Hotel deals: A new site does the heavy sifting for you

Digital cameras continue to shrink in both size and weight year after year. Clever people are coming up with inventive uses for the smaller devices, especially for travel. For instance, visual artist Jonathan Harris developed a creative way to record his nine-day whale-hunt in Barrow, Alaska, in 2007. He snapped 3,214 photographs in five-minute intervals. His camera snapped images even while he slept, with the assistance of an automated photo-taking device called a chronometer. After his trip, he put the photos together into an online slide show. See the result by visiting his website. "The Whale Hunt."—and don't hesitate to just click around to your favorite parts, skipping the rest. The equipment Harris used two years ago was expensive and cumbersome, but manufacturers are making new cameras that are cheaper and more versatile. Pretty soon, you may be able to buy a camera that lets you perform a similar trick to Harris's. A company called Metascopic is developing a "wearable," lightweight, still-image digital camera that will let you record tens of thousands of pictures a day. The images will be high-resolution and wide-angle, according to a presentation recently given by the company to a panel with technologist Kevin Kelly. The advantage of taking so many images is that whenever there's a priceless moment—such as an encounter with a street performer, a cute animal, or a meteor shower—you can rest assured that the moment will be captured because your camera will be perpetually, noiselessly snapping away. High-speed software will let you quickly fast-forward through the recording of your vacation (or wedding, workday, or whatever else you wish to record). Find the precious moment, and clip it out to share it. In other words, you'll be able to "TiVo" your vacation. Post images of your favorite moments online. Turn it into a mini-video (such as an audio slide show, with your voice-over narrating events). Then, your friends will be able to "annotate" your video clip by posting their comments on it, perhaps using a technology recently purchased by Google and added to selected YouTube videos in a trial period. What do you think? Would you like to have a "perpetual camera" snapping fleeting moments from your vacation?

If you're looking for an affordable hotel stay sometime soon (and who isn't these days?), consider Orbitz's seven-day sale, which started today. Use promo code 20HOTEL, and you'll save 20 percent off your entire booking, no matter how many nights. I found a $44 per room per night rate at a San Francisco Travelodge (close to the airport, but still a good deal) with the discount. Book by Jan. 18 (this Sunday) for travel through Apr. 30, 2009. The 20 percent discount is good only on hotel stays—not vacation packages. Also new at Orbitz is Deal-O-Rama. On the 1st and 15th of every month, Orbitz will post new regional deals, offering a 10 percent discount on hotel stays or $75 off a three-night vacation package. The current deals are for California. PREVIOUSLY Orbitz to automatically refund customers if airfare drops Evaluating Orbitz's policy to refund travelers when fares drop

Chatter about the Playmobil security checkpoint has been floating around the internet for years, but the thing was newish to us, and the comments from the wisenheimers visiting Amazon are too good not to share. A sample: "This toy would be a lot more realistic with about 350 people standing in line for an average of an hour." Or this: "I was a little disappointed when I first bought this item, because the functionality is limited. My 5 year old son pointed out that the passenger's shoes cannot be removed. Then, we placed a deadly fingernail file underneath the passenger's scarf, and neither the detector doorway nor the security wand picked it up." Sadly, it looks as if the set is not longer being manufactured (was it ever, I wonder?). Playmobil's web site does have many other cool airport toys, including an awesome-looking private jet as well as a surreal set-up for loading up a horse. [Via Reason]

Aeroflot has just lost its place as Russia's largest airline. The government has merged 11 companies into Russia Airlines, which now flies twice as many planes as Aeroflot, says the International Herald Tribune. Russian Airlines is so new that its website isn't in English yet. Both carriers are owned by the state. In the meantime, Aeroflot continues to control most of the international flights from the U.S. to Russia. So if you're visiting the country in 2009, you'll likely still be flying Aeroflot. Meanwhile, Moscow's two international airports, Domodedovo and Sheremetyevo, are competing with each other to offer better service. Domodedovo has modernized with new stores and restaurants, while Sheremetyevo has built a speedy train line for transfers to downtown Moscow, says the Wall Street Journal. (Domodedovo has had a high-speed rail link since 2002.)