Affordable Medicine and diagnosis through radical innovation

Disclaimer: I am affiliated with none of the following orgnaizations/individuals/innovations/inventions, etc. & I am neither responsible for the contents of the websites herein linked, the results of accessing the same nor the results of following any procedures or usage of the products/services here-mentioned.

1. 50 Cents Microscope that folds like origami (Manu Prakash)
   https://www.ted.com/talks/manu_prakash_a_50_cent_microscope_that_folds_like_origami
   http://microcosmos.foldscope.com/
2. 5 Dollar Punch Card Programmable Microfluidics Chemistry Set (Manu Prakash)
   http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0115993
3. OScan Oral scanner for oral scanner(Manu Prakash)
   http://scopeblog.stanford.edu/2012/04/17/stanford-bioengineers-create-an-ultra-low-cost-oral-cancer-screening-tool/
4. Lab the size of a postage stamp
   http://www.ted.com/talks/george_whitesides_a_lab_the_size_of_a_postage_stamp
5. Better Breast cancer screening using Gamma Rays
   http://www.ted.com/talks/deborah_rhodes
6. BioLab on a MicroChip
   http://www.ted.com/talks/frederick_balagadde_bio_lab_on_a_microchip
7. A warm embrace that saves lives (Low cost replacement for incubator)
   http://www.ted.com/talks/jane_chen_a_warm_embrace_that_saves_lives
8. Vaccine patch - Yay! no painfull needles
   http://www.ted.com/talks/mark_kendall_demo_a_needle_free_vaccine_patch_that_s_safer_and_way_cheaper
9. Liquid filled adjustable glasses
   http://www.ted.com/talks/josh_silver_demos_adjustable_liquid_filled_eyeglasses
10. Diagnosing Cervical Cancer with Vinegar and ingenuity http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/27/health/27cancer.html?_r=0
11. http://www.sustainablebrands.com/news_and_views/social_enterprise/gsk-building-better-business-inside-out-bringing-low-cost-diagnost
12. Plumber fixed the plumbing of his own heart
    http://realcleverscience.tumblr.com/post/2945497662/awesome-british-engineer-designs-own-heart-valve
13. Many of the lab-on-chip devices are low cost 
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lab-on-a-chip
2. http://www.gizmag.com/tag/lab-on-a-chip/

Surprising Old Tech

[The theme of this collection is gadget/tech concepts that we feel "current technology", but has existed for a long time. Of course, this list is definitely not complete. If you know anything that matches the theme but I have missed, please suggest them in the comments. The main reason they are more widespread today is because of falling prices and advancements in processor speed and storage, making it more feasible. But if companies coming up with current products based on these old concepts act as though they inventted the concept, please send them a reminder.]

 

Driverless bus [1976]

https://youtu.be/wOPnSgTtSOQ

Apples' first Iphone? [Apple's secret Iphone design, 1983]
http://mashable.com/2011/12/30/apple-iphone-1983/

Seiko UC 2000 Wrist computer [Early smart watch, 1984]
https://www.inexhibit.com/case-studies/seiko-uc-2000-1984-the-dawn-of-wearable-computers/

Epson RC 50  [Early Smartwatch with touchscreen, 1984]
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4IlGIryo8KU

IBM Simon [First Smart Mobile phone. 1993 Also the first smart mobile phone with touchscreen]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Simon
Dont miss the Full view of the UI(big file)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0c/IBM_SImon_in_charging_station.png

EO personal communicator/Penpoint OS 1991 (its 50 mins long, but its
just superb considering its from 1991, so please make time to watch.
you can skip first 8.5 mins if you are in a hurry):
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=9140399149118885327
The dev tool demoed in 1994 is not less awesome:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zh1yCHn8hvE

The "Mother of all demos" from 1968 . [more than just the mouse, it was the data management ideas that I liked. We could probably call it one of the first crude "mashups"]
http://sloan.stanford.edu/mousesite/1968Demo.html

First hand writing recognition was partly mechanical , Nov 1914 (yes, 1914)
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/1117184.pdf

 

Voder - The First Electronic Voice Synthesizer  1939

https://www.whatisthevoder.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsdOej_nC1M

