Lisa Katayama

My Nike+ Sportband fell in the toilet

I was running with two friends on a trail by Baker Beach in San Francisco this morning when I decided to make a pit stop at a nearby parking lot. I was wearing the new Nike+ Sportband, which has proved itself to be a great tool when running with friends because I can track my mileage without lugging my Nano around. Then tragedy struck: I dropped the Sportband link &mdash the part that holds talks wirelessly to the shoe sensor, displays metrics, and transfers data to the computer via USB &mdash in the toilet.

Of course, I have myself to blame for it, mostly &mdash I was flinging my right arm across my left to shut the door, and accidentally knocked the Sportband link off its cradle on the armband and right into the bowl. But I had noticed in the last couple of months of running with it that the link did have a tendency to fall off the armband. It popped out several times in the past when stripping layers mid-run, and I had to lean over to pick it up and clip it back into place. This time, though, I made an executive decision not to fish the Sportband link out of the park toilet &mdash if I was at home, probably, but not in this dinky parking lot stall where there's no soap dispenser and no knowing what's been down in that deep dirty hole before this.

I explained what happened to a Nike.com customer service rep when I got home, and he said that if it's within 30 days of purchase he could replace it with a new one. That's nice!

Image by smi23le via Flickr

Rob Beschizza

LG Wristphone on Stephen Fry's wrist

The very concept makes it somehow better. [@stephenfry]

Rob Beschizza

Tell, don't show: QLOCKTWO gives time in plain English

Biegert & Funk's Qclocktwo comes in English and other European languages, all sorts of colors, and is $1,600. [Product Page via Technabob]

Lisa Katayama

Japanese cubic clocks have personalities based on blood types

Clockman is an adorable series of clocks with smiley and frowny faces that emanates personality traits based on the Japanese theory of blood types.

[via TokyoMango]

Lisa Katayama

Colorful Japanese alarm clock that talks

These colorful, slightly nipple-like gadgets are called Good Egg Talking Clocks &mdash they're alarm clocks that tell you what time it is in a Japanese human voice when you push the little nob. Also, to wake you up, it says "Kokekkoko!!" Which is the sound roosters make in the morning. Like cock-a-doodle-do, Japanese-style. It goes on sale at the end of the month, probably only in Japan.

[IDEA International]

Lisa Katayama

Designer thermometer looks like a clock

Japanese design firm Plus Minus Zero has this interesting new thermometer coming out in September. It looks like a clock, except the hands indicate temperature and humidity instead of time. I like it!

[Plus Minus Zero main page via Dezeen]

Rob Beschizza

Behold! An alarm clock with a pen holder

Twenty-five bucks gets you natural sounds to wake up to, pictures of snowflakes on the black acrylic ffacing, and two USB ports to "supply energy."

Product page via CrunchGear.

Rob Beschizza

Clic Clac Clock

Asprey's Clic Clac Clock is a stupid-hunting £750, at least one zero more than it should be. But the old-school design and satisfying sliding mechanism still delights. [via Born Rich]

Rob Beschizza

Continue Time, a wall clock

Sander Muller's odd wall clock is an analog answer to the digital watches available from Tokyoflash: baffling! [via Unplugged and Engadget]

Lisa Katayama

Giant clock made with human bodies

The new cover of WAD Magazine features this amazing human clock choreographed by photographer Romain Laurent.

Homotography [via NotCot]

Lisa Katayama

Review: Three miles with the new Nike+ Sportband

Nike's new running Sportband goes on sale on Wednesday. I got the chance to try it out on a couple of short runs over the weekend, and I must say it's pretty rad.

The function of the Sportband is pretty much the same as the Nike+iPod system, which has been out for several years. The Sportband is the simple, no-frills wrist band version that doesn't play music or talk to you. If you're the type of runner who needs to listen to music all the time, and you already own an iPod Nano or Touch, this won't excite you much. Personally, I often skip the tunes if I'm running with friends, and it's awesome to have the option of not having to wear an armband and headphones while still tracking my run. The Sportband "talks" to the Nike Plus sensor in your shoe the same way that the iPod version does, but there are several other minor differences besides the above:

* There are only two buttons on the Sportband &mdash one that starts, stops, and resets the distance meter, and another that switches views between distance, pace, time, and calories. These are really the only two buttons you need. No awkward fumbling with iPod controls just to get your run on.

