Technology
Hospital Gets Medical Simulator Baby
As Dr. Craig Kizewic worked on the infant, the heart rate began to drop and oxygen levels were declining, but quick work saved the baby. The baby was a new interactive medical simulator known as BabySIM. At 21 pounds and 28 inches in length, BabySIM has the physical characteristics of a three- to six-month old infant, but its fat little belly is stuffed full of computer parts. I wonder if there’s a less expensive design possible (it’s $54k) or an opensource BabySim project opportunity. [via] Link.
Real Wireframes
Graphics Demo is a modified Commodore CBM 3032 computer. Its inner life was replaced by a mechanics. A wireframe model of a teapot, soldered out of silvered copper wire, is gimballed inside the monitor cabinet. The model is varnished with green uv-active paint and lighted by four blacklight tubes, which are installed invisible inside the cabinet. The teapot can be rotated in any direction by using the numeric keypad. During the rotation, you can hear the electric motors and feel their vibrations. [via] Link.
“Real” R2D2 Made in Italy
If you can’t get enough of DIY R2-D2 building, here’s another from Italy– … taller (1.5 mt) but walks (with 2 or 3 legs) and beeps like the original, and flees from people holding light sabres! Oh, and comes with bluetooth and usb…The robot actually is the resulting prototype of a research project in creating a kind of slave or companion robot with a friendly interface. Link.
Game Boy Micro – Little Hackable Platform
Today Nintendo announced their super tiny 4 inches wide, 2 inches tall and 0.7 inches deep Game Boy Micro. While it’s not functionally different than the Game Boy SP, it’s a lot smaller and perhaps cheaper. I really like the Game Boy SP / Advance as a hackable platform, in issue 02 of MAKE (shipping now) we have an article about using GB’s as photo viewers, ebook readers, music players and home-brew code devices, the new micro will do all this and more- smaller. We like that. Link.
Beer Can & Photo Bracelets
DIY-ish wrist real estate. Made of sterling silver and real beer or soda cans (personally emptied by desiger, Dana Roth) these cuffs take beer lover to a whole new level. They’re made in Portland, Oregon… Not to be outdone here are some photo bracelets also on desgn*sponge.
Find Cheap Gas with Google Maps
Mashing up Google maps and Gasbuddy = locations of cheap gas in your area on a Google map (map or satellite view). Just choose a city- then the data on the right side is updated cheapest gas prices. If you have mobile high speed access you could add a GPS and have this running while you drive. In the future, maybe our cars will do this for us. Via Robotwisdom. Link.