Editorial Review

Night Owl's NOTG1 goggles are perfect for both recreational and professional purposes. The head mount provides hands-free use with a face-mounted A-frame design. The goggles have a high-performance 35,000x light amplification and a range of view of 225 feet.

Editorial Review

The NexStar 5 combines deluxe features with Celestron'slegendarySchmidt-Cassegrain optical system to provide amateur astronomers with asophisticated and easy-to-use telescope. It has a 5-inch diameterrefractor, afocal length of 1250mm, a focal ratio of f/10, and one multicoated 25mm(50x)1.25-inch Plossl eyepiece.

After locating just two alignment stars,you'llhave the NexStar 5 up and running. If you are new to astronomy, you maywish tostart off by using the NexStar's built-in sky tour feature, whichcommands theNexStar to find the most interesting objects in the sky andautomatically movesto each one. The experienced will appreciate the comprehensive databaseof over18,000 objects, including customized lists of all the best deep-skyobjects,bright double stars, and variable stars. Here is an example of theactual textfrom the telescope's database as it describes M87: "Elliptical galaxyequal insize to 790 billion solar masses. More than 1,000 globular clusters areknown tosurround this galaxy and it is believed to have a giant black hole atitscenter. Distance: 50 million light years."

The NexStar hasalt-azimuthoperation (no need to polar align). Even if you can't find the locationof twobright alignment stars, NexStar will find them for you using the"go-to" handcontrol that can be mounted on the fork arm for hands-free operation.The handcontrol is fully computerized, and it has red back-illuminated buttonsthat helpretain your night vision. Just enter the date, the time, and yourlocation, andthe NexStar will align itself to the necessary stars. The hand controlincludesa built-in RS-232 communication port allowing you to control theNexStar from acomputer and use popular astronomy software (like The Sky, which isincluded)for point-and-click slewing ability.

Finding objects is easy with theStarPointer finderscope, which is like having a laser pointer that you canshinedirectly onto the night sky. Just align the red dot seen through theStarPointer with the desired star in the sky.

Additional featuresinclude:

Star diagonal--1.25 inches
Visual back--1.25inches
Heavy duty base with rubber feet
RS-232 port tocommunicate with a PC
Nine available slew speeds
Incredible6.5-degrees-per-second slew speed
Powered by standard AC adapter or eight AA batteries (notincluded)

Editorial Review

Perfect for use on the golf range, out in the field, or on a lake, theBushnell Yardage Pro 600 Laser Rangefinder is a lightweight andcompact 4x monocular that accurately measures distances from 21 to 600yards away. The rangefinder is made of durable black plastic with arubberized gripping area, making it easy to hold. To measure adistance, simply put one eye up to the monocular, aim at a target,press and release the fire button on top of the instrument, and waitfor the reading to be displayed inside on the LCD. Your target must beat least 21 yards away or you will get no reading.

There are five different targeting modes easily set by pressing a modebutton also located on top of the rangefinder. The five modes are: 1)standard, for normal conditions; 2) scan, for moving targets; 3)reflective, for highly reflective targets; 4) rain, for readingsduring inclement weather; and 5) zip thru, exclusively for targetsmore than 115 yards away. Most of the time you will probably just wantto use the standard setting.

Infrared energy pulses are emitted from the Yardage Pro 600 when thefire button is pressed. A high-speed clock measures the time it takesthe energy pulses to travel from the rangefinder to the target andback. Using this information, sophisticated circuitry inside the unitinstantaneously calculates the distance to the target. The infraredenergy pulses are eye safe. The color, surface finish, size and shapeof the target all effect reflectivity and range. Brighter colors likered or shinier surfaces on targets allow for a greater range. Lightingconditions and angle to the target can also effect the range.

Editorial Review

Bright and boldly colored, this espresso machine from FrancisFrancis! is for those who relish sleek, modern design in their kitchen and cheerful colors in their decor. Leave it out on the counter, as it's too heavy to move around much. Besides, part of the fun is looking at it. The machine is 10-by-12 inches in overall size and has an instrument panel look on the front: flip switches, pilot lights, and a temperature gauge to allow for more precise temperature control, which helps prevent overheating the espresso. There's also a pull-out drawer in the bottom section to house the drip grill, a removable plastic bin at the back for the water supply, a built-in cappuccino feature, and a circular wire holder on top for warming inverted coffee cups.

This machine is designed for use with prepackaged coffee "pods," specifically Easy Serving Espresso (ESE) pods, or with regular ground coffee--handles for both are included. --Marcie Bovetz

Editorial Review

Voice recognition software often conjures up images of StarTrek or 2001: A Space Odyssey, in which characters holdin-depth conversations and accomplish great tasks with their computers. DragonNaturallySpeaking 5.0 Preferred Edition takes talking to your computer out ofthose science fiction movies and into the world of everyday use. While recentversions of speech-to-text software have resulted in mistake-ridden documentsand overpriced products, NaturallySpeaking 5.0 offers the ability to createwell-written and edited documents, send e-mail, and surf the Web.

