Page M14 October 17, 1990. This Week FUTURE SHAPE Live better electronically . . . YOUR GUIDE TO CURRENT & FUTURE HOME APPLIANCES -onsider the numerous applian- ces you and your family have mastered during the past 50 years. Remember almost no household appliances ex- isted 50 years ago. Some ap- pliances have been around less than a decade. Before delving into what you have to train for next, let's look at the latest in home electronics. Almost everyone has a videocassette recorder. But most people have never learned to program them to record the desired shows. The new units make it much easier and it can be done “on screen.” The very latest models also incorporate a “translator.” They record shows simulcast in two languages. By pressing an extra button you hear one language, then Cutting Bench Crimpers Utd. the cutting edge in hair technology HOURS: MON, TUES, SAT: 9-6 WED, THURS, FRI: 9 - 8 : APPOINTMENT NOT Price List All services include ALWAYS NECESSARY shampoo, conditioner, blowdry. SERVING YOU FROM 6 GREATER VICTORIA LOCATIONS 2616 Jacklin Rd. .....4 74-3241 | 9 | 1845 Fort St 90-2423 | 103-300 Gorge Rd. 361-4948 15 Esquimalt Rd..380-1838 Gateway Village.....381-3351 Mariner Village Mall...6 56-0752 LIONS CLUB 3 8 | PRIZES, BAZAAR CHINESE PAGEANT ENTERTAINMENT, AUCTION 35 VICTORIA CHINATOWN Saturday, October 20th, 1990 12:00 noon to 10:00 pm Central Junior Secondary School ( \ ALL PROCEEDS TO 0 LOCAL CHARITIES ADMISSION $2.00 Official Sponsor of This Event HongKong Bank of Canada <> another. Or, if you want, both simultaneously. This is how the Japanese are now learning English. TVs are everywhere today but large screens are coming on strong. They will soon be a “must,” to fitinto your new home entertainment, information and educational centre. Alarge num- ber of channels is not that far away. This year saw the intro- duction of Mattel’s “Power Glove.” Modified, this computer terminal will allow viewers — via computers — to handle shop- ping, banking, stock market manipulations and select a sad, happy or boring ending for favorite soap operas. To be current with the new " global picture, better build into your budget a good shortwave radio. They are no longer the crackly, static radios of the past. Today you punch in the digital frequency and get instant Cairo. The price range is around $200. If you always wondered what those Morse Code signals were saying, nows the time to buy. Morse-a-Word receivers will pick up the signal, translate it into English and flash it along a reader board for you to see. Software programs that do the same thing are available that work with home computers. For your musical system, a stereo enhancer, equalizer, or real time spectrum analyzer ($100 each) will give you more of those flashing lights and en- hanced sound. Both phones, standard or cordless, can be hooked up to your stereo system so you can really hear from your friends. If you haven't yet purchased a compact disc (CD) player, go for the latest. The CD-ROM (Com- pact Disc-Read Only Memory) not only plays great digital sound but can deliver, for ex- ample, all the famous art works from the Louvre in Paris, the complete works of NASA, the 15 billion year history of the world or 20 volumes of the Grolier En- cyclopedia — all on one side of the common 4.5-inch CD. A library on a disc. The new way to go. Prices are dropping fast. About $1,000 if you look around. What does the future hold? Later this year expect “Micro- TV” for the home computer. The ability to “frame-grab” a single picture from TV, freeze it and include in a computer print-out. Ifyour electronic mail is discuss- ing the Berlin Wall, include a picture of it in that letter to mother. You don’t have to be everywhere anymore just to take a picture. Later on: Full-time video on the computer screen as com- pression transmission allows real time video to be transmitted over present household copper phone cable. It will carry crunched information that ex- _ _e Drlomorrow* pes LS By FRANK OGDEN pands once it hits a computer. Satellite dishes using the new frequencies are now broadcast- ing in Japan. They carry thenew High Definition TV (HDTV) with 1,125 lines of resolution. Crystal clear pictures. Your present home TV shows 525 lines (when it's new and you're living next door to the transmit- ter). Present dish size about that of a fibreglass cafeteria serving tray. Other frequencies now in the test stage will deliver a dish the size of a Thanksgiving din- ner plate. Later still, the size of a saucer. Much later with holographic projectors, similar to the big- screen projectors, TV stars will e come right out of the screen. Larger than life. To match the # new prices. Bigger than most of us can afford, at least for the first few years. Plan on watching it occasionally at the local pub. Computers and regular TV are merging paths. The computer may win out because of greater versatility. Never mind which wins the race — in the dramatic changes that are going to be here in the future, it is going to make whatever you have now look like the original Philco radio. All this is before everything switches to photons, carried by light, not by electricity. The future is capital intensive. Start saving now.