Technabob » time

Ideal Timepiece iPhone Dock: Perfect Bedside Alarm Clock?

Range — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 15:30:26 +0000

Many people a searching for the perfect iPhone dock for their bedside table, and I think most of them out there look pretty junky. I have to say that this one looks pretty cool. The Ideal Timepiece features everything you’d need from a dock near your bed, and it’s also Siri-compatible.

The compact dock places your iPhone at just the right angle to read it in bed. Coupled with its Clock App, you’ll be able to quickly check out time and date at a glance. In addition to using it as an alarm clock, you can use the Ideal Timepiece dock for hands-free calls, thanks to an acoustic amplifier that will add +10dB to your iPhone’s stock sound without power. It’s also got a special channeled port to ensure your voice is heard clearly during phone calls and for using Siri.

It’s also got convenient integrated wire management on the back, so you can wrap up any excess charging cord.

The Ideal Timepiece is compatible with both iPhone 4 and 4S models.

In order to get the plain dock, you’ll have to pledge $89 (USD) on Kickstarter. For $105, you’ll get a tiny flag covering the dock instead of the plain model. The available flags are US, UK, France and Italy. Once it’s crowd-funded, the Ideal Timepiece will retail for $135.

Lineær Clock Design: Time on the Line

Range — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 23:00:19 +0000

Everyone knows that time is supposed to be linear (at least the way that we experience it), but our usual representation is circular, since the watch face and clock face were designed for the convenience of returning their hands to the 12 o’clock position, not necessarily usability. This clock takes time and represents it in a more linear fashion with a minimal facade which conceals a rotating scroll that indicates the time.

The Lineær Clock was designed by Audun Ask Blaker. The clock features no illumination or digital displays, and promises a very quiet-running mechanism. Some people will say that it’s too minimal, but I like the fact that you can easily and quickly tell the time with it, and it doesn’t take up much space.

From the looks of this illustration, the overall mechanics behind it don’t seem too complicated either.

It’s a cool time-telling concept, but for now, it’s just that – a concept. Only time will tell if the Lineær clock will ever be produced.

[via Yanko Design]

Bell & Ross Twelve O’Clock Watches Say to Hell with 23 Hours, 59 Minutes and 58 Seconds of the Day

Technabob — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 23:58:09 +0000

Sometimes a watch looks so cool that it doesn’t matter if it doesn’t really serve its originally intended purpose. I’d have to say this is one of those times. The guys at high-end French watchmaker Bell & Ross have created a watch that barely tells time, but looks amazing doing it.

Each BR Twelve O’Clock watch face uses a set of three rotating disks to gradually shift between a numbers representing a single hour. When it’s not exactly that time, the watch reveals abstract geometric patterns, again revealing the time when that hour approaches again. That’s right, each Twelve O’Clock watch tells the proper time exactly twice a day. All other times, it’s just a cryptic pattern. In fact, you need to own a set of 12 of these watches in order to tell the time properly. Huh, wha?

Given that limitation, the Twelve O’Clock clearly works better as a clock than as a wristwatch, since it’s being sold in a set with a dozen watches, each placed into its own battery-powered winder. Here’s a sped-up video showing off the Twelve O’Clock in action:

And a little more footage of the concept from this year’s earlier Baselworld show where it was first revealed:

Sure, completely impractical, but its still a cool design. Bell & Ross fully admits the Twelve O’Clock is an art piece, and not really intended to be worn as a practical timepiece. With that in mind, they’re only making a dozen of these limited-edition watch sets. And if you have to ask how much it costs, you most certainly won’t be able to afford one. That said, a set is said to cost about $88,000 (USD). See? Told you that you can’t afford it.

Spiral Clock Twirls Time Into View

Technabob — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 00:00:27 +0000

Looking for truly unusual clock? This one tells time in a pretty unconventional way, with its dial set up in a spiral trajectory instead of the conventional hour and minute hands around a circle.

