I've played with a number of microscopes over the years, but this one really is a gem. It's an "Intel Play QX3" video microscope. It plugs into a USB port and sends live video images to the PC, where they are displayed, manipulated, and saved by custom software. The microscope has a platform to hold samples, and two built-in variable-brightness lights. You can use one light at a time; one shines up from inside the platform to light up translucent subjects, and the other one shines down from above for examining opaque subjects. You use a simple knob to focus the telescope, and you turn a big knurled ring to select 10, 60, or 200 power.

All of the magnification settings work very well; even the 200 power setting is very usable. It reveals the fine details of small insects and other natural subjects, and since the end result is a video image that shows up on your PC screen, you can easily point out features to people and know that they are really looking at the right thing, in focus.

The lower power settings are great for coins, stamps, large insects, microcircuits, and so on. But one of the most fun uses comes when you lift the microscope body out of its stand: the microscope automatically switches to the upper light, and reveals clear details of whatever you hold it up to. Its body and lenses are designed so that you don't need to focus the telescope when holding it in your hand, and a convenient button on the body of the microscope makes it easy to take a snapshot. It reveals the details of your skin, ear, nostril or eyeball very nicely. Kids really love this feature most of all.

And that's the target audience for the QX3: kids. It has a bright blue transparent plastic body, easy-to-use knobs, and a very simple and "friendly" software interface. (In fact, the software is a lot of fun itself: the controls make funny sounds when you press them, the help system speaks out loud, the colors are bright, the shapes are rounded, the functions are simple, and so on.)

The microscope was created by Mattel for Intel, and they did a first-rate job. It even comes with some sample subjects mounted on slides; tweezers; and so on; they fit into a hidden compartment in the microscope's stand. And there's a book of fun science activities, too.

I've built telescopes and video microscopes for a hobby, and I'm very impressed with the QX3. The microscope is so easy to use, and yet works so well, that only one thing puzzles me: Why did Intel stop selling it soon after its introduction? For you see, I purchased it earlier this year from a surplus electronics dealer. I have no idea why Intel dropped it; perhaps they weren't making enough profit on it. Regardless, their loss was my gain; I bought the microscope in May for about $60.00 by mail order from H.S.C. Electronics. Their Web site doesn't always list everything they sell- you can call them at 800-442-5833. Other vendors were also selling the QX3 earlier this year and some may still be out there.

The microscope even came bundled with another Intel Play toy: a battery-powered solid-state sound recorder. You can record voices or other sounds, and later plug the recorder into your sound card to transfer the sounds to your PC. Its software lets you morph the sound in many ways (my PC now announces that Windows is shutting down in a deep voice like the "Master Control Program" from the old Disney movie "Tron"). The sound recorder is fun, too, but the microscope is my hands-down favorite.

When I showed the QX3 to the Davis chapter in September, everybody liked it a lot, but one member in particular was especially interested: it turns out that our very own Harry Low services microscopes professionally. I didn't know that, and so it was a real pleasure to hear Harry's thoughtful remarks about the QX3. Our members continue to surprise me, even after many years!

If you want to read other opinions about the QX3, or just explore a truly excellent microscopy Web site, then you absolutely must check out this site at Florida State University. They have thoroughly dissected (literally!) and analyzed the QX3, and their site is a treasure trove of information about it, along with great ideas for getting the most out of the microscope. Highly recommended!

This year, some gear in a booth caught my eye: it was a little robotic arm in a CD-duplicating machine. Basically, a PC controls the robot arm and two to eight CD burners. The arm picks up blank CDs from one spindle, drops them into the burners for recording, and removes them and stacks them on another spindle when they are done. The machines are sold by CopyPro Inc. along with a nice little thermal printer that can print labels directly onto the finished CDs. They also record CDs as a service, for those who don't want to buy the equipment outright.

CopyPro also demonstrated a funny little gadget that I'd never seen before: a "CD Destroyer." This battery-operated machine feeds a CD between two rollers. Each roller is covered with small blunt teeth; when the CD comes out, it is intact, but the pressure of the teeth had made thousands of dimples in the thin aluminum layer inside the CD, rendering the disk absolutely, irrevocably unusable (I tried a sample: my PCs could not read the CD after it had passed through the rollers). I passed the CD around for inspection at our September meeting.

The CD Destroyer is certainly better than the ways that I use to get rid of outdated yet sensitive business-related CDs: I usually put them between a few sheets of paper, then snap them into pieces. But physically breaking them as I do is dangerous and messy: shards sometimes fly out, and little flakes of aluminum sometimes make a mess on the floor. The CD Destroyer got me to thinking that a set of old golf shoes might be a better way to "read-protect" old CDs.