26 Mar 2021

Maybe It's Time For Every Vehicle To Have A Dash Cam

I bought a dash cam about two years ago. It seemed like a good idea at the time and I found a model with acceptable resolution at a reasonable price. The goal is for the camera to be an objective witness in the event of a collision, but I've used it for other purposes.

Two years ago, the Rove R2 dash cam with 4K video resolution cost a little over $100. The model is still available today, selling for less than $80. You can pay more than $1000 for a dash cam or less than $60. In researching a purchase such as this, I usually eliminate the lowest-priced choices because they usually are made by companies I've never heard of and the specifications are disappointing at best. Then I start by eliminating from the other end. The highest priced items often include features I won't need. A reasonable range for dash cams today is $100 to $200. I found about 20 dash cams in that range and if I was in the market for a new unit, those are the ones I'd inspect most closely.

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Some features are simply must-have items and I'd rule out any dash cam that has deficient specifications or omits one of these features:

• Automatic Recording and Loop Recording: Most dash cams offer these features, so scratch any that don't off your short list. The dash cam should turn itself on when you start the car and turn itself off when you exit the vehicle. Saving money by choosing a dash cam that you have to remember to turn on is a false economy. Also, the dash cam should have a feature that keeps it from shutting off if the memory card is full. Loop recording allows the camera to record continuously by recording over the oldest tracks. Buying a large SD card to go with the camera is wise because a larger card means old videos will be retained longer.
• Video Locking: Even with a large memory card, all videos will eventually be overwritten. If you're in a wreck and need the video to establish fault, you don't want the clip to be erased. Taking the memory card out and downloading the video to a computer is the best way to ensure that it isn't overwritten, but being able to lock the clip until you're able to download it is helpful.
• Video Quality: If the image quality isn't sufficient to record license plate numbers and other small details, it won't be very useful. You'll find some dash cams that record only at VGA resolution. That's 640×480 pixels. The best quality available now is Ultra High Definition (UHD), 3840×2160 pixels. Most cameras that claim "4K" are actually UHD devices. The 4K spec calls for more pixels (4096×2160), but the real difference is how images are encoded and the color depth of the images. For usable videos, stick to devices that deliver at least 1080P quality, that's High Definition, 1920×1080. A better choice would be 2K, 2560×1440 pixels. A dash cam that offers high dynamic range (HDR) recording will preserve detail in high contrast images, such as driving toward a sunrise or sunset and nighttime driving.
• Night Video Quality: Recording at night is more difficult than recording during the day. Some dash cams have an option to detect and record collisions when the car is parked. If you use this feature, night recording quality is essential because the vehicle may be parked in a dark area.
• A Wide Angle Lens: The dash cam video needs to show as much as it can to document a collision. Some low price units have a narrow angle of view that shows only what's directly in front of the vehicle. Select a unit that has at least a 120° view and 150° is better. A few units capture a full 180° view.
• Recording Rate: Choose a dash cam that captures at least 30 frames per second. Low-end units may not do this. A unit that records at 60 frames per second will provide smoother videos, but the price will be higher and the memory card will fill faster.
• GPS and Time Stamp: Many dash cams have GPS, which is useful as proof of your speed at the time of an accident, and can also be helpful if you're issued a speeding ticket when you weren't speeding. The video should also show the date and time.
• Screen: Some people consider a screen to be optional. Without a screen, you'll have to guess what the camera is seeing. Having a screen, whether you have it turned on all the time or not, makes it possible to check the operation regularly. The screen should also display a recording indicator and show the vehicle's speed.

Other Features To Consider

Some dash cams record the front view and rear view, front view and interior view, or all three. The rear view can be helpful if your vehicle is rear-ended by showing clearly that the at-fault driver was distracted. The rear view camera will need to be connected to the main unit and have a power source. If you're not able to do the work, you'll need to pay someone to install the rear camera. Units that offer interior view have a rear-facing camera on the dash cam. This may limit where it can be installed. Adding more video streams means the memory card will fill faster, so multi-view dash cams should have higher capacity memory cards. The cabin view can be used to monitor the driver and some parents might consider this feature to keep an eye on new drivers.

A few devices can accept video feeds from more than just a single add-on camera. You could install left and right views in addition to front and rear views. A setup such as this will probably require professional installation and will quickly consume space on the memory card.

Voice control is being added to several new models to provide easier and safer hands-off control while driving, and some units issue alerts if the car seems to be drifting out of its lane and, in stopped traffic, when surrounding traffic begins to move.