The Spiral Clock was designed by Will Aspinall and Neil Lambeth. The unusual face of the clock has a red ball which indicates the current time. The ball starts by dropping into the outer part of the spiral, and then the spiral rotates slowly over the course of 12 hours, gradually moving the ball closer and closer to the center. Eventually, when 12 hours have passed, the ball drops through the hole in the center, and the whole process starts again. While it sounds kind of weird, time-telling is actually quite intuitive – if not the most precise of exercises.

It’s a pretty ingenious design if I do say so, and definitely not like any other clock I’ve seen. Each Spiral Clock is made from an aluminum body, and the spiral itself is made from cast resin. The image you see above is from the first-generation Spiral Clock, but the guys who designed it are working on a new version called the “Equitime”, expected out in early 2012. The reason for the upgrade is that it was very difficult to read the time during the 11th hour. The new version fixes this problem by changing the number spacing, and also is quieter than the original model an it’s “frog-like croaking sounds.”

Now the only other problem is that the Equitime will cost £499 (~$782 USD), so most of us won’t be buying one any time soon. If you are interested in securing one, head on over to The Spiral Clock website for more info.

[via Reddit via SuperPunch]

Moon Shine Clock Goes Through its Many Phases

Hazel Chua — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 17:00:34 +0000

When I was much younger, I used to think that the sun was this huge gigantic lamp and the moon was a nightlight. I didn’t understand why the nightlight kept changing its shape and sometimes disappeared altogether during certain times in a month. Of course, I felt pretty foolish when I finally learned all that stuff about the sun and the moon and stars when I was in elementary school.

The Moon Shine is definitely an interesting concept for a wall clock that draws inspiration from the moon. Actually, it’s definitely more than just a clock. There’s also a light behind the clock that depicts the different phases of the moon as time passes throughout the night.

It was also designed to be quite the energy saver. The Moon Shine clock concept actually has a built-in timer (which you set yourself, of course) for when you want the light to be turned on. It will gradually change its “phase” before shutting off completely (turning into the new moon), depending on the duration that you’ve set earlier using the timer.

The Moon Shine was designed by Yong-min Lee who probably spent a lot of time staring up at the moon before going to the drawing board to work on this design.

[via Yanko Design]

QLOCKTWO Touch Verbal Alarm Clock: Wake Up With the Words

Range — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 14:00:04 +0000

A while ago, we reported about the QLOCKTWO, a stylish wall clock that used words instead of numbers to show the time. It was somewhat of a big clock, and it was also quite expensive (~$1,100), which is why I kind of like this new, smaller desktop version. This model is is the QLOCKTWO Touch and it’s touch-sensitive and comes packed with LEDs.

The sharp text outlines are easily visible thanks to the bright LEDs inside. You can engage the snooze function by simply touching the clock. The clock is machined from a single block aluminum. It comes in seven different colors, and the front panel is held in place by magnets, so you can switch colors if you get bored. It’s also available in English, German, French, Italian, Dutch, Danish, Russian and Spanish.

It also offers an alarm clock mode, which can be snoozed by simply touching the face of the clock. The reading light mode illuminates the entire clock face, switching on all 114 LEDs inside. Get ready to pay for all of this style, because the QLOCKTWO Touch sells for $599 to $650 (USD) at the Biegert & Funk store.

[via core77]

Dot Watch Concept: Touch the Time

Range — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 15:10:53 +0000

While I initially thought that this watch was basically a touch-enabled timepiece, it’s actually something different. Samuel Jerichow completely minimizes the essence of a watch down to three dots. Thanks to advances in tactile displays, this watch could be feasible.

The Dot Watch is made out of a single, flexible strap covered in stretchable PVC. The main display uses three dots that press up against a flexible sheet to tell the time. The center dot is the middle of the watch. The dot closest to this one indicates the hours while the exterior one shows the minutes. As is the case with faceless analog watches, you’ll have to guesstimate the time, which is good in my book.

