Hasta La Gadget!

Ugly, plain and iPhone-only, but TapNav at least pays attention to the road ahead

TapNav is an upcoming augmented reality (AR) navigation app from mSonar. Unlike other AR navigation systems, which just overlay information onto the camera’s live feed based on GPS and compass positions, TapNav actually reads the input from the camera. This allows it to offer some services that vanilla GPS can’t.

Like other AR apps, TapNav shows you the road ahead and overlays your route. This helps you quickly see where you are supposed to be going, without having to decode a 3-D representation in your brain.

This looks pretty cool (although right now the screenshots show that the graphics are rather blocky), but the future plans look even better. Because it reads the image of the lane ahead at 29fps, TapNav will be able to react to the road conditions. Thus, an update promises lane detection (with an alarm if you drift off your line), and distance detection to keep you away from the vehicle in front.

Thankfully, one promised tweak will be “major updates on UI.” That should stop TapNav from looking quite so much like a 1990s driving game.

The app launches tomorrow, and will run on iPhone’s with cameras. I have a trial version, but it refuses to copy itself onto the iPad 2. A shame, as the bigger display would be great for quickly glancing the route ahead.

The app will be $3 and include a 60-day subscription to the services. Further subscriptions will be available as in app purchases.

MSonar Internet home page [MSonar]

See Also:

• Augmented Reality
• Word Lens: Augmented Reality App Translates Street Signs Instantly …
• Augmented Reality App Identifies Strangers With Camera
• How it Works: Augmented Reality

Continue reading G-Technology’s G-Connect offers 500GB of wireless storage, portable WiFi network to smartphone, tablet users

G-Technology’s G-Connect offers 500GB of wireless storage, portable WiFi network to smartphone, tablet users originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 22 Jun 2011 08:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dream no longer friends, FL Studio Mobile is here for your iOS device of choice. The iPhone and iPod touch version is being offered for $15, while the more expansive HD edition for the iPad is fetching $20 — but both will see their price climb another $5 after the introductory sale is over. As mentioned you’ll be able to pass project files back and forth between the desktop and mobile apps, though the iDevices lack support (and the muscle power) for VST instruments. It also appears the scope of the sequencer had to be scaled back from 128 tracks to 99, but that should be more than enough to keep you tapping out beats like 9th Wonder while riding the train. Hit up the source links to download the portable production suite and check out the gallery below.

FL Studio Mobile lands on iOS, more indie rap albums to be produced while commuting originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 22 Jun 2011 07:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Remember those old diving suits with the big metal helmets and the weighted shoes that let you walk across the ocean floor? The divers carried no tanks, relying instead on a partner pumping air down a hose from the surface. If the guy up top decided to take a smoke break, or just nodded off, the poor diver would suffocate.

So forget that lazy, good-for-nothing smoker on the surface. This is 2011 after all. Replace his sorry ass with the PowerSnorkel, a “Power Snorkel Hookah.”

The hookah consists of a buoy with a pump and compressor. It sends air down a tube to the diver(s) below. One diver can drop to 12 meters (40 feet), two can go to 6 meters (20 feet). In the latter case, each diver gets their own 6-meter tube which attaches to a y-divider.

A flag on top lets the pump and tank be easily seen and found, the battery will run for about an hour, and the kit includes a pair of regulators and dive harnesses.

It looks like a lot of fun. It’s no replacement for Scuba gear, of course. It’s more like a power-up for normal snorkelers. For recreational gear, its a little pricy — $2,500 — but then again, you are trusting your life to it, and it certainly costs less than keeping an unreliable, ne’er-do-well assistant on your team.

PowerSnorkel [Power Dive via Oh Gizmo]

See Also:

• CES: Scuba Mask and Camera — Combined!
• Reading Glasses for Scuba Divers

Leica’s M9-P is a pro version of its already excellent rangefinder. You are welcome to buy me one

Leica has announced the M9-P, a “professional” variant of its already high-end M9 rangefinder. The only functional change is the sapphire crystal cover on the rear LCD, which also comes with anti-reflective coatings on both sides. Otherwise, the manual-focus, 18MP full-frame body remains, internally at least, the same.

On the outside the changes are cosmetic. The leatherette cover is knobbier, making grip supposedly easier, and the trademark Leica red dot has been removed from the front of the camera, as has the “M9″ logo. This ensures stealth for pros, letting them save a few bucks on the electrical tape they’d usually use to cover them up. It also makes the camera look totally bad-ass, in a military stealth kind of way.

The price? $8,000, body only, or $1,000 more than the price of the standard M9. I loved my old Leica M6, but these prices are almost enough to send me back to film.

Joining the new body is a new lens, the Leica Super-Elmar-M 21mm ƒ3.4 ASPH. It weighs in at ten ounces, is a little under two inches long, and focuses as close as 70cm (28 inches). It’ll cost around $3,000.

Leica M9-P product page [Leica]

See Also:

• Leica M9: 18 Megapixels, Full-Frame Sensor
• $29000 Titanium Leica M9 Will Sadly Never Take a Picture