Engadget alerted me to this GPS data logger from Spark Fun Electronics.

The device records up to 440 hours of data to a 256MB SD card in either a simple text file or KML-compatible format that you can display in Google Earth.

I like it, I want one (actually, I want three, and I’ll eventually post about why), but the ad copy tweaked me a bit:

Pull the SD card, insert it into a card reader, [...] and wammo–you can see what Casey did over lunch with a satellite image overlay. Take a look at the example screen shot. You can see what lane Casey was in! When he stopped at the light, his data points piled up. Fancy. Real fancy. Speed is also datalogged – it’s like Big Brother in the palm of your hand…

electronics, engadget, geolocation, GPS, gps data logger, kit, location tracking, Spark Fun Electronics

Before gadgeteers could get affordable (or any) electronics for polyphonic sound synthesis or sample playback, they dallied with tape playback devices that would link each key to its own tape mechanism that played a pre-recorded tape loop at the keyed pitch. They called it a Mellotron, and yes, an 88-key piano would require 88 tape mechanisms.

Mike Walters’ home-made Melloman uses walkman-style cassette players wired to a two-octave keyboard in that snazzy-cool case. He has to rewind the 60 minute tapes manually, as gapless looping cassettes are hard to find/make.

He has musical samples at his site, including Mike Lewis’ performances of Strawberry Fields, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, and Penny Lane.

I wonder who’s going to build a MIDI capable Mellotron now?

Thanks to Engadget for the link.

tags: cassette players, cassettes, engadget, looping, lucy in the sky with diamonds, mellotron, mike walters, musical samples, two octave keyboard, penny lane, playback devices, pre-recorded samples, snazzy, sound synthesis, strawberry fields, tape loop, tape playback, walkman

Engadget calls it “skull-shattering fun” and Gizmodo labeled it “ear shrapnel.” It’s available at Paladone.com and Boy’s Stuff, though nobody seems to have yet found a domestic supplier. From the catalog page:

The Sonic Grenade features three different levels of the most noxious sound since the last Westlife album. To launch, pull the pin and throw it towards your target. After 20 seconds, the sonic explosion occurs, giving even the deepest sleeper a wake-up call like they’ve never had before. You can only stop the sirens by replacing the pin, and if you take that out of the room, lazy bones will have to get up and come and grab it off you – mission accomplished.

File this next to the Annoises CD.
annoying, boys stuff, ear shrapnel, engadget, evil, evil joke, funny if it isn’t you, gizmodo, grenade, joke, noise, noise grenade, paladone, prank, skull-splitting, sonic alarm, sonic grenade

The MTA, the folks who run New York’s subways and busses and such, weren’t the only ones to smack a cease and desist down on iPod Subway Maps last week, but they’re the first to tell they can pay $500 for the privilege of distributing those maps in an iPod-readable format — but only for non-commercial distribution.

Cluetrain moment: doesn’t the MTA understand that services like this serve potential tourists like me? Don’t they understand that the availability of such maps increases both the likelihood of my visit and the commercial opportunities of my visit (tourists don’t spend money in subways)?

What I really want to leave with, however, is this: Barb Dybwad at Engadget got this one right when she aknowledged the two sides of the issue and added:

These are exactly the kinds of cases in which traditional copyright law feels unsatisfying in the age of digital mashups, and we can only see the demand for these kinds of “information conversions” increasing.

tags: cease and desist, conversions, copyright law, distribution license, engadget, ipod, ipod subway maps, ipodsubwaymaps.com, mashups, mta, subway maps, subways

Though we imagine the Dutch to be a rather unexcitable lot, I did anyway, it turns out they have a history of getting rowdy at football games (yes, if this all happened back in the States I be calling it “soccer”). So it can’t be so much of a surprise that fans rioted again in April. What is surprising is that mobile phone companies got involved in the investigation. This AP report tells the story:

Phone companies voluntarily handed over the mobile phone numbers of people who were in or around Feyenoord’s Kuip stadium on the day of the match — traceable using broadcasting masts in the area.

So that’s what the aGPS sticker on our cellphones is about.

