Caterpillar offers phone with built-in FLIR camera • Hacker News Board

Re: Caterpillar offers phone with built-in FLIR camera

#111

Post by jamal-kumar » Wed, Dec 07, 2022, 5:37 AM UTC

aclatuts wrote: post #101

jamal-kumar wrote: post #80

I'm thinking the next scientific instrument turned phone accessory is going to be raman spectroscopes. It could easily solve a lot of problems of things like adulterated food and drugs being so common. There's also research done that shows that many regular consumer phones on the market now have CCDs which are even sensitive enough as-is to read the laser reflection and sort out what the chemical is. There's an imple…

That video looks like sketchy vaporware. Who would need to analyze liquids carefully placed in a vial with their phone? Sometimes machines need to be big. Theranos setup themselves up for failure by trying to miniaturize and combine equipment that could never be miniaturized or interfered with each other.

I don't know if you realize what a problem adulterated food and drugs are - So basically grocers and pharmacists in places where regulatory structures are weak

Keep in mind airports have this technology by now

Re: Caterpillar offers phone with built-in FLIR camera

#112

Post by species9606 » Wed, Dec 07, 2022, 5:40 AM UTC

andirk wrote: post #53

The first time I heard that acronym, I thought it was the biggest stretch to make in to a word. Forward Looking?? Yeah Im going to forward looking walk to your house.

The term originated in avionics, I believe with the F-16. Before that, IR imaging was top-down, something mounted under spy and reconnaissance planes.

Re: Caterpillar offers phone with built-in FLIR camera

#113

Post by chrismorgan » Wed, Dec 07, 2022, 5:40 AM UTC

randomdata wrote: post #86

rippercushions wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, it really isn't, and it's mildly obnoxious to people living in the southern hemisphere (or the tropics, for that matter) when people assume spring = Q2. Mildly because we're used to it, but it's not hard to avoid. And for better or worse, the Gregorian calendar is the universal civil system now, even in the countries like Saudi Arabia that notionally use other calendars. Even Korean Juche years, Japanese imperial…

Usage dictates that spring = Q2 when used in a business context centred around a US-based business. It has nothing to do with the seasons. It is quite common for words to have multiple meanings, using context to establish the exact definition in play. The only thing that is actually obnoxious is silly pedantry.

I have literally never heard this, and I’m more aware of the vagaries of USA and European business and general practices than most others in Australia.

If someone on the internet says “Spring 2022”, I immediately assume it’s speaking of northern hemisphere temperate regions’ spring (because such dating is uncommon in the southern hemisphere to begin with and never used in public/worldwide internet situations because we’re more aware of these things), and after thinking carefully for a bit to straighten out in my mind when that actually is, I assume March–May 2022 or possibly a week earlier (equinoxes and such), because that’s what would be meant in Australia, if we ever expressed things like that (apart from the whole off-by-six months thing!). I would not expect June to be reckoned a part of it any more than I would expect March to be a part of Q2.

(Incidentally, a year or two back I heard suggestions that “Q2” may customarily be anchored to financial rather than calendar years in some places. Not sure if this is true.)

If by “spring” you meant to convey “the second quarter of the Gregorian calendar”, you failed to communicate accurately.

Re: Caterpillar offers phone with built-in FLIR camera

#114

Post by Nition » Wed, Dec 07, 2022, 5:43 AM UTC

masklinn wrote: post #102

mongol wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Imagine a smartphone designed to use AAA batteries. That would be something. Would be cool to see.

> Would be cool to see. Probably not the word I’d have used. You’d need what, 6 high-capacity AAAs to get standard battery size/life? Maybe 8? Possibly 10 with recent phones?

An iPhone 14 Pro has a 3,200mAh battery.

The Energiser rechargeable AAA I happen to have here is 800mAh.

So exactly four standard rechargeable AAAs. Not bad really.

Edit: As explained below, this is incorrect, as I didn't take voltage into account.

Re: Caterpillar offers phone with built-in FLIR camera

#115

Post by system2 » Wed, Dec 07, 2022, 5:44 AM UTC

jamal-kumar wrote: post #80

I'm thinking the next scientific instrument turned phone accessory is going to be raman spectroscopes. It could easily solve a lot of problems of things like adulterated food and drugs being so common. There's also research done that shows that many regular consumer phones on the market now have CCDs which are even sensitive enough as-is to read the laser reflection and sort out what the chemical is. There's an imple…

Infuriating to see such a garbage video for a very promising technology. Either it is beyond fake, or they are just hiding the fact the tech they are working on doesn't work.

