Hasta La Gadget!

High quality microscopes cost thousands of dollars and can be hard to operate and maintain. A group of researchers from Stanford University are close to changing that with a microscope that’s made mostly out of paper and costs less than a dollar to make.

The Foldscope was conceptualized by Jim Cybulski, James Clements and Asst. Prof. Manu Prakash. They were moved to develop the revolutionary microscope because they wanted to speed up the diagnosis and treatment of various diseases in developing countries. In his recent TED presentation, Asst. Prof. Prakash said that right now it can take months for patients in developing countries to get diagnosed and treated partly because microscopes are bulky, hard to maintain and expensive to acquire . So they set out to design a microscope that’s portable, easy to operate and can be mass produced at low costs. It looks like they succeeded.

In their paper, Jim, James and Asst. Prof. Prakash. said that the Foldscope can provide a magnification of up to 2,000X depending on the lens used. All of its components can be packed on a single sheet of card stock, which can also serve as an instruction manual.  Foldscope is also resistant to impact and water. It’s so small that you can carry multiple Foldscopes in your pocket. The only part of the microscope that needs electricity is an LED, which can last over 50 hours on a button cell battery. Best of all, it only costs between $0.58 to $0.97 to make. Below is Asst. Prof. Prakash’ TED presentation about the Foldscope:

How amazing is that? A copy of Jim, James and Asst. Prof. Prakash’s paper is available from the Cornell University Library archive. If you want to get your hands on one, head to the Foldscope team’s website and apply to become one of the their 10,000 beta testers.

[via Wired via Reddit]

Your wrist is a hotly contested new battleground, with a small fry like Pebble doing battle with giants including Samsung, and activity trackers like the Jawbone UP and Nike+ FuelBand fighting it out, too. A new Kickstarter project also wants to be a contender, with the Carbon wearable solar charger. The project debuted a couple of weeks ago, with a blank-faced wrist-mounted charger that had a… Read More

Panasonic unveiled its slick new LUMIX GH4 DSLM, or Digital Single Lens Mirrorless camera a month or so back. The camera promises professional image quality along with the ability to record 4K resolution video at a lower price than comparable DSLR cameras.

Panasonic has now announced that the GH4 camera body will sell for $1699.99(USD). In addition, there will be a professional audio/video interface accessory which provides 2 XLR audio inputs and a broadcast quality 3G-SDI video output terminal with time code capability. That bit of kit will go for another $1999.99. Both devices are available for pre-order now, and will ship in late April.

The GH4 camera has a new 16.05MP Digital Live MOS Sensor and uses the Venus Engine for high speed and high sensitivity recording. The camera has professional grade, 49-area auto focus in both still and video modes. The camera also has Wi-Fi and NFC technology for easy pairing with compatible wireless devices.

Pebble is launching an online software challenge, powered by ChallengePost, which begins today – right now, in fact. Developers who are interested in participating can submit new or existing apps designed for Pebble’s recently launched version 2.0 software development kit, and have two weeks to get those apps in. Once Pebble has collected all the submissions on March 23rd,… Read More

A couple of years ago Robbie Rane and his friends were making up funny euphemisms for taking a dump. One of his buddies contributed “Toss Boba Fett in the Sarlacc.” The joke got stuck in Robbie’s head like pudding on porcelain, until one day he could bear it no more and decide to take the metaphor literally.

With the help of illustrator Alyssa Scott, Robbie made a set of stickers that will make a toilet bowl look like the Great Pit of Carkoon. Along with Boba Fett – the bounty hunter, not Robbie’s friend’s poop – the set also includes stickers of Han Solo and Chewbacca saving Lando Calrissian.

Robbie sells the Toilet Sarlacc decal set for $25 (USD). I don’t know how much your plumber will charge to install it.

[via Nerdist]