Hasta La Gadget!

No matter how you feel about Apple, you have to admit that the company did change the smartphone world when it unveiled the first iPhone 5-1/2 years ago. Apple then came back and set the tablet world on its ear with the iPad. Now it’s possible that Apple could be set to try to change the world of wristwatches.

Rumors are circulating that Apple and Intel are working on a new smartwatch product that will debut in 2013. Sources in China claim that Apple is working on smartwatch. This particular rumor helps make sense of the redesign of the iPod nano away from its watch-friendly square face, despite the popularity of wristband accessories and various Kickstarted smartwatch projects out there.

According to Chinese sources, the smartwatch would be Bluetooth enabled and have a 1.5-inch touchscreen display. The watch would be designed to work directly with the iPhone allowing users to make phone calls and perform other functions from their wrist. Other smartphone integrating watches have been on the market before and have proven unsuccessful, which makes this fertile ground for Apple to sow.

It’s worth noting that Apple rumors never cease and some products, such as an actual Apple HDTV and touchscreen iMacs, and have never materialized despite ongoing rumors.

[via PCMag]

Some watches are easy to read, and then there are some that are just plain indecipherable. While I prefer watches that are easy to read, and that allow you to tell the time but with a glance, this new Tokyoflash is a mix of both. Once you see the way the display works, it’s really easy to tell the time but anyone else who isn’t in the know will have trouble.

The Tokyoflash Kisai Space Digits watch is definitely something that Marty McFly would have liked on his wrist. It reminds me of TRON and some of the retro arcade games that involve travel through tunnels. The time is displayed on the walls of the tunnel, on the left and right. The date is displayed on the ceiling and floor of the tunnel. That sounds pretty straightforward, but you have to look at the watch for a few seconds before you really see it. There’s an alarm and EL backlight as well as an animation mode.

The Space Digits watch sells for $99(USD) until December 6, after which time, it will cost you $129. It’s available in sandblasted steel, black or gold. The display comes in either green or gold.

I’ve gotten so used to Tokyoflash having a corner on the cool digital watch market, that I’m always pleasantly surprised when another company comes along with a nifty LCD watch. Up until now, the guys over at Ziiiro have focused on analog designs (and putting too many ‘i’s in the name of their company.) Now, they’ve released a slick digital watch that can keep up with the best of what Japan has to offer.

The new Ziiiro Saturn tells time using a set of concentric circles. The 12 longer segments on the outer ring indicate hours, while the 60 smaller slivers on the inner ring tell minutes. The watch uses LCD tech for its display and offers a cool electroluminescent backlight for nighttime viewing as well.

The Saturn is available in black, gunmetal or chrome finishes, all made from stainless steel. You can pre-order the Saturn now over at Watchismo for $229.99(USD), and they expect to ship the watches this December.

About a year ago, I spotted this cool mechanical LEGO clock called the Time Twister. It was a pretty amazing build, recreating the segmented display of an LCD clock, entirely with LEGO parts. Well its builder, Hans Andersson is back with a new version – the Time Twister 2.

The updated version of the clock has a more finished look than the original, more closely mimicking the style of an LED timepiece with a light-on-dark display.

Mechanically, it looks different too, though the basic principles are the same. It’s built from LEGO blocks, Mindstorms NXT Controllers and servo mechanisms interconnected to gradually rotate and reveal segments of the digits which comprise the current time. Here, check it out in action:

Cool, no? I think so. Hans needs to figure out a way to mass-produce these – or at least sell an instruction kit along with a parts list. I would certainly love to have a clock this cool somewhere in my home or office – though the sound of the motors constantly whirring away might get on my nerves after a while. Nah, I’ll just buy some earplugs if I must.

As cool as their displays look, there are just some modern watches that will just leave people staring blankly at the watch face – kind of like the new Tokyoflash Kisai Maru. However, it’s really not that tricky once you get the hang of it.

The time is displayed along a simple curved path, with the dots mimicking the positions of traditional watch hands. The watch is LCD, and comes with an EL backlight. The inner-facing hand points to the hour while the outer-facing hand points to the minutes.

The display idea for the watch originated from Sam, a fan who submitted a pocket watch design to Tokyoflash last year. It is the eighth watch that was fan-submitted and produced by the Japanese watchmaker. The Kisai Maru is made from high-grade aluminum, making the watch quite lightweight. It weighs only 80 grams. It’s also water-resistant.

It’s available now for $149(USD) in black, silver and sienna colors over at Tokyoflash. And no, it’s not named after the rotund internet cat video star of the same name.