Via Engadget.

tags: 5-0, agps, cell phone, cellphone, crime, engadget, feyenoord, football, gps, hooliganism, location aware, location aware technology, mobile, mobile phone, mobile phone companies, mobile phone numbers, police, police investigation, riot, rioting, rioters, sms, sms message, sms messaging, soccer

Ross Rubin at Engadget just alerted me to Peerflix

…which can be described on a basic level as eBay meets Netflix. Peerflix resembles many online DVD stores, but it neither rents nor sells DVDs. Rather, it depends on a community of users willing to trade DVDs they have for DVDs they want. There are no subscription fees. Peerflix charges a 99-cent transaction fee and senders are responsible for the postage charge of 37 cents for the mailers that the company distributes. Behold the $1.36 DVD.

tags: dvd, dvd rental, ebay, engadget, flix, netflix, peerflix, rental, trade, trading

Engadget has a link to Mark Schutte’s dog powered scooter. This catches my eye because my friend Joe is always looking for ways to exercise his sled dogs in the summer. The developer, of course, is very serious about its befits and usefulness of this contraption. Here’s the sales pitch:

Focus your dogs energy and enjoy the new sport of Urban Dog Mushing.

Engadget has some complaints, but this looks like the best solution I’ve seen yet for running sled dogs in the summer.

Mark accepts payment for the $500 scooter by check and PayPal, and will customize the scooter for a particular dog or to run two dogs (one on each side) at a time.

Technorati Tags: dog, dog mushing, dog sledding, dogs, engadget, mushing, new sport, scooter, sled dogs

Engadget’s interview with Jeffrey Citron, chairman and CEO of Vonage gives an interesting peak into the world of the baby bells, through the eyes of an upstart. Citron dishes about the competition, stomping AT&T, working deals with the bells to make 911 services work, and a possible Palm version of their softphone.
Most interestingly is his notions about what their customers want and expect.

…more and more people are deciding that they don’t even want a land line in the house…?

That trend is very misunderstood. That isn’t a trend. [...] When you own your own house, you don’t want the plumber calling you to schedule an appointment when you’re in the middle of this interview right now. You want that call to go to your house and a message left on your voice mail.

But there’s no denying that an increasing number of people…?

Yes, but those habits will change. Young people today don’t do the things that married people do. They don’t do the things that homeowners do.

In shortening the quote I cut the part where Citron makes it clear that these folks aren’t giving up their cell phones, they’re using both. But it’s a good point, and an interesting counter to the standard message of “the world is changing and your teenager is leading the way.” The question, however, is whether this cycle is true for other social/tech issues. Will the research habits that a student develops today change later in life? Will they give up their iPods?

Technorati Tags: ma bell, baby bells, engadget, phone, upstart, voip, vonage

Engadget echoed a story from AutoBlog (duh, I just noticed that they’re both from Weblogs Inc.) about an iPod integration kit that works with most all 1998-or-newer cars: iPod2car.

First, it gives a clean line-in to the stero from the iPod, then it gives next and previous track as well as rewind and fastforward control on the stereo. Sure, you can buy a 2005 BMW and get the same deal as an option, but this is cheaper.

Most importantly, it’s compatible with both my Scion xB and Sandee’s Honda Civic. The FAQ answers some questions, and links to the installation manual.

The manual also helps answer some basic questions about the xB stereo. For instance, all Toyota (1998 – 2005), Scion (2003-2005), and Isuzu (1998 – 2003) factory stereos apparently have the same connections. But, Toyotas require a cable adapter that’s only available from the dealer (part #08695-00370). With this in mind, I can probably get a cheaper audio-only input adapter. I went looking for such a solution before, but details about the Scion radio are scarce.

Also in iPod2car FAQs is a link to carstereohelp.com’s stereo removal guides. And, back at Autoblog, they’ve got an entire section devoted to the xB.

Then, for home-use, I can’t help but like the Bose SoundDock.

Related iPod stories at MaisonBisson:
Integration: In Car iPod, In Car iPod Take 2, iPod Integration Kits Proliferate For Home And Car, Saab, and PIE iPod Input Adapter.
Hacks, laughs, and background: iPod Hacks, iPod Giggles, What Does Proprietary Mean Anyway?

Technorati Tags: adapter, bose, civic, engadget, honda, honda civic, icruze, integration, ipod, ipod2car, scion, scion xb, toyota