Toy Fair: :5 Stadium tests your sense of time

:05 Stadium is a cheap toy forthcoming from Bandai. It does one thing: test how accurately you can measure 5 seconds. Click it once, wait five seconds, and click it again. Given three tries, the best I got was 4.89 seconds.

"It's incredibly addictive," said Bandai's Stephanie Holbrook. And you know what? It is. Bandai is, of course, very good at wasting your time.

[#1 posted by PaulR , February 15, 2009 1:34 PM]

A few weeks ago, I was in the local big-box book store.

At the queue near the cash registers, they had a display stand offering little clear plastic boxes with all sorts of small portable 'life kits' inside.

Portable Zen Gardens, worry balls, tiny (read: 'Useless') writing pads, you know the kind...

When I got to the cash register, I asked the lady at the register (after the requisite "Did you find everything you're looking for?") if they had a kit called something like "How to Save the Planet" - with a poster inside with printed on it, in large letters, "STOP BUYING CRAP LIKE THIS!!!"

[#2 posted by Agies , February 15, 2009 3:03 PM]

@1 Your comment seems antithetical to a gadget blog.

[#3 posted by HeatherB , February 15, 2009 3:25 PM]

@1 I love crap like this and can't wait to buy one.

[#4 posted by Jarvik7 , February 15, 2009 4:33 PM]

Couldn't you just use a regular stopwatch? A real one would have actual practical application too.

You could even challenge yourself to other times than 5 seconds!

[#5 posted by Lord Humongous , February 15, 2009 6:04 PM]

ADHD testing uses a similar device.

[#6 posted by bp , February 15, 2009 8:03 PM]

@2 It's about time someone articulated an antithesis to the gadget blog's thesis... I, for one, welcome our new synthesis*.

*groan

[#7 posted by PaulR , February 16, 2009 4:24 AM]

@ 2, 3, 6(?): What @ 4 said.

If you buy this instead of a stopwatch, you're really showing, IMHO, that you really don't have an appreciation for nifty gadgets, for superb engineering, and good ideas.

[#8 posted by Agies , February 16, 2009 6:31 AM]

@7 I have no need for a regular stopwatch and if I were to buy one it'd be a nice analog one that ticks.

[#9 posted by Alpinwolf , February 16, 2009 11:31 AM]

I know those Zen gardens in-a-box. I got one. They're cute, but the little box tray you put the sand in is Teh Crap. Love the tiny rake, tho.

I was taking CNC classes at the time, so I whipped up my own container out of aluminum for the same kit. Has round edges, an æsthetic footprint, a little bowl for a tiny water feature (I recommend the teeniest bit o' food coloring), and a post-hole in the corner for the rake.

Marketable?

[#10 posted by bcsizemo , February 16, 2009 11:35 AM]

Well I'm wondering if it actually shows up the count up/down... If it doesn't it would be far more addictive than a stop watch. Not knowing is what makes it fun?

[#11 posted by Sparrow , February 16, 2009 1:27 PM]

I used to waste time in high school doing something similar with the stopwatch function of my watch. I'd take the watch off and turn it over so the display was hidden, and try to hit the target number of seconds without looking at it.

[#12 posted by bp , February 16, 2009 1:46 PM]

@1,7 I was just making a really lame dialectic joke, pay no attention to me.

[#13 posted by Rob Beschizza , February 16, 2009 2:32 PM]

Yep, you don't get to see the timer.

[#14 posted by HeatherB , February 16, 2009 6:00 PM]

@7 I already own a stop watch and it won't cheer for me when I get it right.

[#15 posted by FreakCitySF , February 16, 2009 6:11 PM]

#5 Saw a Cops episode, officers asked a guy suspected to be on speed/methamphetamine/whatever, asked him to guess how long a minute was. Time flies on drugs ;)

Reminds me of some artist who had a booth with a video camera, asked participants to guess how long 2 minutes was and then press a button.