PLUGGED IN : NEWS BYTES.

``STAR WARS'' ON CD: Further hyping the rerelease of the ``Star Wars'' trilogy, LucasArts Entertainment Co. has begun distributing ``The Star Wars Collection'' series of computer games for the Macintosh. The compilation includes Rebel Assault I and II, X-Wing Collector's CD-ROM, Dark Forces Super Sampler Edition and Making Magic: A Behind the Scenes Look at the Making of the Star Wars Trilogy. A PC-compatible series is already out on the market.

CYBER-SPEAK PROTEST: Apollomedia Corp., a San Francisco multimedia company that maintains an Internet site for political heckling, has filed a suit against a new federal law forbidding transmission of ``indecent'' language with ``intent to annoy.'' The Apollomedia site, called ``annoy,'' allows Net users to send anonymous e-mail messages to public figures, or exchange messages about various issues.

WEB LINKS

FOR FILM FANS: Film buffs should pop over to the Greatest Films of All Time at http://www.filmsite.org/films.html, one fan's loving tribute to Hollywood's classic works. Here you can find plot information on hundreds of films arranged by year, genre and title. There are sections on memorable film quotations and scenes, with hot links to the movies from which they are found. One of the most valuable aspects of this site is the enormous bibliography of film reference books.

THE KING UNDERCOVER: It's amazing what kind of random documents the federal government keeps. One of the highlights of the National Security Archive's web site at http://www.seas.gwu.edu/nsarchive/nsa/elvis/elnix.html is the Richard Nixon-Elvis Presley meeting area. Presley, who visited with Nixon in 1970, had sent the president a six-page letter. In it, the singer suggested he be made a ``federal agent-at-large in the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs.'' Uh huh. This site, housed at George Washington University, contains an image of the actual letter along with a transcription and several presidential memoranda regarding their in-person meeting.

RANDOM ACCESS

WRIST WATERBED: Tired of the stiff foam wrist guards shoved next to your keyboard? Then check out Waveco's ``Waterbed for Your Wrists,'' a relatively inexpensive gel-filled pad. The cloth-covered pads mold to the contours of your wrists and palms, while the fluid inside seems to absorb any extraneous vibrations. The packet can be refrigerated - a nice touch for those looking for a cold compress - and the cloth cover can be removed and tossed into the washing machine. The pads cost $20.85, including shipping. For more information, call Waveco at [phone].

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2 Photos

Photo: (Color) No caption (Star Wars CD-ROM)

(2--Color) No caption (Waveco's Waterbed for Your Wrists)