It's not enough to travel hopefully, light of heart, unburdened by possessions. Today's backpackers stagger round the globe with rucksacks full of gadgets... and then photograph them.
Instead of snapping a picture of the Taj Mahal, or even yourself in front of the Taj Mahal, you photograph your iPod, reducing India's most famous temple to a pleasant backdrop. We're not sure what this proves, other than a) you were able to find electricity throughout your travels and b) you never left your musical comfort zone, but hey. At least you aren't taking pictures of your desk.
• The biggest collection of gadget snaps is iPods Around the World. It has over 3,000 pictures from five regions, although having a separate section for Antarctica seems optimistic. Only four iPods have been photographed in the frozen south.
• The latest incarnation is PSPs Around the World. The Europe section is doing surprisingly well, given that the PSP hasn't been released here yet (grrr).
• Newtons Around the World celebrates the travels of Apple's discontinued PDA.
• Zodiacs Around the World sounds like an epic voyage in a fleet of inflatable boats. It's actually a photo blog featuring the Tapwave Zodiac gaming handheld.
• The Degree Confluence Project has pictures of GPS units in nearly 4,000 locations. There's a degree (sorry) of legitimacy here, since the goal of the project is to visit all the places where parallels of latitude cross meridians of longitude. Photographing your GPS proves that you reached the confluence.
What's next? The ultimate iteration would be photographs of digital cameras in front of major landmarks (see picture). Has anyone seen a gallery like that? Maybe we should start one. -ML
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