nightly

When I served in the U.S. Army back in the waning days of the Cold War, about the only battery-operated equipment I needed to worry about taking into the field was the standard-issue L-shaped flashlight, the one with the red lens we needed to swap in to reduce the risk of (a) night blindness and (b) giving away our position to the bad guys.

Things are a lot different now. While the Army is still a long ways off from its Land Warrior, Future Combat Systems and related "every soldier a sensor" goals, today's GIs pack … Read more

GopherNow is a simple mashup--mix maps with store hours to help people find eating establishments that are open or delivering late. The service is aimed mainly at teenagers and college students, but for many, the long days of summer can bring unexpected late eating.

Users can search by keyword and location, and a Google map will show up with various restaurants, listing their hours, delivery availability, and for a select few--complete menus. If a restaurant is missing, users can add it in, along with their personal review.

Yelp actually added a similar feature early last month that lets you filter … Read more

You'd think catching movie pirates would be as easy as preventing anyone with a camcorder from entering a movie theater. Or throwing a net over Johnny Depp's house.

Instead, Malaysian theater workers are employing a high-tech strategy. According to a Reuters report, the Motion Picture Association is training Malaysian theater workers to strap on night-vision goggles to catch pirates in the act of filming.

And it's working. In the past two months, 17 illegal movie-tapers have been caught by begoggled Malaysian ushers.

Could New York City be the next test bed for the night-vision goggle probe? According … Read more

We're no experts on night-vision technology, especially under water, but this is one item that seems to have extremely limited utility. As far as we can tell, the "Marine 2" scope is a waterproof device that provides night vision but with only 2x magnification and apparently no camera.

So unless you're in dire need of doing crossword puzzles or reading something up-close in the pitch-dark seas, we're not quite sure why anyone would want to spend 295 pounds (about $588) for one of these Spycatcher gadgets. Moreover, if this is meant to be a covert … Read more

If you're a parent like us, you may have discovered a couple of dirty little secrets: Diaper Genies break and most baby monitors suck. We can't offer much about the first issue, but we're told that the second is making some significant advances.

U.K.-based Digitally Fresh, for example, has combined a video monitor and a wireless Webcam so that you can watch your precious creations as well as listen for them from anywhere in the house, according to Gearlog. But the best part? It has a night-vision camera so you make sure they're not … Read more

So let's get this straight: Night-vision devices are supposed to help you see things in the dark, like those night dart launchers, right? Not the other way around? That's what we thought, anyway, so we have no idea why anyone would want a "Night Vision WebCam."

This 1.3-megapixel camera has six infra-red LED bulbs "to light any video conversation no matter how dark the conditions may be," Coolest-Gadgets says. Silly us--we would have just turned on a lamp.

Maybe this would be useful in a dorm if you're trying not to wake … Read more

We're resigned to the inexplicable ubiquity of LEDs, especially when they have absolutely no practical use. But we must draw the line when it comes to our children: Why, for example, would anyone want to use LEDs in a night light?

Granted, light-emitting diodes use much less power than standard bulbs, but they're also consistently touted by manufacturers for their ultra-bright illumination. And C. Crane's "LED Night Light" is no exception.

The last time we checked, night lights were generally used to cast a soft glow that allows children to sleep when they're still … Read more

There was an amazing party last Friday at the NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, Calif., celebrating the anniversary of the first human spaceflight, which was made by Russian astronaut Yuri Gagarin. While CNET News.com has already penned a great article on the event, I thought I'd add my two cents on some of the cool gadgets I spotted at the party.

Peter Foucault's drawing robots drew a steady crowd the entire night. These two little robots had Sharpie pens mounted on them and were contained within what looked like a little robot boxing ring. Only … Read more

Just when we've managed to suppress the memory of Silence of the Lambs, another night-vision product comes along to start the nightmares all over again. But out of dedication to all the nocturnal Cravers out there, we'll put aside our fears (temporarily) to mention the "SuperVision" night-vision scope, which is supposedly among the most powerful of its kind on the market with better range and resolution than military-grade scopes, as well as an 8x zoom.

But Electronista says it should be noted that it's a handheld device, not one that can be affixed to your … Read more