GadgetReview

First responders, pay attention, because you might be able to save some MORE lives with what I’m about to hit you with next.  Some engineer managed to take ten dollars worth of electronic parts–available off the shelf pretty much anywhere–and modify his mobile phone into a cell phone that does double duty as a microscope.

This is no ordinary engineer; he’s an assistant professor of electrical engineering at the University of California, and he’s actually started up his own company to market the cell phone microscopes.

Not that this is just great for the medical and scientific communities–now any putz can check a blood sample for signs of tuberculosis, malaria, or anemia!

It’s conceivable that, from here, the phone would then be able to remotely send the images back to actual medical professionals for diagnosis before the patient was even put on an ambulance.

No idea when they’ll be available, but they really should do a whole lot of good when they’re done.

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Remember how we just finished talking about the Tele Scouter, which interprets every language and translates automatically?  Well, it’s a bit of a misnomer because there’s one language it won’t interpret–American Sign Language.

That’s right, folks–Ameslan is completely out of the Tele Scouter’s bailiwick.  But now, we may have the answer for that one–the Sign Language Interpreter.

Basically, what this is is a camera connected to a microprocessor that “sees” the motions of sign language, matches them against its own internal systems, translates them, and announces the word or letter that the gesture is the equivalent of.  I’m doing a bit of interpolation there as the read link wasn’t exactly clear on if it can handle words and letters or only letters, but either way, a sign language interpreter gadget will change the lives of deaf people everywhere.

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Maybe, just maybe, we spoil our pets a bit too much.

Oh, sure, we don’t think twice about the occasional chew bone or some such, but some dogs today eat better than some people do.  Plus there’s the add-ons–clothing lines for pets, Xbox Live subscriptions (when do they PLAY??), dog houses made of crystal, even health insurance for pets!  It’s crazy!  And it only gets weirder when I start talking about the electronic dog door.

Dubbed the Plexidor Pet Door, it’s an electronic dog door with a vertical sliding door that slides up when your pet, who’s wearing an RFID chip in his or her collar, gets sufficiently close to it.

It’s a great measure for folks concerned about burglars using the pet door as a means of entry (a la Home Alone), but still wanting your pet to have the maximum amount of freedom.  They cost a whopping eight hundred bucks a pop, and that’s before you add on the cost of professional installment.  This thing has to be HARDWIRED into your house’s electrical system.

Still, it’s terribly awesome, and if you like even having the latest gadgets for your dog, then this one should be on your list.

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If you or someone you love has chronic heart problems, like the kind that took my grandfather, then you might well be interested to hear about the results of the three month test that’s currently in its second month for a kind of portable heart monitor that can send data back to medical professionals automatically on a regular basis.

In a partnership with Gen-i and Alcatel-Lucent, the gear in question uses a Bluetooth system (ah, Bluetooth–what can’t you do?) to, with the press of a button on the control unit, take blood pressure and weight readings from an electronic scale at the patients’ houses and sends them to hospital staff.

The technology in question is easily portable, allowing patients to continue living fairly normal lives while getting treatment, and allows medical professionals to free up hospital rooms and also keep themselves from getting tied down to their own offices.  In fact, the guy you see above is one of the current test subjects, and he’s reporting a whole lot of positives from the new technology.

The trial is expected to finish up in December and results released early 2010.

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It might shock you to know there’s a Cyberdyne corporation in Japan.

But what only might shock you is to discover that they’re into robotics…but the helpful kind.  For instance, they’re working on a robotic suit that functions almost like an exoskeleton, augmenting weak limbs with outside mechanical help.  The really interesting part?  Since Japan’s population is getting older at a greater rate than the United States’, what I’m describing here could well become a “shape of things to come” sort of article for baby boomers right here.

The Japanese company is actually putting together other robots, too–not just walkers. How about a robot pet called the Paro?  It looks like a seal but is covered in fur, designed to offer the same benefits of a pet but without the difficulty and expense.  Holding and petting it causes sensors to form a “reaction”, while audio sensors allow it to “respond” to its name and neglecting it causes it to cry out, thus simulating a live pet.

One of the lead developers described it thusly:

“You forget it’s a robot. Some people think it’s almost a baby, and that’s a good thing, as it elicits a few little memories” from residents’ younger days.”