In addition to better accuracy, other improvements include the "training period"and vocabularies for teen, adult, and advanced users. After you have chosen theapplicable vocabulary, this training period gives the computer time to get toknow your voice patterns. Instead of a 45-minute training session (as in the 4.0version of this product), NaturallySpeaking 5.0 thankfully only requires up to10 minutes of preparation. The program even offers dictation pointers for thoseof us who enunciate poorly.

One obvious advantage to voice recognition technology is that your hands arefree to hold the telephone or twirl your hair while you dictate. For example,this review actually was written with the program and not with the keyboard--afeat that previously was impossible. The only problem was found when loud noisesoccurred during use (make sure to keep your kids or noisy officemates out of theroom).

Editorial Review

Windows PDAs have long fought an uphill battle. Users have flocked to the highlyfunctional Palm Connected Organizers and tended to ignore the more powerful,more expensive, and bigger Windows PDAs. The release of the new HP Jornada 548,the first among the new Pocket PC devices to hit the market, may finally turnthis around. The Jornada is still a bit bigger, about 5 ounces heavier, and moreexpensive than the Palm Vx. But it is sleek, robust, highly functional, and thecolor screen is beautifully sharp. The "wow" factor is definitelythere.

The Pocket PC OS is also responsive and well thought out--a big improvement overWinCE. In addition to the suite of powerful pocket applications (Word, Excel,Internet Explorer, PIM, and Scheduler), the Jornada can also serve as a digitalvoice recorder (to capture those spur-of-the-moment thoughts), an MP3 player,audible content player, and even an e-books reader.

The standard 32 MB memory is expandable using standard CompactFlash Type Icards. The product ships with a synchronization cradle (which supports USB orconventional serial interfaces), an extra sync cable (so you don't have to takethe cradle everywhere), an AC power adapter, and earbuds. A microphone and asmall speaker are built in. For MP3 use, we recommend expanding your RAM to 64MB with a CompactFlash card to provide an hour of near-CD-quality music.

Most Windows users should be able to run through the setup wizard and startusing the Jornada and its applications without cracking the manual. Learning touse handwriting recognition, which is integrated into all the applications,requires mastering a few special stylus strokes, but you should be writingsmoothly within half an hour. In comparison with Palm's Graffiti system, thePocket PC system is fully on par.

In our tests, setting up a connection to a desktop PC for synchronization wassimple. Within 20 minutes, we had installed the ActiveSync software, hooked upthe supplied cradle to the AC adapter and a USB port on our PC, and establisheda connection. If you have an older PC or laptop, you can also synchronize usinga slower serial connection. Synchronization is automatic and file transfer issimple using the Windows Explorer-like interface.

The only real caveat is that Pocket PC works best in a Windows-centric world. Atlaunch, it appears that there is no support for synchronizing with non-Microsofte-mail and scheduling applications. (With an optional modem or network-interfacecard, you can send and receive Internet POP mail directly via your ISP.)

The choice between Pocket PC and Palm still comes down to tradeoffs. Palms arestill lighter, smaller, and cheaper, and they do the basics beautifully. TheJornada 548 is slightly bigger, 5 ounces heavier, more expensive, but vastlymore powerful and flexible. The choice all depends on what you expect your PDAto do. --Thomas Mace

Pros:

• Handsome, compact design
• Superb color screen
• Ships with 32 MB RAM
• Large application suite
• Easy setup and intuitive interface

• No support for synchronization of non-Microsoft e-mail and schedulingapplications
• 5 ounces heavier than Palm V

Editorial Review

Now you can take your home theater with you--or at least a miniature version of it. The Panasonic DVD-L50 PalmTheater lets you watch DVDs on the road, at a friend's house, or wherever you feel the urge for entertainment.

The DVD-L50 PalmTheater's sleek steel construction looks great and provides added durability. Panasonic has done a great job of miniaturizing both screen and speakers without sacrificing too much quality. The virtual surround sound is impressive for such small speakers, although it definitely leans toward the high end, making some sounds too shrill or tinny. The sound improves drastically with headphones.

The picture is fairly good with an adequate viewing angle to either side--not what you'd get on a TV, of course, but still good enough to sit through for an entire movie. The DVD-L50 lets you choose between 4:3 and 16:9 aspect ratios at the touch of a button. It also offers a zoom mode that lets you fill the screen with a 4:3 picture, although you tend to get a rather pixellated image. (We found that we preferred the smaller but sharper non-zoom mode.)

The DVD-L50 provides video and digital audio outputs and can be hooked up to a larger home-theater setup. It strikes us as a good choice to take to a friend's house to watch DVDs or to use with hotel TVs on trips. It does have about a two-hour battery life, so you could conceivably watch a whole DVD without being hooked up to an AC outlet (on a plane, for instance). You can also use it as a portable CD player, with or without headphones.

Pros:

• World's smallest DVD player with built-in screen
• Virtual surround sound makes for impressive audio
• Bright, sharp screen
• Lightweight (only two pounds)
• Rugged steel construction also looks great

• Speakers make audio a bit shrill