Watches

Mutewatch: A watch without a face

Designing a watch face is not an easy task. Do you clutter the surface with dials and drawings, or go for a minimalist look? Swedish start-up Mutewatch probably decided on the latter approach and took it all the way to the extreme by creating a watch that has no visible face at all.

So how do you tell the time? Turns out the flat area of the watch is a touch-screen display that wakes up when touched and you can scroll between clock, timer, and alarm modes. The alarm is also interesting in that there are no reminder tones. Instead, … Read more

The 404 633: Where we welcome the financial femme fatale (podcast)

Natali can't make it on the show today because she's busy taking care of little Justin Junior, but Jill Schlesinger saves the day and joins us to answer some of your most pressing financial quandaries.

Our first order of business is figuring out how Jill can get 3,000 Twitter followers before the end of this year. She hasn't been on Twitter very long and already has 1,627 followers, but we're thinking a funny new profile picture could help increase her online presence. We know that all you 404 listeners are handy with the Photoshop, … Read more

Remote viewing tool

Parents, business owners, and anyone concerned about keeping the worst of the Internet at bay will appreciate Remote Authority. It's a compact, inexpensive, easy-to-use tool that takes a screenshot every minute of whatever is being viewed on the host machine (i.e., by your kids) and displays it on a secure Web site so that you can monitor it anywhere there's an Internet connection, which is pretty much anywhere these days. Just to be clear, it shows you what someone else is looking at on whatever computer it's monitoring, so none of the usual excuses will fly. … Read more

Hopeless handicapping

Many people who go to the racetrack are casual gamblers, placing bets based on the horses' names or their lucky numbers. Then there are those who take handicapping a little more seriously. QuickHorse '10 Horse Racing Software is designed for those serious handicappers, and not only because it assumes that users already have a fundamental understanding of how horseracing and wagering works. We can imagine only the most hardcore racing fans taking the time to wade through this program's abstruse interface and difficult navigation.

The program was designed with neither form nor function in mind. All of the text … Read more

Gadgettes 183: The You're Killing Me Episode (podcast)

Tom Merritt joins us to discuss the many ways that technology is conspiring to kill us all.

Subscribe with iTunes (audio) Subscribe with iTunes (video) Subscribe with RSS (audio) Subscribe with RSS (video) EPISODE 183

Facebook privacy policy: Longer than the constitution

Zuckerberg IMs

The many missteps of Facebook

Things Facebook should say at their internal meeting

Cradle from Quirky: An iPad lap desk with a twist

Get a “Keyboard Upgrade” for your ipad

Desktop donut factory? Sweet!

Ridiculous ‘speech bubble’ helmets cut out noise, dignity… Read more

Watchmaker: It's time for augmented reality

Wonder how that bright yellow watchband will look on your pasty wrist? Swiss watchmaker Tissot has launched an application that lets consumers try on various styles at home--digitally, in 3D.

Users just download the app, put on a cardboard cut-out watch template, and hold their wrist in front of a Webcam to try on watches and change models, colors, and styles from Tissot's Touch collection.

The app, which is compatible with PCs and Intel-based Macs, also lets consumers experiment with the touch-screen features on Tissot watches, including the diver functionality of the Sea-Touch model. As shoppers try on a … Read more

Go medieval with stained-glass USB watch

Japan watchmaker Tokyoflash loves to confuse us with its eccentric, maddening timepieces that are nearly impossible to use. But its latest wrist accessory is decidedly simpler, even medieval, and may actually be usable. The Kisai Broke is being billed as "a new way to read time that's almost like a regular clock." Wow.

The $169 Broke features "shattered timing" on its church-window face, a mosaic of LEDs under a mineral crystal lens that's set in a brushed stainless steel case. When you push a button on the side, the LEDs start to blink to … Read more

Keep time with a volcanic-ash watch

If you're one of those unfortunates left stranded in a European city by the recent molten eruption in Iceland, watchmaker Romain Jerome's Eyjafjallajokull-DNA timepiece (let's call it E-DNA for short) is a timely reminder of those six days when the planet exhaled.

This is as limited as they come. There's just one piece, and it's guaranteed to be a conversation starter since the fiery watch face is forged to look like something out of the magma-spitting crater of Mount Doom.

For a primeval touch of realism, Romain Jerome--which also brought us the Roswell watch--even … Read more

Gadgettes 180: The Multi-tasking Clothes Episode (podcast)

OK, so we suck at bringing you a show every week. But we promise that when we do, they'll be as explosive and ridiculous as this one right here! We revisit the idea of multitasking, but this time, we focus on functional clothing. That and we insult you a whole lot. Thou wimpled plume-plucked pignut!

Subscribe with iTunes (audio) Subscribe with iTunes (video) Subscribe with RSS (audio) Subscribe with RSS (video) EPISODE 180

Ping, a social networking garment

Hoodie buddy with built-in headphones (thanks Jacob!)

Sleeper hoodie (thanks Jacob!)

Beer opener dog collar (thanks Rodney)

How one soldier can carry a whole power plant on his back… Read more