technabob » clock

catena wall clock tells time with bike chain

technabob — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 04:03:49 +0000

Here’s an unusual concept for a wall clock. Instead of telling the time with hands or a digital display, the Catena clock tells time along the perimeter of a bicycle chain.

Designed by Andreas Dober for Germany’s Anthologie Quartett, the Catena (Latin for “chain”) has a certain retro-steampunk look about it. Time is told using copper digits mounted on the outside of a bike chain that rotates around a single motorized gear. Now don’t bother trying to tell the exact time with this. The only numbers on the chain are the hours, so any attempt to figure out minutes is a crap-shoot.

While I dig the grungy minimalism of the clock, I don’t dig the $2300+ (USD) price tag. But I suppose if you’ve got really deep pockets, you can order one over at Unica Home.

On the other hand, I won’t tell anyone if you decide to make your own out of $20 worth of junk you find at a flea market.

[via Incredible Things]

london’s big ben clock on twitter: it’s about time. or is it?

lambert v. — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 12:16:21 +0000

You read it right: the iconic clock tower is on Twitter. Guess what it tweets?

It is a clock after all. Although I think it could also be looking to get high. It looks like it’s getting more and more desperate by the hour too.

[via The Presurfer]

manual digital clock makes you change the time by hand every minute

technabob — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 11:59:13 +0000

When I first saw this clock design, I was scratching my head wondering why you’d want a clock that doesn’t keep time at all. After all, who wants a clock that you have to manually change the time on every time the minute changes?

Then I realized that this clever LED-lookalike clock isn’t a clock at all. It’s an educational puzzle for teaching your kids how to read digital clocks. After all, analog clocks aren’t the norm these days, so why would you need to teach your children to read time on a more modern display?

I guess the only problem I have with the whole concept is that Digits‘ Jumbo LED clock trainer comes with a bunch of tiny little pieces that are easy to lose (and possibly swallow). And it’s not cheap either. At $100 bucks, I could probably buy myself a whole roomful of cheap digital alarm clocks and set them all to different times. The Digits Jumbo LED clock trainer is available over at Ponoko.

ice tube vfd clock kit: time to get retro

technabob — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 02:15:27 +0000

There are certainly a ton of different ways to tell time, but this retro-modern digital clock is definitely one of the cooler designs I’ve seen in a while.

The Ice Tube clock ($70 USD) gets its brilliant blue display thanks to an old-school Russian-issued VFD (vacuum fluorescent display) tube. It’s set inside of a spiffy clear acrylic shell, which lets you see its internal circuitry whenever you want. Each tube has 8 glowy blue digits, as well as a dot indicator for PM and an alarm on/off indicator.

While the Ice Cube kit includes everything you need to build a standard alarm clock with day/date functionality, both hardware and software are open source, so you can mod this to do something else if you want – say display text messages or run the time backwards.

Keep in mind that the circuit generates very high voltages (up to 70 VDC), so you’ll need significant electronics, soldering and kit-building experience if you want one of these sitting on your bookshelf (and not catching your house on fire). If you’re up to the build challenge, head on over to Adafruit and place your order.

[via LadyAda]

regretsy: the best guide for the worst stuff on etsy

lambert v. — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 13:28:32 +0000

I read about Regretsy on Gizmodo so yeah, half the world’s already read about it, but this is just too fun to pass up. See, we’ve featured a ton of awesome handmade items sold on Etsy, but rarely have we trawled it for mind-scarring monstrosities. But from now on we will, thanks to Regretsy. The site’s creator – who btw goes by the name “Helen Killer” – is on a mission to drive herself (himself ?) crazy by looking for the worst handicrap that Etsy has to offer. Helen finds everything from the morbidly funny Url, the fish in a squirrel suit,

to the downright tasteless HIV clock,

to my favorite, BLACK UNICORNS. All this time we’ve been wondering whether they exist, and here we have special edition unicorns on goddamned Etsy. Whodathunk.

Let me just remind you that these things are for sale. My goodness. Thank you so much Hellen Killer. Really. So much. If you’re tired of looking at the decent things that the human race can accomplish with two hands, drop by Regretsy. You won’t regret it. Unless you’re a kid, in which case ask your parents first, ’cause there’s plenty of notsafeforyou items there. By the way, I seriously can’t tell if the person selling the black unicorns is doing it for fun or is trying to screw people (note the no-return policy on the fabled beast carcasses).

chasing time wall clock never stops changing itself

technabob — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 03:17:20 +0000

At first glance, this looks like any ordinary old wall clock. But take another look, and you’ll see that there’s nothing ordinary about the way that it works.

