Merging technologies unleashes the true power of each technology.

A couple of months ago I was lucky enough to take a paddle on a pristine lake on the far south coast of New South Wales, and while it didn't look like it, I was hard at work.

You see my kayak was not only spatially enabled, it was linked to the net. It was a new wireless web-technology kayak.

In-between paddles I was on-line booking my flight from Canberra to Wellington, checking my emails and buying and selling some shares (although I'm not sure if I should be buying or selling these days).

The web-kayak was also monitoring the tides and lake current patterns and linked to a GPS which indicated how many paddles in what direction would give me the optimum course to get across the lake to the river we were about to explore. The system was also taking into account underlying 3D topographical maps of the lake to highlight water depths, submerged rocks, sandbars, etc.

This high tech unit also featured a fin-mounted fish finder sensor that would alert a web kayaker of any approaching sharks if it were out in the ocean rather than this peaceful lake.