One of the last bastions of traditionalism, trading cards, are going high tech.For some lucky card collectors, there will be more than bubble gum in the package.
Power Deck: The Upper Deck Company, requires Windows 95/98, Pentium, 12MB of RAM and 4X CD-ROM, or Macintosh, PowerPC, 12MB of RAM, System 7.6 or later and 4X CD-ROM.
These CD-ROMs, actually similar in size and shape to a regular trading card, will be packaged at random in Upper Deck Encore NBA trading cards. The cards sell for $3.99 a pack.
The company says a Power Deck will be included in one of every 47 packs.
The company expects similar cards to be available for baseball.
Featured on the special CD-ROM cards are Charles Barkley, Kobe Bryant and five other active players.
Two other cards feature retired basketball superstars Michael Jordan and Julius Erving.
Each multimedia CD-ROM features a photo gallery, quotes, a video clip, personal information about the player and a look at his college and pro statistics.
Included are links to the NBA and Upper Deck Web sites and a catalog of Upper Deck cards that feature the player.
The CD-ROMs are easy to use and don't install files to your computer's hard drive.
Just insert the card and it starts up.
The card I sampled featured Paul Pierce of the Boston Celtics.
The card does a nice job bringing the young NBA star's career to life.
Girls Only! Secret Diary & More: Encore Software ($19.99), Windows 95/98, P90, 16MB of RAM, 4X CD-ROM, and Macintosh, Power PC 120MHz or faster, System 7.6.1 or later, 32MB of RAM and 4X CD-ROM. www.encoresoftware.com
With this software, girls can keep a password-protected diary safe from the prying eyes of nosy brothers and print secret messages to their friends. The software includes several decoder cards with which to read the messages.
After signing in, users pick a password.
Secret Diary includes a diary, calendar, address book, stationery creator and more.
All of the activities are launched through the headquarters, a girl's bedroom.
In the diary, girls can select type fonts and sizes.
Diary pages can be dressed up through the use of 10 scenes and their related drag-and-drop illustrations.
Girls also can scramble the text.
Scanned photos can be added.
A variety of headers, borders and stamps are available to create personalized stationery.
Girls can record and keep track of their busy schedules with a calendar that can be viewed by day, week or month.
With the Secret Message Maker, several print options are available.
Users need to pick the option that works best with their printer and the decoder.
Secret Diary should strike the right chord with girls.
Topo USA 2.0: Delorme ($49), Windows 95/98, P120, 16MB of RAM and CD-ROM. For 3-D renderings, P233, 32MB of RAM and 3-D graphics accelerator recommended.
Adapters available for connections to GPS, Palm and Windows CE. www.delorme.com
Check out the lay of the land while planning your travels with these collections from DeLorme.
Six regional editions are available or the entire collection can be purchased in one package.
Selections also are available on DVD.
Included are more than 300,000 miles of trails from major parks and recreation areas.
The regional group I checked out covered Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Missouri, Kansas, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan.
This edition of the topographical maps features the addition of a 3-D engine, 20-foot contours and an easier-to-use interface.
Drawing tools allow for customizing maps.
Three-dimensional maps are created in a window separate from the normal view.
While using the 3-D map, users can rotate the pitch of the view from 30 to 90 degrees, view the area from any compass point and magnify the vertical exaggeration as high as eight times.
The software includes a handy search feature to take you right to the location you are seeking.
Outdoors enthusiasts and travelers will enjoy Topo USA.