You see, the hour markers around the perimeter of designer J.P.Meulendijks‘ Chasing Time clock gradually change positions as the minutes pass. It’s designed so every time you look up at the clock, it looks just a little bit different than the last time you looked at it.

At least the clock hands work the way you’d expect, so you can still tell what time it is – even if you are completely hypnotized by the outer moving bits. If you’re looking for something different to hang on your wall you can order the Chasing Time clock from Swedish design shop pid.se for $359 (USD).

[via GeekAlerts]

little robot clock tells time, holds on to your stuff

technabob — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 00:50:42 +0000

I always dreamed of the day that I could have my own tiny little robotic army that hangs out on my desktop to do my bidding. While these little robot clock dudes don’t exactly do all of my bidding, they do tell the time, and they look good doing it.

The aptly named “Little Robot Clock” has tiny articulating joints with clips in place of hands so he can hang on to your notes and whatnot. Of course, you don’t have to use those clippy claws for good. They can also be used for staging tiny robot battles in your cubicle.

I bet you can’t buy just one. But then you may say “why do I need so many clocks on my desk”, and I respond “set them each to a different timezone and shut the f*ck up.” You can start building your own desktop robo-clock army for $20.50 (USD) each over at Brando.

atari 2600 cart clocks, because you hate games

alisha k. — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 20:01:21 +0000

Ah, game cartridges. They can bring so much joy… and take up so much space. And sure, you could save ‘em forever, clearing space to keep all those boxes and carts… or you could brutally gut them and turn them into something else. A clock, say.

Can’tAffordEmCrafts, an Etsy storefront, has several of those former-Atari-cartridges for sale, now in useful clock form, as well as some other repurposed media (like old records). While I’m not sure if I could remove the innards of an old cartridge myself (the pain!), I’m glad there are others in the world, who are harder of heart, so that I can enjoy nifty game cartridge clocks. And even buy one, if I wanted. You can snag these for $20.

[via Sprite Stitch]

hard drive clock is the most beautiful hard drive clock ever

technabob — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 01:28:22 +0000

This wouldn’t be the first time I’ve seen a clock fabricated from an old hard drive. But this is by far the most amazing, dramatic hard drive clock you’ll see today. Or any day for that matter.

Polish modder mb1988 built this hard drive clock uses the old persistence-of-vision (POV) illusion, which display phantom “hands” on the face of the spinning drive platter. A set of colorful LEDs encircle the platter, blinking rapidly to illuminate the current time on a slot cut into the face of the platter. An ATMEGA128 microcontroller under the hood that makes the lights blink at precisely the right moment to create the illusion. There’s even a remote control that lets mb change the colors and effects on demand. But what makes this clock design really special is the incredibly detailed and evocative etching under the clock’s Plexiglas face.

You can check out the entire build log and schematics (Polish/machine translated) over on Elektroda. Don’t understand how it works? Check out the video below to see the clock in action:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

[via Hacked Gadgets]

computer keyboard clocks: time to press enter

technabob — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 23:15:18 +0000

I love these fun and functional clocks modeled to look like giant computer keys.

Each clock measures in at about 10-inches square, making it about 175 times larger than a regular computer key. While you won’t be able to spell out “CTRL-ALT-DEL” if you hang three of these on the wall, you could buy all four and spell out “CTRL-ALT-ESC-ENTER”, which I believe makes flames shoot out of PCs running Windows XP or Vista – so don’t try this at home.

Computer key clocks are available from (the unfortunately named, but still cool) PHAG (that’s Philadelphia Home and Garden) for $18.50 (USD) each.

[via Design Milk]

qlocktwo clock tells the time with words

technabob — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 02:30:28 +0000

The QLOCKTWO is a gorgeous modern timepiece uses letters, not numbers to tell you the current time.

Designed by Biegert & Funk, the QLOCKTWO displays text that describes the current time using statements like “IT IS NINE O’CLOCK” or “IT IS FIVE PAST TWO”. Individual minutes are conveyed through the tiny white dots in the corners of the clock. A flip of the switch, and the seconds appear as a giant dot-matrix display behind the letters. And if you’d prefer your time in a language other than English, you’ve got a choice of German, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, or French versions too.

