Here at Engadget, we keep our noses to the grindstone and try not to worry too much about awards or recognition. Still, it’s always nice when we are recognized, so we were pleasantly surprised to see that we’ve been named one of Time ’s ‘Best Blogs of 2010.’ We were especially happy to see our recent redesign (which we are extremely proud of) given a nod. Needless to say, we’re incredibly proud of the work we do here with our ever-expanding team. Hit up the source to check out the whole list.
Steve Jobs gave us a little sneak peak at Time’s upcoming iPad app during the iPhone 4 keynote. Here’s a full video demo. It’s the future — and very ambitious one at that. Time definitely improved on the current iPad app
We rarely, if ever, write rebuttals to stories posted on the esteemed, list-friendly publication known as Time, but we’ve got more than a few bones to pick with its recently posted ” 50 Worst Inventions ” list. Around every turn, the list seems to get it wrong. For instance: FarmVille ? There are 70 million people who’d disagree with that one.
According to Stephen Hawking , building a time machine isn’t hard: “All you need is a wormhole, the Large Hadron Collider or a rocket that goes really, really fast.” Just grab one of those and hop right through the fourth dimension. More » Time Travel – Stephen Hawking – Physics – Large Hadron Collider – Relativity
If you’ve been dragging yourself out of bed lately it might be time to reboot your morning routine and introduce a new morning ritual—or three!—to mix things up. Create your new morning routine with this simple list. More » Ritual – Religion and Spirituality – Esoteric and Occult – Freemasonry – Wicca
Here’s an interesting little tidbit; Seiko just announced that they are going to producing the world’s first active matrix e-ink timepiece. That’s right, a wristwatch that uses e-reader technology to display the time. Could we be looking at the next LCD display technology? It’s worth your time to look at the video, and not just for the glimpse of the e-ink watch.
iPad There’s a super article in the current issue of Time magazine featuring Stephen Fry’ s interview with Steve Jobs. As you may know, Stephen Fry is a writer, actor and comedian. He was also the 2nd person in all of Britain to own a Macintosh (author Douglas Adams was the first). That’s precisely why this interview is such a joy to read — Fry is a total fanboy (his tremendous skills as a writer don’t hurt, either).
Even discounting the fact that this is a watch, this is just an amazing little piece of machinery. The Sol Invictus puts a modern spin on the perpetual motion machine, using micro-motors, solar cells, and a chain system to create an incredibly complicated (and incredibly cool looking) timepiece. The is the first watch to combine a chain & fusée with drums and vertical tourbillon in a watch, and the result is stunning.
Unless you’re a fan of high-tech jewelry, few things are as irksome as an overblown wristwatch design (we’re looking at you Tokyoflash ). While a binary timepiece will certainly up your geek cred, it’s not very useful for providing at-a-glance information. Robert Dabi’s Zero concept above, however, remains simple, beautiful, and amazingly enough, useful , all that same time. Practical too if he can coax a batch of round LCD displays into a production run.
Tonight at 2am, remember to set your clock an hour forward. Look forward to both more sunlight at the end of the day and unfortunately, an earlier rise to work. Wikipedia explains why: More »
Given how simple we’ve made timekeeping over the years, it was inevitable that luxury watches would have to move into more esoteric lands in order to exude the appropriate sense of wonder when witnessed by those who can’t afford them. You might call that the Xperia Pureness effect . Ergo, quite aside from its platinum or 18-carat gold construction options, the 4N watch tries to grab the spotlight with its quirky disc-based mechanism, which rotates numbers (four numbers, hence 4N) into position to display a digital readout of the time. The fact that all three discs — built out of aluminum or a titanium alloy — and the MVT01 movement are exposed to the eye earns geek cred from us, while the limited run of only 16 units should ensure the desired exclusivity for the watches’ future owners.
The upcoming Singularity from Raven Software is supposed to give you the power to age objects just by gesturing at them, and it appears that ability is being tested on the game itself: Its release date has been slowly edging into the future, from early 2010 up into March and then on to June . But it seems like the timeshifting has finally come to an end, as both Amazon and Gamefly have listed the game as releasing on June 29th of this year. Activision originally cited the delay as an attempt to keep the game away from a crowded slate of “competitive titles,” so perhaps the game will do better kicking off the dog days of summer. If Raven’s time-bending twist on the FPS captures your interest, it’ll be one more good reason to stay out of that hot, hot summer sun.
Computational knowledge engine Wolfram Alpha can help resolve any Oscar-themed squabbles that may come up on Sunday, or so it claims. Apparently, it can answer questions about every Oscar nomination and award since the first ceremony in 1929. The Mathematica engine can solve any quandary — whether you’re interested in just how many times Meryl Streep has been nominated (a lot) or how many statues Titanic collected (also a lot). As always with Wolfram Alpha, how you input the query will affect results.
When I was a kid, my grandmother had this matchstick plaque hanging in her kitchen. I looked at the thing for a while once trying to figure out what exactly it said. As it turns out the thing said “Jesus” you just had to look really hard to see the word in with the pattern the matchsticks made. This new clock from Art Lebedev Studios reminds me of that plaque.
You’ve probably seen some unusual Facebook Groups and Fan pages lately, and the petition to make “Hella” a real number is just one more. However its initial appeal to a small group may be ending as it’s beginning to catch fire and go viral. The official name of the Fan page is “The Official Petition to Establish ‘Hella-’ as the SI Prefix for 10^27.” That is, 10 to the power of 27, or ‘1′ followed by 27 zeros. The idea, which has drawn the attention of media outlets such as Fox News and Popular Science , partially stems from the use of numeric prefixes such as Mega, Giga, Tera, but originates in pop culture — namely the animated TV series South Park and elsewhere. This has prompted Austin Sendek, a physics student at University of California, Davis, petition to have “Hella-” be an official prefix.
