PRODUCTS TO WATCH
By STEPHANIE LOSEE

(FORTUNE Magazine) – PORTABLE ENCYCLOPEDIA Finally there's an encyclopedia that weighs less than a Toyota. Franklin Electronic Publishers of Mount Holly, New Jersey, has developed a 12-ounce hand-held electronic version of The Concise Columbia Encyclopedia. Type in a term or name, and it displays the appropriate entries in seconds on its eight- line LCD screen. It also refers you to related material and does it a lot faster than thumbing through pages. A phonetic spelling feature will correct a misspelled query. The Electronic Encyclopedia even has a quiz button with hundreds of trivia questions to pass time on the road. Look for it in electronics and department stores at $399.

TARKHUNA SPIRITS If you can't tell one highly touted new exotic vodka from another, Tarkhuna may be your cup of spirits. This pale green 80-proof beverage from Soviet Georgia, subtly flavored with a wild native herb of the same name, is made with a 600-year-old recipe. Our tasters called it smooth, soft, and pleasing (they also thought the coloring added to enhance its natural hue is unnecessary). Bottled in Tbilisi, Tarkhuna is not technically a vodka by U.S. federal standards because the herb is infused during the distillation process. But like vodka, it should be chilled in the freezer or served over ice. Tarkhuna is distributed to liquor stores and restaurants in major cities by Heublein Inc. of Farmington, Connecticut. Price: $14.99 for a 750-ml bottle.

FAX SOFTWARE TO GO Business travelers no longer have to rely on hotel fax machines. On The GoFAX software, by Ibis Software of San Francisco, sends directly from a laptop or notebook computer. For that matter, use it at home if your PC doesn't have a fax board. Just hook up to a jack -- or use an acoustic coupler with a car or pay phone. Then type in the number or select a name from the speed-dial log, ( and choose a file. GoFAX transmits it to an AT&T service bureau that makes sure the file is sent, redialing up to four times an hour. If there's a problem, AT&T will notify the sender. GoFAX has a word processor for jotting down messages, transmits one file to many numbers at once, and keeps a record of fax activity. Look for it soon at software stores for $69.95; maximum phone costs are $3 for the first page, $2 for subsequent pages.

ERGOS WORK SIMULATOR Figuring out just what kinds of physical tasks employees can handle has never been easy, and it will get harder next year when the Americans With Disabilities Act kicks in. The act prohibits medical exams for such purposes in companies with 25 or more employees. This machine has the answer. The Ergos Work Simulator from Work Recovery Inc. in Tucson, Arizona, assesses the physical capabilities of workers and produces detailed reports that employers can use to determine whether an injured employee should return to work (or another job) or a prospective one should be hired. Ergos tests up to five people at once. It begins by asking a testee to choose from its database of 14,000 occupations. Drawing on that database, the machine duplicates the physical movements required. These can be modified by the physical therapist who oversees the operation if the task you're testing for differs from the norm. Testing for range of motion, endurance, strength, and other characteristics takes about four hours and produces a report that can be evaluated by a therapist or M.D. Price: about $100,000.