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Video-In and Magnetometers Could Introduce Interesting iPhone App Possibilites

megfilmworks said:
It can also detect direction of the magnetic field. Hence where north is.
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Not exactly, if I remember correctly...

It will know where the North Magnetic Pole is, it would still need to know your position to figure out where the Geographic North Pole is to establish the heading. Depending on where you are, this can be quite a deviation.
 
check this out if you have a webcam
http://ge.ecomagination.com/smartgrid/#/landing_page

youtube demo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00FGtH5nkxM


Sony uses similar technology in their 'eye of judgment' game, and also I had some little cards with an old sony vaio about 10 years ago that did similar things. Still impressive though, and as mentioned, its likely to be the way Apple expose this to developers that will bring the really interesting things out.

Even if they don't have the magnetometer, it is possible to use the camera to detect movement - there have been the odd game on older nokia phones that did similar things without a magnetometer.
 
The magnetometer can produce a voltage proportional to the magnetic field it senses and it also senses polarity(Magnetic field flows South to North).

The other issue is the difference between Magnetic north and
True north (used on maps and charts).
This is called magnetic variation (around 13 degrees here in SoCal)
and it is dealt with by software post the magnetometer which only senses magnetic north.
 
The most important information you can have when lost is...

Where are you.
Which way you are pointing.
Where you need to go from here.

A couple weeks ago, a friend of mine's grandson and his girlfriend lost his backpack over a cliff during a hike in Alaska with a blizzard coming in. All their shelter and food was in the pack. Luckily, his iPhone was in his pocket. He was able to make a call, but the GPS could not pickup his location. Rescuers eventually found them about midnight, thankfully.
 
a rebuttal...

MrCubes said:
Would be nice - but there are issues there that make it a harder problem than it sounds.


How would you do it?
How would BG processes help with the scalability?

Personally, from having used, as well as developed for, mobile platforms that allow third party background process, I'm really loving the iPhone's lack of them and think the Notification Service system is the right solution. There might still be 0.01% of apps (figure plucked from the air in true forum posting fashion) that would benefit from having them, but I think it's a case of "the needs of the many".
Of course Apple can still screw it up with a MobileMe-esque rollout - but I'm hoping they were serious when they said the delay was while they redesigned it to scale enough to meet demand.
Click to expand...


I disagree. With IM alone, there would be popups all over the place. This is not even considering developers like Erica Sadun are trying to find ways to add Twitter to the PNS. I can just imagine a sports junkie getting and update of all the college basketball games through the PNS. I'm sure there are a ton of apps that will use this feature.

These popups take over the whatever you may be doing. Only iCal appointments should have that priority. The pre and android offer a far better solution. You still get the notification but it does not overwhelm their screen.There would be a lot of applications that would make use of the PNS.
The Pre is also copying Apple and coming out with their own PNS and will still have background apps so it will further limit use of the battery. The Pre will have the best of both worlds from that stadpoint. Whether you like it or not Apple will have to eventually do background apps. There are some things that just can't be done through PNS. I would love the ability to use GPS while listening to Pandora in my car while the iPhone is in the charger.

My guess is that you will see an API that will allow apps to interoperate in OS 4.0 next year. For now the seemingly never ending list of features that Apple is adding to the iPhone should keep customers more than happy for another year.
 
Treasure hunts

GPS with video input and augmented reality would make for some fun treasure hunts! "find the largest branch of the largest tree in Pleasure Point". You point your phone at that branch, and you get a clue to the next location.

Fun fun.
 
qubex said:
There's a serious mistake in the post

A triple-axis magnetometer does not allow the determination of position, it only allows the determination of orientation.

Determining position is a much more complicated affair that requires (for example) a known point of origin and then continued integration of an inertial frame, as is the case with inertial guidance systems.

Or GPS.

Which raises the issue: if determning position were all that a triple-axis magnetometer is useful for, why would they bother to include redundant capability already covered by the GPS?
Click to expand...

Q, you answered your own question. Determining position is not what a triple-axis magnetometer is used for. It allows the determination of orientation. Therefore, it's not redundant, since GPS does not determine orientation.
 
The Sims

This all sounds really cool and I hope becomes a reality! Imagine this with The Sims game, seeing how your little people are living etc!
 
Thats outstanding. As a developer myself (though a stoic one working on a single traditional project than something as advanced as this) I'm blown away by the potential the upcoming iPhone could have.
I dismissed the current iPhones gaming potential, and even if the iPhone doesn't get games as great as Mario, Pokemon, LocoRoco and Monster Hunter at least there will be some stellar tech demos over the next few years.
 
Update

update from source...