* Metrics are easier to see when they're on the wrist vs. on your triceps or in your pocket.

* With the old Nike Plus, you had to calibrate the sensor by running a known "control" distance. With the Sportband, you don't have to do any additional runs &mdash just map out your run using a program like Gmaps Pedometer and use that as the calibration basis.

* The little black display bit comes off the armband and plugs directly into your USB port, then automatically uploads runs to Nike Plus. No extra adapters = sweet.

* When you're not running, it's just a watch. Tells time = useful.

* For $59, it's totally affordable.

By the way, I am keeping my word about running a marathon &mdash although admittedly I'm starting with a half-marathon, I have been training five-six times a week.

Sportband User Guide [Nike]

Previously:
How Nike Plus is helping me train for a marathon

Rob Beschizza

Black and White Clock

Kibardin Design's Black and White clock has four OLED digits equipped with light sensors, ensuring an appropriate color is always used. Kibardin is looking for a manufacturer. [via Oh Gizmo]

Steven Leckart

1975 Electronic Master Clock System

Patek Philippe's "Electronic Master Clock System" from 1975 is a real gem. The unit features independent minute and seconds comparators, and displays the time in five different cities, including New York, Tokyo and Buenos Aires.

Interested?

This one went for £4,800 via Bonhams.

[via Mr. Jones]

Lisa Katayama

Cheap diamond USB watch necklaces raises question of fashionable multifunction

Fake diamonds + watch + USB drive make up this blinged out necklace marketed towards ladies who might want to carry their data around their necks. At $22 for 2 gigs, it's most definitely cheaper than buying each separately. But can Multifunction really = High Fashion? With the rare exception, I'm inclined to say no. Of course, this could change as our aesthetic tastes evolve over time.

Link [via Gizmodiva]

This post is part of a theme day: BBG on Fashion

Steven Leckart

Tide Widget vs. Watch [Verdict: Save Your $]

Disclosure: I am not a watch person. My wrists are on the dainty side, so I find bigger watches cumbersome. Growing up, I hated that my watchband tended to make my skin stink after a few wash and wears. Today, I carry a cell phone, which does more than an adequate job of providing the time.

That said, I was stoked to get my hands on Rip Curl's latest Ocean Search tide watch. At the same time, I downloaded tideApp for my both my desktop and G1/Android [via Cool Tools].

After the jump, find out which tide tool I prefer and why...

READ THE REST

Lisa Katayama

New iPhone app features pretty Japanese girls telling time

A few months ago, I blogged about a web-based analog clock that features the time held up by hot Japanese women.

Good news: it's now available as an iPhone app. If you use this to set your alarm, then the girl showing that time you want to wake up will appear on your screen when the alarm goes off. If you like the girl holding up 8:15 better than the girl holding up 8:20, it's incentive to wake up five minutes earlier.

Get it on iTunes [via Asiajin]

Rob Beschizza

Cigarette case-style clock winds self with atmospheric pressure

JLC Atmos Regulator for Alfred Dunhill [Acquire mag via Giz]

Lisa Katayama

Cute charity alarm clocks made from old barn wood

These super-cute alarm clocks were made from scraps of wood from a 200-year old barn in Switzerland. The body is designed and made by furniture designer Furni Creations and then painted by Don Pendleton, a skateboard artist. There are two different designs currently on auction at eBay--proceeds go youth skateboarding non-profit Elemental Awareness.

Rob Beschizza

Infallibly Polite Alarm Clock, voiced by Stephen Fry

Like the clock, I'll let Hammacher Schlemmer speak for itself:

The clock plays 126 different wake-up messages in the reserved voice of Stephen Fry, the original actor from the English comedy Jeeves and Wooster. When the alarm sounds, Jeeves speaks softly as he assuages your displeasure that the morning has indeed come.

It's $100.

The Infallibly Polite Speaking Alarm Clock [HS via Slashgear via Engadget]

Rob Beschizza

New Diesel watch is two-faced

Product Page [Watchismo via technabob]

Rob Beschizza

Tsarist Russia's wooden clockwork

This beautiful watch was made by Bronnikovs of the pre-revolutionary era, according to English Russia, but not many survive. Examples now allegedly fetch about $20,000.

English Russia via Red Ferret.

Rob Beschizza

Seiko drum machine watch of the 1980s

Spiegel's history of digital watches has some delights in store: this model, from Seiko, has a built in drum machine.

