the average American spends $38/yr on toilet paper:wink::wink:
That's cheap considering you're guaranteed a lot of good rolls.
Break speed? Theres an app 4 that....
- Thread starter Thunderball
- Start date
That's cheap considering you're guaranteed a lot of good rolls.
Got home this morning and hit my buddy up about this app. One hour later he and his iphone were at my house measuring break speed lol. The app does seem to work well. If the hit feels "off" or slightly miscued the speed will be down. Very solid feeling breaks yield better speed results ect.
Anyhow, my best effort was 21.56 mph. Not at all sure how good or bad that is? My average was above 20.5 after about 20 breaks so I guess I'm bringing close to my max each time which seems like a good thing when trying to crack em open hard.
Anybody else try it out? Fatboy, did you break that 15mph mark?
Anyhow, my best effort was 21.56 mph. Not at all sure how good or bad that is? My average was above 20.5 after about 20 breaks so I guess I'm bringing close to my max each time which seems like a good thing when trying to crack em open hard.
Anybody else try it out? Fatboy, did you break that 15mph mark?
I'm having a hard time justifying why a pool player who has invested in an iPhone wouldn't buy this app.
Fred <~~~ didn't give myself time to think about not buying it
havent tried it yet, been on the phone with biz all day while hanging out here, i will post 10 in a row and then take a average. When I was going to the gym 5 days a week my break was much harder as I was stronger and more accurate. Now its a joke. My 1P Break is fair and my snooker break is perhaps my best break. I like to break-its my favorite part of the game, unless i'm playing 9,10 ball.
thanks again for the link
When I was bodybuilding I had a much harder break, but thats been 5 years
I concur. It's a no brainer if you have a iPhone. I saw this used today at the pro event and was very impressed. I'm going to buy this when I get home. Flying home from Vegas now.
Mark
Hey y'all,
Thanks for the great comments on Break Speed!
We are working hard on an Android version. Honestly, the reason we don't have one now is because there are only two of us and we wrote the app for ourselves using the phones we had. Craig is doing the Android version and I expect he'll be losing a lot of sleep over the next few weeks.
I'll be making a few updates to the iPhone version and also working to finish up the PC version (we actually have a PC version that runs today, but it's not ready for prime-time yet.)
We had a tremendous response from the app, and thought I would share a few stories from our trip to Vegas - I met some of my heroes in pool (I've never had the opportunity to schmooze with the pros.)
When I finally got off the plane and got setup in the hotel, I rushed down to the tournament room. My first plan was to find the radar gun and do a comparison. Instead, I ran across Mika Immonen playing at one of the vendor booths. I stepped up and asked if I could time his break. He gave me a queer look, then shrugged. So I stepped up and put the phone on the table and started the timer. He gave it a sideways glance, but bent down and broke the balls. I stepped forward again and tapped the screen to stop the recording and out popped his break speed. 22-point-something, IIRC. His eyes lit up, and the crowd got interested. All of the sudden people were more interested in the app than in Mika. I still find this amazing, because after all, this is Mika Immonen we're talking about!
One of the posters here was present (Antonio - point yourself out if you're watching so I can connect the face with the username.)
At this point, I had been in the tournament room for only about 5 minutes. What a great way to start the trip.
I made a few more rounds and met up with Holly, who manages marketing for the BCA. She got me a week pass to the US Open so I could get some timings on a few of the players, notably Roberto "The Superman" Gomez. As it turns out, I would end up getting his speeds on the live stream, but that's later in the story...
I captured a few of the breaks from the pros from the bleachers for a while, then on my way out of the tournament room, I passed by the main table and Corey Deuel was just messing around with John Schmidt, of all things - hitting break shots! So I walked up and asked if I could time their break. I got the same queer look and shrug from Corey and the same amazed shock at seeing his break speed afterward. This immediately became a competition between to great players - who could break the hardest (with little ol' me in the middle of the action.) Corey, in my opinion, has one of the best understandings of the break, so I was really excited that he was so interested. They went back and forth a few times and John clocked in the 24's IIRC, but Corey was determined to break 30. After a few practice breaks and even a couple of mis-cues, he managed to nail it - 30.29 MPH. Amazing.
