A New Way to Look at Time

For about $1000 (or free, keep reading...) you can buy QLOCKTWO by Biegurt + Funk, it's a pretty slick clock that forces you to read the time. "It is a quarter to nine," or "It is ten after three."

The secret, though, is that a dot in each corner also lights up, so that 1:18 would read as "it is a quarter past one" with three dots lit up. Before the half hour passes, you add the dots to the time. After the half hour, you subtract them. This means that 1:48 will read "it is ten to one" with two dots lit up. This makes the first half hour go by slower than real time and the second half hour go by faster because a casual glance at the clock would probably mean you aren't adding or subtracting the dots.

The best part is that everyone can enjoy this eloquent, almost time-bending clock. Developer David Trejo, who I will soon be profiling for his work on mixest.com, created a virtual version that anyone can access on an internet connection.

FastCompany profiled the clock today, but I know I've seen it before, either way, they get credit for motivating this post, though they didn't link to David's version which the makers of QLOCKTWO seem to have called a "nice Application with JQuery and CSS!"