 
Aspen Movie Map 1978 was street view 30+ years before Google introduced street view
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hf6LkqgXPMU

Etaks Car Navigation System  1985 was a navigation system that does notuse satellite aid, and instead relies on dead reckoning.
https://www.fastcompany.com/3047828/who-needs-gps-the-forgotten-story-of-etaks-amazing-1985-car-navigation-system

 First Watch calculator 1977 (dont miss the advanced features)
 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP-01

First digital camera 1975
http://www.retrothing.com/2008/05/kodaks-first-di.html

17000 mile journey on a modified cycle with a solar powered laptop back in 1983
http://hackaday.com/2009/09/18/vintage-video-computing-across-america/

First HDTV (monochrome, 819 lines) came in 1949!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/819_line

Patent of iPod like device back in 1979
http://www.kanekramer.com/html/development.htm

Multi-touch, Multi-pointer UI, And some concepts like magic lenses which are not yet in today's world! 1982 - 1997 . These need not necessarily be invented by the people who demonstrate them in the video.
http://www.billbuxton.com/buxtonIRGVideos.html

Xerox Alto :[Desktop , 1973]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xerox_Alto
Screenshots:
http://toastytech.com/guis/alto.html

Xerox Star:[Desktop, 1982, dont miss screenshots .. search on youtube too]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xerox_Star
Screenshots:
http://toastytech.com/guis/star.html

ATT Viewtron [an older try at Internet/www 1981]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6DVBPmo4Co

Digital Desk by Pierre Wellner, 1991. Some of the "Envisionment" simulations were also implemented in the EuroParc during this project.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8lCetZ_57g

Touch Screen, [1982]
https://youtube.com/watch?v=JAcZpQCLb4E


And now let us take a detour from the digital world

P1 electric car by Porsche 1898
http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1089994_first-ever-porsche-turns-out-to-be-an-electric-car
http://www.wired.com/autopia/2014/01/porsche-first-car-electric/

Disclaimer : these were a bunch of stuff I came across by searching on the internet. I have not researched thoroughly about them, nor have I confirmed these. Though these info have been got from somewhat reliable sources, I do not give any kind of assurance that the data/information is correct. I only added items here which I got impressed by the age of the claim and quality/geekery.

Inkjet Printer hacks

Hacks are fun. Hacks are also usefull. Wierdly, I suddently stumbled upon 3 hacks back to back that use inkjet printers. So I started to list those that I find. If you know more, please leave a comment


Direct to cd printer used for printing cirquits
http://hackaday.com/2009/09/02/direct-to-pcb-inkjet-printing/


Inkjet printer used to "print" several different medical tests on paper based, postage stamp sized, "lab" (watch the whole vid, its included somewhere)
http://www.ted.com/talks/download/video/8556/talk/760

Inkjet printer used to "print" out a set of living heart muscles. (watch the whole vid, its included somewhere)
http://www.ted.com/talks/anthony_atala_growing_organs_engineering_tissue.html

Inkjet printer used to "print" out other organs like kidney, bladder etc.
http://www.ted.com/talks/anthony_atala_printing_a_human_kidney.html

CHDK Fun

I have been recently playing a bit with my camera these days.. And thanks to CHDK, I have been having great fun. Check out my flickr page http://flickr.com/photos/kamathln . And my videos page http://kamathln.homelinux.net/videos/ , available only if my laptop is online.

Telescopic display support for laptop

This is an illustration for an idea i submitted to halfbakery. You can view the idea here.

I am not a good artist or a technical drawing guy, so please only appreciate the main idea, and don't analyze it under a microscope :-) .

The base extension is actually thinner and can be fit into a groove on the sides so that even when it is extended, the laptop will maintain a flat level.

Reverse Engineers will stop at nothing.

Or may be not even at nothing. I am too disoriented to know. I am dumb struck by the ingenuity and cleverness of these people. The below "title"s are mine. The original articles have other titles.


Canon! Show me your code!
http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/Porting_the_CHDK#Hardware-software_solution

Oh sweet iPod, sing your code to me!
http://web.archive.org/web/20060204000118/ipodlinux.org/stories/piezo/