Re: Caterpillar offers phone with built-in FLIR camera

#116

Post by TEP_Kim_Il_Sung » Wed, Dec 07, 2022, 5:45 AM UTC

yawniek wrote: post #108

mongol wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Imagine a smartphone designed to use AAA batteries. That would be something. Would be cool to see.

I have one. But is a nokia from the 80ies

Loved those. You could get an extended battery, nearly doubling the thickness of the phone.

Re: Caterpillar offers phone with built-in FLIR camera

#117

Post by jamal-kumar » Wed, Dec 07, 2022, 5:46 AM UTC

CamperBob2 wrote: post #87

jamal-kumar wrote: post #80

I'm thinking the next scientific instrument turned phone accessory is going to be raman spectroscopes. It could easily solve a lot of problems of things like adulterated food and drugs being so common. There's also research done that shows that many regular consumer phones on the market now have CCDs which are even sensitive enough as-is to read the laser reflection and sort out what the chemical is. There's an imple…

Note that that's not a Raman spectrometer, just a conventional grating or prism-based instrument. 3 nm resolution isn't too bad, though. Could be good for evaluating aquarium/houseplant lighting and things like that. A Raman spectrometer is still a fairly exotic piece of hardware, requiring a laser, a notch filter for the laser's wavelength, and a very good conventional spectrophotometer to look for low-level sideban…

Is there any way you could picture it fitting on the back of a smartphone?

Because some people definitely have [1]

[1] https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2021/ay/d1ay0...

Re: Caterpillar offers phone with built-in FLIR camera

#118

Post by asddubs » Wed, Dec 07, 2022, 5:46 AM UTC

walterbell wrote: post #97

asddubs wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the 9 FPS I believe are because US manufacturers aren't allowed to export thermal cameras above 9 FPS

Imported 25 FPS thermal cameras are sold in US.

yes, but import is the opposite of export

Re: Caterpillar offers phone with built-in FLIR camera

#119

Post by system2 » Wed, Dec 07, 2022, 5:46 AM UTC

firecall wrote: post #54

chrismorgan wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Spring 2022 That was last week. (Seasons are a lousy way of describing times for anything other than local, geographically-anchored content. They’re only meaningful in a comparatively narrow band, falling apart if you head much towards the poles or equator—the four seasons model is useless in tropical areas especially—and inverting if you head to the other side of the equator.)

Indeed. Our friends in the USA often assume the people they are talking to are only in the USA!

Doesn't everyone live in the USA?

Re: Caterpillar offers phone with built-in FLIR camera

#120

Post by coder543 » Wed, Dec 07, 2022, 5:48 AM UTC

Nition wrote: post #114

masklinn wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Would be cool to see. Probably not the word I’d have used. You’d need what, 6 high-capacity AAAs to get standard battery size/life? Maybe 8? Possibly 10 with recent phones?

An iPhone 14 Pro has a 3,200mAh battery. The Energiser rechargeable AAA I happen to have here is 800mAh. So exactly four standard rechargeable AAAs. Not bad really. Edit: As explained below, this is incorrect, as I didn't take voltage into account.

"mAh" is a useless measurement that should be banned from marketing to the public, period. It does not actually represent the energy stored in the batteries, and it can easily mislead people. I also get annoyed that no one uses Ah, when "thousands of thousandths" is a really annoying way to communicate. 3200mAh -> 3.2Ah. Why do no manufacturers understand this? And why don't manufacturers just use a proper unit that measures the energy stored in the battery?

You must compare watt-hours (or use joules, if you like) for it to be meaningful. AAA voltage is 1.5V, lithium ion voltage is 3.7V or 4.2V or something, which means that each "mAh" is worth several times as much as one from a AAA battery.

The iPhone 14 Pro battery is about 12Wh. A single AAA battery has about 1.9Wh, according to google. So, 6 AAA batteries, optimistically, excluding other factors that could raise the count. Using your number of 800mAh*1.5V=1.2Wh, which would mean 10 AAA batteries.