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REVIEW
FIVE WIDGETS
Akura Coca Cola can TV, £280
Okay, so it's not going to win any prizes for good taste
(most people prefer Pepsi...), but the kids will love it. Akura make a habit of
stuffing consumer electronics products inside giant plastic cola cans, remember
the mini hi-fi? This is a far better deal, the 14-inch telly actually works
quite well. The picture is crisp and bright, moreover the sound is piped
through a largish speaker in the base of the can, so there's a fair bit of bass
for a change. It's a fairly basic design though there's a few convenience
features, including remote control, an on-screen display and a sleep timer.
There's space under the TV for a VCR, Akura have one that will fit for another
£260. Apart from the iffy door catches, which spring open every so often on
their own, it works well and looks great. Come on, it's fun, ideal for the kids
bedroom; stop laughing, you know you want one...
Value for money 75%
Akura UK Ltd., (01786) 447654
Goodmans Magic Mic £30
Nobody laugh at your jokes anymore? That's sad. Sadder
still, for just £30 you can get all the laughter you want, along with applause,
rhythm accompaniment, comical voice tracks and a whole lot more. The Goodmans
Magic Mic looks like an ordinary stick microphone, apart from the bulge in the
neck for the controls and batteries. It plugs into the mic socket on any hi-fi
amplifier or karaoke system. The best bit is the voice changer, controlled from
a pair of buttons on the side. This raises or lowers the pitch of the users
voice, so you can 'sound like a chipmunk, or Darth Vader', and you do too...
There's also a set of three pre-set rhythms, four 'zany' voices saying 'make my
day' 'I'll be back' 'oh yeah' and 'get down', laughter and applause buttons,
plus a choice of bass drum, crash symbol. For 'MC's, landlords, comedians and
endless fun at parties' according to the box, that sounds about right...
Value for money 90%
Goodmans (01705) 673763
Magellan GPS 2000, £200
US military satellites, called the global positioning system
(GPS), transmit coded signals that can
be processed by special receivers to provide an instant location fix almost
anywhere on the planet. The Magellan
GPS 2000 is a civilian GPS receiver, it's not as precise as the military units,
which are accurate to a metre or so, nevertheless it will tell you where you
are, to within ten or so metres, which is good enough for most people, who
don't need to target bombs or shells. It's also cheap, just £200, a fifth of
the price of previous GPS receivers, and a fraction of the cost of military
systems. It's small too, about the same shape and size as a cellphone. Once
programmed the large LCD display shows latitude, longitude and altitude, (so
you'll need a map as well), where you've
been, and even which direction to go, if it
knows your destination. It's quick, simple, extremely accurate and just
the job if you're an outdoor type who doesn't want to get lost.
Value for money 95%
Next Destination, telephone (01722) 410800
Philex 8-Way Universal Remote Control £35
Poxy remotes! Aren't they supposed to make our lives easier?
It doesn't take long to build up an enormous collection, then the damn things
go missing, the dog chews them up, the batteries go flat or you spill one tiny
drop of coffee on the keyboard and they pack up! The Philex Universal remote
won't solve all those problems, but it might help by getting rid of two or
three handsets. It's programmed with the infra-red control codes for scores of
TVs, video recorders, satellite receivers and cable boxes. The controls are
organised into 4 banks (TV, VCR SAT, AUX), with another four banks selected
using a shift button. The buttons are big, well-spaced and clearly labelled.
It's reasonably easy to program, provided your equipment is included in the
command library (we found at least one recent TV that wasn't), otherwise you're
stuck as there's no learning facility, and it doesn't cover AV products, like
amps, processors or laserdisc players, though Philex have another one that
does.
Value for money 80%
Philex plc, telephone 0181-202 1717
Swatch The Beep, £120
This has to be the wackiest Swatch yet. The Beep -- there
are six designs to choose from -- looks like an overgrown wristwatch, and it
does tell the time, but it's actually the world's smallest radio pager. The
12-character LCD display in the middle of the face shows messages up to 20
characters long. It will store up to ten messages at a time, and important
messages can be stored permanently. Unlike a cellphone, once you've brought it
there are no extra charges. Swatch have done a deal with BT so that the caller
pays for the service, each message sent costs them 25 pence. Wires set into the
face of the watch act as an aerial. When it receives a message it bleeps for ten
seconds, and a 'new' symbol flashes on the display, until it has been
cancelled, by pressing the 'winder' crown. A fun alternative to ordinary black
box pagers, and a whole lot cheaper to run than a cellphone.
Value for money 85%
Available from Swatch Store, BT Phone Shops, Carphone
Warehouse, Curry's Dixons etc.
Tech Link Sound Source Selector £20
It's not what you would call exciting but the Tech Link TAS1
2-way Sound Source Selector has its uses. Basically it's a small black box with
a big black knob. There's a set of suckers on the base, to stop it sliding
around. On the back there's what appears to be a 12-way electrical terminal
block, probably because that's what it is. The idea is that one set of stereo
speakers can be run from two output devices, an AV amp or a TV, say, so you
don't have to mess around with cables and plugs. It sounds like a good idea,
and it works well enough, though we're a little concerned about a couple of
points. Some amplifiers do not like being left unconnected to a load (the
speakers), and speakers could be damaged if, for instance, the volume had been
set high before switch-over. Apart from that...
Value for money 80%
Tech-Link 0181-771 8388
CONCLUSION
Poser value Swatch The Beep
Best for small kids Coca Cola TV
Best for big kids Magellan GPS 2000
Better to give? Goodmans Magic Mic
Better to receive? Philex
remote
---end---
( R. Maybury 1995 2010
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