For behind the scenes pictures, stories and special contests, follow us on Facebook!
Subscribe:

Tag Archives: Clocks

Apple To Pay $21 Million For The Swiss Clock Design They… Borrowed

By David Ponce on 11/12/12 • 1 Comment

When iOS 6 came out, it didn’t take too long for the Swiss Federal Railway to take particular notice of the design of the clock. See, it turns out that particular design was theirs, created in the 1940′s by Hans Hilfiker, and Apple hadn’t asked for permission to use it, or even offered compensation. Granted, it was probably unintentional, but the Swiss wanted to get paid anyway. And they did eventually, in a settlement that has now been revealed to be in the amount of $21 Million. That works out to about $0.10 per iOS 6 device, though there aren’t enough details to determine if that’s how the number was reached. $21 Million however is a drop in the bucket of the Swiss Federal Railway’s $8.2 billion in revenue (2010), so the settlement is mostly a matter of principle than anything else.

VIA [ Gizmodo ]

QR Code Clock Will Make It Easier For Our Eventual Robotic Overlords To Tell Time

By Andrew Liszewski on 10/04/11 • 2 Comments

QR Code Clock (Image courtesy Berg London)
By Andrew Liszewski

Listen people! How often do I have to keep saying this? All of the research we’re putting into robotics and artificial intelligence is just bringing the inevitable robot apocalypse closer and closer. I mean I can understand the appeal of the robot butler, but it’s getting to the point where we’re just handing these mechanical men our world on a platter. So it’s with a raised and concerned eyebrow that I look at Berg London’s latest creation. It’s your standard digital clock, but underneath the numerical display there’s a QR code that’s constantly updated to reflect the current time and location.

The thought process behind its creation is to provide artificial eyes and vision systems, even including the camera in your smartphone, with an easier way to read the time. It might not be so useful to an always-connected device like a smartphone, which just gets the time from a cellular signal. But it makes more sense for something like digital cameras which aren’t as always-connected just yet. It unfortunately also makes it easier for robots to keep track of when their aforementioned rebellion is supposed to start. Which is why I think we’ll eventually regret such thought projects when the robots end up being remarkably on time for overthrowing humanity.

[ Berg London - Product sketch: Clocks for Robots ] VIA [ Wired - Beyond the Beyond ]

McIntosh Mantle Clock Looks Like An Amp, Only Tells Time

By Andrew Liszewski on 07/28/11 • Leave a comment!

McIntosh Mantle Clock (Image courtesy McIntosh)
By Andrew Liszewski

It’s probably just me, but if I was spending $1,500 on a timepiece, I’d probably put the money towards a nice watch. Not a mantle clock designed to look like one of McIntosh’s stereo power amplifiers. I’ll give credit where credit is due though. The clock is built with the same sized faceplate and meters as the actual amps, and the ‘hands’ in the 12 hour and 60 minute meters fly back when they reach the end of the scale. So the company gets high marks for their attention to detail, and I can certainly see the appeal of its soft green and blue glows in a dark room. Buuuuuuut in the end it’s still just a $1,500 clock. And I’m pretty sure even the audiophile friends you’re trying to impress would raise a skeptical eyebrow at it.

[ McIntosh MCLK12 Mantle Clock ] VIA [ Uncrate ]

On-Time Wall Clock Gives You Three Extra Minutes

By Andrew Liszewski on 06/15/11 • 2 Comments

On-Time Wall Clock (Images courtesy Rakuten)
By Andrew Liszewski

If you agree to play along, this clock from Italian clock maker Diamantini & Domeniconi can perpetually give you 3 extra minutes throughout your day. Granting the wish of anyone who’s ever wanted “just a few more minutes!” to get something done. As clocks go it’s got a fairly mundane design, with dots representing the numbers that usually appear around the circumference of the face. But what makes it stand out is the minute hand which bends at the end, making it point 3 minutes ahead. You’ll have to train yourself to look at where the crooked hand is actually pointing for it to be of any use to you. Not where the minute hand naturally directs your eye. But if you manage to fool yourself you may never be late for a meeting again.

It’s available from Rakuten for about $98 (¥7,875). And while I’m sure some of you will scoff at the price, you’re clearly forgetting the clock is giving you 3 more minutes of your precious life. (Also, the makers of the On-Time Wall Clock have asked us not to point out that you can simply set the minute hand on a $10 wall clock ahead 3 minutes for an even more convincing effect.)

[ Rakuten - On-Time Wall Clock ] VIA [ Matomeno ]

Nooka Wants To Turn Their Watch Designs Into Wall Clocks But Needs Your Help

By Andrew Liszewski on 05/24/11 • Leave a comment!

