Black & White Clock concept reduces timekeeping to the bare essentials

Call us jaded -- we've seen plenty of crazy clocks 'round here, but few we'd want in our apartment (even if they fit). And when we do find one that we like it's inevitably a concept. Case in point: Vadim Kibardin's Black & White Clock. Consisting of four OLED digits that contain a light sensor, this guy displays the time in black during the day, or in white at night. The designer is currently looking for a manufacturer to make these a reality, so if you happen to be in the biz, please hit the read link to embark on this fabulous adventure. Just make sure you send us a few review units -- you have our email address.

[Via Boing Boing]

[rezaudio @ Jul 13th 2009 12:33PM]

I like!

[Return of Jackson...whoo! @ Jul 13th 2009 12:52PM]

Me too!

It reminds me of that #1 song I (Micheal Jackson) wrote about it not mattering if it is black or white!

Look it up!

[fistpittingnork @ Jul 13th 2009 1:14PM]

Michael who?

[mikethevee @ Jul 13th 2009 1:32PM]

It's MichAEl not micheal.
*pet peeve*

[Jon Doe. @ Jul 13th 2009 1:57PM]

Ditto. I want.

[Andir3.0 @ Jul 13th 2009 2:26PM]

"Michael who?"

That pedophile that just died...

[rez @ Jul 13th 2009 2:40PM]

I can't wait for the day when I'm watching TV on a window!?

[9600baud @ Jul 13th 2009 3:10PM]

woah, in for one

[E71 @ Jul 13th 2009 7:26PM]

Really love the design but I don't like the idea of replacing batteries or whatever you gotta do to recharge those things.

I'd definitely buy one if it's released with some discreet power cables (thin, hidden in/behind wall), even if it costs up to $100!

[FreeRange @ Jul 13th 2009 7:57PM]

I like the unrestrained, conditional enthusiasm. "I'd definitely buy one ... even if it costs up to $100!"

[CHEMICALGECKO @ Jul 16th 2009 8:46PM]

rest in peace michael jordan.
#1 basketball playa and first person to moonwalk.

rite?

[pball_inuyaha @ Jul 13th 2009 12:33PM]

I hope these make it to market at a decent price. I don't know 20-30 bucks, I'd get one for that probably.

If this gets out there needs to be another post for this.

[Josh @ Jul 13th 2009 12:45PM]

This.

[lawyer bird @ Jul 13th 2009 12:35PM]

Do we have to keep it in military time?

[windblownmonkey @ Jul 13th 2009 12:47PM]

It states that you can change the settings and mode via touch.
Pretty neat.

[Raptor @ Jul 13th 2009 12:49PM]

hope so, everyone should use military time. it is more clear.

[loocas @ Jul 13th 2009 1:01PM]

Military? By that you mean a 24hr system?

Donno man, but pretty much most of the Europe uses the 24hr time system...

[whitdemon @ Jul 13th 2009 1:05PM]

Guess what..."military time" is a standard in Europe :D

[Chris Aubeck @ Jul 13th 2009 1:13PM]

You could always pay a little more for your AM and PM parts. Otherwise 24hr clock is rather necessary.

[UnixSystemsEngineer @ Jul 13th 2009 1:21PM]

It's way too damn hard to find a 24 hour digital clock in the US.. I finally managed, but it took a lot of searching. Why on earth anyone would want to deal with AM/PM is beyond me.

[BobSpaceTech @ Jul 13th 2009 1:26PM]

I say we switch to a 6 hour system. 24 hour systems are good for the militaryp probably because there are tasks and things to do and its already confusing enough to keep track of what gets done when. When you throw in the AM and PM, you just double the confusion.

Since, most of us are not in a military role, we use the 12 hours system. I like the 12 hour system, because it splits the day in two and and gives us a peek to our day, almost like a plot does for our books.

Well, imagine a 6 hour system! the first 6 is the sleeping. Tech geeks stay up until about midnight usually, and wake up at about 6 AM, because we want to get in early enough so that we can get out before our regretful woot-off purchases get delivered. So, the first 6 is the "Sleeping 6".

The next 6 is the put-out-fires section of the day. This is where you make phone calls, smash ur face with coffee drinks, and fix everything that went wrong after you left work the day before. This is the "Working 6".

The next 6 hours is lunch, cooldown, chit-chat, and slipping off your business casual. You've already put in 6 hours of work, so you only have 2 hours left. You're just sitting around chit-chatting to others and solving things as they are brought to you. Then you leave, go home, take off your dress pants and leave on the work shirt and open tabs to load all the pages that weren't safe for work. This is the "Cooldown 6"

The next 6 is the fun 6. You go out to dinner with your geeky friends to talk about raid problems and 5-boxing AV. This is where you unwind, hang out, game, actually use the geeky crap you crave. This is the "Geeky 6".

