QX3, great toy to spoil budding scientist

By Zatni Arbi

JAKARTA (JP): What? Intel has been making toys? Well, if you consider your PC a toy -- and many of us do -- then the answer will be affirmative. However, Intel has indeed been making toys for children, and it calls this line of products "Intel Play".

Needless to say, these interesting toys are electronic and digital gadgets, and they show what digital technology can do.

Along with a pair of Intel Deluxe PC Cameras, which Intel Indonesia lent me three weeks ago, I also received Intel's QX3 Computer Microscope. Being a boy of 48 years of age, I still had a lot of fun with this interesting toy.

Incidentally, do you recognize the picture on the screen shot? If you don't, just take out one of those crisp Rp 1,000 bills from your wallet, and you will see that it is Capt. Pattimura, one of our national heroes.

See the tiny things on the screen? The microscope's housing is made of rugged transparent plastic in blue color. It looks quite futuristic. The device is connected to the PC with an equally sturdy blue USB cable. As the entire unit -- including the two bulbs -- draws power from the PC through the USB connection, no separate power supply or battery is required. This makes the toy safe for very young children, although Intel recommends it for children aged six and above.

The microscope has two bulbs, one on the unit next to the lower lens and another on the base stand. The one on the unit will light the object from above, while the one on the stand will light the object from underneath it. Only one bulb will light at one time. We can control which one to turn on from inside the software. We can also adjust the brightness of the display -- not the actual brightness of the lamp. The bulbs can be easily replaced if they get burned out or become dim. As you guessed, we have to order the replacement from Intel or its dealers.

To see objects that are too large to be put on the sample platform, we can pull out the microscope from its base stand and hold it over the object that we want to magnify.

A green ring lets us adjust the magnification -- 10, 60 or 200 times. The picture on the rupiah bill was taken with a 10 x magnification level. A 200 x magnification will enable us to see fingerprints. A button on top allows us to capture an image without having to use the mouse. To view the image, however, we have to go to the PC screen, as there is no eyepiece on top of the microscope housing.

A suggestion to Intel and Mattel is perhaps they should add some kind of holder to keep objects such as a sheet of paper from moving around on the sample platform. At a higher magnification level, a slight touch on the object can send the image off the viewing area on the screen.

The software

There are, of course, multiple benefits of using the PC monitor for displaying the enlarged image.

First, more than one child can see the same object at the same time. Second, the image can also be saved on the hard disk (now you know why you need a 30 GB hard disk in your home PC). Incidentally, if you are watching a moving object, such as a living ant, you can even create a video with the tool to record a movie that is available in the software.

Strangely, in my test, the software took some time to load even on the Pentium 4 HP Pavilion, which I had not had the chance to return to Istidata. It reminded me of the old days when loading programs such as Newsmaster seemed to take forever. Once it was loaded, the program ran smoothly, though.

There are other modules that are not so useful in the software, such as the Paint-like program that allows your children to use paintbrush, paint bucket, eraser, etc. Your child can also create slide shows with the software. Its Help explains the function of each tool in a male voice, but the sound effects that accompany the mouse cursor as we move it over the buttons on the screen will soon become annoying rather than captivating. Unfortunately, it cannot be turned off.

Final word

This is a great educational toy for your high-tech child, and if you are curious how Intel was able to make such a great toy, perhaps you should know that Intel codesigned it with Mattel. Unfortunately, at US$99, the price of this electronic microscope toy also seems to be at the same level as Barbie's. Still, if you can afford it, it will be a useful birthday gift for your young scientist.

Besides the QX3 Computer Microscope, Intel also makes the Computer Sound Morpher that allows children to alter their voices, and the Me2Cam that will let them take part in a computer game, such as virtual snowboarding down a mountain. They will not break their legs, guaranteed! (zatni@cbn.net.id)