Aug 27 2008
Time For Your Close-up
As I am getting older, I am coming to terms with a few things that are happening to me. For instance, I am noticing grey hair and I hurt a little more after doing some manual labor. But what I am also realizing is that my eyesight, which was never great to begin with, is rapidly falling downhill. My prescription for eyeglasses is increasing exponentially year after year, and pretty soon I will be lucky to still have the ability to read these posts. Now, I used to repair my own small electronics when they were not working, and have become a master of fixing my son’s over-used PlayStation (I am too cheap to buy him another one, especially since not doing so gets him out of the house more). However, with my eyes apparently deteriorating, I am finding it more and more difficult when looking at circuit boards and microprocessors. When I was Google-ing around to see how much those unsightly magnifying glasses are that clamp down to the desk and make your face look huge from the other side, I stumbled across this nice state-of-the-art offering at ThinkGeek, my favorite store for the finest gadgetry in existence.
The USB Digital Microscope is the answer to those of us who need to view objects at a specific level of detail, but just can’t seem to do so naturally anymore. Just plug it in and install with the included software, and you will enjoy high quality images and video displayed on your monitor. With a magnification rate up to 200X, you will have even the smallest of objects blown up in full detail. You can either attach it to your desk, or remove it to get a better look at larger objects. And the built-in LED lights will provide for a brightened view, no matter what the lighting condition is in your room. The still images are captured at a resolution of 640×480 pixels, and video at 30 frames per second. You can record an inspection, or even do a how-to video no problem. You can also edit the captured images to your liking to get a quality production.
The possibilities are endless, as this microscope serves so many purposes. Need to inspect circuit boards, solder on a microchip, perform some forensic investigations of your moldy bread products, or just mess around with some stuff around the house for fun? You can do it all with this amazing piece of equipment. However, if you are going just for the “fun” factor, know that this comes with a $200 price tag. Thank goodness there are gadgets like this for us “old” folks!
Look at this video of the scope in action, and see what you think:
