There are some clever designers and engineers out there. Beyond tech that you can buy to improve your life, there are also plenty of awesome gadgets in the real world which make a big difference to how you live your life.
We’ve collected some of the most interesting designs of gadgets and gizmos from everyday life, that’ll make you wonder how you lived without them.
A re-purposed phone booth
With the advent of mobile phones, people rarely have a need for payphones anymore.
This old phone booth has been converted into a convenient place to get some extra juice for your smartphone instead. A fairly nifty re-purposing of something old and obsolete.
A touch-free bathroom door
Public washrooms are potentially awash with germs. Sure you might have washed and dried your hands, but what about the hundreds of others who have passed through that door?
If you have clean hands and touch the same handle, you might as well have not washed them in the first place. This simple design gets you to use your wrist instead - for hands-free, germ-avoiding opening.
Shipping container homes
We’re certainly a wasteful society, but there are designers and passionate people striving to make the world a better place by reusing materials and things in new ways.
Recycling and repurposing. One example of this is homes made from disused shipping containers.
Doggy dens
In Denmark, they have an ingenious solution to this problem. These doggy dens prevent your pooch from being stolen and also have a built-in automatic disinfectant and cooling system. All this means you can do your shopping safe in the knowledge that your furry pal is safe outside.
A mirror that can tell you the weather
This hotel mirror is located near the elevators and tells you what the weather is like outside before you leave the building.
Of course, you could just look out of your room window, but where’s the fun in that?
A modern phone booth
Libraries have always been a place for peaceful reading and quiet reflection. But in this modern age of always-connected smartphones, it’s hard to avoid interruptions.
That’s where the “cone of silence” comes in. This is a special booth in an American library that allows library-goers a private place to take (or make) a phone call without disturbing fellow library users.
Colourful elevator buttons
A brilliant colourful design appears in the elevators of UIHC Stead Family Children’s Hospital. As well as numbering each floor (and providing braille) the designers here have assigned a colour and animal/object to each floor.
This means kids at the hospital will have an easier time of remembering what floor they’re on when they need to get back to their room from elsewhere in the hospital.
An icy bar for keeping drinks cool
This nifty little strip of metal can be seen at some bars for keeping your drinks cool while they’re not in use.
Apparently, if you search hard enough you can find photos of people who pulled a Dumb and Dumber and licked it only to have the fire brigade come to rescue them.
The umbrella safe
This is a special umbrella storage unit that allows members of the public to store their umbrellas and lock them in place so no one else can make off with them.
A key is required to remove them. Apparently, this sort of device is a common sight in Japan.
Anti-roll crayons
Perhaps one of the simplest designs on our list but no less awesome.
These are hexagonal crayons discovered by one Reddit user at a restaurant. The unusual shape is designed to help stop them from rolling off the table. Simple but effective.
