(FORTUNE Magazine) – BRAINS FOR BUILDINGS In most skyscrapers, a central computer controls all the mechanical systems -- heating, cooling, fire safety, lighting, and security. That's fine, until one of them goes out of whack. Then building engineers can spend hours chasing back and forth between the control center and the equipment rooms, trying adjustments until they've got things right. With its new Metasys facilities management system, Johnson Controls decentralizes the building computer. The system enables an engineer using a hand-held terminal to tap into data and monitor the results of his adjustments right at the site of the problem. That saves energy -- both the building's and the engineer's -- and helps cut operating costs as much as 30% per year. Price: roughly $700,000 for a large office tower.

PANORAMA CAMERA If you're headed for the Grand Canyon this summer, you can take this camera along. Eastman Kodak's Stretch 35 will capture that sprawling spectacle of pinnacles and buttes panoramically with its 25-mm wide-angle lens. It delivers 3 1/2-by-10-inch color prints, twice the width of a conventional 35-mm photo. This disposable camera comes loaded with 12 exposures of film and costs $13. You simply aim, align two circles in the viewfinder, and shoot; when the film runs out, bring the entire camera to a photofinisher. Consumer Reports took a look and concluded: ''Picture quality was impressive. Everything was in reasonably sharp focus.'' Landscapes aside, this camera clicks with the environment in other ways: Kodak collects the used cameras by mail in Rochester, New York, and melts and recycles them.

COLLEGE COST CALCULATOR So, Johnny got a fat envelope from Harvard, you say. But can you afford to send him there? The College Cost Explorer will give you an educated guess even before the acceptance arrives. New software from the College Board of SAT fame incorporates information about 2,800 schools. Input your family finances and your child's preferences -- say she wants to live on campus at a two-year private college in the Southwest -- and at the touch of a button, the Cost Explorer will list the institutions that fit your budget. The program provides a detailed breakdown of fees and expenses at each campus. Other statistics include the percentage of freshmen receiving aid and the number who applied for financial help vs. the number who were offered assistance. If your child is not old enough for college, the program will help you determine how much to start salting away so that, when the time comes, you can send your junior Einstein to the ivory tower. Price: $50.

ELECTRONIC CRAYON Remember the Etch A Sketch? Now, for the video generation, there is Sony's Electronic Sketch Pad. It enables kids to doodle on TV in full color. What's more, they can tape their masterpieces on a VCR for posterity or simply to show grandma. Linked to the television with a video cable, the battery-powered ''pad'' sits on the child's lap. He or she picks one of a dozen colors by tapping a stylus against the palette. Drawing a circle on the pad reproduces it on the screen. If your mini Miro wants to fill in the creation with color, he taps the paintbrush symbol. Price: $115, or 119 times the going rate for 24 Crayolas. Even so, F.A.O. Schwarz, New York City's tony toy emporium, is having a tough time keeping the Sketch Pad in stock.