The power of a modern cell phone is changing how many things are done today. For example I recently heard that the once CPU taxing program Myst was now available for the iPhone. I think I had to upgrade my video card to play that game years ago. Thanks to a Microsoft grant some software was developed to display data from a USB Ultrasound device. This technology allows for cheap portable medical diagnosis. See the full presentation here (PDF).

"Futures
*Ultra-low-cost probes
  »There is a development project underway to bring the probe cost down to <$400.
*Collaborative Research
  »Invited to Microsoft Research TechFest2009
  »Microsoft Research White Paper
  »Application specific probes
*Open Source USB Probe Software
  »A group at Washington University in St. Louis has begun a semester-log project to produce an open source imaging suite.
*A website for these developments is at http://ultrasound.engineering.wustl.edu"

Via: CellPhones.org

On Fridays Adafruit has some hardware fun. This week the top of an old pager was cracked open. There is a radio receiver inside that is constantly listening to the frequency that the pager is on. It is demonstrated that there is serial data that can be seen leaving the radio receiver chip. On an upcoming hack the data will be fed into a computer and the stream of network pager transmissions will attempt to be displayed. There might be a few soccer moms out there who still use pagers? Or is it just drug dealers these days?

Keeping track of paper receipts is a pain. I have lost a few here and there and later needed them to get warranty work done. Some stores are starting to offer receipt re-printing based on your credit card number but you would still need to go back to the store and wait in line for the re-print. It would be great if all your receipts were automatically stored in one central location. That is the concept of this Digital Paperless Receipt System prototype by Hain-Lee Hsueh and Qinfeng Chen.

"The basic idea is when making a purchase with a credit or ATM card, the transaction information is automatically packaged and sent to a webserver where it can be logged in a database. A web interface would then allow consumers to log into their accounts and view their transactions online all in one place.

The general procedure of operating the system is as follows:

1. The “cashier” uses the keypad to enter an amount to be charged, which is displayed on the LCD display.
2. After the amount is entered, the “consumer” is prompted to swipe his/her credit card through the stripe reader.
3. The MCU receives the decoded data from the stripe reader and parses it to extract the desired data most relevant to the transaction (e.g. the consumer’s first and last name). It also parses the amount entered on the keypad and builds a packet containing all the information pertaining to the current transaction.
4. The MCU sends the data to the Ethernet module, which sends the transaction information to a PHP script, and then waits for the response.
5. The PHP script takes the data and stores it in a database. A response is sent back to the Ethernet module containing the result (success or failure).
6. The Ethernet module receives the response and passes it to the MCU. A confirmation/status message is displayed on the LCD to the consumer, and the process starts again for the next transaction."

It wasn’t until Daniel sent in the video of his Coil Gun in action that I learned about the cool High Speed Casio Exilim family of cameras. These cameras look and function like normal cameras except they have a super slow motion mode. Have a look at the video above to see what is possible with the camera, you need to stick it out till the one minute mark to see the action start.

Not exactly sure how much plastic hose was used to make this cool sculpture but it is probably at least 100 feet. If you are going to the Maker Fair in San Mateo look for this water sculpture to be on display.

Via: Digg

Sensory House made a version of Hard Drive Oscilloscope that was build a few years ago. The effects of the Sensory House version is great, the effects are nice and big! Thanks for listing us as your resource.

The guys over at TechRestore take lots of technology apart to show us how it works. They made one of the best screen backgrounds that I have ever seen. It is a picture of what is literally behind the screen! This isn’t an amazing feat of technological wonder, but sometimes it’s the little things that make me smile. Have a look at the PSP deconstruction video below, that video must have taken forever to film…

You should also keep your eyes on the PSP sites since it looks like Sony will be having lots of contests to win your own PSP.