SpeedClock By Sten Kaiser is a $0.99 app that will turn your iPhone into a radar gun.
This is an interesting app idea, if you want to know the speed of things. You can measure the speed of cars, boats, footballs, kids, anything really using motion detection. You have to hold up the iPhone, aim it at the moving object, and it will use the camera to detect the motion. One slight flaw is that you have to set the distance to the object that you want to measure, making it not as instant as some would probably like.
Basically, it uses the angle of the iPhone to estimate the distance to a point on the ground. You then hold the iPhone in front of you, align the point in the camera and get a reading of the distance. The distance can then be used in the speed tool. You can also the motion detection feature to start and stop a timer, which looks an interesting use of the app.
Information from their site:
“Employing the device’s three-axis gyro and basic trigonometry establishes distance. Speed and laps are measured using the motion sensing of the video camera, timing the interval between the object entering and leaving the frame. The app is compatible with iPhone 3Gs, iPhone 4, and iPod Touch 4.”
This app requires iOS4 and because of the use of a video camera on the device it will need the iPhone 3Gs, iPhone 4 or iPod touch 4. SpeedClock is available on the App Store.
Article Via Cult of Mac