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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?)

8 of 111 comments (clear)

  1. Use them for what they are good for by Q-Hack! · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Like all tools, you need to use it for what its calibration is capible of. For instance, like the i-Phone, my Blackberry has a bubble level app. I would never consider using it as a level in bridge construction, but for haning a picture it works just fine.

    --
    Some days I get the sinking feeling Orwell was an optimist.
    1. Re:Use them for what they are good for by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      What you're referring to is really the age old Physics 101 discussion about accuracy and precision. I used my iPhone several times in the last couple of days to locate golf courses I was supposed to play at, and it was extremely accurate. It will remain accurate when looking for things much smaller than a golf course as well I'm sure, but the precision isn't sufficient to work on a much smaller scale.

  2. Re:Retail 2.0 is the next big thing(TM) by ground.zero.612 · · Score: 1, Insightful

    While the consumer may usually be poised to win; in reality the retailer usually always wins.

    --
    "Be prepared, son. That's my motto. Be prepared." --Joe Hallenbeck
  3. Oh yes. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    "Interesting things is certainly going to happen" indeed!

    Want to get rid of the reality distortion field and all the hype? Sorry, there's not an app for that.

  4. letter to the editor by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Dear Editors,
    Thanks for posting this article from a "news" site.

    Actually, at second look it's just some retard's blog.

    Please do not encourage blogging as a "news" source.

    Thanks

  5. Oh Dear Lord by angryphase · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I wrote these apps for Windows Mobile, I've writtten a couple for Android, I've even written some into specialized devices using basic GPS Dongles and cellular network access for triangulation.

    Now that Apple is doing it, suddenly it's going to CHANGE THE WORLD (tm). Location-based services/applications along with advertising have been looked at before, they failed then, they will fail now. People don't want adverts on their phones, they don't want bluetooth spam or to be bombarded with "Hey, come and enjoy a Pizza half-price at Hungry Joe's" everytime they walk past a pizza restaurant.

    The article is poorly written, lacking in experience or significant research into previous implementations and sings the praises of Apple combining their award-winning expertise with this amazing new tech to change the marketplace forever.

    Pass me a bucket, mine is full already.

  6. Re:This just in: iPhone can detect gravity by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Not only just that, it can also be used as a telephone. The iPhone is truly amazing, it is 21 things in one:
    mp3 player
    video game console
    movie player
    tv show player
    email box
    movie trailer player
    photo album
    calculator
    movie camera
    pointing device
    cow bell
    photographic camera
    digital beer mug
    interweb browser
    digital aquarium
    paperweight
    flashlight
    vibrator
    pointing device for the real world
    directional gravity quantizer
    telephone

    wow... 21 many things in one single package. Steve Jobs said the iPhone will change the world, and it has already changed the world. No longer will people have to carry a backpack full of clumsy easily broken gadgets: the iPhone does it all. I'm fascinated. How can they cram so many things into one thing?

    On other news: I bought a fancy 4-in-1 bowl last week, it is a pasta bowl that is also a cereal bowl AND can be easily converted into a salad bowl by putting salad in it. Not only that, but in just seconds it can be transformed into a soup bowl! I was skeptical at first, but I saw it with my own eyes, and now I am a believer! It's a 4-in-1 bowl... amazing, what will they come up with next? I heard The Bowl 2.0 will also turn into a fruit bowl. I'm saving up so I can get the new one as soon as it comes out.

  7. Re:Missing Component... by Timmmm · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The actual missing component: gyros. We already know from the Wii that it doesn't accelerometers are pretty useless on their own for all but the most basic tasks.

    This video illustrates the difference they make:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s19W-MG-whE

    It would be very cool to have a device that integrated GPS, a digital compass, accelerometers and gyros. That would give you all the low and high frequency information you need to accurately locate its position and orientation in real time.