Christmas Shopping For Your Nephew

colenski writes "My vote for the coolest toy of the decade so far has to lie with the EyeClops Bionic Eye. As one reviewer noted, simply, "Microscopes never worked this well or looked this good when I was a kid." An ingeniously simple and brilliantly designed product, the EyeClops plugs into your TV and magnifies anything you put it on 200 times. Brain dead simple to use, EyeClops is a cheap $40 US / $60 Cdn gift that your nephew or nerdy niece would probably freak over. Here's some cool and disturbing pictures I got after about 20 minutes playing with it. Check out the money shot." I always struggled to focus through a microscope as a kid, and this looks like a great inexpensive present for a little kid since every cool chemistry kit is totally nerfed now. Any other fun ideas?

Comments

The problem with microscopes...

[inviolet]

I always struggled to focus through a microscope as a kid, and this looks like a great inexpensive present for a little kid since every cool chemistry kit is totally nerfed now.

The problem you had, and that my own son had last Christmas, is that cheap microscopes don't have "widefield" eyepieces.

If you spend a little more (typically $100-$150 on Ebay) you can get a good-quality student-grade microscope with a widefield eyepiece. And nowadays, many come with 640x480 webcams, or at least webcam attachment points.

The webcams are USB, so it's trivial to capture images and print them out for science projects. That's vastly more useful than a TV-out.

Re:Hey!

[Fred_A]

Another example of how Canadian customers get screwed: by charging 33% more for the same product (Our looney is at par with the greenback these days, or worth even more!) Try crossing the Pond and buying stuff in euros or in UK pounds one of these days. You'll find that despite what the markets say, 1USD = 1GBP or 1EUR (at least, if not more).

The markup for US stuff over here can be quite astounding (but then we're all so rich we can afford to pay double the prices).

Re:Hey!

[Espectr0]

Try crossing the Pond and buying stuff in euros or in UK pounds one of these days. You'll find that despite what the markets say, 1USD = 1GBP or 1EUR (at least, if not more).

You people in first world countries have it easy. In my third world country, buying ms office legally is twice the minimum wage. The nintendo wii is 1000$.

The quality is ok,

[philicorda]

but it looks the same as my web cam when I screw the lens out really far.
I've done this and the close up pics I get are as high magnification and in focus as the ones taken with this microscope.
I know this as many of the pictures linked to in the article are of the same things I looked at, like coins, hair on your arm etc.

I kinda expected more if the optics were designed specifically for a microscope.

Re:Advertising

[rumith]

You must be new here.

Re:Currency

[slim]

Odd that its $60 CDN when the currency is equal now. Hint: consumer prices do not track currency fluctuations. Obviously each affects the other, but in complex ways. For one thing, the price of an item has more to do with what people are willing to pay, than how much it costs to produce, and for another, neither retailers nor customers would like it if a product changed price every week depending on the state of finance markets.

(Of course there are exceptions, such as motor fuel, seasonal food, etc.)