Parking mode might help to identify a person who hits your vehicle while it's parked. It can't capture the collision itself, but will wake up and record everything it sees for a short period and then shut off. If this mode is enabled, the dash cam should tell you that it was needed.

Wi-Fi capability can connect your smart phone to the dash cam. If you witness a crash and wait for police to arrive, of if you're involved in a crash, being able to show the video on a screen larger than the one on the dash cam will help. You may also be able to upload videos directly to the cloud using your phone. Data charges may apply, of course.

Many dash cams have a button that captures a still image. This could be used to grab photos following a collision, but you probably have a smart phone that will do a better job. My dash cam has what is probably a capacitor instead of a battery, so it's not intended to be used to operate the device, only to provide enough time to finish writing files when the car is turned off. When detached from its power source in the car, the dash cam will operate for less than a minute. If you want the ability to record for a longer period after the camera has been disconnected, look for one with an internal battery. This will also give the camera the ability to continue recording if it has been disconnected from the power source in a crash.

Dash cams come in two general shapes, squarish and longish. Units with a camera that captures the cabin view are usually longish. (Sorry for those highly technical terms!) The larger the dash cam, the more it will block the driver's view. This is less important if there's no interior view option because then the camera could be mounted behind the mirror. That would hide the dash cam's screen from the driver, too. Another option would involve buying a separate mount to position the device on the dashboard instead of on the windshield.

From my perspective, mounting fairly high on the windshield seems to provide the best view.

Other Uses

I mentioned using a dash cam for "other purposes" and maybe you'd like to know about that.

My high school class had planned a reunion in 2020, one that was eventually canceled because of the covid pandemic. In May 2019, I drove to town so I could get some current photographs. When I got home, it occurred to me that some of the people who live far from the old hometown might like to drive around with me virtually. The video I created started in the Columbus area, showed a compressed version of the drive to Bellefontaine, and then street scenes around town. So dash cams can be helpful even when there's no crash.

If you'd like to see the video (warning: it's 28 minutes long), you'll find it on YouTube.

Chloe Cat apologizes for being such a brat during the recording of this week's podcast.

Short Circuits

The Case For (And Against) A $6000 Digital Camera

Leica's $6000 Q2 Monochrom digital camera captures 47MB raw images. There is also a Q2 digital camera that costs $1000 less. What's the difference, why should you care, and do you need one?

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The Q2, according to Leica, "is an advanced compact camera characterized by its updated sensor design and intuitive operation." The camera comes with a single prime 28mm lens and a full frame sensor. No zoom. No interchangeable lenses, but the extreme resolution (8368 x 5584) allows digital crop to simulate working with longer focal length lenses.

Do you need this camera and what's the difference between the Q2 and the Q2 Monochrom?

To answer the second part first, the Q2 captures images in color. For $1000 more, you can have the Q2 Monochrom, which (as the name implies) captures only monochrome images. $1000 more for what seems like less? The Q2 Monocrhom's specialized sensor omits the color filter array so that it captures only luminance values.

As for whether you need it, probably not. Many decades ago, I hung around with the owners of a camera store and often heard jokes about doctors who bought the best camera they could find. In those days, that would have been a Hassleblad camera that used size 120 roll film. The problem was that Hassleblad assumed those who bought their cameras would understand the relationship between a lens's f/stop and the shutter's speed. That they would know when to use 100-speed film and when to use 400-speed film. The doctors, who may well have been medical specialists, didn't have a clue when it came to f/stops and shutter speeds.

No doubt the Leica Q2 Monochrom is a marvelous camera, but $6000 is a lot to pay for a camera that can produce only black-and-white photos and that doesn't allow the user to mount another lens. For one sixth the price of the Q2 Monochrom, you can buy a high-end point-and-shoot camera that won't have the extreme resolution of the Q2 Monochrom and will create images with more noise than the Q2 Monochrom, but will capture images in color or black and white, will come with a zoom lens and maybe even the possibility of installing a separate lens.

It all comes down to this: The best camera in the world, is the one that you have in your hand, even if that camera is the one in your smart phone. It's not the camera that makes the photograph, its the photographer.

Large Trade Shows: Severely Wounded, Maybe Dead

PC Expo filled New York's Javits Convention Center every year through the 1990s. Then came the 9/11 attacks, travel restrictions, and the dot-com implosion. The feeble 2003 expo (called TechX by then) led the collapse of big shows.

Nearly 20 years later, as some big events were beginning to show signs of life, the covid pandemic arrived. For the first time in history, the 2021 Consumer Electronics Show was fully online and was widely panned. Adobe’s annual Max conference attracted a huge worldwide audience -- far larger than any in-person conference could ever hope for -- but the excitement of big crowds was missing. This year’s South by Southwest (SxSW) Conference in Austin was a fully virtual event.

