Testing and printing have never been easier!

This HIV Test Fits on a USB Drive

By Nathaniel Scharping | November 10, 2016 3:28 pm

A new HIV test is as simple as plugging a USB drive into a computer.

Scientists from London’s Imperial College and a private genomics analysis company created a device that uses pH to test for the HIV-1 virus and communicates the results to a USB stick. The test requires only a drop of blood and the researchers say that it is simple and cost-effective to manufacture, offering a low-cost option for the millions of HIV-positive individuals who must monitor the effectiveness of their treatment regimes.

Test On A Stick

The test uses a sensor to measure changes in acidity levels and a chip to communicate that information to the USB. When the sensor heats up blood containing the HIV virus hydrogen ions are produced, altering the acidity of the sample in a specific way. The sensor measures this change and passes it along. The whole process takes less than half an hour, and yields a success rate of 95 percent in the lab. The success rate when the test was actually applied on the stick was 88 percent. The device fits neatly atop the USB stick, requires no external power sources, and is easily disposable. The researchers published their results Thursday in Scientific Reports.

Antiretroviral drug therapies are largely successful in controlling HIV infections, but sometimes the virus will mutate, rendering the drugs ineffective. When this happens, patients and doctors need to know as soon as possible, both to preserve the patients’ health and prevent the spread of drug-resistant strains of the disease. For this reason, regular tests are recommended for patients with HIV.

Small and Accurate

Current HIV tests are either not reliable enough or difficult to perform, especially for patients in developing countries. Home test kits can produce results in about 20 minutes, but some tests have an error rate of almost 10 percent, requiring follow-up tests. Lab tests are more accurate, but are expensive to perform, require access to healthcare and take several days to return results. For those living in rural villages in poor areas, getting these kinds of tests is difficult.

The researchers say that more work needs to be done to prepare their device for field use, including making the device more accurate, but that it has the potential to be used to detect multiple viruses in addition to HIV.

Pocket-Size Device Lets You Print from Anywhere

By Charles Q. Choi, Live Science Contributor | November 15, 2016

Zuta Labs' mobile printer allows people to print while on the go.

A new mobile robotic printer that is only a little bigger than three stacked hockey pucks will enable people to print anywhere and on any size page of paper.

Smartphones, tablets and laptops make it easy for people to work on the go, but traditionally, printers have been cumbersome to lug out of the office.

Zuta Labs, based in Jerusalem, reasoned that printers nowadays are essentially a printhead running back and forth on a moving piece of paper. The company's approach involves placing a printhead on a set of small wheels and letting it run across a sheet of paper, thus allowing printers to become smaller.

"The name 'Zuta' in ancient Aramaic means 'small,'" said Tuvia Elbaum, CEO and founder of Zuta Labs.

The new Zuta Pocket Printer is about 4 inches (10.2 centimeters) wide and long and 3 inches (7.5 cm) high, and weighs about 12 ounces (350 grams). It can connect wirelessly to smartphones, tablets, laptops and PCs via Wi-Fi, and is supported by Android, iOS, OS X and Windows. A free app from the company lets you use the printer via a mobile device; a laptop or PC can also select the printer for use just like any other wirelessly connected printer.

To print, a person switches on the device, aligns it with the corner of a sheet of paper and sends the document to it. The printer can print one average A4 page, measuring 8.27 by 11.7 inches (21 by 29.7 cm), every 50 to 60 seconds with a resolution of 300 dpi. Zuta Labs noted that its printer can print on any standard size piece of paper, and that, in principle, it could print on any surface, Elbaum told Live Science.

The printer's "omni-wheels" help it turn and move in any direction on a surface. Laser sensors help control the movement, speed and location of the device, according to the company.

If a person sends several pages to the device, the printer will stop when it gets to the bottom of the first page and wait until it is placed at the top of the next page. Users can then tap on the mobile app, and the printer will continue to print.

Zuta Labs said the printer's rechargeable lithium-polymer battery can last about 1 hour, on average — long enough to print about 60 pages. The device charges via a micro-USB port, and takes about 3 hours to charge fully.

One ink cartridge can print more than 100 pages, according to the company. Currently, the device prints only in black, although Zuta Labs said it plans to have a full-color printer in the future. Cartridges are replaced via a hatch on the bottom of the printer.

The founders of Zuta Labs, which was established in 2014, said the idea for their printer came in 2013, when they were students at the Jerusalem College of Technology. A 2014 Kickstarter campaign to fund Zuta Labs raised $511,662 from 3,081 backers, exceeding its original goal of raising $400,000. The company plans to ship its printers to customers in the beginning of 2017.

Resume: My first article speaks about an HIV test on a USB drive which requires a drop of blood to determine if you are infected or not. It offers a low-cost tools which could save many lives. A sensor mesure the acidity change in your blood stream. This gadget has a 10 percent error rate. It could permits those who live in rural villages or poor areas to have direct result instead of a long and stressful basic way.

My second article talks about pocket-size printers able to print anywhere and on any size of paper. Created by Zuta Labs based in Jerusalem, this invention works via Wifi. They started this journey with a Kick starter campaign to raise founds and they get more than they expected because people believed on the future of this gadget.

two terms to remember: Small and Accurate, which qualify those two inventions.