There are even more that are currently in development–robot housekeepers and walking PCs that surf the web at your voice command–so the future looks like it’s full of robots…at least for the Japanese.

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The Punjab police, ladies and gentlemen, have stepped boldly into twenty-first century law enforcement technology by receiving a consignment of Tasers, the first of their kind in India.

They’ve become both ubiquitous and infamous in the United States, the devices fire a pair of darts connected to the base unit by thin cables with transmit an electrical current into the subject, thus incapacitating him.

The Punjab police have apparently ordered enough Tasers to outfit two entire battalions.

Tales of gross misuse of Tasers follow them literally everywhere, with the classic cry of “Don’t tase me, bro!” intermingling with stories of the devices being used for torture as they don’t leave marks on the body.  Considering the sheer amount of bad press these things have taken over the years, it’s a wonder any police department is actually looking at them.

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The ADE 651 is a device with an impressive marketing angle.  Over in Iraq, it’s being used to sniff out everything from bombs to guns to drugs and beyond, and detect them all from a distance of up to half a mile.  It’s a handheld device, easy to carry, the Iraqi military swears by it…there’s just one problem.

It doesn’t actually work.

ATSC, the company that makes the ADE 651, claims that they work via “electrostatic magnetic ion attraction”, which if I remember my collegiate physics courses correctly means “a bunch of sciencey terms strung together almost at random”.  Independent testing of many similar devices by the Department of Defense shows none of them work much better than pure chance.  And here’s the part that’ll kill you–they sold the Iraqi military fifteen hundred of these things at prices ranging from $16,500 to $60,000 dollars EACH.

And there you go.  The Iraqis bought at least $24 million worth of bomb detectors that don’t detect.

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All right, road warriors, pay attention–because this is some really awesome news, especially if you have to do a lot of time-zone hopping in the course of your travels.  This is also awesome for anyone with a hugely variable schedule that requires you to work, and sleep, at different times every day.

We’re talking about Daylight Savers from Flinders Tech, glasses with a pair of bright blue LED lights that shine directly into your eyes, causing a delay in your circadian rhythm.  Now, circadian rhythms are those things that generally cause you to get tired at the same time every day, or wake up at about the same time every day, or even get hungry at certain times.

There are literally dozens of different uses for this product, though I have to wonder about the long term effects of artificially altering your circadian rhythms. However, for people whose time clocks are already out of whack, this could be the answer to your prayers.

They’re not yet ready for market, so there’s no pricing or release data, but they hope to have them available within the next year.

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Now this is actually a really fun idea–you know how, when you were a kid, you probably used to imagine various household objects as race cars?  Well, now you can do it for real with the RC Driver Tissue Box.

This isn’t just a fun idea, either.  It’s also highly useful.  I remember when I had the flu…I was on my back, barely able to move, and even something like getting up to go get a tissue to try and clear my nose sufficiently to breathe was like the labors of Sisyphus.  But the thought of being able to snag a remote and DRIVE my tissues to my sick bed makes me feel almost…happy, somehow.

But still, the idea of driving your tissues around the house is probably at least a minor freakout, so be careful.  It’d be terrible trying to, say, explain to the vet that you ran over your cat’s foot with a box of tissues.  They’re taking pre-orders on them now for $44, so get them before someone else does!

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It’s always pretty interesting to see other things besides the Wii get controlled via Wiimote.  Some have hooked it to Airsoft guns or what have you, but today I’ve dug up a little something interesting.

Thanks to the Casmobot lawn mower, developed by scientists at the University of Southern Denmark, you can now use your Wiimote to tackle lawn chores.

The mower is synced to the Wiimote with Bluetooth, and allows you to not only steer the device, but also engage the cutting action (just tilt the Wiimote forward) or set the device on autopilot where it makes passes inside a previously established zone.

The grass cutting equivalent of a Roomba is a sweet enough idea, but tying it to your Wiimote?  Now that’s just entertaining!  Plus, for all the kids in the audience, next time mom and dad get all bent out of shape about your gaming time, just tell them you’re getting in practice for lawn mowing season. …Continue reading: Casmobot Lawnmower Controlled With A Wiimote (video)