iPhone Speed Radar That Catches Fast Balls

Kaiser & Kaiser has announced speedClock 3.0 for iPhone, a significant update to their utility that uses the device's built-in video camera to automatically measure the speed of any object, and the distance to any point. Employing the device's accelerometer or size comparisons establishes distance. Speed is measured using the motion sensing of the video camera, timing the interval between the object entering and leaving the frame. The updated version features: A new video based speed tool that is ideal for catching small fast objects like balls. Because it relies for its operation on a built-in video camera, the app is presently compatible only with iPhone 3Gs, iPhone 4, iPad 2, and iPod touch 4.

speedClock makes it easy to measure the speed of cars, boats, skaters, skiers, cyclists, running dogs, model cars, tennis serves, baseball pitches, football free-kicks, etc. The user simply holds up their iPhone, and allows the app to automatically measure the speed of any object passing through the frame of the viewing screen. The distance to the object can be entered before, or after the measurement. Sensitivity controls are included to compensate for small objects, background motion, or camera shake. With the snap shot and the auto-reset functions, users can set up the iPhone to continuously measure the speed and save an image of everything that passes.

New in version 3.0 is a second, complementary speed measurement tool. A short video is recorded and through some sophisticated image analysis the moving object is isolated and enhanced. The user can then align the object taken from different video frames by dragging a slider. The speed is interactively presented while dragging. This addition means that speedClock now can analyze the speed of anything that can be recorded by the iPhone video camera.


The first step in making a reliable speed measurement is getting a good estimate of the distance between the user and the point through which the object will travel. speedClock therefore has two complimentary distance tools: One is an optical rangefinder that uses the size of a known object (e.g. the height of a person) to calculate the distance. The user sets the size, then employs the two sliders to zoom in and adjust the two arrows so they point to the ends of the object. In the other tool the user enters their height and then tilts the device to exactly match the horizontal line on the screen with the point on the ground to be measured. The closer the point the larger the angle, as measured by the accelerometer.

speedClock feature Highlights:
* Accurately measure speed in m/s, km/h, mph, ft/s or knots
* Calculate and display distances in meters or feet
* Video motion-sensing automatically measures speed
* Sensitivity controls for optimal measurement in difficult conditions
* Carry a miniature radar gun and range finder in your pocket

"With speedClock 3.0 we can address the many requests we have had for using it as a sports radar" stated company Owner Sten Kaiser. "Among our more than hundred thousand users we have many tennis players, baseball fans etc that will love the new features".

Pricing and Availability:
speedClock 3.0 is $0.99 (USD) and available worldwide exclusively through the App Store in the Utilities category. Review copies are available upon request.


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