Halloween Goes High-Tech
CHICAGO (CBS) - When we were young, our parents didn't even send us out with flashlights at Halloween.
Now, some moms and dads are turning to technology so advanced it's what keeps our soldiers safe.
Thankfully, there are some new, high-tech ways to keep your children safe at night, on Oct. 31 or any other time of year.
Laura Hart lives in what she considers a pretty safe neighborhood, but is still anxious about her kids, especially if they're out after dark.
So, she likes gadgets like night-vision goggles that help her son see in the dark and helps others see him.
They are just one of many new high-tech gadgets. According to CNET's Dan Ackerman, there are now brand-new devices for safety and updates to replace age-old ones.
Remember reflector tape? Now, it's not tape anymore. There are now snap-on bracelets and Velcro armbands with red lights.
There are even strobes for kids and flashlights of the past have also been updated with L.E.D. lights.
"They run a really long time on a battery charge. They don't really get warm, and they can be very, very tiny," Ackerman said.
Say they're out in a different neighborhood and don't know their way around. There is now kid-friendly handheld GPS to help. And today's devices can do a lot more than keep them from getting lost.
"There's a basic Web browser built in, there's a digital camera built-in, you can even do email from it," Ackerman said. "So it really covers the bases of things you're going to want to do if you're out wandering around."
If your child has a cell phone, you can keep track of them from home by downloading a special app.
Laura Hart says that she's for anything that gives her piece of mind.
"I have a tendency to be a little bit of a worrier with my children when they're not at home," she says.
One safety issue always brought up around Halloween: safe candy.
Many hospitals used to offer to X-ray trick or treat candy, but most have since stopped, citing fears of liability lawsuits in case children were harmed by X-rayed candy.
The American Association of Poison Control noted that X-rays only detect foreign bodies such as metals in food 14 percent of the time and cannot detect poison.
