Rugged and Ready

Jessie Atkin posted a new blog on Digital Landing. Read about the new digital camera that won't break without trying.

Digital camera’s are everywhere now (obviously) but, as with any camera, there pretty expensive and pretty fragile. Unless you get the kid friendly little tikes types odds are your camera will not survive a tumble down the stairs.

That’s why the Canon PowerShot D1 is a fantastic upgrade. It’s Canon’s first point and shoot with rugged capabilities (like being able to be submerged, dropped, freeze, to a point, and survive). Still with 3x zoom and 12 megapixels you’re not sacrificing quality, and as always it’s sleek and cool looking. Supposedly interchangeable face plates will also be offered with the D1 so you can customize your look.

$329 is pricey, but not out of range for the camera type and lets be honest, in the long run not having to pay for fixes and repairs may help the camera pay for itself.

Traveling Music

Jessie Atkin posted a blog on Digital Landing. Read about the new music balloon, another portable mp3 player.

It’s another portable speaker, but this one is attempting to be especially fashion friendly, and cute.

The music balloon (currently only available by order from Japan) is a portable speaker that looks like a clowns nose attached to a white wire. It’s simple in that all you need to do is plug the speaker into any headphone jack and you have music. Let it dangle, swing, whatever, as you listen without the aid of headphones.

The music balloon comes in any of five different colors for personalization and added cuteness. But this speaker may have to stay in Japan and stay cute for the almost ridiculously high price of $80.

Battery Fashion

Jessie Atkin posted a blog on Digital Landing. Read about the new wristband that can charge your gadgets on the go.

So battery life has definitely improved in recent years where my favorite portable gadgets are concerned, but the number of gadgets I have has increased as well. Sometimes I just don’t remember ot charge everything I’m going to need the next day.

That’s where the Wrist Band Portable Battery comes in. The names says it all. It’s a battery pack you wear like a cuff, and it can supply power to all your extra portable gadgets. It’s a li ion battery itself, and comes with connection adapters for all your basics (cell, MP3 player, etc. etc)

I don’t know how convenient it will be to travel around with all the adapters, but the band itself could be a lot uglier, and comes with a sweet light display so you know how much juice your portable juicer has left (even if it can be a toss up with your other gadgets).

In Air Entertainment

Jessie Atkin posted a blog on Digital Landing! Read about the little invention that makes flying in airplanes that much more comfortable.

Despite technological leaps forward in recent years no ones seems to have come up with any good solutions to lack of leg room (and all other sorts of room) while flying. At least someone’s trying to help you use that lack of space accordingly.

The iFlyz is a “personal media station” that you can buy for $30 online. It’s basically a clip, flexible neck, and suction cup put together. The idea is to clip the neck to a tray table and then suction whichever gadget you’d like to use/view hands free to the other end. Not very high tech, I know. But how much easier will it be to watch movies on your ipod without having to hold the thing up and jostle your seat mate for the middle arm rest?

Feeling adventurous?

Chris McGinn posted a blog on Digital Landing! Read about how you can learn to cook foreign foods at home.

OK so maybe you can’t afford to travel around the world, but you can eat around the world from home with Destination Dinners.

This innovative company will send you a package with the authentic spices and sauces needed to cook up to four servings of international dishes such as

In addition each kit includes a shopping list for fresh ingredients, cooking instructions and cultural information about the place the recipe is from.

Current destinations include:

New Orleans, USA Creole Style Jambalaya

Boston Beach, Jamaica — Jerk Chicken & Shrimp Barbecue

Beirut, Lebanon — Kibbeh bil-Saneeyeh, Baked Spiced Lamb

Haifa, Israel — Falafel with Hellfire Harissa Sauce and Chickpea Croquets with Hot Sauce

Kyoto, Japan — Saikyo Miso, Black Cod in Miso Marinade

Tokyo, Japan — Katsudon, Pork Cutlet and Egg Rice Bowl

Dhaka, Bangladesh — Chicken Garam Masala, Chicken with Warming Spices

Bangkok, Thailand — Khao Ob Sapparod, Baked Pineapple Rice with Chicken and Cashews

Ayutthaya, Thailand — Kaeng Khiaw-Waan Kai and Kanom Tuay Foo, Green Chicken Curry with Puffy Cups

Seoul, South Korea — Bulgogi, Marinated Fire Meat

Destination Dinners recipe kits are $25 and are currently only sold online.

Travel Tech for Less

Chris McGinn posted a new blog on Digital Landing! Read about new electronics that are convenient for travelers.

Travelers will have some cool new gadgets to help them out this year as previewed at the Travel Good Show this week in Las Vegas.

MSNBC’s travel writer Rob Lovitt profiled a few pieces for under $50, including a take-with-you digital scale to avoid egregious charges for over-limit bags and an alarm to warn you if your luggage leaves without you.

Another favorite is the e-Solar Charger ($49.95) from Everlite that lets you charge cell phones, iPods or digital cameras via power from the sun.

My sister-in-law travels A LOT for work. I may have to look into something from this list for her next gift.

Music on the Brain

Jessie Atkin posted a blog up on Digital Landing. Read about the all new iCap for your music-on-the-go needs.

You can’t carry a boom box on your shoulder anymore, every type of music i pocket sized now, but that doesn’t mean you can’t show off your musical taste anyway.

The iCap it a hat, baseball hat to be exact, that has two speakers contained not so discreetly in the brim. Download your favorite songs onto the built in MP3 player and you can listen to your favorite songs on the go in a whole new way. Everyone around you can listen too. (for $99 to $119).

I don’t think that hat’s attractive or necessary, but hey, fashion is unpredictable.

Communicating on the Fly

Jessie Atkin posted a blog up on Digital Landing. Read about how you may soon be able to use your phone to communicate while on a plane, through texting!

So, all this hype over cell phone use on airplanes, I haven’t been too excited to be honest. Why do I want to be in an overly cramped space, with overly crabby people, and then get stuck listening to someone yap about work or the weather for a million hours?

Well, British Airways has come up with a way to please everyone. You don’t have to talk in this day and age to stay in touch, so they’re going to initiate a trial one of in flight texting. That’s right, phone conversation’s younger brother. That way everyone can gripe about the horrible trip without making it more horrible for the person next to them.

I see it as a win win situation, as long as people know enough texting edict to keep their elbows out of other people’s personal space.

Beam Me Up

Jessie Atkin posted a blog on Digital Landing! Read about the latest advances in teleportation.

Star Trek hits theaters on May 8, but teleportation has beat this reincarnation into the real world (sort of).

A team at the University of Maryland has teleported information one meter from one atom to another. What information and how they did this is beyond my understanding (since I have little, actually no background in quantum mechanics). But I know enough to be excited by the possibilities.

It’s been said that the information didn’t move, it disappeared from one atom and then appeared at the other. Sounds good enough to me (even if it’s only atoms, and even if it’s only one meter) It’s gonna be awhile before anyone can get “beamed up” but a start is a start.

Wi-Fly

Chris McGinn posted a blog on Digital Landing. Read about how you can search for places with wi-fi for you to use.

Are you traveling this holiday? Be sure to check out this site to find out which airports have free wi-fi for travelers. When you are on the go and especially if you have long layovers, you’ll love having the freedom to use your wi-fi. Also, if you are still looking for some good gift ideas, remember to check out our Wi-Fi gadget ideas.

Found via Real Simple’s awesome holiday blogathon.