NEWS LITE : MARKET WHIZ PROVES SHY ON HIGH-TECH.

Billionaire Warren Buffett says he won't invest in technology companies because, quite frankly, he doesn't understand them.

Buffett told 11,000 shareholders gathered Monday in Omaha, Neb., for the Berkshire Hathaway Inc. annual meeting he won't be putting money into Microsoft, IBM, Intel or any of the other high-tech giants because he doesn't know the industry well enough.

He plans to leave that market to Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates, the only American wealthier than Buffett.

``I've been an admirer of Bill Gates, but I'm sorry I can't put my money behind him,'' Buffett said. ``I don't know what that world (technology) will look like in 10 years. Technology is just something we don't understand, so we don't invest in it.''

He finds their futures uncertain compared with companies that Berkshire has holdings in, including Coca-Cola, Gillette, American Express and The Walt Disney Co.

Heston takes aim at Streisand film

Charlton Heston called Barbra Streisand the ``Hanoi Jane of the Second Amendment'' on Monday, continuing his criticism of a TV movie she produced.

Heston, the actor and National Rifle Association vice president, said ``The Long Island Incident'' misrepresented the NRA and the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which deals with the right to bear arms.

``We are talking about a sacred document in America, and to distort it and misstate its reality is a very serious error,'' Heston said at a news conference at the Regent Beverly Wilshire hotel in Beverly Hills.

Streisand, meanwhile, defended the accuracy of her movie and the film's director denounced Heston's remark as inflammatory.

The movie, which aired Sunday on NBC, told the story of Carolyn McCarthy, who won a seat in Congress after a gunman killed her husband and five other people on a New York commuter train in 1993. McCarthy campaigned on the issue of gun control.

Heston, who has called the movie ``profiteering on the back of a tragedy,'' also criticized it in newspaper ads that ran Monday in national newspapers.

During the news conference, Heston said executive producer Streisand had become ``the Hanoi Jane of the Second Amendment,'' drawing a comparison to actress Jane Fonda's 1972 visit to North Vietnam during the Vietnam War.

As Heston departed his news conference, the movie's director, Joe Sargent, took over the podium and read a statement from Streisand defending the film.

``First, let me say that Carolyn McCarthy and I and others who made this film are not against owning guns for self-defense or hunting. But you don't need an AK-47 to kill game and you don't need an Uzi to defend yourself.

First beau; Taking the plunge with Chelsea

Matthew Pierce is a champion swimmer and a religious studies major at Stanford University. But it's his role as Chelsea Clinton's boyfriend that's attracting the spotlight.

President Clinton and the first lady went to church with their daughter and Pierce on Sunday. Pierce, a junior at Stanford, also had lunch with the Clintons, who visited the school for the first time since dropping off Chelsea Clinton, 18, in September for the start of her freshman year.

The White House did not identify Pierce, but the San Jose Mercury News reported Monday that he identified himself in a telephone interview as Clinton's boyfriend.

Pierce, 20, is from the Woodlands suburb in Houston. According to a biography from the Stanford athletic department, Pierce was a National Merit Scholar.

He also is a top competitive swimmer, winning the 200-meter butterfly to help Stanford take this year's NCAA swimming championship. He also competed in the backstroke and took part in the Olympic trials two years ago.

Brave, too, according to San Fernando Valley college students.

``I wouldn't want my life placed under such scrutiny. That's not something that's newsworthy any way,'' said David Sakurai, 19, marine biology major at Pierce College.

Others, however, said the draw of the bright lights and the chance of instant fame was enough to make them cast aside any shyness.

``I'd date her for the money - heck, yes. I could handle the pressure,'' said Brad Williams, a 24-year-old business major.

Victor Tagle, 21, a graphics art major, said Chelsea's parents would have a lot to do with whether he dated her.

``I'd go out with her, not because she's good-looking, but because she's the president's daughter,'' Tagle said.

Pierce, wearing a crew cut, white shirt, olive pants and a dark tie, sat with the Clintons in the front pew during a Sunday morning service at the nondenominational Stanford Memorial Church.

He then rode in one of two limousines in the president's motorcade to a nearby restaurant, where he and the Clintons ate.

The chief executive seemed to like his daughter's friend; he put his arm around Pierce as they went in to lunch.

The Clintons spent several days in California, a trip built around a weekend of private time with their daughter.

DiCaprio finds model girlfriend

Leonardo DiCaprio appears at long last to have a serious female distraction. She's model citizen Vanessa Haydon, 20. They were first spotted at a post-premiere party for ``Two Girls and a Guy'' in the New York digs of the actor's money man Dana Giacchetto.

Hand-holding, cuddling, kissing - each other, not Giacchetto. Leo's representative won't talk of it. Said Vanessa's: ``She's just starting out in modeling. She and her family aren't really ready to talk.''

News Lite is compiled by Karen Duffy from Daily News staff and wire reports

CAPTION(S):

4 Photos

PHOTO (1) Stanford junior Matthew Pierce has been identified as Chelsea Clinton's boyfriend.

Howard Castleberry/Houston Chronicle

(2 -- 3) Charlton Heston blasted Barbra Streisand's portrayal of the NRA.

(4) Buffett