Who knew? Berkeley researchers dial into the cell phone’s potential, developing applications that help us . . .

TEACH

Playtime now could open doors later. Children in rural India use videogames on cell phones to learn English, courtesy of computer science graduate student Matt Kam and team. Modeled after traditional village games like hide and seek, the games employ the latest computer science and language acquisition research to help disadvantaged youngsters learn English and other power languages. http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~mattkam/millee/

DIAGNOSE 

Will your garden-variety cell phone one day do the job of an ultrasound or MRI machine? Earlier this year, researchers under the direction of Professor Boris Rubinsky of bioengineering demonstrated how a cell phone could send raw data from a portable scanner to a remote computer and display the resulting medical image. The system promises an affordable option for health care workers in poor countries, with the potential to benefit millions. http://berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2008/04/29_cellphone.shtml

ALERT 

No one likes traffic. But civil and environmental engineering assistant professor Alexandre Bayen and team discovered a novel way to identify snarls: the GPS-enabled cell phone. Compared with the current system of costly sensors, cameras and radar, these devices simply transmit a car’s speed and location to servers, which produce Internet maps of real-time road conditions. In the not-so-distant future, your mobile friend could warn you of the traffic jam ahead and recommend a better route. http://www.citris-uc.org/mobile-century

TREAT 

Smartphones could make managing diabetes easier, say alumni Christopher Hannemann (M.S.’08 ME) and Sarah Beth Eisinger (B.S.’07 EECS). They have conceived a mobile device that automatically receives data from insulin pumps and glucometers and prompts the individual to record notes about food intake and physical activity, resulting in a digital diary to help patients and their doctors spot trouble before it occurs. http://ucberkeley.citris-uc.org/Big-idea-winners-2008