measuring
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Smart pen measures the dimensions of virtually any object
Despite all the technological advances over the years, measuring items in your home still tends to involve old-school rulers and tape measures... and they can be inaccurate if there are curves. Instrumments thinks it has a better way. The team of former Misfit creators is launching the 01, a hybrid measuring device and pen (there are also pencil and stylus versions) that gauges the dimensions of objects simply by pointing at them. It works on 3D surfaces, too, so curves and contours aren't off-limits.
Daily iPad App: My Measures & Dimensions PRO
Today's Daily iPad App is My Measures & Dimensions PRO. It's universal, but I only tested it on the iPad. The app is a beautiful and useful tool for anyone who needs to take measurements around the house. Though it's designed with carpenters, engineers, architects or landscapers in mind I found it an incredibly useful app to have during my recent move between flats. My Measures & Dimensions PRO allows you to snap a picture quickly or choose an existing picture from your library and add photos with measurements to objects in the app. For example, say you're viewing a new apartment and you want to know if your furniture is going to fit. With the app, simply take a picture of the new apartment, tap the screen with two fingers and then drag to place a lined arrow on the desired area. Then simply add the measurement of the area you are recording. Measurements can be entered in Imperial, metric, Chinese or Japanese standards. Measurements must obviously be inputted manually as the app cannot calculate the distance between two points just from a photo. Another great feature is the ability to easily add angle measurements. Just select the angle tool and adjust its degrees by dragging the tool to match the angles and the photograph. Angles are calculated automatically. What's really great about the app is it can also calculate the sum of all your measurements and even the surface area of your measurements. Lastly, the app allows you to write simple text on photos so you can make notes on the same canvas you're recording dimensions on. What My Measures & Dimensions PRO does is it allows you to stop carrying around a pen and paper for your measuring needs. By taking a photo and recording measurement on a photo you'll have a much better idea of what the space you are working in actually provides and looks like. Another nice feature lets you export your measurements as a PDF. That way you can share your measurements with just about anyone. There is also a basic version of My Measures & Dimensions PRO. That version, called My Measures & Dimensions, is a few dollars cheaper and lacks some of the features of the PRO version including iCloud sync and backup, the ability to zoom in on pictures, the ability to snap arrowheads together, and loupes and cross mode. The only problem I had with My Measures & Dimensions PRO was that the iCloud sync feature didn't appear to work on the iPad version of the app. I took photos and measurements with the iPhone version of the app and I could see that those documents were stored in my iCloud account, but for some reason the iPad app couldn't see the documents were there. Still, once that bug is ironed out, I can't recommend My Measures & Dimensions PRO enough. My Measures & Dimensions PRO is US$5.99. The My Measures & Dimensions basic version is US$2.99.
Smart Finger measuring thimbles are both conceptually and practically unreal
Time to pause today's stream of real news and breathe a deep wistful sigh. If only. That's our reaction to this Smart Finger "distance measuring device," which combines the natural human urge to measure things by eyeballing them with the ruthless precision of electronics. Data is obtained by beaming a signal from one of these thimble-shaped finger straddlers to the other and calculating how long it takes to traverse the gap between the two. Then you can get fancy by storing distances inside these silicone shells' built-in memory and using them to work out the volume of a given three-dimensional space. Top marks are also earned for the integrated design that means the two parts fit into one curvy little device. If only, indeed.
New-fangled digital measuring cup actually improves upon the original
Now, there may not be a whole lot to this one -- it's simply a measuring cup with a backlit LCD on the handle that tells you the exact volume of the liquid you're measuring -- but it's a step forward in the culinary world, where it still feels like it's 1917 a lot of the time. The Smart Measure -- which started out as a concept on Yanko Design and has been picked up for distribution by kitchen giant Taylor -- boasts a bunch of preset measurements for ingredients in common recipes, and it can also do conversions for you, as well. There's no word on pricing, but we're expecting to see it hit shelves this fall.
