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Domain: ledwatches.net

Stories and comments across the archive that link to ledwatches.net.

Comments · 9

  1. Re:the powers that be by Mr.+Slippery · · Score: 1 · on Slashdot's Setup, Part 1- Hardware

    I hear the early digital watches used LEDs and LCD displays were a later improvement, though I've never seen one myself.

    Feh. You kids today. Back in the late 70s and early 80s, a digital watch meant the cheerful red glow of LEDs - you pushed a button to make it show the time, since otherwise your battery would die really quick. If you have retro sensibilities you can own a modern replica

    I also had a TI programmable calculator with LED display, might have been a TI-58 C though I don't recall for sure.

  2. Re:Nothing beats... by parasonic · · Score: 2, Informative · on Top 10 Geek Watches

    No, this one.

  3. Re:Nothing beats... by NitsujTPU · · Score: 1 · on Top 10 Geek Watches

    http://www.ledwatches.net/photo-pages/elektronika5 .htm

    This one?

  4. Re:Prior Art... duh! by foobsr · · Score: 4, Informative · on Microsoft Receives Patent For Double-Click

    It goes back even further -- these LED worked that way. Indeed limited resource computing devices from the 70ies. Sic(k)!

    CC.

  5. It is jewelry. by LiberalApplication · · Score: 1 · on Ten Technologies That Refuse to Die
    In fact, the wrist-watch's popularity is rooted in its origins as a trendy-piece of personal accessorization, made famous by a trendy and popular individual, Alberto Santos-Dumont. He had his friend Louis Cartier craft him a watch he could check time with while ballooning, a two-hand-required activity. Being the dashing, mad, wealthy, young bon-vivant that he was, soon *everyone* wanted one. I believe Cartier has reissued the original Santos-Dumont design as well, if you happen to have a few thousand bucks to blow.

    But the spirit of the watch still flows with fashion, and I think that the personal timepiece is one of those magical places in which technology and fashion can merge to produce absolutely wonderful things.

  6. It is jewelry. by LiberalApplication · · Score: 1 · on Ten Technologies That Refuse to Die
    In fact, the wrist-watch's popularity is rooted in its origins as a trendy-piece of personal accessorization, made famous by a trendy and popular individual, Alberto Santos-Dumont. He had his friend Louis Cartier craft him a watch he could check time with while ballooning, a two-hand-required activity. Being the dashing, mad, wealthy, young bon-vivant that he was, soon *everyone* wanted one. I believe Cartier has reissued the original Santos-Dumont design as well, if you happen to have a few thousand bucks to blow.

    But the spirit of the watch still flows with fashion, and I think that the personal timepiece is one of those magical places in which technology and fashion can merge to produce absolutely wonderful things.

  7. It is jewelry. by LiberalApplication · · Score: 1 · on Ten Technologies That Refuse to Die
    In fact, the wrist-watch's popularity is rooted in its origins as a trendy-piece of personal accessorization, made famous by a trendy and popular individual, Alberto Santos-Dumont. He had his friend Louis Cartier craft him a watch he could check time with while ballooning, a two-hand-required activity. Being the dashing, mad, wealthy, young bon-vivant that he was, soon *everyone* wanted one. I believe Cartier has reissued the original Santos-Dumont design as well, if you happen to have a few thousand bucks to blow.

    But the spirit of the watch still flows with fashion, and I think that the personal timepiece is one of those magical places in which technology and fashion can merge to produce absolutely wonderful things.

  8. Re:I don't think Fossil did their homework... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0 · on Palm OS Wristwatch

    A real geek would have a HP calc watch.

    Girls look at your feet more than they look at your watch anyway.

  9. HP Watch by shadowj · · Score: 2 · on Assorted CES Gizmos
    Yeah, the HP-01 (photo). I worked for HP in 1981, a couple of years after the watch was buried for good. A number of heads rolled at HP over that fiasco. Not that it was a bad idea... just executed rather poorly.

    On the plus side, you could use the current time and date in a calculation to do sorta-cool time-based stuff; one example that HP gave was an application that did a real-time, continuous calculation of the lightspeed signal delay of a space probe on its way to Mars.

    On the minus side... who needs to do that sort of stuff on a regular basis? And the watch was huge (1.6" x 1.8" x 1/2"), weighed 6 oz (almost 1/2 lb.!), and used a battery-eating LED display just when LCD's were becoming common. The thing had two sets of batteries... one that powered the clock and another that powered the display, and was typically replaced every 3-6 months. HP actually sold a gadget that held spare batteries and could be used to unscrew the case for replacement. The keys were tiny and recessed, requiring a stylus, which HP thoughtfully engineered into the watchband.

    Finally, of course, HP had no idea how to distribute the thing. They tried to sell it through jewellers, but botched the job, since they had no idea how the watch business worked. The watch retailed for as much as $800... and don't forget, these were 1978 dollars... you could buy a Rolex for less!

    Not surprisingly, they didn't sell well. By 1981, they had given up, and blown out the remaining inventory to HP employees at hugely discounted prices. Alas, I was a mere part-timer, and in any case arrived too late to buy one.