In Brief

By Jyoti Thottam

LEGO MY PHOTO Rule No. 1 of grandparenthood: there's no such thing as too many pictures. Now, for $30, you can render your precious angels or their brilliant artwork in Lego blocks. Submit a digital photo to lego.com/mosaic and Lego will send a brick-by-brick grid, similar to a needlepoint pattern, along with all the black, white and gray pieces you need to build it. A color version is due out next year.

KEEP IT REAL Who needs Pinocchio's nose or Wonder Woman's magic lasso when you've got a Handy Truster? This palm-size portable lie detector ($50 at goodmorningshop.com is supposed to be able to sense tremors and other signs of stress in a prevaricator's voice. The Handy Truster comes in several colors, and its South Korean manufacturer, 911 Computer, insists that it's just for fun. (The pitch: "Enjoy the truth game with your colleagues!") It also works via cell phone for remote or uncooperative subjects. Don't hang up the lasso just yet, though. Handy Truster promises to catch only 8 lies out of 10.

CAMERA READY Add the digital camera to the list of devices, such as cell phones and personal digital assistants, that moonlight as MP3 players. Samsung's new Digimax 35 ($200) takes digital still photos, plays MP3s stored on a CompactFlash memory card and works as a Web camera. The resolution is passable, but the 8-MB memory card that comes with the unit is barely enough to hold one or two songs. Also, there's no LCD screen for previewing pictures. Maybe this multitasking camera is spreading itself a little too thin.

--By Jyoti Thottam