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Bell du Jour
Bang & Olufsen’s BeoTalk 1200 one-ups all the other answering machines around. It speaks out the name of the person calling (50 numbers can be stored in its memory), differentiates between callers and can answer them with any one of three different messages, and can respond to repeated nuisance calls with a busy signal (just program in the numbers). The 1200 delivers all these brainy goods in a system so slim and sleek you’d happily prop it up on your Jean Prouvé desk or hang it on the living-room wall ($250).
BANG & OLUFSEN/952 Madison Avenue, at 75th Street/212-879-6161; and 927 Broadway, near 21st Street/212-388-9792
Running Time
It seems every New York kid is flitting around the city on scooters or skateboards; Timex wants to make certain the peripatetic bunch has an appropriate watch. To that end, the company has come up with a groovy wrist-free timepiece that clips onto sport gear, belt loops, backpacks, whatever. The TMX Clip Watch has an answer function that delivers responses to all sorts of questions at the push of its “?” button; it’s shock-resistant, and has a timer, a date, and an alarm – a plus for parents who can preset it to the hour when they need their progeny back home ($24.99).
TARGET/13505 20th Avenue/College Point,
Queens/718-661-4346
Grab Bag
This tote may look like that Prada bowling bag that was all the rage this spring, but Dianne Benair and Renée Berberette are into function – not just fashion – so it’s a swank computer bag. The sturdy canvas is trimmed in Italian patent leather, and there’s a removable padded-canvas sleeve to protect the laptop and ample room for peripherals as well as such essentials as a makeup case, Palm Pilot, and wallet. The shoulder strap makes gliding through the airport, even with kids in tow, a snap ($225).
FLIGHT 001/96 Greenwich Avenue/212-691-1001
Pretty in Pink
Gerald Nixon admits he suffers from an obsessive-compulsive personality disorder – collecting vintage drinking glasses. It all began when he was a kid in Oklahoma and his mom would drag him to Dairy Queen every night just so she could get a full set of Pepsi glasses. But Nixon’s neurosis is our gain – a fabulous pink-ceilinged, confetti-tiled store called Mr. Pink. Everywhere you look in this visual wonderland are sparkly treasures from the forties to the seventies: Welch’s jelly glasses, syrup banks, Viking vases, Gay Fad Studios hand-painted glassware, and cartoon-character glasses (including the Flintstones and the hard-to-find Swanky Swigs). But there are opaque treats, too, like McCoy pottery, Pyrex-covered refrigerator bowls, FireKing Jadeite restaurant-ware, and Russell Wright ceramics (from $6 for a sixties Breakstone sour-cream glass to $35 for a forties Russell Wright polka-dot glass).
MR. PINK/223 West 16th Street/646-486-4147
Photograph by Carina Salvi.
Mobile Home
Cozy Cottage is that rarity, a dollhouse that’s been meticulously designed for kids. The front door folds down and the roof panels are removable, so little ones – even as young as 2 – can spend hours decorating the bed-, bath-, and living rooms with the sturdy wood furniture and playing with the cloth-and-wood doll family. The cottage has a handle on top and is so neatly compact that youngsters can tote it everywhere ($95).
RAIN OR SHINE GENERAL STORE/202 East 29th Street/ Third floor/212-685-8556
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