Technabob » aurora

Ziiiro Aurora & Orbit Watches: It’s Color-Mixing Time!

Range — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 11:20:03 +0000

Watch brand Ziiiro has come up with two new watches use an analog mechanism to display time in a visually-striking way. This time around, we have the Aurora and the Orbit. Of the two, the Aurora looks most interesting since it mixes two colors to show the time.

On the Aurora, the hour indicator uses a blue gradient, from 100% to 0% while the minute indicator uses a yellow gradient. The overlapping layers create a color mix that changes throughout the day. Unlike some of the more complex modern watches you can get from Tokyoflash, Ziiiro’s watch will allow you to intuitively learn a new way of telling time, just by looking at the resulting color mix.

The Orbit was inspired by space and the solar system, simply using a red planet to indicate hours, and a white one to indicate minutes.

You can pre-order them watches online over at Ziiiro for €129 ($184 USD).

[via Core77]

Is Taiwan’S Robot Army Ready to Invade China?

Range — Fri, 14 May 2010 03:28:49 +0000

These new robots from the Taiwan-based Aurora Group are set to invade China. Well, that’s not exactly what they’re doing there. They’ll be shown in Shanghai at the World Expo. Still, Shanghai is in China, so you never know what those ‘bots might be up to.

At the show, the robot hosts will show off some beautiful jade treasures, including holographic versions. The Aurora Kids are a bunch of new-ish robots that can speak, sing, and dance, sort-of. The ‘bots are about 3’3″ tall and have a sliding chest cover with an touch screen.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Relations between China and Taiwan have never been rosy, but I like the sound of Taiwan’s robot army getting ready to take over the world, especially since I’m currently living in Taipei.

[via Plastic Pals]

Projector Paints the Aurora Borealis on Your Walls

Technabob — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 18:53:22 +0000

Now you can bring the famous Northern Lights inside your house with this nifty light projector from Japan.

The Genso Kukan Aurora simulates the beautiful atmospheric phenomena known as the Aurora Borealis and projects the images on your wall or ceiling.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

I’m pretty sure that its using LEDs and other optical trickery to generate its relaxing patterns of animated color. The machine measures about 6″ x 6″ x 4″ and should run for about twenty hours on three AA batteries. It even has a 30-minute sleep timer so you can set it to go right before you head off to slumberland. The projector even comes with a complimentary CD of new-age music to complete the chill-out effect.

The Aurora light can be found from Japanese importer HimeyaShop for $61 plus shipping. I have one of these on order for myself so I’ll let you know how it really looks in action once I receive mine.

[UPDATE 4/8/2007: I received my Aurora projector today, and it's pretty underwhelming. You'll need a pitch black room to really see the effect, and it really isn't effective at projecting anything more than about a two foot area of color. In my opinion, you'd be better off with a Laserpod or some Morpheus fixtures if you're looking for something more dramatic.]