Consumer Electronics Show organizers charged those who registered early $100 for the virtual-only event and $300 for those who registered later. This year’s virtual Adobe Max was open to all without charge. Last year’s SxSW event was canceled abruptly; this year, organizers charged $325.

Large in-person conferences usually have price tags well over $1000, and that’s in addition to the cost of traveling to the event’s location, ground transportation around the location, lodging, and all the other expenses involved. So the fees for virtual conferences seem like bargains. But are they?

A major challenge for virtual conferences is that people are still in their homes or offices, with all the usual interruptions of the home or office. Those who think they can multi-task while watching a presentation, or those who are forced to multi-task, will miss important information.

There’s still value in attending in-person when that becomes possible again because attendees have opportunities to meet each other. Virtual conferences may give attendees close-up views of the presenters, but they make it nearly impossible to interact with them.

Marketplace, a radio program that’s distributed by American Public Media, recently examined the value of virtual programs, specifically SxSW. You can read the report or listen to it on the Marketplace website.

We can hope that the covid pandemic continues to fade and that large events such as Adobe Max, South by Southwest, and the Consumer Electronics Show will be able to resume in-person sessions this year or in 2022. Even those of us who attend virtually will find the online sessions more compellingby virtue of the in-person addendees.

Spare Parts

Sex Toys May Tell Tales

Now there's a new threat to security: Smart sex toys. There's a story I didn't see coming, but security vendor Eset says it really is a thing.

The report by Denise Giusto Bilić and Cecilia Pastorino says "Smart sex toys exhibit many features: Remote control across the internet, group chats, multimedia messages, video conferences, synchronization with songs or audiobooks, and the capacity to connect with smart assistants, to name a few. Some models can synchronize to replicate their movements, and some others are wearables."

Vulnerabilities in these devices could leave users at risk of data breaches and attacks, both cyber and physical, according to the report, Sex in the Digital Era. Ongoing social restrictions due to the covid pandemic are seen as a driving force for an increase in sales of sex toys.

Eset researchers found vulnerabilities in the apps that control two of the toys they investigated, We-Vibe and Lovense Max.

We-Vibe is a wearable device and it continually announces its presence via Bluetooth to facilitate a connection. Attackers would need to be nearby -- within about 30 feet -- to gain control of the device.

Lovense Max can synchronize with a remote counterpart, which means an attacker could take control of both devices by compromising just one of them. The researchers say multimedia files do not include metadata when received from the remote device, and the app offers the option to configure a four-digit unlock code via a grid of buttons. Those features make brute-force attacks more difficult.

Eset sent both developers detailed reports of the vulnerabilities and suggestions of how to fix them. Both companies implemented the recommended changes. To read more about Eset’s full analysis of the security of these smart sex toys is on the Eset website.

Now On The IPad: Microsoft's All-In-One Office App

A year after Android users received a unified Office app that includes components for Word, Excel, and Powerpoint, IPad users can install it and remove the other three applications.

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If you subscribe to Office 365, all features will be available in the IPad version. When you visit the Apple App Store, search for Microsoft Office, not Office 365 or any of the apps. Once you've installed the app, you can delete Word, Excel, and Powerpoint.

The new Microsoft Office app adds other capabilities such as the ability to create PDFs, convert screenshots to PDF or Powerpoint format, and insert notes into PDFs. If you prefer having separate apps, they're still present in the Apple App store and Microsoft hasn't said anything about discontinuing them.

The app is free to download and use, but some advanced features aren't present unless you have a personal or family Office 365 plan. Individual Office 365 subscriptions cost about $80 per year and the family plan sells for about $100 annually.

Twenty Years Ago: Perspective On The Dot-Com Meltdown

At this time in 2001, the disaster in dot-com land was well underway, but many people hadn't even noticed. The Standard's Maryann Jones Thompson, in "What Dot-Com Disaster?" said the country at large seems to be turning a deaf ear. (The Standard went out of business in 2018.)

Back then, more than half of the people who were questioned in a poll by Pew Internet & American Life Project were happy about the closure of dot-coms. The poll used telephone surveys of 2096 adults. Of those just under 1200 had access to the Internet.

Thompson said that even among the 67% who said they were somewhat familiar with the net's financial troubles, most didn't think the shakeout was a big deal. "Only one-fourth of that group said they felt the Internet Economy downturn would have a major impact on the national economy."