While I am not delusional enough to believe that the U.S. of A. is the birthplace of all brilliant ideas, I do tend to think that as a world superpower and cultural trendsetter, we should at least have imported all of the good inventions fairly quickly. That’s why I’m always pleasantly surprised when I come across brilliant inventions that I’ve never even heard of before.
When I studied abroad in Japan back in the day, I fully expected to see technical gadgets that had not yet made it to the States. But it was on a trip to Viet Nam in 2001, in a public bathroom, when I first came across the best air hand dryer ever. I know it seems like a fairly insignificant thing, but for a country that (thankfully) didn’t even have a McDonald’s it was pretty surprising to come across cutting edge technology. After a lifetime of using air dryers which basically just warmed up my hand before I resorted to wiping them on my pants, this was pretty noteworthy. For years I tried to explain it to friends back home, and it wasn’t until about 7 or 8 years later that I actually started to see them in the U.S. What took us so long?
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| A suped-up version of one of my favorite inventions, “discovered” in Viet Nam |
While I was traveling in Europe last summer, I came across another useful invention that I have yet to find in the U.S. Now that everyone over the age of 5 seems to have a camera phone, there’s never a shortage of cameras around, but if you’re traveling alone its hard to get a decent photo of yourself without having to hand your phone (and your email, camera, ebook, music collection and favorite apps) over to a stranger. That or you look like a contortionist, trying to take your own photo while also attempting to get a local monument in the background. If you’re traveling in a group, there’s always one person who misses out on being in the picture because they are behind the camera taking the photo. Well, in Istanbul I saw the solution to these problem. Behold the huge, electronic, photo, email thing-y (yes, I believe that was the official name)!
Its kind of like a photo booth, but instead of being squashed inside a box the size of a coat closet with 5 of your friends, you’re outside with real scenery behind you.
The first few times I saw these displays in the middle of Istanbul’s major tourist areas, I had no idea what they were. Everything was written in Turkish so I just assumed it was some sort of a digital billboard. It wasn’t until I was with a group of bloggers on a tour of the city that I figured out what they were. At the end of our tour, our guide suggested we all gather to take a picture. While we all tried to figure out who’s camera we should use for the picture, the tour guide walked over to the “digital bilboard” touched the screen and then told us to get close and smile. It took a second but all of a sudden we each realized what those strange boxes were. They were huge cameras that let you take a free photo of yourself and, should you have any, your friends. Once the picture was taken, a keypad popped up and you could type in your email address and the picture would be sent to your in-box. Brilliant!
Just when I start to think that America has everything, I find a great invention like this which reminds me that I was quite wrong. Yet another great reason to keep traveling…it keeps me humble. Have any of you had experiences like this? What cool things have you come across in your travels that you don’t have at home (wherever home may be).
