There is nothing better than an ice-cold soda from the vendo machine. All I have to do is to put 20 pesos on the coin/bill slot, choose from a variety of sodas, press the button, and voila! The soda is ready to drink in an instant.

Besides the conventional soda vendo machine, various companies have created vending machines that can sell other products: from chips, noodles, hot coffee, to even pizza, you name it, the manufacturers probably got it covered.

Convenient right?

But the ingenuity does not stop there. Quite recently, Kingston was able to create a vendo machine that can sell SD cards, Compact Flash, and even USB Thumb Drives for immediate tech "comsumption."

According to the source (neoseeker.com), it is said that the first memory vending machine has been placed in London's Gatwick airport. Ann Keefe, Kingston's sales director said: "Consumers want instant access to SD cards and USB drives as they need them 24/7, so vending machines in public spaces was the most obvious solution."

The machine works like this (from the neoseeker article):

They (vendo machines) will use a type of chip and or pin card transaction system (no roll of quarters needed) for payment. Sorta like a pre-paid debit card.

I am sure that this move by Kingston will be successful as a lot of people nowadays bring their digital cameras and laptops along during those foreign trips. In case one needs an "emergency" storage for files, all a person needs to do is to go to the Kingston vendo machine and buy it.

If you want to see the photo of the vendo machine, then better check out the article. The link to it is right here.

Isn't this smart or what?!??!