I kept walking and finally found the radar gun at the break speed competition booth. One of the pros walked up and paid to compete (I never caught his name.) His first break registered a 22.5 on Break Speed. The lady running the booth showed the gun at 22. Not bad... he broke again. This time, the radar gun showed 17 MPH. It was pretty clear that he hit them harder and he even complained. I showed him the speed I captured: 24.72.
We knew Break Speed was more accurate than a radar gun because we understand the science behind them both, but we never had access to a radar gun to actually try it. It felt nice to finally see it in real life. I think in that case, the huge disparity was a problem with training (not knowing how to hold the gun correctly), but I must admit I felt a tiny bit victorious anyway.
I also met Bobby Weimar and Kelly Fisher at the Fury booth. Kelly was playing and although I got her breaks, I don't remember what they were (one can only store so many break speeds in one's head.) Bobby and I started talking and he took a real interest in Break Speed. He took us around to introduce me to Allen Hopkins Jr (heya allen_jr!) and in the process, we ran across Mark Griffin (CEO of CSI and TAR), which eventually led to our appearance on the TAR live feed. Bobby did us a real solid and I'm looking for ways to make it up to him.
There's a lot more to tell (I only mentioned Allen Jr. and Mark Griffin, and I haven't even mentioned JR from Inside Pool), but I think this epic email has been epic enough for today.
Thanks for the great comments on Break Speed!
We are working hard on an Android version. Honestly, the reason we don't have one now is because there are only two of us and we wrote the app for ourselves using the phones we had. Craig is doing the Android version and I expect he'll be losing a lot of sleep over the next few weeks.
I'll be making a few updates to the iPhone version and also working to finish up the PC version (we actually have a PC version that runs today, but it's not ready for prime-time yet.)
We had a tremendous response from the app, and thought I would share a few stories from our trip to Vegas - I met some of my heroes in pool (I've never had the opportunity to schmooze with the pros.)
When I finally got off the plane and got setup in the hotel, I rushed down to the tournament room. My first plan was to find the radar gun and do a comparison. Instead, I ran across Mika Immonen playing at one of the vendor booths. I stepped up and asked if I could time his break. He gave me a queer look, then shrugged. So I stepped up and put the phone on the table and started the timer. He gave it a sideways glance, but bent down and broke the balls. I stepped forward again and tapped the screen to stop the recording and out popped his break speed. 22-point-something, IIRC. His eyes lit up, and the crowd got interested. All of the sudden people were more interested in the app than in Mika. I still find this amazing, because after all, this is Mika Immonen we're talking about!
One of the posters here was present (Antonio - point yourself out if you're watching so I can connect the face with the username.)
At this point, I had been in the tournament room for only about 5 minutes. What a great way to start the trip.
I made a few more rounds and met up with Holly, who manages marketing for the BCA. She got me a week pass to the US Open so I could get some timings on a few of the players, notably Roberto "The Superman" Gomez. As it turns out, I would end up getting his speeds on the live stream, but that's later in the story...
I captured a few of the breaks from the pros from the bleachers for a while, then on my way out of the tournament room, I passed by the main table and Corey Deuel was just messing around with John Schmidt, of all things - hitting break shots! So I walked up and asked if I could time their break. I got the same queer look and shrug from Corey and the same amazed shock at seeing his break speed afterward. This immediately became a competition between to great players - who could break the hardest (with little ol' me in the middle of the action.) Corey, in my opinion, has one of the best understandings of the break, so I was really excited that he was so interested. They went back and forth a few times and John clocked in the 24's IIRC, but Corey was determined to break 30. After a few practice breaks and even a couple of mis-cues, he managed to nail it - 30.29 MPH. Amazing.
I kept walking and finally found the radar gun at the break speed competition booth. One of the pros walked up and paid to compete (I never caught his name.) His first break registered a 22.5 on Break Speed. The lady running the booth showed the gun at 22. Not bad... he broke again. This time, the radar gun showed 17 MPH. It was pretty clear that he hit them harder and he even complained. I showed him the speed I captured: 24.72.
