Steve Jobs of Apple unveiled his latest gadget today, the iPhone 4. It’s got lots of nifty new features, and one of them in particular seems like it could foretell some interesting new bike-related apps.
The new iPhone has tied the gyro, accelerometer, and GPS capabilities together for “6-axis motion sensing.” With GPS, a gyroscope, accelerometer, compass, proximity sensor, and an ambient light sensor all rolled into one, I wondered how the new phone might be used by bike lovers. Since this is beyond my mental-technological grasp, I asked my friends on Twitter for ideas. Here are the ones I’ve gotten so far:
- @BeelJDPhD self-orienting maps?
- @OTREC More opps [opportunities] for researchers to use as a data collecting tool [OTREC is the Oregon Transportation Research and Education Consortium.]
- @bikehugger the new camera with HD video and that retina display in a @dahonfolding iphone mount very intriguing for moblogging [mobile blogging].
- @gschander be able to sense angle of travel (uphill say) for determining effort expended on ride. More accurate route taken mapping.
- @carltonreid Bike journey planning apps will now sense when you’ve crashed cos looking at weeny screen. [Carlton is the editor of Bike Biz magazine in the U.K.]
- @toddfahrner precise iphone gyro should enable power calculation knowing mass, rolling resistance, aero info. [Todd is a co-owner of Clever Cycles.]
- @jessicaroberts It tells you if you’re drunk?
It will be interesting to see how it’s used. If you have more ideas, share them in the comments below.