Couldn't the same effect be produced from a height of about 1,500 feet due to terminal velocity?

But will they blend?

The iPad has cameras in it. If you're fairly certain the iPad will survive, why not just use its camera(s)?

So now we can use this tech to build crates to start dropping food to hungry people?

Yeah, that was a really bad trolljob there. It's just that it's almost lunch, and I'm really hungry.

Someone drop me an ipad so I can order a pizza?

Great scott! Why don't they make airplanes out of this stuff?!!!

Hmm, I wonder what the terminal velocity of a rather un-aerodynamic, 1.3 lb (+ case + recording camera + mounting equipment) iPad is, and how much damage it would cause had it actually hit someone. Dropping something from 100,000 feet with no means of arresting or controlling it's descent seems somewhat reckless to me (even if they are in the middle of a desert).

Falco09: Couldn't the same effect be produced from a height of about 1,500 feet due to terminal velocity?

Physically yes. Marketing, no.

So did they say that the camera was NOT in a protective case or is the subby just a troll?

Falco09: Couldn't the same effect be produced from a height of about 1,500 feet due to terminal velocity?

Then you'd have to explain to the morons what terminal velocity was.

Why did they edit it so much? Takes away credibility to me.

/ likes watching full ascent-descent in these vids.

Falco09: Couldn't the same effect be produced from a height of about 1,500 feet due to terminal velocity?

I don't know anything else about you but this one post. But I can safely say we'd be good friends.

Fixxor: Why did they edit it so much? Takes away credibility to me.

/ likes watching full ascent-descent in these vids.

To make it watchable for the unwashed masses with short attention spans. The same kind of people who think 100,000ft is so much more dangerous than the aforementioned 1,500ft.

Honest Bender: The iPad has cameras in it. If you're fairly certain the iPad will survive, why not just use its camera(s)?

How do you take pictures of an ipad with the same ipad? difficulty: no mirror.

MrGuy: Hmm, I wonder what the terminal velocity of a rather un-aerodynamic, 1.3 lb (+ case + recording camera + mounting equipment) iPad is, and how much damage it would cause had it actually hit someone. Dropping something from 100,000 feet with no means of arresting or controlling it's descent seems somewhat reckless to me (even if they are in the middle of a desert).

Terminal velocity for that entire rig would have to be pretty low. Otherwise, there's no way that case could have kept the shock of impact from fracturing the screen. Those bastards crack if you sneeze at them. It you got hit by that agglomeration, I think you'd probably be more surprised than injured.

Plus, I'd imagine they were worried about someone making off with an iPad, an XTREEM iPad case and a couple solid cameras, too.

Was I the only person who didnt see any kind of actual free fall? It didnt free fall at all.

Useless without knowing impact speed. It was in some sort of a flat spin, which could definitely slow it down. Like a autorotating helicopter. Or one of those seed pod things.

Terminal velocity was the first thing I thought of.

OMG but can it survive a fall from 110,000 feet!?!?!?!

Stupid question: Would having the camera-on-a-stick mounted to the ipad actually slow the device's fall rate some due to the pinwheeling it caused? I was in to model rocketry as a kid and I remember using streamers instead of parachutes for a bunch of my rockets to slow them down, simply because it (I assume) broke up the optimal profile. To me it seems clear that a knife-edge landing on a corner would be a much more traumatic landing than having it spin down to earth like a tiny hipster seed pod.

It could not of hit the ground that hard because even the flipping camera survived

taurusowner: Fixxor: Why did they edit it so much? Takes away credibility to me.

/ likes watching full ascent-descent in these vids.

To make it watchable for the unwashed masses with short attention spans. The same kind of people who think 100,000ft is so much more dangerous than the aforementioned 1,500ft.

Well, it might be more dangerous, if it creates more variance in where the landing spot might be. I'm still amazed that it ended up less than a football field away from where they launched it.

/iknowthatsnotwhatyoumeant

And another thing!
Looking at the G-form line those look like pretty bulky sleeves/cases, and really, what is the point of a sleeve? I would imagine that most drops and damage happen when an ipad is in use due to its slippery nature, if I am going to drop 80 bucks it better give me round the clock protection. The cases look equally bulky and annoying to use.

I have seen these cases in action: http://www.gumdropcases.com/ and are pretty impressed with them. However I hear they are only rated for falls of under 88,000feet.

omg bbq: tiny hipster seed pod

You win one internet. And yes. Plus landing on the side of a hill. Plus landing on a loose surface.

Acid-Flux: It could not of hit the ground that hard because even the flipping camera survived

That's a Go Pro. They're used (and have survived getting disconnected from) many sporting events such as surfing, car racing, bmx, skateboarding. They're pretty light and have a protective plastic shell. Pretty cool cameras that are used in almost every reality show (Amazing Race, Survivor) because they shoot in 1080, they're small, and they're really durable.

