One of the hallmark features of the iPhone 3GS is video recording. Waterproofing, however, is not part of the package.
YouTube user KhenaKara was filming some poolside footage on his shiny new iPhone 3GS when disaster struck: the phone slipped out of his hand and into the depths of the swimming pool. Lucky for us, he put the video up on YouTube.
Best part: "Crap...wait, it still freakin' works!" Even better, he says that days after the incident the phone still works just fine.
Needless to say, this voids your warranty.
(Via The Independent)
Needless to say, automobile accidents aren't pleasurable experience. Often, the ordeal devolves into finger-pointing, pitting one person's word against another. By providing in-car video evidence, Voyager hopes to help drivers deal with the situation.
(Credit:
Brickhouse Security)
The just released Voyager Pro car camera with GPS logger packs an accelerometer that can detect fender benders and triggers a video recording of the 10 seconds leading up to and 20 seconds following an accident. The video is then stored on a removable 1GB SD card.
Additionally, the product lets drivers pinpoint the location of the accident by logging the GPS coordinates for later retrieval using an included software package. It looks like the device only packs a forward-facing camera, so you're still on your own if rear-ended.
If it works as advertised, the Voyager Pro might make dealing with fender benders a little less painful (unless, of course, you're the one at fault).
(Credit:
Clarion)
It may be a sad commentary on modern society, but we fully understand why people would want to install cameras in their cars specifically to document what exactly might happen in an accident. We just don't think the ideal solution is a model so big that it could obstruct a driver's view and possibly cause the very accident it's trying to monitor--no matter what Paris Hilton's parents have to say about it.
Clarion's "DriveEye" may be a good compromise, though Technabob says it's available only in Japan at present for about $412. It's small enough to be mounted on the windshield without blocking the main line of sight and doesn't look like a bank's security camera as other models do.
As do other automotive black boxes, the DriveEye automatically starts to digitally record the action upon detecting sudden braking and, if a crash does occur, saves up to 15 seconds of video before it happens and 5 seconds after. But be careful not to confuse it for other cameras installed overhead, or you may inadvertently cause the crash you're so worried about.
(Credit:
Gadget Universe)
It's official: Crave has a link to Paris Hilton. A couple of weeks ago we panned the idea of this car-board black box device for any number of reasons. But today we read on GeekSugar that Kathy and Rick Hilton expressed interest in the Gadget Universe product for their ubiquitous daughter to keep tabs on paparazzi and other media hounds. We're not sure what to make of this latest development, but we do agree with GeekSugar's trenchant observation: "Personally I wonder if Paris really needs any more cameras around her than she already has."
Barely a day goes by in the Big Apple when we don't see someone get almost hit by a car while mindlessly chatting on a cell phone or listening to an iPod. State Sen. Carl Kruger of Brooklyn thinks this is a big enough problem to propose new legislation aimed at protecting distracted pedestrians.
Kruger's bill, which has not yet been formally introduced, would ban the use of electronic gadgets--including MP3 players and cell phones--by pedestrians using a crosswalk in New York state. Violators would be subject to a $100 fine under the plan.
Kruger told WCBS, "We're talking about people walking sort of tuned-in, and in the process of being tuned-in, (they're) tuned-out...They're walking into speeding cars. They're walking into buses. They're walking into one another, and it's creating a number of fatalities that have been documented right here in the city."
Before you start searching eBay for flesh-colored earphones, remember that many proposed laws never get past the press release phase, much less formally introduced, voted on, or signed into law by, in this case, the Governor (a process aptly described by the Schoolhouse Rock guys).
While the proposal has generated a lot of press this morning, Kruger's official New York state senate Web site , last updated in 2005, doesn't mention it.
(Credit:
Red Ferret)
There's one thing that brings people together every holiday season, and we're not talking about the mall: It's car accidents. Bad weather, bad drivers, bad last-minute-shopping attitudes make for a deadly combination. So Crave is doing our part to spread cheery thoughts by passing along the "RoadBox."
This "vehicle accident camera system" from South Korea, according to Red Ferret, "incorporates a speed and acceleration monitor to give you some all round information about the circumstances leading up to the crash, 14 seconds before and 6 seconds after." It just goes to show that hazardous traffic is an international affair, as we recently posted an item on a similar black box system in Japan.
Happy Holidays to all.
It makes sense that this latest product comes from Japan, which we maintain is headed toward a human-free society because of its declining population growth. Just as it has found so many ways to automate services, the Japanese have found one less duty for police to handle: fender benders.
(Credit:
Nikkei)
As Plastic Bamboo notes, Fujitsu's automotive subsidiary has developed the equivalent of an airliner's black box to document "the scene and sounds of a traffic accident" with a system that includes a microphone, recorder and a camera with a 134-degree lens. The device automatically kicks in when it senses impact, sudden braking or other "gravitational change."
At an estimated $514, it's something that one can imagine becoming a regular option for automakers overseas. It's likely to be a very different story in the United States, however, where black boxes face uniquely constitutional issues of privacy.
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