Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Caterpillar offers phone with built-in FLIR camera

catphones.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

201–210 of 343 posts

Re: Caterpillar offers phone with built-in FLIR camera

#201

Post by TeMPOraL »

sllabres wrote: post #149
graderjs wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FLIR camera should also be able to pick up some UFO/UAP in the skies as well. Yay! Now nearly everyone can see some.

Nice idea, but I think for THIS application the FOV is to large and the resolution (160*120?) is to low. Of course the extraterrestrial knew that and therefore allowed the integration of the lapton chip into the phone I use a dedicated thermal camera with bit higher resolution but higher FPS. As others have written they are quite useful as you see thing (even not ET) you could have measured with an IR thermometer if…

> Of course the extraterrestrial knew that and therefore allowed the integration of the lapton chip into the phone

That's silly. The real reason is that the ITAR prohibits you from being able to get a higher-resolution thermal camera, which is one of several laws implementing a complex, global ban on technologies that would let regular people spot the aliens. You can thank a secret UN subcommittee for that; they've botched negotiations with aliens so badly that our governments are now forced to do the "hiding from people" work for them.

Re: Caterpillar offers phone with built-in FLIR camera

#202

Post by gruturo »

huhtenberg wrote: post #167

Remember when there was a period of time when camera manufacturers dabbled with adding FLIR to their consumer cameras? Sony did that and some others tried to follow, but it all was quickly wrapped up due to a massive amount of abuse. The cameras were mainly used to film women rather than to identify thermal leaks in insulation. Probably the reason for the subpar FLIR resolution on this phone as well.

> Probably the reason for the subpar FLIR resolution on this phone as well.

Nope. You are confusing proper Far-Infrared thermal cameras (which can "see" radiated heat in the e.g. -10..60c range, and tell you that the top left corner of that window is poorly insulated), and regular CMOS cameras lacking an IR filter, which just see up to a few hundred nanometers beyond far-red (up to 1000 I'd guess?), and some clothes would be transparent at those wavelengths if illuminated by the right source (the Sun being one). You can easily buy filter-less IR cameras for scientific or astronomical purposes, or if you want to perv I guess, they're readily available. Plop ~20 bucks on a Pi NOIR camera for example, for the Raspberry Pi.

(Actually every CMOS sensor sees in that band - it's reasonably easy to modify many cameras and remove the IR filter if that's what you want)

An actual thermal camera is way more expensive and has a far lower resolution unless you want to spend more than on a Tesla. Not to mention, it's subject to ITAR export controls if you're in the US.

Re: Caterpillar offers phone with built-in FLIR camera

#203

Post by TeMPOraL »

orbital-decay wrote: post #123
Gigachad wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can buy a stove that uses probes to monitor the temps and hold/stick to a preset program https://www.breville.com/us/en/products/commercial/cmc850.ht... I can't wait for these to become more mainstream so recipes start listing "Set stove to 150c" rather than "to medium" which is widely different depending on what stove you use. An amusing story one youtuber shared was the followed some advice that said to set you…

Serious cooking books always focus on reproducibility and actual processes happening at certain temperatures in your food.

Any recommendations? Can't think of any such book owned by anyone I know.

I often jest that cooking is just process chemistry, but done without proper tools and without caring about quality of the outcome.

Re: Caterpillar offers phone with built-in FLIR camera

#204

Post by spuz »

exclusiv wrote: post #179
tildef wrote: post #11

I used the S62 as a daily driver for a couple of years and it was fairly decent. The convenience of having a thermal camera in your pocket at all times was remarkable, and it's one of those things you kind of miss when it's gone (my daily use for it was checking if the coffee was cool enough to drink--yes, I know my tasting organs provide much of the same functionality...) However, the resolution of the thermal camer…

> my daily use for it was checking if the coffee was cool enough to drink My wife has the same issue with hot coffee which drives me a little nuts. She uses a normal mug most of the time. Because she isn't certified in coffee temp detection like I am; she waits and waits, gets distracted, and eventually it becomes too cold. So she reheats it in the microwave, usually to the point where it's too hot, and that cycle co…

I don't think it exists but it sounds like the best option for you would be a steel mug with a heated baseplate. The baseplate could detect the presence of a full mug with a force sensor and then start heating. When she makes her coffee she could place the mug on the baseplate and then keep it heated at her desired temperature. That way she could run around doing whatever and always have a warm coffee to sip on when she comes back to it.

Re: Caterpillar offers phone with built-in FLIR camera

#205

Post by butterknife »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #196
SideQuark wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Actual disposable batteries they have the same form factor, and they have not changed much over decades in capability and certainly not size. Phone batteries do not do this - they are designed to fit in a certain (few) phones, and market change on phone sizes mean there is no standard size. When phone batteries get higher density, then it's likely a readeoff between adding more other features and keeping the same ba…

A silly question then: why there are no AA/AAA rechargeable batteries that are Li-Ion/Li-Poly/whatever chemistry is used in smartphone batteries? Seems like a no-brainer to me: use the apparently better, more advanced, more energy-dense chemistry, but in a standard AA/AAA format. Pack whatever control electronics you need for safety too. Not only my remote controls would have half a decade of battery life, an iPhone…

The Li chemistry produces much higher voltages and so would require step down circuitry to function as a direct replacement for AA/AAA. If you are talking about form factor, then there are a lot of similar size or smaller cells available.

