Technology You Can Use

[Saluki Dave]

With the recent discussions on the impact of technology on hiking, I thought I'd tap the amazing creative powers of Whiteblaze to see what technology could really do...

Suggestion #1
Cheeseburger replicators in all shelters (with an optional veggie setting)

Suggestion #2
Phasers - Not for bear blasting, but for heating up rocks to a nice cherry red. Works on Star Trek and sure beats the heck out of screwing with a campfire.

Whatcha think?

[MOWGLI]

How about mountain money? That's my favorite technology.

[squirrel bait]

...or something that makes me see double, so I think I went twice as far.

[BiteBlaze]

Here's a few:

1. Electro-magnetic rain sheilds with 30-foot effective radius at all shelters.

2. "Fake hum" bug machines that mimic competitor mosquitos and black flies, especially in Maine. Under 1 oz. and small for portability, too.

3. Genetically engineered mousepox to ensure the integrity of your feed bag.

[karensioux]

how about dehydrated water. :-)

[Kerosene]

My personal favorite and well within the reach of today's engineers: a butane-powered clothes dryer in each shelter just big enough for a pair of wool socks.

[The Weasel]

Inverse wave generators that raise descents and lower climbs as you walk them, returning them to shape as you pass, so that while the hike is comfortably level, the terrain remains scenically mountainous

[DebW]

This is a serious post. I want a digital camera with build in compass and GPS. Every picture gets stamped with latitude, longitude, and direction the camera was pointing when the shot was taken. Then I would always know where I was when I took a picture and which way I was looking. I'd settle for just the compass, since I usually know what peak I was standing on, just not which direction I was looking.

[DebW]

I also want wireless access to a library containing pictures and descriptions of every tree, flower, bug, snake, lizard, and bird on the AT. Need a sound library too to identify every bird and mammal sound I might hear. I obviously don't want to carry all those field guides.

[bunbun]

DebW - Wait 2 years and you'll be able to buy it. It'll also have built-in wireless capability, but I won't guarantee the library access.

For Biteblaze - the "Fake hum" bug machines have been around for a long time. I built one the week my daughter was born - and she's 30 now. Now they're commercially available - and you don't have to build your own.

[Senor Quack]

Originally posted by DebW
This is a serious post. I want a digital camera with build in compass and GPS. Every picture gets stamped with latitude, longitude, and direction the camera was pointing when the shot was taken. Then I would always know where I was when I took a picture and which way I was looking. I'd settle for just the compass, since I usually know what peak I was standing on, just not which direction I was looking.

I saw some of these devices when I worked as a technician at a fancy computer shop.. One of our better clients were actual DEA agents here in the US.. Their Kodak digital cameras were connected to very fancy boxes of electronics that did just this. They were used for tracking drug growers.

Hehe funny thing and I can't HELP but mentioning it.. My manager would make an effort to take puffs off a bowl in the back of the shop whenever they were around. Not kidding.

Not that he didn't make an effort to, usually, with or without them.

[icemanat95]

Originally posted by BiteBlaze
Here's a few:

3. Genetically engineered mousepox to ensure the integrity of your feed bag.

Mice suck, but introducing bio-agents is even scarier. Mice are part of the local food chain, and mousepox can and does jump species from time to time.

Pox virii scare the bejeesus out of me, I can't even joke about them.

[icemanat95]

The military uses tech like the GPS camera. They incorporate a laser rangefinder as well so they can precisely locate an object of intelligence value to within a meter or two. It's a relatively easy technology IF you build it as a unified design. Retrofitting to a commercial tech makes things more difficult, but not horribly so. Since virtually ALL digital cameras allow you to date-stamp the photo, all that is necessary is to increase the size of that data field to include the GPS readouts in whatever grid reference system you prefer. Myself, I like the Military Grid Reference System (MGRS) which can give you 1 meter position fixes. Basically, you'd need a data field on each photo that stretched across the entire bottom of the frame to include position in lat/long (degree, minute and second) or MGRS (a ten digit reference plus the map square letters ) plus elevation data. You'd either need to build the gps into the camera or retrofit a data input jack into the housing to take data input from an external GPS receiver. Like I said, retrofitting is a pain.

Someone will release a commercial system in the near future I would imagine, or at least a system that allows a standard GPS receiver to be interfaced with the camera. My bet is on either HP or Canon.

That is by far the best and most practical suggestion I've seen thus far.

[Blue Jay]

Hey, Iceman, we agree big time on something. Sooner or later some Techno PhDuh Nerd is going to get the idea in it's head to create a disease to get rid of some type of creature, mice or bugs or something. That disease (nonhuman animal tested of course) will be rushed into production. The marketing will be tested better as money rules the FDA (Fat Cat Drug Association). It skips across to us. The survivors will have proper respect. Like 9/11, too bad we can't see the pole until after we walk into it.