Update: It's not real:

"The iHologram app was not real. It was an illustration of an idea I had which I believe could work with the technology (combining anamorphosis and motion sensing). Unfortunately I’m just an ideas person, I can show how things should look, but I’m no hardcore programmer."

https://www.macrumors.com/iphone/2008/08/22/ihologram-looks-remarkable-but-is-it-real/


That sucks... it seemed so cool if it was real :(
 
stagi said:
cant wait to see what this brings!
Click to expand...

I agree. I love apps like Color Expert and Shazam, that can readily translate real time info whether it be visual or sound and provide an immediate translation. I would love to see an app developed that when one takes a picture or keeps the video camera on a particular subject for a certain amount of time could do something like scan and analyze the features of a subject i.e. a bird and the size, shape and color pattern of it's feathers and claws or a type of boat etc . . and give a full history and definition of the thing in question. I think that would be next level. iphone 10 maybe? :p
 
zombitronic said:
...In addition, if you put your hand up in front of your virtual friend, ideally, your hand should block them. Without technology to sense and judge distances of near range objects, however, your hand and everything else in the foreground would be blocked out by the augmented image. Technology such as a stereo camera (dual cameras to see two images and judge depth perception) and LIDAR (lasers that scan and determine range) would need to be implemented to properly display augmented data behind objects in the foreground, in relation to the augmented image's intended position. Unfortunately, LIDAR is bulky and expensive and stereo camera hardware and software isn't very consumer ready, yet.
Click to expand...

Gee, thank goodness for that. It was seriously looking as if there'd be nothing left to moan about on the next iPhone. At least I can now look forward to all of the "What... No LIDAR??? I'm through with Apple" postings come the Summer
 
winks360 said:
How did these guys make these if the new iPhone is yet to be released :confused:
Click to expand...

Augmented reality has been done on other devices already. It's not iPhone specific. A lot of code sections are out on the net for programmers to play with.

Reminds me of how everyone thought that using cell towers or hotspots was some new locating technology... when public domain projects had been around for years... and are often the basis from which commercial implementations come.

Ditto for a lot of stuff we'll be seeing soon. For instance, there are public projects out there that follow your hands to manipulate Google Maps or other things. Microsoft has hinted that their future mobile phones won't need touch, since they'll watch your actions via tiny cameras instead. (For that matter, HP's Touchsmart uses cameras for their touchscreen, so that nothing hinders the video display clarity.)

So much cool stuff. So little time!

diamond.g said:
Honestly the only apps that would really use background processes would be internet radio type apps (think ipod) and skype like apps (think phone).
Click to expand...

Also location-aware apps, which on other phones automatically do things for you, such as sending your kid a text to let them know you're about to pick them up... or will be late.

And anything that you'd like to happen without your having to manually relaunch the app. Other mobile OS's allow apps to register to auto-start upon a notification.

The only fear I guess for the push notification feature is that everyone will want to use popups when a badge notification is probably more elegant.
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Agreed.

The only thing Apple needs to worry about is push notifications being a single point of failure (I seem to recall them not saying if they will guarantee service availability) see RIM...
Click to expand...
They don't even guarantee notification delivery. Then of course there's the problem if you're in areas (such as basements or airplanes) where a background notification might not, or can't, come... which would otherwise be done via a simple alarm task.
 
schneb said:
The most important information you can have when lost is...

Where are you.
Which way you are pointing.
Where you need to go from here.

A couple weeks ago, a friend of mine's grandson and his girlfriend lost his backpack over a cliff during a hike in Alaska with a blizzard coming in. All their shelter and food was in the pack. Luckily, his iPhone was in his pocket. He was able to make a call, but the GPS could not pickup his location. Rescuers eventually found them about midnight, thankfully.
Click to expand...

Now think about this feature as it might be implemented within google maps. As you use the GPS feature, the map is actually oriented in the direction you are traveling and automatically rotates with each turn you make. Additionally, the built-in speech then tells you at each junction point what turn to make and how far to go. All of this should be possible with the 3.0 update.
 
cdinca said:
GPS with video input and augmented reality would make for some fun treasure hunts! "find the largest branch of the largest tree in Pleasure Point". You point your phone at that branch, and you get a clue to the next location.

Fun fun.
Click to expand...

I'm thinking of the Rowdy Piper movie "They Live!" Hold the iPhone up and see what hideous monsters lurk among us. Kewl!
 
zombitronic said:
Q, you answered your own question. Determining position is not what a triple-axis magnetometer is used for. It allows the determination of orientation. Therefore, it's not redundant, since GPS does not determine orientation.
Click to expand...

That is precisely my point: mine is not a question. Rather I'm rhetorically asking the poster why they'd believe that Apple has incorporated two redundant systems into the same device.
 
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