I'd think the burst balloon-on-a-string would do much more to slow and stabilize the descent than the camera-on-a-stick.

import silvia: I'd think the burst balloon-on-a-string would do much more to slow and stabilize the descent than the camera-on-a-stick.

Good point.

Really though, why don't we just chuck an ipad out of an airplane cruising at 3000 feet and see if this case will save the day. No cameras, no sticks, no flappy balloon skins. Then again, I doubt I would be bothering to chirp about it if such a simple test was performed. Not to mention, I just want the farker to survive a fall from 5 feet on to pavement, or survive a 300lb co-worker sitting on it while resting on a hard and uneven surface like a plastic chair. At any rate, I guess I should go start my day.

Lots of smug in here, even for Fark.

Neat demonstration, exaggerated yeah, but a clever marketing demonstration none-the-less.

Continue your circle jerking fellas.

Falco09: Couldn't the same effect be produced from a height of about 1,500 feet due to terminal velocity?

But that wouldn't make for such a cool video, now would it?

Also, if im not mistaken wouldn't the whole stunt failed horrible if the screen landed face down on a jagged rock?

In other news, a guy was cut in half by a falling iPad today.


Also, it looks like the popped balloon acted like a parachute to show it down quite a bit.

No this is stupid. Stupid stupid stupid.

/stupid tag was too smart to attach itself to this stupid, thinly veiled marketing ploy.
//also why I hate car commercials

I thought saint steve of jobs frowned on your third party case shenanigans!

aendeuryu: I'm still amazed that it ended up less than a football field away from where they launched it.


It didn't. Notice the helicopter door when he says it's about 70 yds away?

fatbear: Honest Bender: The iPad has cameras in it. If you're fairly certain the iPad will survive, why not just use its camera(s)?

How do you take pictures of an ipad with the same ipad? difficulty: no mirror.

Isn't there an app for that?



But seriously... from the video, it looks like is was being held in flat position, so I'd say that the speed and impact were seriously affected by it.

So with the GPS/locator (whatever they used) that was strapped to it, THAT is was appears to have absorbed the shock... has it landed in it's edge instead, I would believe that we'd have a different outcome.

Meh, I bet my 3 year old could still figure out how to break it.

Kavis: Those bastards crack if you sneeze at them.

HAHA! No. Idiot.

I suspect the rig was designed to hold it all level with the back facing down. Then you have the balloon remains and the large profile of the iPad slowing it down. Plus, it's much less likely to crack the screen that way. With those rocks the screen would have broken if dropped face down from chest level.

imfallen_angel:
So with the GPS/locator (whatever they used) that was strapped to it, THAT is was appears to have absorbed the shock... has it landed in it's edge instead, I would believe that we'd have a different outcome.

Good point. Why add a GPS locator to a device that has a GPS locator?

The low terminal velocity certainly helped, but I'm also somewhat impressed that it handled the cold as well as it did. Most electronics I've dealt with (CD players, calculators, solid state MP3 players, stuff like that) don't handle cold that well, and require a fairly significant time above freezing - 10 or 15 minutes - before they'll work again.

Not significant, but kinda neat.

fatbear: imfallen_angel:
So with the GPS/locator (whatever they used) that was strapped to it, THAT is was appears to have absorbed the shock... has it landed in it's edge instead, I would believe that we'd have a different outcome.

Good point. Why add a GPS locator to a device that has a GPS locator?

fatbear: imfallen_angel:
So with the GPS/locator (whatever they used) that was strapped to it, THAT is was appears to have absorbed the shock... has it landed in it's edge instead, I would believe that we'd have a different outcome.

Good point. Why add a GPS locator to a device that has a GPS locator?

they didn't know if it would still be working at the end of it all?

they'd lost the first three or four they sent up because they didn't survive?

insurance?

ballast to make sure that it wound up in a screen up position?

Falco09: Couldn't the same effect be produced from a height of about 1,500 feet due to terminal velocity?

came to say this

import silvia: I'd think the burst balloon-on-a-string would do much more to slow and stabilize the descent than the camera-on-a-stick.

Came to also say this

legion_of_doo: I thought saint steve of jobs frowned on your third party case shenanigans!

This is also something I came to say (Well more like, if apple designed it properly it wouldn`t need a third party anything)

fatbear: Good point. Why add a GPS locator to a device that has a GPS locator?

Same reason as the camera, they fully expected it to break and not function afterwards.

We have to be lucky every time we drop anything. They only had to be lucky once out of how many times we don`t know and then put out that film. With the fall flat, balloon slowing, impact absorbing GPS as well personally I`m surprised they didn`t try to drop it from higher....

acella: Lots of smug in here, even for Fark.

Neat demonstration, exaggerated yeah, but a clever marketing demonstration none-the-less.

Continue your circle jerking fellas.



/someone should 'shop an apple logo on his t-shiat.

dready zim: (Well more like, if apple designed it properly it wouldn`t need a third party anything)

Wow, you must hate... well, nearly every piece of technology on the market right now, since they all have third party products you can buy.