Jvc

Looking for a really cool entertainment or productivity gadget to spring on a techie this holiday season? Box up and deliver one of these bright ideas. Super suckers: Here's a wild stocking stuffer - a combination lollipop holder and "bone conduction" music machine that plays sound inside your head when you bite down on the candy. Hasbro's $10 Sound Bites come with three musical themes - Rockin' Guitar, Rockin' Drum and Rockin' Saxophone, plus three special-effects versions - Space Wars, Wacky Toons and Wacky Voices.

Just half a year ago, it seemed that the compact VHS format was on its way to video obscurity. The long-anticipated VHS camcorders that used standard T- 120 and T-160 cassettes were coming to market from all the popular brands and were winning lots of consumer interest. A single tape could provide at least two hours of recording time, as opposed to 20 minutes for compact VHS. Also, the 8mm format had begun to flower. With exciting new home moviemaking products from Sony and VHS, 8mm seemed a compelling option for anyone with an eye on mini-equipment.

You've won at Jeopardy, at least in your mind. You could be a millionaire, if only Regis would call. But if you're a popular music aficionado, the biggest challenge still lies ahead - the Fourth Annual Rhino Musical Aptitude Test (RMAT), happening tomorrow night. This time, for a change, you're guaranteed a seat at the table. Philadelphia is one of five cities where this challenging "Search for the Ultimate Music Geek" will be conducted live - at Tower Records' Broad and Chestnut Streets location - starting at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Artist John Price's home in Wayne is set up with a large video screen, Bose speakers, JVC stereo equipment, and a film theater that doubles as a private art gallery. Price is also 89 years old, is blind in his right eye, and has a detached retina in the left eye. Despite these challenges, Price will exhibit his diverse artwork Thursday at the Arts Scene in West Chester. He will display watercolor paintings and show films that use two very specialized techniques that he says he developed.

All indications are that Paramount Home Video's Ghost is becoming the most popular rental movie of all time, at least in its initial weeks in stores. According to data compiled by Alexander & Associates, a market research firm that tracks rental activity, Ghost racked up 26.84 million "turns," or rentals, between its March 21 debut and the week that ended April 29 (a period that included six weekends). Earlier, after five weekends out, Alexander said Ghost had been rented 21.52 million times, compared with 1989's Batman, which had rented 19.55 million times in its first five weekends.

Santa's elves have a full bag of presents for the high-tech lovers on your shopping list. Let's dig in and explore some possibilities, many priced under $50, all priced under $200. Remotely interesting: Lovers of remote-controlled TVs, VCRs and stereos are also sufferers of remote-control clutter. But there's a better idea - a universal remote control that handles the basic functions of several audio/ video components. A good deal for TV gear integration is the One for All Three Big Easy remote ($30)

TV, TV on the stand, what is the lightest camcorder in all the land? JVC's GR-C9U VideoMovie, a hand-sized VHS-C format video camera and recorder now hitting dealer's shelves, currently claims that distinction - weighing just 2.2 pounds including tape and battery. Next month, however, that model will be matched ounce for ounce by a second generation version of Sony's 8mm Handycam, the CCD-M7U. Both bantamweights are plastic-bodied, record-only models, with optical viewfinders and fixed focus lenses, video equivalents of a Brownie movie camera.

Yes, Bunky, there is another jazz festival, 95 miles north of here as the blue-billed booby flies, and it runs from June 20-29, dovetailing for a couple of days with the flip side of the Mellon Jazzfest, and it is called the JVC Jazz Festival New York. You may remember it as the Kool Jazz Festival or, long before that, the Newport Jazz Festival-New York, for it is the lineal descendant of the original festival at Newport. Which, by the by, was founded 32 years ago this summer - a serial history no longer exalted by the publicity wing of producer George Wein's office.

"I never think of failure. I won't allow that to happen," said Kimberle Levin, a 36-year-old businesswoman. Not so many years ago, Levin was a secretary who had never attended college. Today she is cofounder, president and chief executive of JVC Technologies Inc., a systems integration firm in Plymouth Meeting with about $12 million in annual revenues. JVC provides computer services - setting up networks, and providing systems support and security - for companies such as Ameritech Corp.

Electronics retailers are rarin' to sell you a high-priced insurance policy for your new TV, VCR, audio/video receiver, CD player or tape deck. But by our book, the best insurance deal going is a $2.95 investment in the March 1995 issue of Consumer Reports. This Home Entertainment Guide special not only rates the relative performance and value of audio and video products, but also predicts their long-range durability by brand - using repair information about older models supplied by CR subscribers.