compass

Even with its belt full of powerful tools onboard, Smart Tools is, for the most part, simple. The app opens up to a wall of choices, and if you've used any of Smart Tools' apps before, then all of them should look familiar. Smart Tools combines the powers of all of the developer's individual Pro tool sets.

The first set lets you measure length and angle, using a level, ruler, and two protractors (one which uses the screen, and the other your device's camera).

The second offers a Distance tool, which is a bit more complicated, as … Read more

Computers have revolutionized the way that we do business, making record-keeping, banking, invoicing, customer relations, and many other business functions easier than ever. Compass Business Management Suite aims to combine several of these important tasks into one program that lets users access their data from anywhere. Although we think it's a great idea, in practice we weren't too impressed.

Upon first launching the program, you are required to register and set up a username and password. Compass Business Management Suite saves your information on a remote server, meaning that you can log in and access it from any … Read more

The hot trend of 2009 has to be augmented reality, particularly with all the impressive tech demos and futuristic games currently in development across the world.

On the iPhone in particular, several companies have promised Twittering, search, and other navigation using layers of real-time data overlaid onto live video from the iPhone's camera. Imagine a heads-up display on reality itself, and that's what augmented reality is promising.

Apple has been onboard with these developments, promising that the upcoming OS 3.1 will provide full compatibility for AR apps. But it turns out we don't need to wait … Read more

While video recording, more storage space, faster processor speeds, and better games have been the main calling cards for the iPhone 3G S, the biggest reason to upgrade may be yet to come--and it has to do with the seemingly most innocuous feature of all, the magnetometer.

Imagine a browser in which you view the real world through a camera lens and a heads-up display picks out interest points amid the living cityscape. This type of augmented reality has been the stuff of science fiction, but the cell phone browser Layar by Dutch software developer SPRXmobile claims to make it real. See the video for yourself.

Layar takes the sort of GPS POI data in current map-based apps, like ATMs, houses for sale, or nearby hotspots, and displays them overlaid on the landscape as seen through the camera lens.

It's debuting later this month for Android phones in the Netherlands--not exactly a huge starting demographic, but if it works, this could be the start of something big.… Read more

Update: June 1, 2009: UMPCFever has removed the blog post from its Web site.

A Chinese-language blog UMPCFever posted pictures recently that its claims are the first ever photos from a functioning next-generation iPhone. The Web site, translated through Google, displays images of iPhone OS 3.0 running some of the rumored new iPhone features we covered here, here, here, and here.

According to the report, the new iPhone contains an auto-focusing camera that uses an onscreen square that can be moved around with a combination of taps and dragging to choose the object to focus on. The rumored digital … Read more

As we get closer to WWDC in June, iPhone rumors continue to pop up. (We've reported on some here, here, and here. The latest reports that the iPhone will have a digital compass that will report, for instance, the direction you are facing when taking a picture or directions from the Mobile Map app as you walk or drive.

According to, AppleInsider, Asahi Kasei may be the supplier of the magnetometer used in a new iPhone. The discovery of this was made by some developers recently examining header files from the iPhone 3.0 software developers' kit. AppleInsider has … Read more

Rumors first floated a month ago that there would be a magnetometer built in to the next version of the iPhone. Now there appear to be corroborating screenshots, which Boy Genius Report has obtained.

The images show a debugging menu with the option to "show in compass," that is purportedly going to show up when the upgraded iPhone debuts.

One of the interesting things you can do with a digital compass is introduce augmented reality-type applications, as MacRumors suggests. Mobile augmented reality can use a phone's camera and compass to let a device capture an image of … Read more

The 2009 Jeep Compass is available with a cabin tech package that we've come to love: Chrysler's UConnect system. With hard drive-based navigation and media storage, there's a lot to like about the UConnect suite.

Unfortunately, our Compass was equipped with none of this tech and without that UConnect package, there's not much to like about the Compass. Power delivery was pathetic as the Jeep's 2.4-liter engine struggled to keep up with the vehicle's heft. Handling was also disappointing, despite the fact that our Compass was an all-wheel drive model.

Suffice it to … Read more

If the question "Where am I?" is a recurring issue for you, Ricoh has added a feature to its GPS-ready digital camera that you may want to check out.

The Ricoh 500SE GPS camera now includes something called an SE-3 GPS module, a three-axis compass developed by Honeywell that nails down the position and direction (azimuth), then displays it on the camera's LCD.

The data, in the form of point coordinates, is embedded into an image as it is captured.

This gives the user a 3D "cones-of-view" perspective, indicating the direction the camera was facing. … Read more