Hot Flashes

Do you beep here often ?

Computer-dating services have scored well over the past few years, but it is difficult to take an electronic matchmaker into the street or to clubs to check out chance encounters. No longer. A Paris specialty-electronics firm called Promotions et Qualite has developed a device known as "le Flashing." The cigarette pack-size gadget fits inside a shirt pocket or purse and beeps insistently when it comes within ten feet of someone carrying another Flashing that has been tuned to the same frequency.

Not only does the signal promise to do away with opening lines and rejections, it may prevent gender gaffes. Four available wave lengths identify a bearer as being heterosexual, male or female homosexual, or interested in swapping partners with another couple. What if the Flashingee is only a 2 on a scale of 10? Easy, says Carmela Brunet, the 1959 Miss Germany who is the owner of Promotions et Qualite "Just turn off your machine until he is out of range."

Since they first became available last spring in Paris variety stores and through newspaper ads, about 1,000 beepers have been sold. The purchasers range from boulevardiers to business executives. "You get the most sophisticated people," says Brunet, "and the most timid little men." Americans can soon tune in. Within a few months Flashings will be offered in Los Angeles singles clubs and through ads. Price: $110. As in Paris, buyers will also receive a hot-line number that they can call to learn where their Flashings are most likely to beep. Brunet is undaunted by Los Angeles' reputation as a sexual smorgasbord. The number of Flashing frequencies, she says, can be expanded almost indefinitely.