WE'VE all been there. The moment when you realise your car has got a flat tyre. Inevitably, you are miles from the nearest phone box and the spare is useless. Oh, and it's probably raining.

A new gadget from a company called SmarTire aims to make that scenario a thing of the past.

The company has developed a tyre pressure monitoring system linked to a small LCD display which alerts you the moment a fall in air pressure is detected.

If you're so dozy as not to see the warning it sounds a buzz to you wake you up to the fact that you may have picked up a slow puncture.

The unit also has the option of displaying the pressure and temperature of each tyre.

The sensors are fitted to the inside of the steel rim. SmarTire boffins have worked overtime to come up with sensors small enough not to disturb the delicate balance of tyres on alloy wheels.

Morgan was so impressed by the system that it has licensed the technology for its new Aero 8 sportscar.

Ordinary motorists can buy into the SmarTire warning system from as little as £200 (about the cost of a call-out and towing fee if you get a flat on the motorway). Note, however, that you may have to switch tyre brands at the same time.

For more information call SmarTire on 0208 858 5771.

THINKING about buying a DVD player? Well hold on a minute because the humble video isn't finished just yet.

JVC, the inventor of VHS, has recently unveiled its answer to home record prayers - the digital VHS machine.

Boasting twice the picture resolution of a standard DVD player, the new D-VHS can record just like your 20 year old Ferguson Video Star. It can also use traditional videocassettes, although doing so would rather defeat the point of splashing out on such a swish piece of kit.

Impressive as D-VHS is, most pundits reckon JVC may be too late. The player costs several thousand pounds, the tapes are nearly £50 a go and the resolution is so high none of the tellies at your local Dixons will be able to show the results. By the time these problems are overcome, we'll all be using recordable DVDs.

MOST new PCs sold on the high street nowadays come with the latest version of Windows, the Millennium Edition, or ME for short.

Buyers used to good old Windows 95 will be in for a shock. The operating system looks and feels much different.

The instruction booklets that come with a copy of Windows ME are laughable. A new tome from Que Publishing aims to take the mystique out of the new operating system.

It's called Using Windows ME and it really does tell you everything you need to know, plus a lot you don't about the system that's powering your new computer. At 850 pages long, if you can't find it here, an explanation hasn't been written.

The book (which costs £28.99) comes bundled with a useful CD that's packed with utilities to get you off to a good start.

To order Using Windows ME, contact Computer Bookshop at www.compbook.co.uk or contact them at 205 Formans Road, Sparkhill, Birmingham B11 3AX.