Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Using the iPhone As a Pointing Device For the Real World

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the because-you-can dept.

Zrop writes "With a combination of GPS, Wi-FI-positioning, compass, and accelerometers, the iPhone is turbocharged for location-based services. Combine this with the new 3.0 iPhone OS and interesting things are certainly going to happen. Steve Jobs said that the iPhone will change the world when he presented it back in 2007, and that is exactly what it will do." The bulk of the article is about using the phone as a super real world pointer, which could be really cool if it could be accurate enough to be useful, although not particularly ergonomic. (Are you pointing the screen at something? The camera? The headphone jack?)

11 of 111 comments (clear)

  1. that's why by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    And that's why I bought a Saturn.

  2. Or you could by jayhawk88 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Look at where you're going. With your iEyes.

    1. Re:Or you could by derGoldstein · · Score: 4, Funny

      I couldn't find iEyes in the app store. How much is it?

      --
      Entomologically speaking, the spider is not a bug, it's a feature.
    2. Re:Or you could by gEvil+(beta) · · Score: 4, Funny

      iEye, Cap'n!

      --
      This guy's the limit!
    3. Re:Or you could by cleojo42 · · Score: 3, Funny

      Approximately one iArm and one iLeg.

  3. already do this... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    I already use iphones as pointing devices:
    when I see someone with an iphone, I know to point at them and laugh

  4. Re:I have an iDea by derGoldstein · · Score: 3, Funny

    Serving as a phone is 17th on the list of iPhone features. Right after "Peggle".

    --
    Entomologically speaking, the spider is not a bug, it's a feature.
  5. Re:The new iPhone can also be used as a paperweigh by darthnoodles · · Score: 4, Funny

    In related news, for the first time ever an iPhone was used in a colonoscopy to detect cancer. Using the sleek design to its advantage the device was able to "get in there" and take the photos required. The doctors said it was a success...the patient said "Ow!"

  6. Re:Missing Component... by Old97 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Great idea, an iPhone mounted on a shark with a friggin' laser beam attached! Bwahahahahaha!

    --
    Very often, people confuse simple with simplistic. The nuance is lost on most. - Clement Mok
  7. This just in: iPhone can detect gravity by Aceticon · · Score: 3, Funny

    This just in:

    "Stunned users have discovered yet another feature of the iPhone - it can be used as a gravity detection device.

    iPhone owner and fan John Smith from Los Angeles CA told us of his surprise at discovering this surprising feature on his iPhone: 'It was incredible, I just opened my hand and instantly my iPhone started accelerating in the same direction as the local gravitational field - I never noticed that my iPhone could do this before' - he told us while sipping a triple-shot Cafe Mocha.

    From testimonies by other users, it seems that this feature in the iPhone shows itself whenever it is released at a distance from any surface.

    Combine this with the new 3.0 iPhone OS and interesting things are certainly going to happen. Steve Jobs said that the iPhone will change the world when he presented it back in 2007, and that is exactly what it will do."

  8. Be careful ... by PPH · · Score: 2, Funny

    ... at whom you point that iPhone. You could start an intergalactic war.

    Not because the aliens mistake it for a weapon, but because they prefer the Palm Pre. And you know how these platform wars get out of hand.

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.