Videos On The Go

By Anita Hamilton

Looking for another way to keep the kids from driving you nuts on those long summer road trips? Hasbro's new VideoNow might occupy them for a while. The $50 portable gadget plays 30-min. videodiscs ($7.99 each) with excerpts from popular shows like American Idol, SpongeBob SquarePants and Jimmy Neutron. It runs on a pair of AA batteries that should last for seven hours. And if the videos get too noisy, the kids can plug in a pair of earphones. It's a nice idea, but the tiny black-and-white screen is a disappointment. --A.H.