Movie-screen eyeglasses and more quirky items for the discerning traveler

Imagine you’re strolling down the crowded streets of a beautiful, if sometimes unsafe, foreign city famous for its pickpockets. You’re enjoying the scenery but you have an uneasy feeling because you are, quite literally, awalking target. But what if there was a way to keep your wallet and passport on your person and safe from sticky fingers? Well, there is. The Doberman Mini Mobile Alert pickpocket alarm sounds off at a startling 95 decibels the moment a thief grabs the goods.

These days, it seems there’s a quirky product for every type of traveler: the germaphobe, the security freak, the easily bored, and many, many more. “Odd gadgets have always been with us,” says Carol Mangis, senior editor at techie PCMag.com. “But since consumerelectronics of all sorts are booming, manufacturers work at standing outside the norm just to grab a piece of the attention.”

New York City–based Hammacher Schlemmer has been selling quirky products to the American public since 1848, and many that were initially perceived as wacko are now commonplace (the pop-up toaster, steam iron, and microwave oven, to name a few).