What is the coolest new technology you've experienced lately?

Yesterday my husband showed me that someone told him how to turn his smart phone into a scanner, like they have at the grocery stores. It’s really cool. There’s an app for it. When you open the app, the red bar line comes up and you move your camera closer or further from the bar code until it’s in focus, and it scans the bar code.
It seems a little worthless though, because it just comes up with the name of the product and the places it can be bought.
However, my husband said it can be used in lieu of a plane ticket. After you book the flight, you just scan the flight info into the phone, then you can “unload” it at the gate and get on the plane. You don’t have to give them a physical ticket.
Not sure exactly how that works but it sounded cool.