The handmade German clock features a painted acrylic or stainless steel face, which tops a sturdy wood box that houses an array of LED backlighting and circuitry required to tell the time. This sophisticated timepiece uses an atomic-synchronized time-signal reciever and automatically adjusts its brightness based on the ambient light around it.

Here’s a demo of the QLOCKTWO in action (in German):

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

As much as I love the design, the QLOCKTWO isn’t cheap. It retails for €1099.99 (appx. $1565 USD), and interchangeable color faceplates are available starting at €95 (appx. $136 USD) each over at the Biegert & Funk store.

Now for the good news. If you happen to own an iPhone or iPod Touch, you can now grab a nifty little program over on the App Store that simulates the QCLOCKTWO’s functionality on your wonderdevice for just 99 cents. That’s definitely within my budget.

[QLOCKTWO via Design Milk]

wooden sound box led alarm clock is boxy, but good

technabob — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 21:22:07 +0000

If you’re looking for a new alarm clock that looks like a big old hunk of wood, then look no further than here.

The Wooden Sound Box Clock features a bold design sensibility, peppered with just enough technology in make it seem at home in any geek’s bedroom. The current time, date and day of week all glow through the faux-wood face of this clock, courtesy of some retro-red 7-segment LEDs. In addition to telling time, the alarm clock can play digital music from your SD/MMC cards or USB thumb drives through a pair of full-range speakers mounted into the sides of the big black box.

If the watermarks on the images above didn’t clue you in already, you can grab the Wooden Sound Box Clock over at Brando’s Watch site for $95 (USD) – if you can believe it, the clock is just $55, and $40 of that is for shipping from China.

(FWIW, this alarm clock may look a whole lot like Karlsson’s Cube, but the built-in media player gives this one the advantage.)

unfinished clock still tells time

lambert v. — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 12:13:17 +0000

The Unfinished Clock, made by Yve Thelermont and David Hupton, is made to be placed on the edge of a shelf or table. The clock’s bottom part is missing but the hands will still go all the way. Why? Art. That always shuts most people up.

Nah, it’s a fun idea! Fun ideas should be turned into fun things and then sold at the Museum of Modern Art store for $46 (USD). The rectangular Unfinished Clock is already sold-out, so you’ll have to settle for the round one.

[via bltd]

black & white oled digital clock concept is literally out-of-the-box

lambert v. — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 12:32:21 +0000

Designer Vadim Kibardin has found a way to make the ever-useful clock be more versatile aesthetics-wise with his black & white clock concept. It consists of just four OLED digits – no case or box or other parts that might clash with the style in your house. Kibardin’s awesome idea is made even awesomer by the addition of a light sensor, which enables the digits function in an inverted manner, to display the time in white if the surrounding is dark, and in black if it’s bright.

Each digit is powered by a lithium-ion accumulator. The controls for the clock are touch-sensitive (although I don’t know where exactly they’re located).

Kibardin is currently looking for a manufacturer that will help make his brilliant idea make the leap from dream to $$$$ reality. More details can be found on Kibardin’s site.

[via Core77].

zeo personal sleep coach: helping rich people sleep better

lambert v. — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 11:40:51 +0000

Zeo Inc.’s Personal Sleep Coach system consists of a headband, an alarm clock/bedside display, and personal coaching sessions. All of these are designed to help their clients sleep better, smug in the knowledge that they’re rich enough to afford a personal sleep coach.

The headband supposedly measures brainwave activity and sends the data it gathers to the display. The display saves it to an SD card so you can then upload your data to your Zeo account. In your Zeo account you’ll see your sleeping patterns and you’ll also be given tips on how to sleep better. Here’s a free tip: You know what else can help you sleep? Reading about how Zeo works.

WSJ’s Melinda Beck tested the Zeo system and mentioned its scoring system, called ZQ. Basically it’s a numeric measurement of well you sleep per day. It sounds really stupid, I know, but if it’s really an accurate quantification of the quality and quantity of your sleep, then by doing something different and looking at how your ZQ scores vary, you’ll know which steps work, which habits you should really do something about, etc.

The downside? As I said, the Zeo Personal Sleep Coach is expensive: it costs $400 (USD) for the headband and the display, plus 6-months of personal sleep coaching with “experts” via email. Renewing the coaching will cost you another $100 per 6 months. You can order it at Zeo’s website; it has a 30-day money-back guarantee, so if it doesn’t work you can rest assured that you’ll get your money back.

