Here some stylish new digs for your mouse and stereo

By Jim McGuinn

Gizmos and gadgets first jumped into my mind in the third grade while reading the Weekly Reader publication.

The kid version of The New York Times predicated that our future world would include cars that include cars that wouldn't need roads or tires because they floated on air and television-telephones that would broadcast the caller's voice and picture.

I couldn't wait for the cool cars, but I knew that the TV-phone would put an end to my anonymous inquiring calls to Johnny's Market and Prince Albert being in a can.

Two of my heros were Davy Crockett and Thomas A Edison. �I like Ike,� seemed to be the motto of the decade, but I worshipped Crockett because he wore a raccoon-skin cap just like mine, was the subject of a No. 1 hit pop song, and Walt Disney let him ride for free on those futuristic saucer cars that hovered on air at Disneyland.

Edison was equally cool because he invented the phonograph and also created the electric light bulb so I could stay up late and play "The Ballad of Davy Crockett" after the sun went down.

My subscription to the Weekly Reader was canceled sometime before I entered high school, and I have since relied on the International Consumer Electronics Show to point the way to the future. Held in Las Vegas, Nev., this year's CES trade show introduced the first digital video disc players and new satellite dishes that provided both TV and Internet access.

DVDs will allow you to watch purchased or rented movies in brilliant broadcast-quality digital perfection on your TV. The 5-inch disc format will have mult-language capabilities, multiple camera angle choices and the ability to view a movie with more than one rating.

This means that you could show your parents or child a G-rated versions of the R-rated "Pulp Fiction."

It does not mean that you could show an R-rated version of the G-rated Disney film, "Little Mermaid." Maybe next year.

The DVD is the logical replacement for VCRs but probably won't gain wide acceptance until the recordable models are available in the next two or three years. Internet access from satellites will probably gain faster acceptance as �Net Heads� reject constant busy signals and slow downloading for cleaner, faster and ultimately more expensive satellite service.

Amidst this backdrop of swirling high-grade technology, CES attendees were swept away by two seemingly simply products. The least expensive were computer mouse pads with images from the Beatles' album covers, "Meet The Beatles," "Sgt. Pepper's," "Let It Be" and "Abbey Road."

Each Beatle pad is a collectible limited edition that is individually numbered and sells for $9.99. Designing a product that appeals to ages 6-60, Utah's American Covers, inc. has succeeded in breaking a corporate barrier in allowing an individual's personal music preference to enter the workplace without being heard by co-workers or clients.

The other show-stopper at CES was a unique stereo stand that won the 1997 showcase honor of "International Innovative Design & Engineering Award." Designed and manufactured by Volkmar Drubbisch of Particular Contemporary Designs of San Francisco, the stand is a marriage of precise calibrations and functional art.

Confronted with my observation that his stand might look more at home as a line drawing on an early Frank Zappa album, former pharmacist, teacher and scientist Drubbisch admitted it was not his personal choice for his most beautiful creation.

"But women seem to love the combination of metal and wood," he was quick to add. His favorite is his glass and steel stand that sold for $9,000.

He built the "Ypsilon" stand as a tripod to make it aircooled, freestanding, accessible from all sides and to minimize vibration to stereo components. Heat and vibrations are as dangerous to stereo components as alcohol and fast cars are to teen-age boys.

"Ypsilon" is a Greek word for welcome or invitation, and Drubbish created the metal and zebra wood stand to draw people to the beauty, power, and wonder of stereos that have long been regarded as expensive black electronic boxes.

At $2,400, the award-winning stand also has the distinction of being his lowest priced creation and the only model he has put into production.

All his previous works have been one-of-a-kind, hand-picked, customer-built hi-fi furniture models that sell from $6,000 to $16,000.

Well known in the stereo industry for his craftsmanship and high-quality efforts. Drubbisch often works for competing stereo companies. He recently created a stand for the British stereo company Audio Note that will house $750,000 worth of electonics.

Like many other artists, Drubbisch was flattered when counterfeit copies of his beautiful work started showing up in "high end" stereo shops.

"I even gave my permission for these people to photograph my work," admitted Drubbisch.

It wasn't until his wife and accountant convinced him that he was being robbed did the artist become a businessman and seek out international patents.

It's too bad that Drubbisch wasn't a contemporary of Edison and his friend Henry Ford of the Ford Car Co. With Drubbisch's vibration-free tripod design, Edison's phonograph and Ford's car, he could have moved ahead.

Jim McGuinn has owned and operated Hot Popp in Walla Walla since Nov. 5, 1973.