Let there be light.

• Position: What's New? - Battery-powered lights from Zelco Industries Inc. - Brief Article

* Students who have to take notes in a dimly lit lecture hall or toil into the wee hours in their dorm rooms as roommates are trying to sleep share a common need--sufficient light to be able to write, read, etc. Laptop computer users have a similar problem, especially when they want to illuminate peripheral notes, references, and manuals. Zelco Industries Inc., Mt. Vernon, N.Y., has a couple of products that can provide solutions.

Folio, the Lighted Clipboard Bookstand ($40) virtually describes itself. Made from high-impact plastic in translucent blue, gray, or silver, it has a clip to hold a notepad or papers when the lid is down. Swing the lid open, and it becomes a multiposition bookstand, with adjustable page-holders at the base and an extra-bright extendable booklight tucked into the lid's side. There are storage compartments in the front (for pens, pencils, paperclips, what have you) and another at the side that holds a notepad (enclosed with the device). The light operates on four AA batteries (these are not enclosed, alas) or can be used with a jack for an...