The iPhone screen is capacative, meaning that it requires your finger to complete a circuit in order to work. So, by sewing some conductive thread in small patches on the fingers of your gloves (a circle of about 1/4" or 6mm in diameter is recommended) and larger patches on the inside area of the fingertip, you should be able to use your touchscreen with an acceptable degree of accuracy.

Still, I have to imagine that this modification would be useless on anything other than tight-fitting gloves. The thick gloves that actually keep your hands warm would be far too bulky. [Instructables via Lifehacker]

To bypass the gallery format, click here. And no, this is not a holiday gift guide.

OSA PB2 "Less-Lethal" Multipurpose Pistol
Ever since I watched Rosa Klebb trying to kill Bond with her shoe-dagger, I considered the Russians the world experts in tiny hideaway weapons. The PB2 is an eeency-weeency little double-barreled "less-lethal" pistol weighing less than 7 ounces, firing anything from rubber bullets to flares to flashbangs. It's also got a safety and integral laser sights, which can be upgraded to near-Scott-Summers strength on order. Just don't practice on some poor country bumpkin like they did here. [OSA]

DrugWipe by Securetec
The DrugWipe is what makes the customs guys all-knowing. It's a tiny drugtest in a pocket. These plastic sticks can test up to four classes of illegal drugs in a single go. According to Securetec's PR guy, your saliva can give you away 12 hours after doing—or even just being near—cocaine, weed, opium, meth or whathaveyou. All the government grunts have to do is wipe your tongue. Won't open your mouth? They can also swipe your sweat and random stuff you're carrying. [Securetec]

Spy Watch
When I approached the director of a small security/protection company to ask about this normal looking watch, he wouldn't tell me a whole lot. What I managed to squeeze out of him is that although it's normal size, it also records audio and video. Near the 2 o'clock mark you can see a tiny lens, activated by buttons on the side. He wasn't the only cagey guy on the show floor—the guys in a nearby booth forbade me from taking pictures of their micro surveillance gear.

Trikke uPT
The Trikke uPT (ultralight personal transporter) was the funnest (and funniest) thing at the entire expo, and that's saying a lot when you're surrounded by a pirateload of guns. It's an idea so simple, the company's European director, the dark-suited Dutchman whizzing around on it, couldn't figure why his potential buyers would spend any money at all on the wayyyy more expensive Segways parked in the next booth. The uPT is a trike tricked out with a 250-watt electric motor and a 22-mile range lithium-ion battery; it weighs just over 37 pounds. And like that blasted Segway, there are plenty of models to choose from. [Trikke]

RiotBot by Technorobot
The RiotBot is billed by its makers as "the first robot for riot control." It uses a PS3-looking remote controller to zip this PepperBall-equipped metal beast at 12 miles/hour into all kinds of riots. The carbine fires at 700 rounds per minute and can be operated for 2 hours. [Technorobot]

MaxFit Gloves
It's usually next to impossible to do precise tasks with gloves on. Most of the time, your hands move around in the gloves, you can't feel what you're holding and you end up feeling as useless as a eunuch in a whorehouse. But the MaxFit workgloves are fanfriggintastic. They were the thinnest, grippiest workgloves I had ever worn. Their try-out test was having me grip an Armor-All lubed PVC tube, then try to twist it out of my hand—it didn't budge. Unfortunately, though the site advertises that it's good for construction, DIYers and "fall yardwork," I couldn't help but wonder what ulterior activities they were promoting it for at a security show. [MaxFit]

Piexon Guardian Angel
The Guardian Angel is a tiny plastic toy that looks like your niece's water pistol, but it's actually a lightweight, disposable two-shot explosive-propelled pepper-spray gun. The cartridges give it way more range than a spray can. Just don't carry it around in Scandinavia or other places where it's banned, or they'll arrest you for it (like they nearly did with me two months ago). By the way, it's interesting to note that the Piexon website names "liberal politics" as a chief reason for needing more protection these days. [Piexon]

Rimmex 288 Prototype Amphibot
The Rimmex 288 is a prototype amphibious robot that can roll straight into water—streams, rivers and lakes mostly, or just very muddy terrain—and then roll right back out again. Its single arm with 6 degrees of freedom can be swapped with whatever you like—from a gun to an x-ray, apparently, depending on your, uh, objectives. [ROV Developpement]

Apoorva Prasad is a freelance writer and photographer based in Paris, France, who recently covered the Milipol 2009 military-police expo for us. He has a thing for holo-scoped assault rifles, and sounds disappointed when admitting he's never been Tased.

