Few people have heard of it, yet many consider John Blankenbaker's KENBAK-1 to be the first commercial personal computer.
Seiko Frequency Wristwatch Drum Machine
By James Grahame
At some point in the early 1980s, watch manufacturers ran out of sensible new features to incorporate into watches. They'd already tried calculators, radios, cigarette lighters and even TV sets to get the attention of an increasingly jaded public. Rather than give up, Seiko chose to think outside the box. Way outside.
One can only imagine the sake-fueled club hopping that led to the development of the Seiko Frequency. This odd little device incorporated a speaker and six drum patterns, "created solely for watch by popular music producer Tetsuya Komuro," along with two metronome modes (one audible, one visual), an alarm function that played one of the six drum patterns or just beeped, and an EL backlight for checking the time while basking onstage in front of your adoring fans.
The Frequency wasn't marketed in North America or Europe, which is probably for the best. There are currently several on eBay, although they're anything but sensibly priced. [via Matrixsynth]