To be honest, using a sort of braille numeric dot display might be more useful.

[via Yanko Design]

Pixel Time Wall Clock Tells Time in Glorious Low Resolution

Technabob — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 00:32:52 +0000

Why is it that in this day and age of 1080p HDTVs, 4K projectors in movie theaters, 16 megapixel digital cameras that I still like jaggy old pixels? Well I don’t like them in my photographic content, I still have a fond place in my heart for the chunky, bumpy, squares that got us to where we are today. That’s why I like this retro-style wall clock, that’s about as pixel-y as can be.

Mustard’s Pixel Time wall clock is about as chunky as the graphics on my old Atari 800. As a matter of fact, the font they used for the “12″, “3″, “6″, and “9″ look a whole lot like one of the old typefaces on my 8-bit computer. The Pixel Time clock is really old-school, with monochrome graphics – almost like something you’d get on an original Macintosh. But by the time the original Mac came out, graphics weren’t quite this blocky.

If you care about more details than just its retro looks, you should know the clock measures 12-inches in diameter, and runs on a single “AA” battery, and you can get your hands on the Pixel Time Clock over at perpetual kid for $24.99 (USD).

Barbershop Mirror Clock Makes Telling the Time Easier When You’re Getting A Haircut

Hazel Chua — Sun, 08 May 2011 21:16:11 +0000

One of the things that’s pretty hard to do while you’re getting your hair cut is check for the time. You can’t just glance at your watch or check your phone for the time, not with your arms under that cape thing they put around you to keep the hair away.

One thing I resort to is glancing at the reflection of the clock in the mirror, if I’m really pressed for time. It’s not the easiest (or hardest) thing to do, and that’s probably what the folks over at Cybermoon were thinking when they came up with this clock that not only has a backwards display, it actually runs backwards too.

People who try to read the time by looking at the clock directly might have some difficulty doing so, but not when you’re the man (or woman) in front of the mirror.

These Barbershop Mirror Clocks go for $27 (USD) over at Cybermoon’s shop at Etsy.

Time + Peace = Nothing? From This Clock, It Certainly Looks That Way

Hazel Chua — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 16:00:33 +0000

A true testament that exhibits just how strapped for time everyone is nowadays is evident with just how many clocks there are out there. For example, there are two clocks in my room: one in front of the bed, and one hung on the space above the TV.

When I go outside for a drive, I see huge digital billboards switch from digital clocks to ads and back again. I can check my dashboard for the time, glance at the watch on my wrist when I’m in a hurry, or bring my phone out if I’m somewhere dark.

Time obsessed is what we’ve all become, I tell you. So what happens when a student from the University of Dundee wants to make a statement about this? Why, make a TimePeace clock, that’s what!

As you can see, the TimePeace is far from being a normal clock. Actually, it looks more like a bust of an actual clock but make no mistake, it can tell you the time. Simply give it a little push and the TimePeace will light up and give you a quick peek at the time before the light goes off again.

The TimePeace is a product of the design program at the University of Dundee, cleverly thought up by Morven Mackenzie. I think the message he wanted to get across was to stop chasing time or give it too much importance. Instead, just live in the moment and go with the flow.

What do you think?

[via Ubergizmo via Geeky Gadgets]

Events Countdown Clock: Keep Pushing That Button!

Range — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 12:15:13 +0000

When I see something like this, it makes me think of that darned button that needed to be pushed every 108 minutes in Lost. Well, now Sharper Image has come up with the Event Countdown Clock, and its has an event countdown timer for up to three events.

The clock will count down to your target times using days, hours, and minutes. You can even snooze events – in case you don’t want to deal with the reality of whatever milestone has arrived. It’s made out of stainless steel, so it doesn’t look bad either, although the face is a bit retro, so you have to like that style. It measures about 2½ inches on each side, and is powered by 2 “AAA” batteries.