We knew Break Speed was more accurate than a radar gun because we understand the science behind them both, but we never had access to a radar gun to actually try it. It felt nice to finally see it in real life. I think in that case, the huge disparity was a problem with training (not knowing how to hold the gun correctly), but I must admit I felt a tiny bit victorious anyway.
I also met Bobby Weimar and Kelly Fisher at the Fury booth. Kelly was playing and although I got her breaks, I don't remember what they were (one can only store so many break speeds in one's head.) Bobby and I started talking and he took a real interest in Break Speed. He took us around to introduce me to Allen Hopkins Jr (heya allen_jr!) and in the process, we ran across Mark Griffin (CEO of CSI and TAR), which eventually led to our appearance on the TAR live feed. Bobby did us a real solid and I'm looking for ways to make it up to him.
There's a lot more to tell (I only mentioned Allen Jr. and Mark Griffin, and I haven't even mentioned JR from Inside Pool), but I think this epic email has been epic enough for today.
I bought it and tried it and I think it WAY COOL. I knew for example that my break had improved due to some things I had been working on but I didn't know that my speed had gone up.
My average was around 21mph.
I think that this tool has tremendous potential to help people figure out their breaks and it can be used in a training environment.
As to the price, come on it's $6 - who among us has never spent $4 on a coffee or some other equally frivolous thing for $4-5.
This app has a limited market yet great usefulness.
To me it's as just like a stop watch for swimmers. Try training a swimmer without measuring their time. Break speed could become the new benchmark for how well you break. (pattern racking, perfect racks and soft breaks excluded).
My average was around 21mph.
I think that this tool has tremendous potential to help people figure out their breaks and it can be used in a training environment.
As to the price, come on it's $6 - who among us has never spent $4 on a coffee or some other equally frivolous thing for $4-5.
This app has a limited market yet great usefulness.
To me it's as just like a stop watch for swimmers. Try training a swimmer without measuring their time. Break speed could become the new benchmark for how well you break. (pattern racking, perfect racks and soft breaks excluded).
Verizon Wireless
Hey thanks for all the peeps that are giving Verizon Wireless Props! I do love it when people pat us on the back. I also love hearing that we have better coverage than AT&T! LOL
Also I can't wait for the Android app as well as this will be the one I use until we decide to carry an Iphone? I hear all the rumors, but however Verizon won't bow down to Apple's request for just them being in control of well, everything! LOL
Anyway, I think an application that would let you take a snapshot of the table and give you different patterns would be cool, yea? Or how bout if it just flat out told you how to run out? Or better yet what if it would snap into your pool cue and help you make the run out? LOL Just rambling......SORRY!!!!!
:thumbup: Great App!
Hey thanks for all the peeps that are giving Verizon Wireless Props! I do love it when people pat us on the back. I also love hearing that we have better coverage than AT&T! LOL
Also I can't wait for the Android app as well as this will be the one I use until we decide to carry an Iphone? I hear all the rumors, but however Verizon won't bow down to Apple's request for just them being in control of well, everything! LOL
Anyway, I think an application that would let you take a snapshot of the table and give you different patterns would be cool, yea? Or how bout if it just flat out told you how to run out? Or better yet what if it would snap into your pool cue and help you make the run out? LOL Just rambling......SORRY!!!!!
:thumbup: Great App!
In terms of features, the BB version actually has a few more features than the iPhone version. With the BB version, you can load & save breaks, you can get your speeds in KPH (as opposed to MPH.) These features are also part of the Windows Mobile version and coming for the iPhone.
All of the technology that is used to calculate the break speed is the same under the hood.
The BB device has one extra challenge that the other devices don't have - the BB device has an "auto gain" on the microphone that cannot be disabled. Auto-gain can affect voice recognition and our break recognition because it actually loses audio information.
Because of this, it is important to make sure that you place the phone on the rail next to the breaker. It may also be a bit more sensitive to the ambient noise in your environment, so just avoid shooting on the table next to the live band and you should be fine.
I just bought a microphone from your link for my iPod Touch so I can use this app.
I can see this app evolving... I would suggest a log of break speeds, break positions, table you broke on, and results of break. THis way, you can know use the data to determine the best place and speed to break on for a given table. The app could even calculate this for you, based on your prior results on that same table.
