Hasta La Gadget!

Over the last few days, there have been reports indicating that Nike’s Digital Sports Division had laid off most of its staff. The division is responsible for the FuelBand, which seemed to be doing quite well, but in fact, apparently hasn’t really taken off.

Nike has reassured customers that the FuelBand won’t go away, and that they will continue supporting it, though that might be tricky without its development staff. The revelation makes me wonder if the staff might be picked up by Apple to work on a potential “iWatch” system, or if Nike has entered some sort of strategic partnership with Apple which prevents them from making a competitive device.

It’s certainly possible this is a move by Nike to get out of the wearable electronics game, and let Apple take over, especially since Apple CEO Tim Cook sits on the Nike Board of Directors. While there are plenty of smartwatches available, from Samsung to Sony, none of them are close to perfect, and many consumers have waited to jump into the game until the see what Apple has up its sleeve.

[via Mashable]

If this clock looks familiar it’s because it’s a sculpture of Star Trek’s Deep Space Nine. It is called the “Starfleet Machine” and it is breathtaking. It was created by Swiss watch designer L’Epée, with microengineering from the lab MB&F.

It has a lot of the same mechanisms as a wristwatch, just larger in scale. Its custom-made movement has a 40-day power reserve and a series of five mainspring barrels. The clock shows hours and minutes, double retrograde seconds and has a power reserve indicator. I wonder if it has any unique Quarks. Or Roms even.

This thing looks super amazing. Shut up and take my gold-pressed latinum!

[via cool hunting via io9]

Most of the clocks we see hanging on the walls of homes and offices today are battery powered. There are a few that might be powered by a spring or wired into the room’s electricity. However, battery or electric power aren’t the only ways to operate a clock.

A company called Bedol has a whole range of clocks that are powered by water. The latest clock from the company is a wall clock that is powered by H2O. The clock is shaped like a drop of water and has a translucent tank in the back. The water put into the clock interacts with metal plates in the tank to produce electricity.

One tank full of water will power the clock for six months to a year according to its maker. The clock then needs to be refilled and it will continue telling time. The Water Wall Clock comes in several colors, and sells for $89(USD). It will start shipping this April.

Can you tell the time based on scent alone? People encounter different smells throughout the day. From the smell of freshly-brewed coffee to car exhaust or printer toner, it’s all in a day’s work for some.

Hardware designer and physical computing lecturer Aisen Caro Chacin stripped away the specifics and went with common and general smells for her concept watch called Scent Rhythm.

The wristwatch is unusual in the sense that it does away with hour and minute hands in favor of a four-chambered timepiece that emits distinct smells at certain times of day to indicate the current time – or rather, the current time period.

The watch is attuned to a person’s circadian rhythm, or internal body clock, which regulates the 24-hour cycle of the body’s biological processes. Correspondingly, the watch keeps track of time in four segments of six hours each, and triggers the related scent emitter. From 6 am to midday, or the rise period, the Scent Rhythm emits whiffs of coffee with caffeine.

Scent Rhythm isn’t for sale, although design files and its parts list are available on Aisen’s website, in case you want to find out more about its inner workings and how it was made.

[via Dvice]

I’m a big fan of Star Trek, but I actually must admit I only watched a few episodes of Deep Space Nine. I think I was too busy watching The Next Generation and Voyager at the time, and that was enough for me. But even if I’m no expert at DS9, I can certainly recognize their space station in an instant.

If you’re a big fan of Captain Sisko and his crew, you might just want to decorate your room with this Deep Space Nine wall clock.

The clock started out as a rare Star Trek toy, and was converted into a clock by Etsy seller YOUgNeek. The underlying clock mechanism is a Sterling and Noble clock, with silver hands that match the painted ship perfectly. Unfortunately, you have to try and read the clock hands behind the ship – I was really hoping the entire ship turned to form the hands of the clock.

Either way, it’s a pretty cool addition to any DS9 fanatic’s collection. It’s available for $199.99(USD) over on Etsy. Perhaps you trade some dilithium crystals with Quark and he’ll sell you one.