(FORTUNE Magazine) – FAT-FREE ESKIMO PIE How's this for a wintertime treat? Eskimo Pie Corp. has won the race to produce the first fatless ice cream novelty. The Fat Freedom Eskimo Pie Sandwich is made with NutraSweet's Simplesse, the egg white and milk protein fat substitute; neither the ice cream nor the chocolate wafer (total calories: 130) will add a gram of fat to your bloodstream. Fat-free Eskimos are now in stores in the company's Richmond base as well as in Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Iowa, Arkansas, and Tennessee. Look for them nationally by the end of 1991. Will you scream for this ice cream? FORTUNE's taste testers can't wait for it to hit New York.

NOTEBOOK COMPUTER At last, a notebook computer for power fiends. Compaq's 7.5-pound LTE 386s/20 is the first in a new generation of high-performance machines. With its Intel 20-megahertz 386SX microprocessor, it is faster and more powerful than most PCs now in use. Other notebook PCs, so named because of their size and shape, have sacrificed data storage for portability. Not the LTE 386s/20. It's available with either a 30- or 60-megabyte hard disk for storage comparable with either 15,000 or 30,000 typewritten pages, and sells for $6,499 and $6,999, respectively. Another breakthrough: This is the first computer to use ''rigid flex,'' a circuitboard technology found in the electronics of such planes as the Lockheed F-117A Stealth Fighter. Rigid flex allows the circuitboard to be folded, resulting in fewer connections, lighter weight, and a more compact design. If you want desktop PC amenities, slip the LTE into its $1,499 docking module, complete with expansion slots, two hard-disk bays, and hookups for keyboard and monitor.

PARAGARD INTRAUTERINE DEVICE Disasters with the Dalkon Shield made ''IUD'' so synonymous with danger that recent, safer versions have languished. That could change now that the ParaGard T380A has been cleared by the FDA for six years of continuous use. The intrauterine device was developed by the nonprofit Population Council and is distributed by GynoPharma Inc. of Somerville, New Jersey. Two-and-a-half years ago the IUD went on the market cleared for four years of use, but sales were disappointing. With the new approval it becomes the longest-lasting and most economical form of birth control available to American women. Worn for six years, ParaGard costs just $50 per year vs., typically, $206 for oral contraceptives and $129 for a diaphragm. Made partly of copper, the flexible, T-shaped ParaGard has a monofilament polyethylene tail; much of the Dalkon's % danger came from its multifilament nylon tail, which carried bacteria into the uterus. Says Dr. Carolyn Westhoff, medical director of family planning at New York City's Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center: ''There hasn't been anything this safe on the market before.''

FAST AND FLUID ROBOTIC ARM Move over, Robocop. The Sarcos Dextrous Arm is a robotic unit that imitates fluid human movements with superhuman strength, speed, and precision. The anthropomorphic arm can use practically any tool, from a hammer to a key. Sarcos, in Salt Lake City, also offers a telerobotic version for work in hazardous locations -- you slip your hand into a master controller and the arm replicates your every move, even from miles away. Sensors will let you feel whether the object you're handling is soft or hard. Prices start at $38,600 for the hand alone and run up to $500,000.