A Way for Kids to Be Even Pickier About Friends

Kids can’t wait for anything. Pagers, cell phones and laptops have turned them into instant mobile communicators. And now--someone was bound to think of it-- instant friend screeners.

Playmate Toys has introduced friend.link, a palm-sized device aimed at helping kids find new friends with similar interests. Users program in their interests--favorite music, favorite sports, etc. And when someone sends out a message to all friend.link users within a 20-foot range, each receiving unit calculates the percentage of matching interests between the sender and receiver.

Say your unit blips, and the incoming message shows a 45% match. That means the person shares less than half of your interests. You could decide to hold out for 50% or more before answering.

Other than this feature, the device is roughly similar to e-mail. Users who know your password can send a message of up to 48 characters on an LCD screen. Users can also send group messages; mailboxes will store up to six messages.

The device will be available at major retail stores in March for $19.99.