Hasta La Gadget!

Modern Japanese digital watches are definitely an acquired taste, but once you decipher how to read the time, you end up with a functional watch. This new watch from Tokyoflash doesn’t encrypt the time, so you won’t have to take a minute each time you consult it. Once you understand the display, it’s very easy to read.

The Tokyoflash Kisai Zone watch displays numbers in hexagonal form, and comes with a stainless or black strap, with a body to match. There are blue, green, purple or black options available for the LCD display.

The display is constantly moving, and since it’s LCD, you won’t have to push a button to activate it (though it does have an EL backlight for nighttime viewing.) The numbers for the current time are simply forced into hexagonal shapes, as shown in this demo video:

See, not hard to read at all. Plus, those animation modes are pretty cool too.

The Kisai Zone is currently on sale at Tokyoflash for $99(USD). After the two day launch period, it will revert to $139, so if you’re interested, you’d better grab it.

When is a pair of speakers not a pair of speakers? When it’s a pair of dice, that’s when. And that’s exactly what you’ll get if you buy a set of BonoBoss’ dice speakers.

The concept for the BonoBoss speakers came out of Korea’s sadi (Samsung Art & Design Institute), and they really do look like a couple of oversize black dice. The sides of the BOS-S300D dice speakers has dice-like pips on it, though the front houses a full-range 2.5″ driver instead. The clever design even incorporates its controls into the “five” side of one die. Power is driven by a 2 watt class-D amp, and they’ll connect to any device with a standard 3.5mm audio connector.

They’re currently available only in Korea, where you can find them for 27,200 KRW (~$24 USD) over at the EarlyShop. Though I’m hopeful somebody at one of the casinos in Las Vegas is reading this and will decide to import a bunch to sell in their gift shop. Too bad they don’t come in white though.

Drawing a perfect circle is maybe the hardest thing one can do with a pen in hand. A straight line, while much easier to accomplish, is still a chore for some. With that in mind, designer Sunghoon Jung has dreamed up a concept for a tape measure that not only has a line guide in the middle of the tape, but also a series of dots you can anchor your writing instrument to so that you can scrawl a geometrically perfect circle. It doesn’t hurt that the thing is easy on the eyes as well. [Yanko Design] More »

If someone pisses you off, let them go. Don’t curse, don’t fight, don’t even hope that they’ll trip and fall flat on their faces as they walk away. Instead, go home and whip out your set of Calligraphuck Profane Letterpress Cards.

You probably won’t feel like sending it off in the morning, but hey, at least you got it out of your system. But if you do end up sending it, at least you did it with a touch of class. Well, sort of.

I think you sort of already know what to expect from these cards based on their name alone.

Calligraphucks are beautifully typeset cards emblazoned with a series of curses and profanities that might just make you blush.

Unfortunately, they’re not available – yet. They’re currently up for funding on Indiegogo, where a minimum pledge of $25 will get you a complete set of four awesome profanity-laced cards, including custom string and button envelopes to deliver your message in.

Head on over to Calligraphuck’s project page on Indiegogo for more information.

[via Cool Material]

More than a decade ago, I decided to learn how to touch type. I didn’t use any tools or special programs, I just placed my hands on the keyboard and tried to find the right keys without looking at it. It took some time, but these days my hands flutter across a keyboard very quickly indeed, but I can see the reason for a keyboard like the Smartype.

Smartype includes a full-color LCD screen, that reminds me of some of electronic typewriters, that shows you what your are typing. If you’re not a touch-typist, it stops you from constantly glancing at the screen and back to the keyboard. The creators claim that the Smartype keyboard will even make touch-typists more productive. That seems somewhat counterintuitive to me, but maybe the visual cue will help.

The display on the Smartype keyboard promises also to run widgets including minimal versions of Twitter and Facebook so that you can share things without even having to open a full-fledged app on your tablet, smartphone or browser. You’ll also be able to run other handy apps like a PC status bar or e-mail and calendar notification apps. Unfortunately, though, the Smartype is only planned for Windows computers at this point, and it doesn’t have a numeric keypad either.

The Smartype will be available for pre-order soon, but no official price has been announced. For now, you can register your interest over on their website.

[via The Verge]