[PLUG] open source bike gadget
Keith Lofstrom
keithl at kl-ic.com
Mon Mar 15 20:32:43 UTC 2010
On Mon, Mar 15, 2010 at 09:51:31AM -0700, Denis Heidtmann wrote:
> Claims to be open source.
>
> http://www.cerevellum.com/
It uses "open source development tools". You can write closed
source apps with GCC, and open source apps with visual C++ .
I'm glad they like our tools, but it is their own code that
counts. If it IS open source, and has a USB port, I can imagine
Russell building a wifi stumbler with it.
Notice how the time does not update on their "demo"? A true demo
would be difficult - I don't expect that - but they could have
been less careless faking it.
Meanwhile, there are few specifications, which is not surprising,
because this is unlikely to work very well.
The human eye is a very good camera, compared to most things
electronic and inexpensive. The eye also has no latency, and
a video system will have field rate latency, at least. Very
small delays are disorienting. Not what you want for real-time
control, in a wide range of illumination conditions.
The LCD display will be a power hog. It looks like a iPhone
turned sideways, and probably has the same battery life as an
iPhone playing continuous videos. So it may need frequent
recharging. "Up to 9 hours" is weasel words that includes
much smaller hours, especially as the battery gets old.
Still, it would be fun to play with one. I will let somebody
else spend the $350 and try theirs - until theirs is stolen.
I spent much less than that for my bike, decades ago.
Thanks for sharing it, though. It reminds me that I need to shop
for a new helmet mirror.
Keith
--
Keith Lofstrom keithl at keithl.com Voice (503)-520-1993
KLIC --- Keith Lofstrom Integrated Circuits --- "Your Ideas in Silicon"
Design Contracting in Bipolar and CMOS - Analog, Digital, and Scan ICs
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