TIP SHEET

With Mars and new voyages to the moon captivating young minds, space is cool again. Regular tourists won't be lifting off any time soon, but enthusiasts can experience some of the trials and wonders of space travel at astronaut camps being set up around the world. In the United States, the original Space Camp opened in Huntsville, Alabama, in 1982 (spacecamp.com). Today campers can strap on a jet pack, train like shuttle astronauts, and eat, sleep and even go to the bathroom in a low-gravity environment. (Cost range: $100 to $900, depending on age and duration of stay.) More recently the organization has set up satellite campuses in Japan (space world.co.jp), Belgium (www.eurospacecenter.be), Turkey (space campturkey.com) and Canada (spacecampcanada.com). A new U.S.-style Space Town is in the works near Pusan, South Korea. And the best news? Adults can go, too.

--Sandy L. Edry

TECHNOLOGY

PHONE FUN

In Asia, talk--as in mobile-phone minutes--may be cheap, but short-text messaging (SMS) has become the preferred mode of communication for many. It's been loads of fun for those who don't mind using the English alphabet. But for the fast-growing Chinese market, the tedious process of pushing multiple buttons just to build a single character makes repartee slow and tedious. Nokia has found a solution. In a new feature that has set China and Singapore abuzz (and is likely to become standard fare elsewhere), the keypad of its new 3108 model slides down to reveal a Palm device-like handwriting pad. The 3108 is programmed to recognize both Chinese and Latin characters, and to predict which word you are attempting to create. Now the only button you need to push is the one to send your message.

--Alexandra A. Seno

© 2004