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Many cellphones are already more powerful than not-so-distant desktop computers, but most of the time that power is going to waste. Researchers at Microsoft have a new idea to keep it busy - monitoring driving conditions like bumps on the road.

By listening using its microphone, feeling for bumps using accelerometers and tracking your location using GPS, phones running prototype software can generate a map showing typical conditions on roads the user drives on.

That could highlight places they may want to avoid in future - because of potholes or speed bumps, or regular honking from other vehicles due to traffic snarl-ups.

Using cellphones to report on traffic conditions, or even air pollution has been tried before. But using the accelerometer to detect bumps is a newer idea. As the motion sensors become cheaper, we can expect them to appear in more and more phones and other gadgets. Look out for more ideas about how to use them in future.

The phone project is one of many being shown of by Microsoft Research at its annual TechFest showcase. Another prototye getting a lot of attention is the brilliant LucidTouch - a gadget with a touch sensitive panel on the back - we reported on it last year.

Tom Simonite