Turn Your Smartphone Into a Digital Microscope for Only $10

You know that laser pointer you have in some old drawer in your house? The one you have never used for anything useful and for some reason you never threw it away. Then it’s time you pull it out of the drawer and put it to good use. The small lens used to focus the laser can be placed in front of the camera lens in any smartphone to turn it into a microscope!

[Image Courtesy of Yoshinok]

Ok, so you won’t actually be able to see any viruses or bacteria but it is good enough to have some fun and take really cool pictures.
First of all, you will need to disassemble the laser pointer. You need the lens inside it so just take it apart and take out the lens. Then place the lens with the convex side facing the front of the smartphone and attach it in place.

[Image Courtesy of Yoshinok]

This new approach by Yoshinok at Instructables, requires a little work. Using just a few materials you can pick up at your local DIY shop you can create a stand replicating the setup of a microscope, complete with a light source and stage for your sample.

[Image Courtesy of Yoshinok]

So check the how-to video, get to work and your smartphone will be equipped to take the most interesting macro pictures you can think of!

Visual Microphone Turns Images Into Sound

A team of researchers from MIT, Microsoft and Adobe developed an algorithm capable of reconstructing an audio signal by analyzing a video and detecting tiny vibrations that the surrounding sounds induce on the object.

[Image Courtesy of Abe Davis]

Each time a sound is made, the acoustic waves crash on objects around it creating tiny vibrations that are invisible to the naked eye. “When sound hits an object, it causes the object to vibrate,” said researcher Abe Davis, a graduate student in electrical engineering and computer science at MIT. “The motion of this vibration creates a very subtle visual signal that’s usually invisible to the naked eye. People didn’t realize that this information was there.”

The technology used in these experiments is similar to the ones in laser microphones which are used by spies to eavesdrop by measuring vibrations from reflective surfaces. But, instead of using expensive and sophisticated equipment, the team managed to turn all kinds of objects in microphones.

Normally, the technique requires high speed cameras (2000-6000 fps) when an ordinary camera captures only 60 frames per second – because the frequency of sampling a video must be greater than the frequency of the audio signal. However, the team found that a peculiarity in the design of CCDs, the sensors in digital cameras, makes it possible to extract information even from common cameras – enough for example, to distinguish a man’s voice from a woman’s voice.

In one experiment, understandable and clear sounds were obtained from the vibrations recorded from a bag of chips filmed 4.5 feet away and even through a soundproof glass. It was also possible to extract audio signals from videos of  aluminum foil, the surface of a glass of water and even music reflected on plant leaves.

Abe Davis says that he now wants to investigate whether the new technique can reveal information about the internal structure of objects. “Not only can we get information about the sounds emitted close to objects, but also within the objects themselves, because each one will respond to the audio in a different way,” he said.

New reversible USB design has been finalised

Back in April we reported on plans for the new reversible USB 3.1 and now the USB 3.0 Promoter Group has announced that the design has been finalised. The USB Type-C connector is described as a ‘next generation USB connector‘ with a  ‘connector scheme tailored to fit mobile device product designs, yet robust enough for laptops and tablets.‘

[Image Courtesy of USB 3.0 Promoter Group]

We’ve all been there; try to insert a USB and still fail after flipping it 180 degrees. Like Apple’s Lightning connector though the new cable will be able to be plugged in regardless of which way up it is and of course, it will become an industry standard and not just a cable compatible with one manufacturer.

“Interest in the USB Type-C connector has not only been global, but cross-industry as well,” said USB 3.0 Promoter Group chairman Brad Saunders. “Representatives from the PC, mobile, automotive and IoT industries have been knocking down our door anticipating this new standard. This specification is the culmination of an extensive, cooperative effort among industry leaders to standardize the next generation USB connector as a long-lasting, robust solution.”

The receptacle opening comes in at 8.4mm x 2.6mm, similar to previous USB connectors. The cable will offer a power delivery of up to 100W and will be compatible with SuperSpeed USB at 10Gbps. Standard cables will provide 3A of power delivery capacity and connectors will offer 5A.

Unfortunately, they are not backward compatible and so expect to see new-to-existing adapters while the industry gradually makes the switch. But considering the companies that comprise the USB 3.0 Promoter Group (Hewlett-Packard Company, Intel Corporation, Microsoft Corporation, Renesas Electronics, STMicroelectronics and Texas Instruments), we expect the transition to be as smooth as possible.

Colour changing car park artwork morphs as you move around it

Artworks on a large scale have become very popular and Rob Ley is among the latest to jump onto the bandwagon with his huge car park façade that changes colour depending on where the person is viewing it from. In short, the colour changing car park can morph as you move around it.

[Image Courtesy of Urbana]

Ley owns his own Urbana architecture and design studio which he founded it in 2002 and he creates artwork and sculptures for public spaces and buildings. He recently completed his May to September installation which is located on the side of the Indianapolis Eskenazi Hospital multi-story car-park.

[Image Courtesy of Urbana]

His company was commissioned to design and then install the artwork and in total it uses 7,000 panels of metal which have been placed at different angles and which have been painted with a different colour on each of their sides. When the viewer walks from one end to the other of the car park, the wall changes colour from a deep golden yellow to deep blue and back again when walking back the other way. The whole of the car park wall changes colour.

[Image Courtesy of Urbana]

“We developed the concept, which began initially as an idea stemming from active camouflage techniques, and then worked through the design development drawings,” Ley explains. “Camouflage was conceptually interesting to me initially, as the main purpose of the facade was to provide an intense visual screen for what is otherwise an ordinary parking structure. As the project progressed, the interest in camouflage evolved into an approach that would create a very large dynamic, interactive element for the city.”

The designer wanted to make the artwork without any parts that actually move so as to avoid issues with maintenance. He designed the project based on the fact that people would be moving past the structure, either by walking or travelling by car.

“We worked on the design and built physical mock-ups in our studio for about six months,” he says. “As you might imagine, software became hugely important, and we even had to write some software on our own to helps us create the final effect.”

[Image Courtesy of Urbana]

He made 18 different panels which varied in size and angle, ranging from 300 x 600mm to 300 x 100mm. The panels that were facing to the west were painted with deep blue and those panels facing the east side were given a coating of golden yellow. When they are seen from different angles they offer an illusion of having different hues; this effect is down to the peripheral vision of the person viewing it.

[Image Courtesy of Urbana]

The artwork installation measures a total of 18.5 metres by 75 metres and while its main use was as a piece of artwork on a large scale it does act as a screen for the car park and hides the guardrails, concrete beams and columns.

Via [Urbana]