Kaiser Baas is well known for making such things as digital TV receivers for PCs, digital photo frames, digital radios and the like, and has now released a little gizmo called Road Recorder.

What has this to do with video I hear you ask?

Well as I was once asked why a Dalek was on the front cover of a camcorder magazine, my reply would be “it has a camera in it.” Among lots of other things.

The Road Recorder is attached to the windscreen of the car in much the same way as your GPS is, and can be quickly removed without “unsucking it” to allow data to be downloaded to a PC via USB cable. Alternatively, a USB stick can be inserted and data transferred to that if you wish. Further, if you have an in-car video display, the Road Recorder can be connected to that as well.

So what data is there is the obvious question …?

By the use of GPS tracking, an internal three dimensional sensor, audio recorder and the aforementioned camera, what Kaiser Baas call “events” are recorded in real time. From these events – hard acceleration or braking, severe changes of direction etc – you can gauge how economically you are driving, G forces, speed over time and more. Further, audible notifications and a series of lights warn at the time of events out of the norm such as hard acceleration. And finally, in the event of an accident, the camera also kicks in and can record down to 0.8 lux and nearly 70 degrees wide.

This means if you are unfortunate enough to have an accident, then all the data you need is recorded for say, insurance or legal purposes, much the same as an aircraft’s “black box”.

You can even transpose the data to Google Maps using the GPS data!

The Road Recorder is an interesting gadget. It may not be for everyone, but it is one of those items that could pay for its $249 price tag with only one “usage” if you know what I mean, to prove another driver was at fault in the case of an accident. But it is also of use if you know you are an inconsistent driver and want to smooth out any habits to gain more fuel and tyre economy.

And I have just had a thought; if the errant son (or daughter) borrows the family car for a night out, any *cough* hooning would be recorded …

See www.kaiserbaas.com for more information.

By David Hague

David Hague is the owner and publisher of AusCam Online. He has a background in media dating back to 1979 when he first got involved with photojournalism in motorsport, and went from there into technology via a 5 year stint with Tandy Computers. Following that, he ran a software distribution company on the Gold Coast and was one of the first to recognise the potential of Microsoft Windows.

Moving back to WA, David wrote scripts for Computer Television for video training for the just released Windows and Office 95 among others, and was then lured to Sydney to create web sites for the newly commercial Internet in 1995, building hundreds of sites under contract to OzEmail including Coates Hire, Hertz Queensland, John Williamson, the NSW Board of Studies and many, many more.

He went back into full time journalism as the Managing Editor for Channel 7's 'Gadget Guy', Peter Blasina's publications VideoCamera and Pixelmag, before starting Australasian Camcorder magazine when these publications were shelved. He now lives back in WA (Mandurah) on the ocean front with dog Budweiser and in his spare time is a nut for motor sport, road safety (he is on the Roadwise committee for Mandurah City Council), fishing, science fiction - especially Dr Who - and technology.

David can be contacted via david@auscamonline.com, vbthedog@gmail.com via Twitter via @vbthedog. or