AMUSE YOURSELF

They beep. They belch. They’re guaranteed to drive your co-workers nuts. The digital pet is back, and this time it’s setting up house inside your Palm. They are called PortaPets, but they aren’t particularly cute or cuddly. Taking a cue from past incarnations such as the Tamagotchi, PortaPets require a certain amount of attention and upkeep in order to thrive. But make no mistake, these pets are only for grown-ups with a wry sense of humor. There’s PortaMonkey, a disturbing little creature that eats, throws up and convulses when you feed it too much soda. Or check out the PortaGrinch, which snarls at you and steals presents, unless you tempt it with plates of cookies, hot chocolate and other goodies. And coming this month is PortaPam: Pamela Anderson as a digital pet.

Oh. My. Goodness.

Download your PortaPets at https://www.eruptor.com/portapets and follow the ridiculously simple instructions. It takes only a couple of minutes to load the small software application onto your Palm or Handspring organizer.