In computer news this week, 05/23/2000

In computer news this week, 08/02/01

James Bond, eat your heart out - again ! I thought my Timex watch was cool because it talks to my computer - but now they've got one that talks to the internet.

When I was a kid I loved Detective Dick Tracy comics, and his 2-way wrist radio watch. In the 1970's I was watching a James Bond movie and he had a wristwatch that had an alarm in it, to tell him when it was time to blow something up. I've always been into electronic gadgets, and since then I've had just about every new electronic watch that comes on the market. I had one with alarms, one with a calculator, one that you could play space invaders on. Then when the running craze hit, I had runners watches that had alarms and stopwatches that could measure laps and total time, and even sound an alarm near the end of the run to tell you to speed up if you wanted to break your personal record.

I played around with watches in the 1980's that you could hook up to your computer, but they were slow, used cables, and didn't have much memory. I also played with the credit card size electronic directory devices, but they didn't meet my needs either.

Electronic watches are, of course, microprocessor based, which is why we can legally discuss them on Raw Bytes, a computer show.

I bought a Timex datalink watch a couple years ago for only $ 49 and it was the best gadget watch I've had so far.

As a watch, it's great. It keeps standard or military time in 2 time zones, has a night light, and a stopwatch that counts up to 50 laps. Then it has 5 countdown times, which is really nice. You can also label each countdown timer, so I have toast -2 minutes, Raw Bytes - 3:00 , running - 5:05 - for pulse checks, and 2 others I set for parking meters and other things.

Then it has ten - count 'em - ten alarms you can set and label. I'm in alarm heaven. You can set them for a specific day and time also and label them so when they go off you can look and see what you're supposed to do.

It also comes with very good software, that lets you set everything on your watch from your computer, as opposed to having to push tiny buttons. They also provide an excellent interactive computer tutorial on how to use it, so you don't have to read the book that comes with it. Gee - just like the computer world.

And it has a special software designed for Microsoft Outlook so you can download contacts and appointments to your watch - No cables either - you just hold your watch up to your computer monitor and it sends the data right to it from the screen. The monitor flashes in kind of a Star Trek scenario; your watch beeps when the data transfer is completed, and you can shout "Beam me up, Scotty !" as your fascinated office mates watching you wonder if you're going to disappear into the computer

But wait - now there's more ...

Their newest model - the Internet Messenger - has all these features - plus it talks to the Internet - "From Web to Wrist" as their ad slogan says. It can actually receive email, news, and special updates from the internet, tied into the Yahoo site. And it's also a pager so you can receive phone messages in text format.

The new Timex Internet Messenger watch retails for $ 119, and of course the Skytel pager service is a monthly fee on top of that.

But it's so cool !!! Even Dick Tracy's watch couldn't do all this !!!.

For Raw Bytes, this is Frank Delaney

POB 222

Spangle, WA 99031

(509) 245-3736

fdspokane@aol.com