CDs, audio cassettes and LPs, via the inline connector. The Nomad Jukebox is sure to be one of the hottest toys this holiday season.

All told, audiophiles and "early adopters" are going to have a field day this coming year, with all the new devices that can hook up to the Internet to download new music, play MP3s and any other audio format that may come along (and several are indeed coming our way). Two competing products have piqued my interest. From ZapMedia (www.zapmedia.com), the ZapStation ($599) box lets you go online (with a built-in 56K modem), WebTV-like, visit your customized ZapMedia Portal, create playlists and play music off the internal 30-GB hard disk (in case you´re technically inclined and/or care, the operating system is Linux). The ZapStation can store up to 10,000 MP3s. You can probably save all your favorite music in one place and never have to go looking for that elusive track on the old LP that you love so much. The ZapStation can also play off regular CDs in a variety of formats, including DVD. The entire intuitive menu is accessible via your TV screen with a remote control. To transfer MP3 tracks from your PC, there´s a USB port at the back. ZapMedia is planning to release the ZapStation later this fall, and the Beta unit that I reviewed looked pretty ready to go. There´s still no word on the monthly fee for the portal. Once Internet car radios are common, you´ll be able to set your radio to fetch and play your favorite playlists from ZapMedia Portal.

From Request Multimedia (www.request.com) there´s the AudioRequest ($795), a hybrid PC/stereo system. The back sports a parallel port, a serial port, VGA, keyboard jack and a USB port. But don´t try to use Excel on it, because this is a highly specialized PC. It only does music. Similar to the ZapStation, the AudioRequest is best utilized when hooked up to a display such as a monitor or a TV. Its interface is clear, and even the ever-so-cluttered remote control is easy to figure out. It comes with lots of built-in music in different genres, to which you can add your own (there´s a 17-GB hard disk), and it plays audio CDs as well as user-created CDs (CD-Rs and CD-RWs).

>> For Children of All Ages

Who needs to be practical? Here are a few items intended for recreation and amusement. For those of us who enjoy the company of dogs and/or other nonhumans, there´s Aibo ($1,500), the virtual (as in robot) dog from Sony (www.sel.sony.com). This, uh, puppy costs more than many breeds listed with the AKC, but don´t forget: it´s house-broken, obedient, doesn´t need to be walked and will listen to you whining about your boss just as attentively as your Schnauzer. Aibo (his full name is Aibo ERS-210) comes with most of the senses a self-respecting dog would need: touch, hearing and seeing (thanks to sensors such as infrared, microphone and touch). No olfactory sensor yet, but perhaps Aibo ERS-372 will be able to alert you to unwanted company by its scent. Oh, sure, it does tricks (sit, roll over, etc.), but the most interesting aspect of this absurdly priced toy (aren´t you lusting after one, though?) is that it learns behaviors as it goes. Wouldn´t you just love to watch this critter develop its Pavlovian reflexes? Aibo is an emotional robot. Scold it, and it´ll avoid making the same mistake twice. Praise it, and it´ll repeat a behavior to please you. Asimov is smiling in his grave. Perfect for all the new dot-com millionaires who work too many hours and can´t spare the time to develop meaningful relationships. The rest of us will have to contend with cheap (OK, affordable) imitations such as Tiger Electronics´ Poo-Chi ($25), which does a few tricks and, well, barks...

>> Lego For The New Millennium

Just when you thought the old LEGO (www.lego.com) blocks were so 1980, the Danish pros come up with the ultimate toy for (mostly) young, (mostly) male Star Wars fans. LEGO Studios´ Steven Spielberg MovieMaker Set lets you build scenes and robots straight out of the most successful movie series in the universe. The kit includes the actual blocks, wires and other necessary nuts and bolts (metaphorically speaking) for building, say, those humpback robot creatures from The Empire Strikes Back (ATAT Walkers, for those in the know). There´s also a complete cast, special-effect gizmos such as earthquake plates, fans for creating wind effects, and so on. You also get a PC video camera (you might want to use a better camcorder and use a capture board if you´re serious about your moviemaking) and video-editing software from Pinnacle. For $179, your child (well, that´s what you´ll tell the cashier) will become a Spielberg.

>> Say Cheesy

Many teenagers (and quite a few adults, surely) might be fascinated by the Camera Wristwatch ($299) from Casio. Its sole function, as far as I can tell, is to play match-maker. You meet an interesting person at a party, aim at his/her face, click your watch, type the person´s phone number (or, more likely, e-mail address) and you have yourself the ultimate little black book. Well, not quite, because you´re limited to 100 such annotated photos at a time. And the images are in grayscale.

And one more offering from Palm. The Palm m100 ($149) is unique among its peers. It´s much less expensive than its $350-and-up siblings. The display is slightly smaller than those of the more expensive Palms but, otherwise, most of the familiar functions you´d expect from this PDA are in place: runs on the Palm OS 3.5, relies on Graffiti handwriting recognition, comes with a cradle and software for synching data with your PC or Mac. If you´ve been holding off on purchasing a PDA because of its cost, the m100 solves your problem. The unit is also designed to be attractive to teenagers, with its several colorful replaceable faceplates. <<

Yael Li-Ron (www.tipx.com) has been writing about the high-tech industry for over 15 years. In all those years, her "Dear Santa, I´ve been good" hint has never been heard by Santa´s assistants, but she´s still hoping.