[via Gadget Venue]

don’t tell time, read it with the word clock

alisha k. — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 11:35:55 +0000

Numbers. Who need’s em? Well, except for all that math stuff. But when it comes to something like telling time, why should we be restricted to the same ol’ boring clockfaces? With the Word Clock, you can leave all that behind.

You know what else you don’t get with this word clock? Specificity. What time is it? It’s about three. Does it matter if it’s 3:02? So what if you miss the trailers? Mellow out.

Ditching the numbers will cost you, though: this Word Clock runs about $230, give or take.

[Generate Design via CraziestGadgets]

weird gadget of the day: 1″ lcd fragrance releasing talking cat alarm clock with temperature display

technabob — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 11:40:05 +0000

I couldn’t make this stuff up. Filling a niche that I’m pretty sure nobody needs filled, this weird alarm clock from China is definitely not something I had on my gadget wish list.

This cat-shaped alarm clock, and not only tells the time, but releases an unknown fragrance as it does its business. One can only hope it doesn’t smell like my cat’s litter box. In addition to stinkin’ up the place, the cat is a speaks the time in 14 “diverse languages” – not one of them my tabby understands. There’s also a digital thermometer mode which can display the current temperature in either Centigrade or Celsius. Last time I checked, those were both the same thing. Eh, what do you expect from a stinkin tetradeca-lingual talkin’ cat?

What I really love about this thing is that the guys who made it felt the need to patent it. So if you plan on making your own 1″ lcd fragrance releasing talking cat alarm clock with temperature display, you’d better watch your ass. The holders of patent number 200930164072.X will rain down on you with the wrath of God (and an army of fragranced talking cats).

While you’re mulling over whether or not you want to buy Fragrance Cat, here’s some informative Engrish from the package for your enjoyment…

Wow, it’s got high definition time. Even my Blu-ray player can’t do that. And what the heck do you think a hypnosis alarm is? Does it put you into a trance the minute you wake up? In my house, we call that the “snooze bar”. If you just absolutely have to have one of these ridiculous things by the side of your bed you need help, you can get your hands on one over at DealExtreme for $7.23 (USD).

digital clock needs 48 analog hands to tells time

technabob — Sun, 17 May 2009 22:37:39 +0000

It took me a second to figure out what was going on when I first got a look at this table full of analog clocks. But once I stood back from my screen, I realized that none of the clocks have the correct time and the whole thing is a macro timepiece that tells the time using 24 individual clocks.

Created by Swedish designers Humans Since 1982, the Clock Clock installation features 48 electronically-controlled analog clock hands which automatically rotate into the proper positions to form a giant digital display.

Here’s a video of Clock Clock in action to give you a better idea of how it works:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

If you happen to be in Sweden this summer, the Clock Clock will be on display at the Röhsska Design Museum June through mid-August 2009.

Brilliant idea. Maybe someday they’ll build a miniature version I can put up on my mantle.

[via dezeen]

from nes to clockface: the journey of a circuit board

alisha k. — Thu, 14 May 2009 11:46:43 +0000

One day you’re just poking along, handling all your business NES-style, running games, having someone blow hot air into your space, and the next? You’ve been torn out of your cozy little home and someone’s fitting all sorts of new parts onto your body. This poor circuit board… from Nintendo to clock is a step down, but I bet it looks pretty good on the wall.

For the true Nintendo fan, can there be any other clock? Well, all other Nintendo-themed clocks aside, of course.

As amazing as this clock is, is it forty bucks amazing? The NES board clock is available at the GeekGear Etsy store, and it is a fine piece of time-telling machinery, as well as the guts of one of the greats. Guess it just depends on how big a fan you are.

gear4 crg-60 ipod clock radio lets you choose how it will ruin your sleep

lambert v. — Thu, 14 May 2009 03:28:26 +0000

Like many other iPod docks/alarm clocks, gear4’s latest iPod accessory can wake you up with music from your iPod. But the crg-60 can also be set to play music from the built-in FM radio or just do a good ol’ buzz to make you get out of bed. And when it’s time to sleep again, the crg-60’s LCD screen can be dimmed or turned off while the music it plays lulls you to sleep.

The crg-60 can be plugged in or powered by 6 AA batteries; obviously it can only charge iPods if its connected to an outlet. You can pre-order the crg-60 at gear4’s online store for £34.99 ($54 USD); it will be available starting June this year.

[via ipodnn]