Remember Pin Art, the classic 1980s executive toy that invariably depicted a handprint or the side of someone’s face? Now they make a clock that displays the time in similar fashion. It has 3,000 pins, requires D-cell batteries, and costs a brow-furrowing $70.
You Can Hear a Pin Clock [Uncommon Goods]
Any excuse to post a Nine Inch Nails video using one of those pin things:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhvjLWmoPFk
My 6-year-old got one of these on clearance at “The Source By Circuit City” in Canada for $2.98. They were clearing out their display (probably in eager anticipation of sending every last Canadian cent to their corporate mothership to pay bankruptcy lawyers).
The pins are plastic, presumably to reduce weight. Dan’s right – the clock goes clackity-clikclik-clackity every minute. it gets particularly loud when switching hours, although it “refreshes” the entire display every minute just in case someone has picked it up and allowed the pins to slide in/out.
Verdict? Cheap but fun Chinese C**p.
How loud it is aside, It doesn’t light up. Completely useless in a dark bedroom as an alarm clock….
I gave my son one of these for Christmas a couple of years ago – he finds the sound comforting.
You can plug is in, but it took me a while to find a power supply that would make it work.
It’s also so loud that it’s a bit distracting. I call it the “cockroach clock” because of the clickclickclick noise, sounds like a giant bug.
Last but not least, one of the segments sticks. It works sometimes, sometimes not. I’ve debated taking it apart and lubing the pins, but that seems like a bad idea.
I’m a clock lover, and want to say it’s great, but in all, I’d say skip it.
Batteries? You mean you can’t plug it in? Why the hell not?
When I first saw these a few years ago the idea was cool, but the implementation not so much – the “pins” are just a texture over the front face of the clock, not separate elements.
I got one of these as a gift. The pins for the digits snap in and out in the standard seven-segment way, but you hardly notice because it is HILARIOUSLY LOUD. Clackity-clackity-clackity-clack, for every change of the display. It’s quite interesting to watch, but then you unplug it to end the Chinese Water Torture.
Any excuse to post a Midge Ure video using one of those pin things:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HkpZTw_lv8
Interesting, when I saw this last a few years ago it was only $40. Must have taken some time away to drive me insane and also double the price
Oooh… I always wanted to invent a computer-controlled Pin Art table for generating 3D landscapes. Looks like the technology has already arrived.
I remember those. The pins would go up my nose.
I was wondering how loud such a device would be. While I love the idea of the device, thanks to Daniel Rutter above, this won’t make my Christmas list.