There's No Getting Away From It All Anymore

My scientist dad used to work all the time, but when it came to family vacations, he would put aside the test tubes, 500-page reports, and legal pads, and make time for us. Of course, during the '70s and '80s, he didn't have a lot of options for engaging in business except maybe using the overpriced hotel telephone.

In a recent poll of 640 people by the Opinion Research Corporation, 43 percent of people surveyed said that they work while they're on vacation (in 1995, that number was 23 percent).

Obviously, technology is enabling this. Of those surveyed, 41 percent said that laptops were the number one tool for getting work done on vacation, followed by the cell phone. Personally, I think it sucks. Even if you spend just 30 minutes a day checking e-mail while vacationing (something I'm definitely guilty of), it becomes impossible to remove yourself from the stress and issues associated with your job. I'm all for technology--the ability to get information any time, anywhere--but sometimes I wish I could be a little less connected to it all.

Cathy Lu

Canadian Company Creates Electronic Bikini

Fashion only occasionally intersects with our work here at Digital World--digital gear is usually too bulky or too dorky to wear--but that doesn't seem to be the case with Ottawa-based Solestrom's shiny $190 bikini. The SmartSwim UV Meter Bikini's "smart fabric" is connected to an LCD display, which tells you if you've been out in the sun too long. Here's more about "smart" clothing.

Emru Townsend

Splash-Resistant Sanyo Cam Records to iPod

Sanyo has just unveiled the $399 CA6, the latest of the company's flash-based digital media camcorders. Its two most notable features are that it's splash-resistant--meaning it can withstand a little ocean spray, though you still can't get footage of your underwater dives--and that it can capture low-res, full-motion MPEG-4 video for iPods, PlayStation Portables, and other handheld media players. The CA6 goes on sale in August.

Emru Townsend

Short Takes

Get Your Run On: Back in May we told you about Apple and Nike's sport kit. It's now for sale online at the Apple Store. There are two components to the kit: a wireless sensor that goes in your shoe, and a receiver that attaches to your iPod's dock connector. Start moving and the sensor tracks your time, distance, pace, and calories burned, reporting that information back to you through your headphones. The kit costs only $29, but you might end up spending a lot more than that to ensure that you can use it. In order to work, the kit requires a special pair of Nike+ shoes, and it only works with an iPod Nano.

Cathy Lu

Take Pictures From Your Frisbee: Introducing a whole new way to watch Ultimate: Royal College of Art grad Adam Sutcliffe wondered what it would be like to see flight from a frisbee's point of view, so he built a camera to find out. The Catchu Camera is a solid-state video camera built into a frisbee that can record up to 20 minutes of broadcast-quality video (I presume that means PAL broadcast, 720x576 at 25 fps). That fin on the top is a vane that keeps the camera oriented in the direction of flight at all times. The Catchu Camera isn't available for sale yet, but Sutcliffe estimates that it will cost around $83.

Emru Townsend

Be sure to visit the Digital World blog often to keep up-to-date on the latest high-tech gadgets and cool software.