Travel Selfies Could Be About To Change Forever With This New Camera

When you go traveling, everyone wants to take amazing photos. But you don’t just want snaps of amazing scenery and cityscapes, you also want a record of being there—which means photos with you in them.

Previously this has meant either stretching out the long arm of the selfie, or buying a selfie stick to make sure you get yourself and your exotic location into the shot. Relying on the kindness of passing strangers can put you at the mercy of either terrible photographers, or even worse, phone thieves.

But Google’s new camera, the Google Clips, could change that. The tiny smart camera uses artificial intelligence to learn when to take a great photo for you.

“We’ve put machine learning capabilities directly into Clips so when you turn it on, the camera looks for good moments to capture. Clips looks for stable, clear shots of people you know. You can help the camera learn who is important to you so when grandma comes in town, you’ll capture the grand entrance,” Juston Payne, Product Manager, Google Clips wrote in a blog post shortly after the camera’s launch.
After using the camera for a while, it learns which are the faces that are important to you, so put it in a crowded square, and it’ll focus on your friends and yourself more than anyone else around you. The camera also takes photos automatically, when shots are their most clear with good lighting.

Some people have raised privacy questions regarding the camera, because it could be left somewhere private to take photos. Google has sought to assuage some of those concerns, saying the camera was built to look like a camera so people will know what it’s doing, and a light will be on any time it is taking photos. The camera will cost $249 but doesn’t have a release date yet.

Since you are here, we would like to share our vision for the future of travel - and the direction Culture Trip is moving in.

Culture Trip launched in 2011 with a simple yet passionate mission: to inspire people to go beyond their boundaries and experience what makes a place, its people and its culture special and meaningful — and this is still in our DNA today. We are proud that, for more than a decade, millions like you have trusted our award-winning recommendations by people who deeply understand what makes certain places and communities so special.

Increasingly we believe the world needs more meaningful, real-life connections between curious travellers keen to explore the world in a more responsible way. That is why we have intensively curated a collection of premium small-group trips as an invitation to meet and connect with new, like-minded people for once-in-a-lifetime experiences in three categories: Culture Trips, Rail Trips and Private Trips. Our Trips are suitable for both solo travelers, couples and friends who want to explore the world together.

Culture Trips are deeply immersive 5 to 16 days itineraries, that combine authentic local experiences, exciting activities and 4-5* accommodation to look forward to at the end of each day. Our Rail Trips are our most planet-friendly itineraries that invite you to take the scenic route, relax whilst getting under the skin of a destination. Our Private Trips are fully tailored itineraries, curated by our Travel Experts specifically for you, your friends or your family.

We know that many of you worry about the environmental impact of travel and are looking for ways of expanding horizons in ways that do minimal harm - and may even bring benefits. We are committed to go as far as possible in curating our trips with care for the planet. That is why all of our trips are flightless in destination, fully carbon offset - and we have ambitious plans to be net zero in the very near future.