The Event Countdown Clock is available from Sharper Image for $29.99 (USD).

[via GeekAlerts]

Lunchtime Clock Hack is Pure Genius, Will Inevitably Get You Fired

Technabob — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 03:15:31 +0000

Looking for a great way to get a little extra time during the day at work? Well don’t tell anyone we told you this, but this clever hack could extend your lunch hour every single day – at least until your boss catches on.

Cooked up by Randy Sarafan, the Lunchtime Clock is designed to automatically speed up by 20% at 11:00am every day, then slow down by another 20% at 11:48am. It then gradually rights itself up until 1:00pm. All told, you end up with an extra 12 minutes of quality time for yourself – isn’t that nice? With a 5 day work week, and 2 weeks vacation, that’s 50 hours of your life back every year.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

The hack uses an Adafruit real-time clock kit, and an ATMEGA168/Arduino controller to work its magic. You can grab the full plans for making your own Lunchtime Clock over at Instructables. If you boss finds out, just invite him/her to enjoy an extra lunchtime martini for themselves.

[via Hack A Day via The Daily What]

Domino Clock Just Makes Time Harder To Read

Chris B. — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 17:22:54 +0000

Clocks. Such simple devices, yet so many people have to make them so complicated. Yes, I know that the innards of a clock can be rather complicated, but I’m more referring to the parts that we see. It shouldn’t be more complicated than three hands and a set of numbers. Heck, in this age we don’t even need the hands, we can just look at a digital readout. But no, that’s too easy, we need something more complicated. Like dominoes, those are perfect time-telling devices.

I don’t exactly bust out the old dominos set (do I even still have one?) very often, so it takes a moment to figure out just how many dots are on each piece. No, it’s not a difficult task by any means, but it’s harder to pick out seven dots than it is to just see the number 7. I suppose if you’re more interested in having an art piece than a clock, then this Domino Wall Clock is perfect.

The clock is based on a simple idea. Hang three giagantic dominos on your wall, with mechanisms to flip the white to black as needed. Sync them up with some sort of timing mechanism, and presto! All of your friends will know that you have too much money to spend. Currently though, the project is still in the conceptual stage.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

[via Yanko Design]

14-Year Old Submits Watch Design to Tokyoflash: Not Too Shabby!

Range — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 16:59:08 +0000

There are a bunch of new watch designs that have been posted on the Tokyoflash blog. Most interesting is the one from Tynan Mayhew from Canada. What’s amazing is that this comes from a 14-year old kid! What were you doing at 14? Probably not designing really cool watches, eh?

Unlike most Tokyoflash designs, this watch would be really easy to read. It lights up some text for the times instead of numbers. All in all, it’s a pretty cool design. It would be even cooler if different fonts could be used, but that would surely require an LCD or OLED screen instead of a backlit LED one.

Think about it, a Helvetica typeface watch would probably sell well, no? To make this watch a reality, head on over to Tokyoflash. If it gets enough votes, it will be made into a real thing.

Moshi Voice Control Digital Clock Radio: Snooze by Speaking

Shane McGlaun — Thu, 20 May 2010 02:09:20 +0000

In theory, controlling things with your voice is a great convenience. For instance, my Mustang has Ford’s Sync system in it, and being able to tell the car who I want to call is a great thing. I have tried voice control stuff before that just doesn’t work though and never seems to recognize my voice.

One of the things that I never really wanted to control with my voice was my alarm clock, other than wishing it would stop ringing when I growl “Shut the F*ck Up!” early in the morning. I don’t think this slick Moshi Voice Control Digital Clock Radio will respond to that particular voice command.

The thing will respond to just about any other voice command though. You can program the alarm, the time, the radio presets, and lots more simply by saying the appropriate command. The clock has dual alarms, stereo speakers, and three alarm sounds to choose from. This clock is perfect for the visually impaired and is recognized by the World Blind Union. The clock is available now for $69.99 (USD) over at Moshi.

