Time Cloaking Device

Physicists from Cornell University have made another step towards turning science fiction into reality when they successfully implemented a time masker, which works by altering the flow of light. This feat is based on a basic principle: humans see things happening around us via the light that reaches our eyes. By speeding up one part of the light and slowing down another part, the physicists were able to make it appear as if an event didn’t happen!

Think about it as a gap or “hole in time where an event takes place”. That is how Alexander Gaeta, a co-author of the study, explained the time cloaking device. I don’t know about you, but if you read Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time, it kind of reminds me of balefire, a forbidden weave because it erases the existence of a person, thing, or event. While that is rather different, the gap or hole in time brings balefire to mind.

In any case, what the Cornell physicists have done is groundbreaking. This is the first time that humans have been able to hide an event in time. The possibilities are endless. I hate to say it, but the first thing that comes to mind is someone being able to steal an artifact from a museum without being seen or detected. Then again, the researchers have only been able to make the time cloaking device work for a fraction of a second. I doubt that even the fastest thieves would be able to pull something off in that time! And being able to extend the effects of the time cloaking device is not that easy. Even the scientists behind the project admit to that. Still, this is proof that it can be done.

Who knows where we will be a few years from now?

I didn’t come up with this idea when I created five concept watch designs, but I wish I had.

Called OV’L, this wall clock displays both the date and time on a series of concentric circles. The inner four circles display year, month, day and weekday, while the outer circles display hours, minutes and seconds.

I’m not entirely clear whether this clock really exists or not. Designer Stefan Vasilev is into graphic and logo design, so this could just be a concept.

In any case, it looks great, and I’d be really happy to have this on my wall. It might even cut down on the amount of time I spend looking at time passing. After all, I’d actually have to work out the time by studying the dashes, rather than simply being able to glance up and see a regular clock face.

Via

Some offer more precision that others, and some are easier to read, but all are definitely not your average analog or digital watch.

1. Fraction Clock

Granted, this is a simple digital watch so it’s not hard to see what time it is.

However, what this watch will do is to chime once in each one hour period — not necessarily on the hour but based on the associated fraction for that hour.

The minutes and seconds are calculated from the rounded decimal equivalents of each fraction.

So, where hour one is 1/1 or simply 1am/1pm, the seventh hour is 1/7 or 07:14:29.

Interesting that the sixth hour becomes 06:17:07 because there would be no such time as 06:16:67.

2. Rainbow watch

The inner circle, divided into four sections, denotes the hour.

Colours red through indigo (no violet) denote hours 1-6, 7-12, 13-18 or (without indigo) 19-23, with the colour appearing in the appropriate section – top right is the first six hours, bottom right is the next six hours, and so on.

The outer circle, divided into ten sections, denotes the minutes.

The ‘tens of minutes’ are denoted by colours — red = 0, orange = 1, yellow = 2, green = 3, blue = 4, indigo = 5 — while the units are represented by the position – zero at top right and then incrementing clockwise.

Times from 00:00 to 00:59 have no colour displayed in the inner circle.

3. Periodic Table Watch

This is a very simple clock to read. The white illuminated element denotes the hour while the yellow illuminated element denotes the minute.

If the hour and minute are the same, the element is divided equally. If one or other colour is not present, it denotes a zero.

The following times are shown for 00:20, 11:23, 15:15 and 23:00:

4. Letter Watch

Letters replace digits on this watch.

For the hours, the letters ‘a’ through ‘x’ represent digits 0 through 23.

For the tens of minutes, the space is a hyphen for zero, and then one of the five vowels for 1-5 — i.e. a = 1, e = 2, i = 3, o = 4, u = 5.

The units of minutes are represented by the letters ‘a’ through ‘z’, and change approximately every 23 seconds (23 x 26 = 598 seconds).

The following is what would be displayed for times 05:24:25, 12:09:01 and 22:57:59.

5. Planet Watch

The eight planets of the solar system are used to show the time.

The top row denotes the hours, with planets from left to right (distance from sun) representing the digits 1-8. Each planet can have up to three red dots beneath, representing an hour multiplied by either one, two or three.

The bottom row denotes the minutes: a new planet will appear, from left to right, every 7.5 minutes.

The faces below represent 08:19, 15:32 and 21:56.

What do you think? Would you wear a watch that told you the time like this?

For those who want something of that, but don’t want to pay top dollar (or yen) for the privilege, check out the Alpha Centauri all metal Red LED watch, available for under $20.

Tap the button at the bottom of the watch and the 124 red LEDs light up. You can glean the hour and minute from whichever of those dots are lit.

It’s definitely cool, taking up epic proportions of the wrist you’ve chosen to strap it around.

Product page

If this setup doesn’t bother you a bit, then I think you’re well on your way to be admired at how “unique” you tell time. The Ovo Projection Clock is/or has:

• Fully animated sweeping second hand.
• Energy-efficient.
• Safer, cooler and longer-life LED lighting technology.
• Size 15(H) x 12(W) x 19(D) cm

Have you tried hanging a clock face down in the ceiling? NOW YOU CAN!

You can purchase this clock right here for US$73.65.

Swiss luxury watchmaker TISSOT has just shown off the SEA-Touch dive watch. It has many of the features a diver would need, including a diver’s log book for tracking previous dives, dive depth and speed displayed on its luminescent hands, thermometer and compass. There’s also an alarm, calendar, stopwatch and time zone function.

What’s cool, though, is that it’s touch operated. Yeah, I know companies will stick a touch screen on anything these days, but this is the first dive watch (which naturally has to be much tougher than an ordinary one to withstand the underwater pressure) I’ve seen to use the technology.

It’s not the cheapest dive watch on the block by any stretch of the imagination. It’ll happily grab £610 (about $860) from your wallet.

Based on the divers I know (unfortunately, I’m not one because I wimped out in the swimming pool the first time I went under) they’d probably rather buy a less expensive dive computer and spend the remaining cash on other gear, but I guess if you’ve got the money and like the style, Tissot will be happy to sell you the SEA-Touch.

Can’t find out to what depth you can take this watch down to, but at this price it had better be very deep.

TISSOT