I can see this app evolving... I would suggest a log of break speeds, break positions, table you broke on, and results of break. THis way, you can know use the data to determine the best place and speed to break on for a given table. The app could even calculate this for you, based on your prior results on that same table.
low tech
Help.
I am very interested in owning something that will do this for me. The problem is that I don't have an I-phone, Blackberry, or even an I-pod.
What is the least amount of equipment that I need to purchase to join in these reindeer games? $6 is no problem, but I don't want to spend $189 on a phone and $40/month extra on a service that I don't have now.
Ideas?
Help.
I am very interested in owning something that will do this for me. The problem is that I don't have an I-phone, Blackberry, or even an I-pod.
What is the least amount of equipment that I need to purchase to join in these reindeer games? $6 is no problem, but I don't want to spend $189 on a phone and $40/month extra on a service that I don't have now.
Ideas?
There are plenty of options. First, if you really want something portable to get the job done, you can browse eBay for somebody selling a used device that we support. You don't need service, just the device. In fact, we bought a few devices from eBay so we would have units to test with and develop on.
If you decide to go with an Apple device, then you can save some money by going with the bare minimum memory. Note that iPod's don't come with a built-in microphone, so you'll need to pick up a cheap microphone (there's a link to a very small $0.99 microphone in the FAQ on our website.) This is what I used to create the iPhone version and (iPod + $0.99 mic) what we used during the US Open broadcast.
Alternatively, if you already have a laptop, just wait a short while - I am finishing up a version for the PC. I've been running on my laptop for testing.
I too am buying this App Monday. I had to work a double today(Sunday) and didn't want to stare & drool all over my iPhone untill I could use it Monday. I was just sitting here watching a DVR'd pool match and wondering if it would work holding it up to the tv to test a pros break
Anyone try it yet. Ron
I was just sitting here watching a DVR'd pool match and wondering if it would work holding it up to the tv to test a pros break Anyone try it yet. Ron
I was just sitting here watching a DVR'd pool match and wondering if it would work holding it up to the tv to test a pros break
Yes you can. I captured some of them during early development of Break Speed back in February from some AccuStats 8-ball invitational videos I had:
Bustamante..26.2, 26.3, 25.3
Archer......23.1, 23.2, 23.0
Immonen.....24.8, 24.6, 24.5
Reyes.......22.6, 21.9, 21.9
Griffis.....21.9, 21.5, 22.3
If you are going to try this yourself, you'll need to make sure that you capture just the break - use the pause/play buttons to play just the break for recording in Break Speed, and the commentators must be silent. This is because the audio from a recorded match has been 'normalized' so that the break shot isn't orders of magnitude louder than the commentators.
Last edited:
I tracked his break speeds through two matches. His breaks were running 28.2 with very high consistency during the first match. He took them down a bit for the second match and was breaking in the mid 27's.
That may sound fast, but you need to consider that this is where he feels comfortable with a good mix of control and power. If he wasn't in a match, I wouldn't be surprised if he is capable of breaking at well over 30.
I got the program just minutes after the finals. The next day Paul got me a copy of the Windows Mobile version.
There are a bunch of Windows Mobile devices available on Ebay for cheap.
I have the HTC Touch Windows Mobile phone and it works great on it.
Just like the Iphone version!
If you play pool - get this. You will not regret it.
There are a bunch of Windows Mobile devices available on Ebay for cheap.
I have the HTC Touch Windows Mobile phone and it works great on it.
Just like the Iphone version!
If you play pool - get this. You will not regret it.
It should be easy to modify this for testing cue/tip efficiency. Should be even more accurate, and a heck of a lot cheaper than this was to do:
http://billiards.colostate.edu/high_speed_videos/new/HSVB-42.htm
I'd love to be a beta tester. *grin*
Paul, I pm'd you about something else.
http://billiards.colostate.edu/high_speed_videos/new/HSVB-42.htm
I'd love to be a beta tester. *grin*
Paul, I pm'd you about something else.
Ok, I retract my previous statement. Consider my arm twisted. I'm getting it.