Apple's patent called for an outer layer that could be pulled back to allow the inner layer to touch the device. That inner layer would simulate the electrical charge of a finger when exposed, allowing for operation of the iPhone through fabric. The original patent was filed the day before the iPhone's launch, but never saw the light of day. It's a fine idea, compared to the other workarounds, but still silly enough to have been more embarrassing than useful if released. [AppleInsider]

These gloves are made for wussy American winters. In a real winter, you can't be pulling out your fingers all willy-nilly to decide which Justin Timberlake track you want to bop along to. You make that decision before you leave the house, and goddammit, you stick with it. These gloves are an invitation to lose that iPhone-pointing finger to frostbite. Unless, of course, you live in the south, which I've now come to see as anything below Boston. You confederates will be just fine. [Freehands]

The gloves themselves—the $300 Mountain Hardwear Red Savina and the $260 Outdoor Research PrimoVolta—get charged by being plugged into the wall, and are activated by pressing large obvious buttons on the exterior near the wrist.

Inside, the fabric itself is a layering of power, comfort and thermostatic-control panels:

One layer reads the temperature of every part of your hand like a tightly knit grid, and allocates heat where it's coldest. When the finger gets warm, the heater eases off.

Aevex says it'll have the jacket dilemma solved by 2009, and ditto for boots (or at least socks of some kind. Now, if we can all just try and forget about that whole "exploding lithium-ion battery" thing, I think we've got something. [Aevex via CNet]

• Four fingertip pushbuttons for common functions like push-to-talk
• Index fingertip sensor for map or mouse mode selection
• Lower index finger for switching radio channels
• Pinky fingertip for map zoom or, in mouse mode, mouse-click
• Middle fingertip is "anywhere mouse" trackpad that is engaged when press against a hard surface like a gun or a wall
• Accelerometers in wrist track Wii-like gestures for sending messages, etc.

The glove has been in development for a few years, but has just been taken up by the US Army for testing at the Natick Soldier Systems Center. It's insanely cool, and something with clear real-world applications—and not just for you, Zoltan. But still, I keep wondering exactly how smart it is to make the tip of the index (aka trigger) finger a sensor that's to be used while your holding a gun. No wonder they show it here with a plastic toy instead of a real gun with live ammo. [Technology Review
via KurzweilAI]

There are already plenty of phones on the market targeted towards older individuals that feature big buttons and easy-to-use designs, but the simple Polar mobile phone questions whether companies should go a step further and spend more time designing phones that are climatically or culturally specific. [Design Crack via Make]

Nope, I'm not sure what invagination means either, but I'd sure like to find out. They cost $14.86 from DealExtreme. [DealExtreme via New Launches]

The iGlove, only available in black, certainly serves a purpose, especially if you're the type who often fiddles with the iPod. At $35, it's also $5 cheaper than the iTYWYF gloves. Will the gloves completely change your life? Doubtful, but they could come in handy on these cold winter days. – Nicholas Deleon

Product Page [Marmot via The Red Ferret Journal]

The gloves take in both the nunchuck and the Wiimote into the flaps on the back and cost $22 plus shipping from Hong Kong—a price not at all exorbitant when you think about the added cushioning it'll provide when she accidentally hits you in the face with a backswing. – Jason Chen

Product Page [Golden Shop via Video Games Blogger via Kotaku]

Their new line of gloves has a small mouthpiece for blowing in, and your hot breath gets trapped inside and circulates to the fingers. It's a low-tech yet innovative way of staving off frostbite after you stupidly get lost in the Andes while trying to impress your buddies. –Adam Frucci

Product Page [via Neatorama]

Product Page [iTWYF via SlashGear]

In any case, these Bionic Gloves also have better wrist support, better grip strength, and strategically placed grip pads. Not a bad buy if you're a farmer. – Jason Chen

Product Page [Bionic Gloves via Book of Joe via Sci Fi Tech]

Of course, you could save the 4,830 Yen ($42) and just cut off three fingers from standard gloves, but the fingers on these are re-attachable when you're done shooting. – Jason Chen

Product Page [Axesquin via Impress via Mobile Mag]

We'd all like to be superheroes, but none of us are getting any stronger by sitting our asses in front of our beautiful, baby blog. That's ok — you can follow this instructables.com tutorial to make your own Tazer gloves for $20 dollars worth of rubber gloves, tin foil, some AA batteries, and a disposable camera. Has a 300 volt standard mode, and a supercharged jolt that is "much more painful." – Brian Lam

Tazer Gloves, Video, Instructions, and Photos [ instructables.com ]