Historic Digital Watches (Machtrans) [Spiegel via Ffffound]

Rob Beschizza

The watch with no face

Hironao Tsuboi's LED watch conceals its digits in the spaces between links, giving it the appearance of a plain metal strap when not activated.

Product Page [100per via Geekologie]

Joel Johnson

Concord C1 Quantum Gravity watch, part suspension bridge, part bomb

The Concord C1 Quantum Gravity watch, sure to make any Borg feel like a star. We are fabulous.

Below, a short video showing the tourbillon bi-axial being constructed, which as you may know is a little geary thing that goes click click whirr.

Rob Beschizza

Laserdial

This is the XXI Century Sundial, created by Alessandro using an Arduino microcontroller, a wall, and a laser.

This is a simple project of a sundial wherein the pinion is replaced by a line LASER I took from a LASER level. The LASER is mounted on a RC servo which in turn is driven by a micro controller. The micro controller keeps the time and turns the RC servo accordingly. ... Shorting pins 1-2 adds some life to the sundial and makes it count just the seconds. Hypnotic initially, then pointless.

Originally put together using an Atmel controller, it is "very basic in design it does exactly what I wanted," Alessandro writes.

XXI century sundail -- Now for Arduino also ! [5volt via Make]

Joel Johnson

Vintage watches with compasses for Muslim prayer

Watchismo is selling a few vintage "Muslim Mecca" watches that have compasses inside. (And, if I'm not totally dumb, markings for prayer times.)

Rob Beschizza

Retrowerk's steampunk watch goes Victorian on your wallet

Watchismo's $1,098 Retrowerk-Steampunk watch is a little beyond my price range right now, but I mostly love it and shall commence the saving of pennies. From the Watchismo blog:

In the past, I've written about high end masterpieces like Vianney Halter's Antiqua (starting at $50,000 and up) and the artistic horology concept watches of Haruo Suekichi, but it was only a matter of time before affordable Jules Vernesque timepieces were made for those who want to actually own a high quality Steampunk wristwatch. Yes, the term has worn out its welcome but the look is timeless nevertheless -- and how can a riveted porthole watch not be cool?

The brand is Retrowerk of Germany and below, I photographed their off-the-wall collection wristwatches with elements of brass and steel pistons, portholes, rivets, compasses, revolving jump hour discs, screwcap crown covers, chains, automatic rotor mechanisms, and of course, many cogs and gears. The prices range from $429 to $1098 USD.

Retrowerk [Watchismo via Coolhunting]

Rob Beschizza

Casio Cachalot solar watch reviewed. Verdict: "Great vacation watch."

CrunchGear's John Biggs reviews Casio's $900 Ocanus Cachalot, a watch for people who know exactly what they want.

I’ve seen a few Casios in my day and they’ve finally nailed it on this version. The outer timing bezel clicks with a satisfying majesty and the face is readable - except in certain situations, which I’ll describe below. This model is also made of titanium making it the lightest man-watch I’ve seen in a while. It’s water resistant to 20 BAR and features 5 band radio auto-setting, solar powered batteries, world time settings, as well as a countdown timer and stopwatch.

Review: Casio Oceanus Cachalot OCW-P500TDJ-1A1JF solar radio watch [CrunchGear]

Rob Beschizza

Googly eye clock

Mike Mak’s Eyeclock is watching you ... well, you know.

Product Page [Mike Mak via Technabob]

John Brownlee

When geeks were lounge lizards... the HP-01 Calculator Watch

Over on eBay, there are not one, but two utterly gorgeous HP-01 Hewlett Packard LED calculator wrist watches up for auction. Even at $1,500, it's just brutally hard not to pluck a kidney from the navel and hit the black market in order to own one. These herald back from a different era, when the fashion accessories of today's most hopeless geeks were the leathery, tobacco-scented wrist accoutrements of the opulent lounge lizard god.

If you can afford one, go buy it. They even come with a case and manual in good nick, though it certainly looks like the manual has been used to swab up a bus station floor or two.

Update: Literally within the course of writing this post, that last HP-01 was plucked from out of our hands... the reserve price has been met, the auction is over. I can't justify not posting this, though. Some commenter will write about their first HP-01, someone will respond with a loving reverie to their first calculator watch... and even if not, this post will stand as testament to how beautiful even the most obsolete gadget can be. It's still a post worth spitting up.