Nooka Wall Clocks (Images courtesy Nooka)
By Andrew Liszewski

Nooka has already carved a name for themselves with their line of uniquely designed watches featuring atypical LCD display layouts. And the company is now looking to expand that line by carrying over their watch designs into a series of wall clocks that will easily make your bank or school (who else still uses wall clocks?) the coolest in town.

The only catch is that developing the molds and various components for what will probably be a very limited run is pretty expensive. So the company has turned to CKIE in an attempt to raise funding for the endeavor. The clocks will sell for between $500 and $550 depending on the style, and contributions towards the project range from just $25 which gets your name included as part of the development team, up to $10,000 which gets you a special edition version of the clock and of course a whole bunch of other Nooka stuff. Their total goal is $40,000 worth of funding, though with just 27 days left they’re only at about 5% of the way there. So if you’d like to see it happen, head on over and make a commitment.

[ Nooka Wall Clock ] VIA [ Acquire ]

Minimalist Icon Clock

By Andrew Liszewski on 05/23/11 • Leave a comment!

Icon Clock (Images courtesy Poketo!)
By Andrew Liszewski

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again, with anything and everything electronic being able to tell us the time, standalone clocks really only exist these days for design purposes. And as far as design goes, this Icon Clock will certainly appeal to anyone with a soft spot for the minimalist aesthetic. Available in black or white the clocks are made from ABS resin and measure just 3 1/2 inches in diameter, making them better suited for desk duty than hanging on a wall. Even though their chunky minute and hour hands would certainly be easy to read from across the room. $37 from Poketo!

[ Icon Clock ]

Vague Clock Requires Physical Interaction To Read The Time

By Andrew Liszewski on 03/15/11 • 1 Comment

Vague Clock (Images courtesy Sejoon Kim)
By Andrew Liszewski

They say a watched pot never boils, and at least while in school the same theory applied to all the clocks on the walls. Staring at the second hand seemed to slow down its progress to the point where I was convinced that everyone outside the school had aged 10 years in the time it took to finish one class. It also had the effect of causing me to not pay attention to the teacher, which wouldn’t have been a problem had this Vague Clock, designed by Sejoon Kim, been on the walls instead.

The hands of the clock are hidden behind a layer of stretchy fabric, and remain invisible as the time ticks away. So if you actually want to see the time you have to get up and press your hand into the fabric so that it stretches over the hands, making them visible. The clock’s also equipped with GPS hardware so that the time is always accurate, and so that there’s no buttons or dials allowing it to be manually adjusted.

[ Yanko Design - Vague Clock ] VIA [ Dezeen ]

Clock Parasol

By Andrew Liszewski on 02/28/11 • Leave a comment!

Clock Parasol (Images courtesy Kota Nezu)
By Andrew Liszewski

Don’t like wearing a watch?… Or um, carrying a cellphone? Or looking up at a bank sign, or any kind of digital display for that matter? Well you don’t have to worry about awkwardly asking strangers for the time as long as you carry this sundial-like parasol. I’m pretty sure the designer, Kota Nezu, specifically refers to it as a parasol instead of an umbrella since using it to gauge the time is dependent on being able to find the sun in the sky, which isn’t always that easy on a rainy, overcast day.

Like with a sundial, calculating the time requires you to know where north and south lie, so there’s a handy compass attached to the handle if your outdoor skills aren’t up to the task. You basically position yourself so that north points at you, and south points at the 12 on the number/grid pattern printed on the underside of the parasol. The vertical lines of said grid indicate the hours, while the horizontal lines indicate the Summer & Winter solstice and the Spring & Autumn equinox. So roughly gauging the current time simply requires you to find where the sun shines through on the grid. The Clock Parasol does appear to be available for sale too, starting at ~$35 (€25) though only for distributors and retailers which you means you can’t just buy one.

[ Clock Parasol ] VIA [ I New Idea ]

Lunchtime Clock Adds A Few Extra Minutes To Your Break

By Chris Scott Barr on 01/18/11 • 2 Comments

By Chris Scott Barr

Ah, lunchtime. It’s that period of time during the week where you can stop working for a while and relax. Grab a little food, maybe catch up on some reading or surfing the net. Unfortunately it never seems to last long enough. One hacker decided to solve this problem by putting together a clock that speeds up just before noon, and slows down a little before 1.

This serves to give you 12 extra minutes of your lunch break each day, or a full hour over the course of a week. A clever hack, indeed. Unfortunately unless this is the clock sitting in your boss’s office (and you don’t have to punch out for your break) it’s pretty useless. You’ll just end up being that guy that spends too much time on lunch. If you feel like making your own, you can find out how over at Instructables.

[ Instructables ] VIA [ Gizmodo ]

Copyright © 2013 OhGizmo!