We've all heard about medical endoscopes, those snake-like devices that help doctors take a better look inside the human body while maintaining damage to a minimum. And surely there are quite a lot of people out there who, at some point, wished they had such a product in order to take a closer look at some otherwise inaccessible area.

For this reason, the people over at USB Fever have come up with the USB Digital Endoscope, a device versatile enough to allow for a thorough examination of even the darkest areas of one's system....computer system, that is.

At first glance, the device looks quite similar to its medical counterpart, featuring a 63-cm long stick, accompanied by an 80-cm USB cable. At the end of the stick one can find a small optical element that delivers a magnification factor of around 40x, which is good enough to inspect even the smallest parts in a computer. In the close vicinity of the optical element there's the LED illumination system, which can be manually controlled by the user in order to adjust the intensity of the light.

The device behaves pretty much in the same way as a regular webcam, being able to take snapshots and record videos via a software application. Furthermore, to ensure that the images are as clear as possible, the device also sports a manual focusing system.

The USB Digital Endoscope is guaranteed to work (no drivers needed) with Windows 2000, XP and Vista. The manufacturer does point out that the peripheral might also work under Linux, but since no thorough testing regarding this particular issue has been carried out, you'll be getting it at your own risk.

The device from USB Fever is not exactly a very low-cost one, selling for around 140 US dollars. However, it might actually enjoy a rather high level of success, due mostly to the wide range of fields where it could prove to be of use, from laboratories, quality control and industrial inspection to overclockers, crime-scene investigators and, why not, even doctors.


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