In Brief

By Rebecca Winters

GETTING INTO IT People who spend a lot of time playing computer games often have a look: soft in the middle, with a pasty complexion. But a new gadget could get gamers off their butts. The GameCam, from Reality Fusion, is a digital video camera that sits atop your PC. Using motion recognition, the camera captures your image and projects it into one of six games on an accompanying disc. You control the action of the games, and sometimes even work up a sweat, by vigorously moving your body. No word yet on Tae-Bo for gamers.

FREEBIE First there was free e-mail, then free PCs. Now a marketing company, Broadscape.com is giving away free 19-in. computer monitors to applicants who sign up at their website. As always, there's a catch: in exchange for the hardware, consumers must share personal data, like income and interests. And ads will stream across the screen while users are online. With hardware so cheap these days, and advertising so pervasive, consumers will have to decide if the trade-off--mind share for monitor--is worth it.

PAGING DR. DOTCOM A major reason patients may shy away from managing their health care online is fear that their privacy will be invaded. What if someone could find out your test results or what's in your medicine chest? To head off such fears, the American Medical Association, with Intel's help, will begin credentialing online doctors. A digital identity card will allow them to transmit medical data to patients securely. Next on our wish list: e-docs who make house calls.

--By Rebecca Winters