Singularity: Manipulate Time and Blow Sh*T Up

Technabob — Tue, 18 May 2010 03:42:34 +0000

There’s nothing I like better than a good FPS, and Raven’s upcoming shooter Singularity looks like it could be a whole lotta fun, thanks to its use of time-manipulation as a game dynamic.

The games singularity weapons allow players to quickly bend time, making buildings crumble on top of opponents as they deteriorate from age. Or move backwards through time and reinvigorate old structures. Or better yet, use time for real evil, instantly turning young soldiers into old men, then a pile of bones. Sweet. Check out the gameplay snippet below to get a small taste of what will be possible:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

The game hits Xbox 360, PS3 and PCs on June 29th, and you can pre-order over at Amazon now.

Scope Watch Looks Like More Work Than Its Worth

Shane McGlaun — Wed, 05 May 2010 15:31:58 +0000

Normally when I talk about weird watches that turn up over at Yanko Design, they’re concepts you can’t buy if they are appealing. Today we have a new and sort of cool watch called the Scope Watch that looks like it would be hard to use. Actually, we featured the Scope 2 a while back, but I’ve never seen the original, so I figured I’d post it.

The watch has a square face with hours along the bottom of a grid and minutes along the left side. The lines in the center of the screen intersect at the appropriate time. It seems easy enough, but it’s still odd to me. I can see me wearing this thing, someone asking what time it is, and it taking me a couple minutes to trace the lines with my finger and answer them.

The watch can be had in silver or black with different face colors as well. You can grab one up for $189 (USD) over at the Yanko Design store if you want.

Reflectius Art Lebedev Clock: 60 Mirrors + 1 Laser

Range — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 17:20:31 +0000

When I first saw the Reflectius Clock by Art Lebedev, I thought that it was simply using reflections, but that’s not the whole story. This wild concept clock uses 60 mirrors and a single laser to display the time.

The mirrors rotate so that the single laser beam is reflected at precise angles so that it draws the digits on the face of the clock. Kind of amazing, isn’t it? That’s not all. The whole case of the clock has these crazy geometric angles, which totally makes it stand out among other timepieces.

Head on over to Lebedev’s website to see a Flash animation of the Reflectius in action. I really hope they figure out a way to produce these. I want one on my desk.

1/4 Watch Tells Time With No Hands

Shane McGlaun — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 18:12:12 +0000

I have developed a strange fascination with watches recently, despite the fact that I have no desire to wear one. I have my trusty iPhone if I want to know what time it is after all. If you are a wearer of watches, Yanko Design has an interesting watch that you can buy that lacks hands.

The 1/4 Watch made by EleeNo, and has sections of the face that move around to tell time. The thing is in a stainless steel case that measures 39mm x 31mm x 7mm and is water resistant.

The band of the watch is made from rubber and the lens is mineral glass. You can get the watch in black, white, red, or blue colors. If you like, you can grab one for yourself for $85 (USD) on the YD Store.

4n Watch is the Coolest Ever and Very Limited Edition

Shane McGlaun — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 18:49:53 +0000

I’m not sure why it is that these cool watches over the last few days are jumping out at me. I don’t even like watches and even if I was loaded enough to drop dig bucks on a watch, I wouldn’t. To me a $100 Swatch is just as good as a $5,000 Rolex.

A French watch design firm called 4N has debuted what may be the coolest watch in the history of watches. The thing is known as the MVT01/D01, has a face made form 18K gold, and is available in platinum too. Inside that case is a marvel of watch making with gears and disks that move around to show the time. The watch is powered by an old school winding mechanism.

The watch has three discs made from titanium or aluminum that spin to show the hour and minutes on a 12-hour clock in numbers that look digital. The number disks are inside a cage made from carbon. 4N says that bands made from different materials will be offered and only 16 of the watches will be made. 4N doesn’t list a price, but I am sure they will be crazy expensive .