PLAYING `SOLDIERS' A 10-YEAR-OLD REVIEWER GIVES US HIS TAKE ON THE NEW MOVIE ``SMALL SOLDIERS' BY MAX BLACKBURN SPECIAL TO THE TIMES UNION.(LIFE & LEISURE)(Movie review)

``Small Soldiers,'' opening today, is an action movie definitely geared to the younger set, so we asked Max Blackburn, son of staff writer Doug Blackburn, 10 years old and a fifth-grader at Stamford Central School in Delaware County, to go to a screening of the movie and give us his review. Max loves sports, video games and is an avid reader, having read just about every book by R.L. Stine. His favorite two magazines are Sports Illustrated for Kids and Disney Adventures.

``Small Soldiers'' is a lot like ``Toy Story,'' only it has a lot more violence and smarter toys. In the movie there are two types of toys; both are large-sized battery-operated action figures. They fight against each other instead of joining sides.

It also kind of reminds me of the ``GI Joe'' cartoon show on TV. Major Chip Hazard, whose voice is played by Tommy Lee …

NEW FRAUD-PROTECTION PROGRAM INTRODUCED.(Mantissa Corp.)(Brief Article)

Birmingham, AL-based Mantissa Corp. has launched iDovos, a software product that allows consumers to choose when and where their credit and debit cards may be used. The software also allows people to put limitations on new credit applications. Mantissa CEO Gary Dennis tells CardLine that the company has no clients yet but expects some to sign on by the first quarter of 2006. "We are talking to the major transaction processors about iDovos," he says. After setting up iDovos accounts, individuals use a PC, handheld computer or telephone to set limits on the use of their …

Saturday's Sports Scoreboard

…

All Times Eastern

American League

N.Y. Yankees 9, Toronto 4 F

Minnesota 6, Detroit 5 F

Boston 2, Baltimore 1 -3

Texas 1, Chicago White Sox 0 -2

Cleveland 2, Tampa Bay 0 -2

Kansas City 2, Seattle 0 -2

L.A. Angels vs Oakland, 9:05 p.m.

RJR Nabisco cutting 3,900 jobs

NEW YORK Smokers already are paying the price of the mammothtobacco settlement with the states. Tobacco workers are next.

RJR Nabisco, the parent of the second-biggest U.S. tobaccocompany, is cutting 3,900 more tobacco jobs worldwide, or 15.7percent of its cigarette work force. RJR's cigarette brands includeWinston and Camel.

The cuts announced Monday include about 1,000 jobs in the UnitedStates, where fewer cigarettes are expected to be sold following lastmonth's price increase of 45 cents per pack - a result of theindustry's $206 billion settlement with the states over healthclaims.The latest cuts are on top of 315 domestic tobacco job cutsannounced last …

BMW takes the wraps off next 6 Series model.(Motoring)

BYLINE: Jesse Adams

HAVING teased us earlier this year with its Gran Coupe concept and more recently with a 6 Series concept at last month's Paris Motor Show, BMW has finally taken the wraps off the new road-going 6 Series and introduced it, unconventionally, as a convertible first.

Though not a huge departure stylistically from the 6 Series we've known in South Africa for the last six years, the new version does get a heavily modernised front-end design and exaggerated lines down its long Grand Tourer body that give it a more toned look than its somewhat bloated predecessor. BMW also points out that the Ferrari-esque fin-design C-pillar that folds up like an origami …

A ladle full of life lessons.(Capital Region)

ALBANY - Ladling out food in a soup kitchen might not be the epiphany some think of, but Tahila Armentano thinks it's changing her life.

Granted, she's just 21, but the senior at the College of Saint Rose found that a week helping the homeless in the nation's capital has her thinking of similar work as her career choice.

"We learned about the justice side, in terms of fairness," she said of the trip to Washington last week with 14 other students from the College of Saint Rose. Armentano, from North Granby, Conn., worked there with So Others Might Eat (SOME), an organization that provides meals, housing, medical care and other services to those who live in …

TROY SCHOOL BOARD CHANGES ROAD PLANS.(Local)

Byline: Tim O'Brien Staff writer

In response to neighbors' concerns, the city school district has revamped plans for roadways into a new School 14 to be built behind the high school complex.

The revised plans were reviewed at a meeting Monday of the schools' Building Committee.

The 34-classroom school is slated to begin construction next spring and to open in September 1992.

Earlier plans had called for an emergency-access road off Tibbits Avenue, which residents had feared cars would use. They also included a large turn- around area for buses that would have cut into existing athletic fields.

The revised plans eliminate the …