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Watches for UberGeeks?
eyefish asks: "My trusty old watch recently gave up on me, and now I want to buy a new one. This time though I want something a bit more functional that my simple analog-digital watch. If you were to buy a new watch, and you are the geek type, which one would you buy? I'm interested in anything from watches with built-in GPS to built-in video or MP3 players and calculators. Or simply anything that looks really cool, or is really light, or syncs with my palm pilot. You get the drift." A watch that could sync via GPS? Never have the wrong time again! But seriously, what nifty new technologies have had the shrinking ray applied to them so that they fit nice and comfy on the wrist?
- It's easier to tell the time at a glance with an analogue watch than with a digital watch;
- It's comfortable; unlike bulky multifunction watches, it doesn't feel like you've got a PDA strapped to your wrist;
- It fits in with the Unix philosphy of doing one thing, and doing it well.
-StephenTimex Ironman. Heavy-duty. It's cheap(~40USD). It's tough. It's waterproof. It tells time, has a timer, and the backlite rules.
If you want an MP3 player, buy one. Get the right tool for the right job.
"If you were to buy a new watch, and you are the geek type, which one would you buy?"
I'd buy a decent $20 watch, and donate the other $100-200 to some worthy charity. If donating to mundane run of the mill "feed-the-starving-cure-the-sick" charities is too pedestrian for you, you could always donate to the EFF.
The conspicuous consumption of the geek crowd is amazing.
It's 10 PM. Do you know if you're un-American?
If you can afford them I've always thought Breitling watches were the ultimate in geek appeal. I mean Astronauts wore them to the moon. It doesn't get any geekier.
When I am out and about, finally away from those stupid timepieces everywhere telling me to rush to and from here and there, the last thing I need to know is how many minutes have gone by since the last time I looked at my watch.
People seem to be in too much of a hurry these days. If you are going someplace, remember that you will get there when you get there, no matter how many times you look at your watch, and often hurrying will only slow you down (a car accident is much more time-consuming than stopping at a yellow light). Also, hurrying is no fun. You don't enjoy yourself along the way (mmm, stress), and you fail to pay attention to all of the neat stuff you would otherwise notice - you can really enjoy yourself on the train ride to work if you are not stressing about whether the boss will notice that you came in 5 min. late.
In other news, it seems to me that a 'geek' would spend more time thinking about what he or she needs, and buy it when it is really time. The true geeks run their old computer untill there is a real need to upgrade, thereby saving LOTS of money without taking a performance hit.
You seem to just want a really expensive watch with a bunch of useless crap on it. You don't seem to care which features it has - it is not like you have identified some vacancy in your life which needs to be fulfilled with device X or Y (except maybe, "I don't feel smart enough - I need a watch that makes me look like a geek"). To me, that is not geeky, it is just wastefull and vain. In fact, given that you will probably end up wasting a whole bunch of money that you could use to get some usefull technology for which you have actually identified a need (or at least a more substantial desire), it is downright anti-geeky.
There is a constant stream of input/stimulus coming in from the outside world. I think that a lot of these devices are just there to keep us entertained because we have forgotten how to look out the window without getting bored. Do we really need to be constantly entertained by our mp3 player (ever hear a bird singing?), or always in touch with our social circle (maybe we could make new friends if we weren't always on the cell phone) or in touch with our job which is so much more important than our sanity or health.
For me, objects which are only usefull if you carry them around constantly (like PDA's, beepers, etc.) are not worth it. My wallet is already enough crap for me to carry around. If I want to remember someone's phone number, I write it on a paper phone list I keep in my wallet. When I get home, I enter it into a text file and re-print it when I need to (no issues of compatibility - I don't ever have to re-type my address book into another program).
And in the meantime, I can walk around relatively unencumbered. I never have to worry about breaking my PDA by sitting on it, or dropping my cell phone into a toilet. I don't even have to make sure I have battery power before I leave the house.
Why is Grand Theft Auto a much more serious crime than Reckless Driving?
How about hands that glow brightly enough to actually be useful, and a calendar that's perpetual, and also visible from some angle besides 19 degrees to the right. Oh well.
But wait! The Eco-Drive starts at over $200. Isn't that expensive?
No, it's not. Consider the cost of buying a new battery every couple years. Yeah, the battery itself is just a few buck. But unless you have the tools and the touch, there's also the hassle of finding somebody to change the battery for you, plus the risk that doing so will damage the watch. (Actually, it always destroys the water-resistence of the watch, unless you go to a special jeweler who will charge more than the watch is worth.) A lot of hassle. I suspect most people just buy a new watch when their battery dies.
But if the Eco-Drive lasts you ten years, you more or less break even, and save yourself some hassle.
Also, if you're a tree-hugger -- or just think toxic metals in the groundwater is uncool -- you should consider what happens to all those used batteries.