A recent article in the New York Times presents the 21st century Polaroid. Well, actually its just a Bluetooth-enabled portable picture printer. I think this gadget it awesome and will be perfect for anyone who wants to travel to the 3rd world where the majority of people do not have cameras, let alone computers and all that comes along with them (digital storage devices, facebook, myspace, etc.).
I can say with certainty that they would be a HUGE hit here in Mali. Although there are some who don't really enjoy having their picture taken or at least want to be paid to have their picture taken, my guess is that most would be thrilled if they could be given a copy on the spot. I have seen few things light up the faces of rural Malians more than photographs. Even just showing them pictures of themselves on your digital camera normally leads to a few "eh, Allah!"s (oh my god!)and, if its children, more than a few high-pitched squeals of excitement.
I am skeptical of how much the product is needed in America, Europe and industrialized parts of Asia where technology has all but replaced the physical photo. I know that I personally do not print pictures anymore and store all of them either on Facebook, my computer's HD, or on a portable storage device - and I live in technology-unfriendly Mali. Still it's a cool product. I guess we'll see this fall, when the product is introduced to the market, how popular it is. Maybe this will be the resurgence of the physical photo.
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