technabob » dish

dishpointer augmented reality iphone 3gs app helps you find satellites with ease

technabob — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 20:19:26 +0000

Ever try to install a satellite dish? Speaking from personal experience, I can say that finding the right line-of-sight from the dish to the skies can be a real pain in the a$$. Now there’s a new app coming for the iPhone 3GS that could make satellite dish positioning just a bit easier.

DishPointer’s next-generation software uses augmented reality technology to overlay the exact position of the satellites on the live video from your iPhone. The application takes full advantage of the iPhone 3GS built-in compass, GPS, and accelerometer to show you the locations of the satellites in the sky. Check out the video below to see a preview of the application in action:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

You’ll have no excuse for those pesky tree branches or leaves getting in the way of your mega 5-LNB high-def dish with this app in hand. And if you’re a satellite dish installer, you’ll definitely want this in your bag of tricks when it’s released.

DishPointer hasn’t revealed when the new augmented reality app will hit, but says it should coincide with the release of iPhone OS 3.1 (rumored to be in September). For now, you can check out DishPointer’s other satellite pointing apps here.

water clock tells time using dishes, magnets and h2o

technabob — Thu, 07 May 2009 12:00:14 +0000

This elegantly minimal clock lets you create your own custom time-telling device using a combination of plates, cups and liquid of your choice.

Designed by Kouichi Okamoto with ceramicist Daniel Jo, the Water Clock consists of a small fired clay base topped with a pair of magnetic spheres. A pair of powerful magnets underneath the delicate clay surface move the tiny orbs in a circular path to tell the current time. While the spheres are magnetic, they’re actually buoyant, so if you fill up a glass with H2O, the “hands” of the clock actually float on the surface of the water. Each of the spheres can be placed into any dish, plate or other vessel you happen to have lying around.

And while all the designer’s pictures show the clock working with crystal clear water and delicate china, I don’t see any reason why you couldn’t make your own clock using beer, wine, orange juice or Donkey Kong Jungle Juice swimming in a Dixie Riddle Cup. That’s the true beauty of this thing.

The Water Clock is available over at Generate for $299 (USD).

sqish: camouflage satellite dish

technabob — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 11:50:53 +0000

If you drive down the average city street, you’ll see scads of ugly satellite dishes protruding from the side walls, balconies and roofs of homes like some sort of convex grey metal virus. So it was only a matter of time before someone would come up with a way to do away with all those unsightly dishes.

The oddly-named Sqish (I know, a ‘Q’ with no ‘U’) conceals a satellite antenna inside a compact rectangular box, which can be covered with a camouflage weatherproof label to help it blend into its surroundings. What’s really cool is that you can actually send a digital photo of your surroundings to the Sqish folks, and they’ll make a custom camo sticker to make it blend in perfectly to your environs.

At this point, Sqish satellite antennae are only available for UK satellite customers using services such as Sky or Freesat. Hopefully, they’ll work up a version for Dish or DirecTV at some point.

If you’re fortunate enough to be in the UK, be prepared to drop £149 (appx. $294 US) for the antenna, and another £25 (appx. $49 US) for each custom matte photo sticker.

[Sqish via Daily Mail via Unplggd]

talking plate tells you when to stop eating

technabob — Tue, 26 Dec 2006 15:07:39 +0000

Find yourself eating too much these holidays? Perhaps this wacky new invention will help you keep your New Year’s resolution to cut down.

A Ukranian scientist has developed a prototype of a plate that automatically tells you when you’ve eaten more food than you’re supposed to. A palm-sized computer provides the brains for the system, and says “Where is your will power?” when you’ve hit your consumption limit. I don’t think we’ll be seeing these on store shelves any time soon.

[via AVING]