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Image Source: Gizmodo

Speaking of technologies being used for other purposes...  This story was passed along by Aaron Kao, a sharp new intern here at Ashoka.

The Wii Balance Board—a pressure-sensitive accessory you stand on to do yoga and play snowboarding video games—can apparently do the same thing for stroke victims that an $18,000 piece of medical equipment has traditionally done, at less than 1% of the cost and available for sale at your local mall. 

"When (University of Melbourne researcher) Ross Clark read in New Scientist (29 March 2008, p 26) that the US military considered the Nintendo Wiimote controller accurate enough to control bomb disposal robots, it set him thinking. Could the Wii's skiing and snowboarding attachment, the balance board, help rehabilitate people who have had a stroke?"

Image source: Gizmag

Here's another one from our friends at Gizmag:

ChotuKool: the $69 fridge for rural India

"Is this the world’s cheapest refrigerator? Launched by Indian conglomerate Godrej and Boyce, ChotuKool's $69 price tag is not the only reason it can be called super economical. The portable, top-opening unit weighs only 7.8kg, uses high-end insulation to stay cool for hours without power and consumes half the energy used by regular refrigerators. This is a product that has crossed several technological barriers and is designed to cross several social barriers as well."

This little fridge cools with a system like a fan in a computer and can be powered by batteries, which means it can be mobile.  It has way fewer parts than a traditional refrigerator--about 20, compared to 200--which could have positive durability and repair implications.  And its design and color choices were heavily influenced by its end-users.