Hasta La Gadget!

Smartphones have pretty good cameras, but nowhere near good enough to do the kind of high accuracy measurement work that’s required for engineering or remodelling projects. Enter Spike, a new smartphone attachment designed by ikeGPS, a company that specializes in building fit-for-purpose laser hardware for use in surveying and 3D modelling.

The Spike is version of their solution that attaches to the back of a smartphone and integrates directly with software on those devices to make it possible to measure objects and structures accurately from up to 600 feet away, just by taking a picture with your device. The accessory itself ads a laser range finder, advanced GPS a 3D compass and another digital camera to your smartphone’s existing capabilities, and it’s much more portable than existing solutions (pocketable, even, according to ikeGPS).

The benefits of the Spike and its powers are evident for the existing market ikeGPS already sells to; telecom and utility companies, architects, city planners, builders and more would be better served with a simple portable accessory and the phone they already have in their pocket than by specialized equipment that’s heavy, bulky, requires instruction on proper use and lacks any kind of easy instant data portability like you’ll get from a smartphone app’s “Share” functions.

But ikeGPS is after a new market segment with the Spike, too. It says the device is “built for developers & hackers,” and they suggest augmented reality as a possible consumer application, but are interesting in seeing exactly what the dev community can come up with via its full-featured API. Laser accurate measurements could indeed bring interesting features to location-based apps, though Spike is clearly more interested in letting developers more experienced with that segment of the market figure out the details.

Spike plans to eventually build a case attachment to make it compatible with any phone and case combo, though at launch it’ll be doing this via a CAD model which owners of the device can use to get mounts 3D printed themselves. It’ll work a bit like the Sony QX10 and QX100 smartphone camera lens accessories, it sounds like, and make it possible to use with any iOS or Android device.

The goal of Spike’s founding team, which includes founder and CTO Leon Toorenburg, who built ikeGPS (neé Surveylab) to fit the needs of professionals, is to make this kind of tech widely available. It’s another example of costs associated with tech decreasing quickly, and making it ultimately possible to provide something that once required a professionally trained operator and expensive, specialized hardware usable by anyone with a phone. ikeGPS tech has been used by UN and US Army engineers in disaster recover and emergency response, and now its team wants to make those same capabilities open to app developers. Others like YC company Senic are looking to accomplish similar things, but Spike’s vision is much more sweeping at launch.

The project is just over halfway to its $100,000 funding goal, and $379 scores backers a pre-order unit, which is scheduled to ship in April next year. Building a consumer device is different from building very specialized hardware on what’s likely a made-to-order basis, but at least the team has the know-how and experience to make its tech actually work.

One Giant Leap happens to have a forward looking name, where it is an award-winning company that specializes in real-time feedback of human body mechanics as well as performance. Well, we bring you word that One Giant Leap as well as ANT+ have collaborated to deliver the paddle-based Kayak Power Meter. Just what kind of “magic” is the Kayak Power Meter capable of? Well, it is an instrumented paddle shaft, that comes with blades attached, in order to deliver real-time left/right feedback of performance data where among them would include power output , power balance and stroke rate. Pre-orders of the One Giant Leap Kayak Power Meter are currently being accepted, although the Kayak Power Meter itself will only be made available in September this year.

The Kayak Power Meter will play nice with any ANT+ display unit which supports the ANT+ Power profile, as this particular device enables kayakers to create the perfect data monitoring setup for their needs. It has been specially customized for shaft stiffness and length, where it can capture both left and right stroke data individually so that paddlers are capable of taking advantage of a more detailed reading on each stroke’s performance.

I guess you can say that it is pretty much in the same vein as that of the ANT+ cycling power meter and bike computer setups, considering how the Kayak Power Meter relies on ANT+ ultra low power technology so that it can capture and display power metrics on any ANT+ enabled fitness watch or kayak mounted computer sans wires. If you do not have the luxury of time to do so at that particular moment, data can also be viewed at a later time on a tablet or smartphone which will obviously need to have native ANT+ support, or to connect to ANT+ with the help of an adapter. The Kayak Power Meter has been slapped with a price tag of NZD$1,039 if you are interested.

Product Page via Press Release
[ One Giant Leap introduces Kayak Power Meter copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

We’ve all had that moment where we sit in front of the keyboard and have trouble just getting started. It can be an especially dire problem when the 30-day deadline of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) looms overhead, and that was enough for inventor Steve Hoefer to craft his own USB progress meter. The Arduino-based contraption advances a real-world dial or gauge as the word count reaches the NaNoWriMo servers, giving that extra incentive to meet a daily goal or hit the ultimate 50,000-word mark on time. Hoefer characterizes it as a simple project for those who know their way around an Arduino controller; the toughest part for them may just be constructing the box that keeps the meter presentable. Full instructions are available after the break, although we’d hurry to build the meter before November starts. It could all too easily be the source of the very procrastination we’re trying to avoid.

Continue reading NaNoWriMo progress meter uses Arduino to fight writer’s block, may be its own distraction (video)

Filed under: Peripherals, Alt

NaNoWriMo progress meter uses Arduino to fight writer’s block, may be its own distraction (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 25 Oct 2012 14:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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