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Digital Clock Without Electricity or Moving Parts

NerdMachine writes "Throw away those slide rules and embrace the digital age. The Digital Sundial is a 10 year old invention on display in Sundial Park (Genk, Belgium), Deutsches Museum (Munich Germany), Kölnisches Stadtmuseum (Cologne, Germany), and Martha's Vineyard, USA. You need to pivot it to adjust daylight savings time. If you can't visit one of these, Digital Sundials International can sell you one for US$12,000+, or you can buy a pocket version for under US$100 for that special nerd in your life."

14 of 269 comments (clear)

  1. No by Slur · · Score: 2, Insightful

    My understanding at this moment before reading the article is that it uses shadows and light to make a digital readout.

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  2. Re:Fall Back, Spring Foward by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    So it's perfect for Saskatchewan (Canada) which doesn't have that silly tradition of "spring forward fall back".
    (same thing with Arizona, USA?)

    Honestly, (after spending the first 30 years of my life in Saskatchewan), I cannot understand WHY daylight savings time exists

  3. Re:I cringe by Usquebaugh · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Twoo words Beer and Choclate. Waffles indeed.

  4. Re:Fall Back, Spring Foward by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    The idea of DST is broke, not the clock.

  5. Great by Jozer99 · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Couldn't you power a hundred digital watches off a solar panel that big?

  6. Re:Hate to say it, but... by Kymermosst · · Score: 4, Insightful

    That's not a digital clock in any sense of the word.

    What high school did you graduate from? Obviously they weren't doing their job.

    From dictionary.reference.com:

    digital

    1. Of, relating to, or resembling a digit, especially a finger.
    2. Operated or done with the fingers: a digital switch.
    3. Having digits.
    4. Expressed in numerical form, especially for use by a computer.
    5. Computer Science. Of or relating to a device that can read, write, or store information that is represented in numerical form. See Usage Note at virtual.
    6. Using or giving a reading in digits: a digital clock.


    Please see #6, and then go think about why you don't know the definitions of common words. It also seems that you can't be bothered to look them up.

    Are you sure you are 'intelligent' by any sense of that word?

    (Sorry, I couldn't resist...)

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  7. Re:Doesn't a sundial require a moving part? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    And lets not forget photons!

    I think 299 792 458 m/s certainly qualifies as moving.

  8. Re:The Equation of Time by shawb · · Score: 2, Insightful

    And then there's the fact that the sun does not necesarilly shine for one half of a day (day being one complete revolution of the earth around its axis, not sunrise -> sunset... erk.)

    Where I live (Milwaukee, WI) sunset can be as early as 4:20 PM on the winter solstice and as late as 8:35 PM on Summer solstice (Central Standard Times, I believe.) I'd think that right before sunset the clock would read 6:00PM, so that's over an hour and a half off.

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  9. Americans by dazedagain · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If it can't be installed in an SUV most Americans won't buy it anyway.

  10. Re:Sunlight? Heard about it by Haydn+Fenton · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I have my thoughts about it being a flunk too.. This is the thing geeks would love to have, unfortunately, I very much doubt it would work in basements, and normal people would just buy a digital watch, cos they think they're still pretty neat.

  11. dated? by Doc+Ruby · · Score: 2, Insightful

    That thang is wicked. Can someone license the mechanism and make a calendar? If not Julian, then maybe Mayan?

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  12. Rooftop + webcam by Mister+Liberty · · Score: 2, Insightful

    So what's to stop you from placing it on top of the highrise and place a webcam in front of it. bjd

    1. Re:Rooftop + webcam by boarder8925 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      That defeats the purpose of not having to use electricity.

  13. Re:Internet Time by Bitsy+Boffin · · Score: 2, Insightful


    5 years after the invention, nobody remembers what internet time was. Oh well.....


    The problem is, that it was a stupid "invention".

    You see, we already have a universally accepted standard time, Universal Time Co-ordinated (UTC).

    Not only is it universally accepted it's also trivial to convert between time zones, just add or remove hours (and occasionally minutes) as necessary.

    Swatch "Internet Time" offered nothing over UTC, it was, without a doubt, pointless.

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