Re: Caterpillar offers phone with built-in FLIR camera

#206

Post by unwind »

KronisLV wrote: post #172
SideQuark wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Actual disposable batteries they have the same form factor, and they have not changed much over decades in capability and certainly not size. Phone batteries do not do this - they are designed to fit in a certain (few) phones, and market change on phone sizes mean there is no standard size. When phone batteries get higher density, then it's likely a readeoff between adding more other features and keeping the same ba…

> Phone batteries do not do this - they are designed to fit in a certain (few) phones, and market change on phone sizes mean there is no standard size. It would be nice if that wasn't the case. I've seen power tools from certain companies adopt the same battery type across multiple of their tools, so that they are interchangeable. I can imagine something like that happening industry-wide with a bit more lawmaking, li…

Have you seen AMPShare Alliance [1]? It's a common 18-volt battery tool platform with many partners.

Mostly industrial/professional tools so far but I hope it will continue to grow. Yes, I have Bosch stuff. :)

[1]: https://www.ampshare.com/ng/en/

Re: Caterpillar offers phone with built-in FLIR camera

#208

Post by reisse »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #196
SideQuark wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Actual disposable batteries they have the same form factor, and they have not changed much over decades in capability and certainly not size. Phone batteries do not do this - they are designed to fit in a certain (few) phones, and market change on phone sizes mean there is no standard size. When phone batteries get higher density, then it's likely a readeoff between adding more other features and keeping the same ba…

A silly question then: why there are no AA/AAA rechargeable batteries that are Li-Ion/Li-Poly/whatever chemistry is used in smartphone batteries? Seems like a no-brainer to me: use the apparently better, more advanced, more energy-dense chemistry, but in a standard AA/AAA format. Pack whatever control electronics you need for safety too. Not only my remote controls would have half a decade of battery life, an iPhone…

The catch is that Li-Ion rechargeable batteries have much higher self-discharge rate than alkaline AA/AAAs, so you could not use them in remote controls anyway.

For powering iPhones, you can buy a few 18650 with a type-C/lightning case from AliExpress, but most people will prefer just buying a powerbank.

Re: Caterpillar offers phone with built-in FLIR camera

#209

Post by TeMPOraL »

newaccount74 wrote: post #166
rodgerd wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some induction tops have similar functionality - measuring the temperature of the pan and keeping at that temperature. It's not as precise as a probe, of course, but it's extremely convenient and useful.

Do you have experience with such a hob? I'd like to get one, but have found little info except marketing from manufacturers. I would assume those would be mostly useful for frying/searing meat, vegetables, and eggs with little oil. As soon as you have more liquid in the pot you won't be able to control the temperature by measuring the temp at the bottom. Do they work well with different pans?

> As soon as you have more liquid in the pot you won't be able to control the temperature by measuring the temp at the bottom.

That sounds like an interesting engineering challenge! Assuming we have a stove with a fast-acting heat source (e.g. induction) and high-frequency thermometer (> 1 Hz), what can we learn about the contents of the pot/pan?

I'm thinking: dump a set amount of energy into the pan (say, 0.5 seconds at "power boost" level), then watch the thermometer. Do it several times, with varying pulse lengths (say, 0.1 to 1 second - you don't want to burn anything on the pan, nor wait too long for it to cool down). This should give you a good idea of the pan's step and impulse response, and - I think - you could guesstimate what its contents are - particularly, if there are any liquids in it, and what they are. Then, continue with normal cooking, but keep a continuous record of power output vs. temperature measurement, and possibly occasionally pause and do a round of such pulse tests again.

I see no obvious reason this wouldn't give a stove quite good control authority even in the presence of liquids, including those that are added or naturally seep out during cooking. I also don't expect any of the appliance companies to ever include this level of sophistication in their products.

Re: Caterpillar offers phone with built-in FLIR camera

#210

Post by nils-m-holm »

hnbad wrote: post #139
jstrong wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love stories about smiting wasps

Fun fact: in most of Germany this would have been a crime with a penalty of up to tens of thousands in EUR depending on the exact species.

Wasps have such a bad reputation. We have had nests of yellow jackets (vespula germanica), paper wasps (polistes dominula), and hornets (vespa crabro) directly on our terrace, and I have been stung once in ten years and that was my fault.

There once was a nest of vespula germanica above the window of my study, a rather big nest that grew to a size of about 3000 or 4000 animals. The only thing I did about it was to close a hole in the wall, because a few of them kept coming inside. I sometimes went outside to watch the traffic at the entrance of the nest.

More fun facts: wasps eat mosquitos. Lots of them! And they pollinate plants. Adult wasps are vegetarians, when they hunt or steal a piece of your steak (I have seen that happen!), then they collect food for their larvae.

If you really want to get rid of wasps, use an essential oil (peppermint, lemon grass). Wasps communicate using pheromones and do not tolerate strong odor. Do not spray the nest, spray the area around the nest. You do not have to kill them.

Post reply on HN