In Brief

GET THE GOODS After one too many "Sorry we missed you" notes from UPS, Tony Paikeday created the zBox. The sturdy plastic mailbox with an electronic lock lets carriers deliver when you're not home. Sign up for the service ($5 a month at zbox.com ), and every package you buy online gets a number that the carrier uses to open the box. You access it later with a PIN code. The downside: one less excuse for being late to work.

DOUBLE TAKE Have America Online and Microsoft swapped playbooks? With the new AOL 6.0, you can get your address book no matter where you log on, and you can sort e-mail messages by date or sender--functions Microsoft's Hotmail has as well. AOL 6.0 also lets you get e-mail by phone and adds new character icons for your buddy list. Microsoft, meanwhile, has launched its new MSN Explorer Web browser with the warm-and-fuzzy icons and labels AOL made famous. Explorer is free and works with any Web connection, but Microsoft wouldn't mind if you signed up at $21.95 a month for MSN Internet access. Same tab as AOL.

MUSIC MAKER As if remembering dozens of numbers and surfing the Web weren't enough, wireless phones can now play music, thanks to MP3 player accessories. Ericsson's sleek, brushed-metal MP3 player ($199 at ericssonus.com ) is designed to work with three of its newest phones. It plays MP3s stored on tiny 32-MB disks, which can hold 30 minutes of music. When a call comes in, the music stops and the earphones do double duty as a hands-free earpiece and mike. A cell phone's work is never done.