I bought this USB microscope for $40, because I want to examine kitchen knife edges after I sharpen them using different sharpeners (I'm going to review them for Cool Tools). I'm having a lot of fun with it. The tiny millipede above is in a cup the size of a penny. Here are some images I've captured so far.
A Trader Joe's roasted and salted peanut. (See image full size)
A playing card.
My arm hair.
A leaf, with what looks to be some kind of parasite.
The scope plugs into a Mac or Windows machine (not sure about Linux). It has a built-in ring of LEDs to illuminate the thing you are looking at. The software lets you take photos or record videos, like the one of the millipede above – which I put into the penny-sized lens cover to keep it from crawling away. (Don't worry, when I was done recording the millipede, I ate it.)
Things I'm not going to show you: nostril, ear hole. Yuck.