TIME is a wonderful thing but we never seem to have enough of it. A new family of watches from Casio Electronics should help make better use of those precious moments.
First up is the new Wrist Audio MP3 Player, already being touted by Casio as "quite possibly the coolest mobile music player in the world".
This watch has the capability to download MP3 music files from CDs or the Internet via a USB lead from the back of your computer.
With a storage facility of 33 minutes CD, or one hour FM sound quality, this watch has helped take portable music playing further into the 21st Century.
If MP3 music doesn't ring your bell, what about a wrist camera instead?
Designed to appear like an ordinary digital watch, this is an essential piece of apparatus for any budding James Bond.
A simple press of a button transforms the watch face to a digital camera screen with the capacity to record up to 100 black and white images.
These can be manipulated while on the watch or when downloaded onto a PC - just don't expect razor sharp snaps good enough to hand round over Christmas dinner.
For the lazier members of the family, there is the TV Remote Control Watch, which, as well as telling the time, mimics the infra-red beams that control the TV and video, so that you can change the channels and volume on these devices very discretely.
Will you be lucky enough to receive a portable CD for Christmas this year?
For the past five years a hand-held compact disc player has been one of the most popular Christmas gifts given by adults.
In theory, a CD player you can carry anywhere has to be a winner. Cassette-based hand-helds are great, but even the best cannot hold a candle to the sound quality produced by a CD system.
The only problem is movement. Everytime a CD player is jolted the laser beam misses cues. Vital seconds are wasted as the system refocuses on the point at which it was playing before the interruption. Even the best CD personals tend to skip like a poorly maintained record player.
Manufacturers sought to overcome this problem by creating a memory "bucket" - a reserve tank filled with musical information which can be used to fill in split second gaps created by movement. This works until the bucket is empty - at which point the player returns to its old ways. Sony claims its latest range of personal CD players is the first to overcome the problem. The electronic G-Protection System uses three methods to stop a disc skipping. Firstly, a redesigned tracking mechanism makes misalignment due to jogging much less likely. Secondly, an electronic memory buffer has been designed to refill up to ten times faster than conventional memory bucket systems.
Finally, if the buffer does start to run low, a Sony player will speed up the disc rotation - filling it faster and preventing the memory depleting.
I tried the D-610 version of the CD Walkman and the results were impressive. No matter what I did - from pruning trees to riding a bike - the CD refused to jump.
Even shaking the player vigorously for more than a minute failed to stop the music.
The new Sony CD Walkman range with G-Protection starts at around £70 - less if you shop around.
That may sound like a lot when a cheaper system can be had for half the price but there's no use owning a portable CD player if you can only listen to your favourite music while sitting still.
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