Show HN: 288 Analog Clocks Give Digital Time

Show HN: 288 Analog Clocks Give Digital Time(clocks.80limit.com)

117 points by MichaelHoste 9 years ago | 34 comments

I'd love to see a version of this that didn't go through a "random" phase every few seconds. I'd love to see the actual transitions between the times. I think it would be more subtle, but more elegant. (You might be able to add seconds display to the clock if you wanted it to be more active.)

MichaelHoste 9 years ago | |

I was indeed afraid that it would look too static without using "random" phases. Using seconds would be great (I could try to make them look smaller too).

Looking at my source of inspiration (http://www.humanssince1982.com/a-million-times/) you can see that the random phases are way prettier than mine. But it would make the code uglier with a lot of "setTimeout"s, and I wanted to keep it clean.

gravypod 9 years ago | | |

Is it possible to make these scriptable? I think it would be fun to try and visualize magnetic field lines with these.

Also on the clock front, can you change it to segment the array into different digits. Then just do a full right hand rotation of the clocks in that segment untill they get to their correct possition?

So if you have to update the single minute digit only those clocks spin and they only spin to the right untill they fall into their correct possition. If you needed to update hours and minutes then all of the clocks would rotate to the right untill they fall into position.

Would be faster and I think it may look cool.

jaak 9 years ago | | |

Humans Since 1982 have an official iOS version of A Million Times on the iTunes app store: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/a-million-times/id939609390?...

joezydeco 9 years ago |

Meanwhile, this person did a digital clock out of Conway's Life:

http://codegolf.stackexchange.com/questions/88783/build-a-di...

bbcbasic 9 years ago | |

Holy cow

dexterdog 9 years ago |

It would make a nice screen clock if it actually showed the time most of the time. Instead most times when you look at it to see what time it is you have to wait. At that point you're pulling your phone out of your pocket and next thing you know you're reading HN and wasting time.

GavinMcG 9 years ago |

This is a design piece, inspired by a gallery exhibition that did something similar, but mechanically.

The creator is in this thread and can speak for himself on this, but complaining about it not being a clock you'd actually use really doesn't contribute much.

Someone 9 years ago |

Those aren't analog clocks. Analog clocks don't have a state where both hands of the clock are horizontal, or where one is pointing south and the other pointing east or west.

vanderreeah 9 years ago | |

They're not even clocks, in that they don't individually keep time. But that's not the point, is it. I think it's a nice project.

biot 9 years ago | |

It is if you allow for rotation of the hands as well as rotating the entire clock itself. If a clock showing 6:00 is rotated 90 degrees you get horizontal hands. Similarly for rotating a clock that shows 3:00 or 9:00.

Someone 9 years ago | | |

No, it isn't. The clocks have the two hands rotating in different directions at times, too.

Entangled 9 years ago |

Nice trick, you're only using six hours to show the time: four corners, horizontal and vertical. The rest is just random movement to make it look like a complex machine.

Kudos.

sly010 9 years ago |

I have seen a few real ones in design exhibitions [0]. I like this concept.

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbulAxkeMbo

othello 9 years ago | |

Here's a prettier one, very close to the digital version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-MxGvtK2Bk

stevefeinstein 9 years ago |

It takes about 15 seconds for the clock to cycle. Only three of these seconds are spent actually showing the time. So if I want to know the time I need to sit and wait typically about 10 seconds before I'll know what time it is. It's cool, but it's upside down. It needs to be a clock first, then cool.

flogic 9 years ago | |

That depends on whether it's priority is to be a clock or a piece of art first. As an artwork, it more than succeeds. In it's current form, prioritizing art seems the correct choice. It takes up a fair chunk of screen real estate. It's the kind of thing you pop up for a bit and look at as a novelty. To be primarily a clock, it will need a more dedicated display. Even if that's just an LCD monitor connected to a Raspberry PI.

kwhitefoot 9 years ago |

Clever but the clocks aren't really analogue. In an analogue clock the movement is continuous and there is no state where both hands are horizontal

But still, it really is clever.

ythn 9 years ago |

Are the "analog" clocks actually analog? Seems like they just transition between discrete states based on the current (digital) time.

Still, mesmerizing visualization.

S_A_P 9 years ago | |

Agree. I was initially expecting the "analog" clocks to show the time and he arranged in a way that they formed the digital time. I do think it's cool to look at though

theoh 9 years ago | |

I think that counts as analog, because the hands of the clocks are a continously variable indication. Even if they move in increments of 90 degrees, what's happening in the clock involves measurement, not just counting. That makes it at least partly analog.

Applejinx 9 years ago | |

They're clock shaped things, but not actual clocks, just discs with two indicator hands. Pretty tho :)

jhund 9 years ago |

Here is a similar effect, just with physical clocks, and a larger number of them: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdaKTnqotbE

pimlottc 9 years ago | |

Yeah, it's really cool. It's linked from this project as the inspiration!

jimnotgym 9 years ago |

Well I thought it was beautiful and, the real test, my children agree

orless 9 years ago |

Would be interesting to see a "digital text" version to display short text messages the same way.

rongway 9 years ago |

If you look at it long enough, some of the analog clocks start twitching

knqyf263 9 years ago |

I want to display this on the iPad and put it in the room.

Y_Y 9 years ago |

Why say "over 280" when you could just say 288?

MichaelHoste 9 years ago | |

I have no idea, the title changed after I posted it and it was "288". It was also originally a "Show HN:" but someone removed it (maybe I was using it wrong, I don't know).

sctb 9 years ago | | |

We updated the title to “Over 280 Analog Clocks Give Digital Time”, but on second thought have put it back to the original.

bbcbasic 9 years ago | |

Learn to tell the time with these 288 weird clocks

a-real-dinosaur 9 years ago | |

I can think of over 1 reason