Some will say that this will get confusing! Someone asks what time it is and you say 4?! How do you know what 4 it is? Well, then its just by task association!

"Sir, what time is it?"
"It is 4 o'clock. Why? What are you going to do?"
"I was wondering why my bag o' carp hasn't arrived yet."
"Yes it is getting late into the Cooldown 6, isn't it?"

It may force us geeks to be more sociable than usual, eh? Yeah, that'd never work...

[AnnoyingPoster @ Jul 13th 2009 1:41PM]

@space tech

you are an idiot. good day sir.

[weems @ Jul 13th 2009 1:42PM]

how the hell is the 12hr system confusing?? when i wake up and the clock says 9:32, i know i didnt wake up 9:32PM.

or if someone says hey lets meet up at 7 for drinks, i know its not AM.

or if bossman says report is due on my desk by 8, obviously hes not going to be there at 8 PM.

its pretty simple i think

[pball_inuyaha @ Jul 13th 2009 1:57PM]

Ah but weems. I took a nap at 4pm Saturday and woke up at 9:30. With my dark curtains and the fact I'd been sleeping a while I didn't know if slept all night or not. So am/pm isn't always easy to follow

[lawyer bird @ Jul 13th 2009 2:11PM]

And multiply that confusion by at least 5 when love potion #9 is involved...

[ProfessorDex @ Jul 13th 2009 2:23PM]

@ pball_inuyaya - Here's a novel idea......OPEN YOUR DAMN CURTAINS!!

Seriously! The whole concept behind am/pm isn't hard. Military time is no more clear than using two little letters to denote whether it's the first half of the day, or the second half of the day.

I find it very hard to believe that there are people out there who are confused with the concept of am/pm unless they're a product of some southern incestuous breeding experiment which clearly has more things wrong with it than learning how to tell time.

[Andir3.0 @ Jul 13th 2009 2:28PM]

Personally, I think 24hour time + unified world time would be best. If it's 0100 in France, it's also 0100 in Hawaii.

[pball_inuyaha @ Jul 13th 2009 2:38PM]

@ProfessorDex

You can stop with the personal attacks ya know. I have curtains for a reason so I can close them to make a room dark when I sleep. I know that might be hard to understand.

@Andir3.0

That sounds like a great idea (I've though about that before), but I doubt it'd work that well since day time and night time would be different hours in each time zone.

[fistpittingnork @ Jul 13th 2009 5:02PM]

this woot is ribz

[ProfessorDex @ Jul 14th 2009 9:24AM]

@pball_inuyaha

Clearly I understand what the purpose of curtains are for, however you chose to use them as a pathetic excuse trying to demonstrate a point, which failed miserably. If you fall asleep at at 4pm and wake up at 9:30pm all you have to do is open your curtains and see where the sun is. Here's a hint, it' rises in the east and sets in the west. Problem solved.

Don't get pissy and claim I'm personally attacking you when you get called out on your comment which made no sense at all.

[Rams @ Jul 14th 2009 9:28AM]

There is no need of AM/PM parts extra to display 12HR time because if the clock is black then it's am and if it's white it's PM.. Simple man...

[lawyer bird @ Jul 14th 2009 11:54AM]

wow, Rams I think you just solved this issue

[Cha-Lee @ Jul 13th 2009 12:35PM]

That's pretty damn spiffy. Some of the best ideas are the simplest ones...

[rinum09 @ Jul 13th 2009 12:38PM]

indeed

[Gad Get @ Jul 14th 2009 12:24AM]

Simplicity is beauty.

[DER GORF @ Jul 14th 2009 3:25AM]

As long as it works, yes.

[Freakin Ijit @ Jul 13th 2009 12:41PM]

>>> "...displays the time in black during the day, or in white at night..."

What happens between night and day?

[Najakwa @ Jul 13th 2009 12:43PM]

i was thinking along the same lines. I'd hope that each digit does not have a light sensor. If it does, then you may have some weird results in different lighting situations.

[Muhammad-Oli @ Jul 13th 2009 12:45PM]

Uhhhhm Michael Jackson? Too soon?

[Nathan Otis @ Jul 13th 2009 1:57PM]

Gray.

[paulbenjamin @ Jul 13th 2009 12:42PM]

Now only if Engadget could get this for their Recession Giveaway!

[Beau @ Jul 13th 2009 12:54PM]

they should lol

[windblownmonkey @ Jul 13th 2009 12:43PM]

Now THIS I like.
Just a question though,
how do they communicate?
I guess they are battery powered. Individually I imagine.

[Eduardo @ Jul 13th 2009 12:52PM]

I was wondering the same. I guess is pure concept, no reality

[Josh @ Jul 13th 2009 1:06PM]

You guys must be thinking too hard. You set the time on each one and tell it which digit it is.

[windblownmonkey @ Jul 13th 2009 2:07PM]

Sounds simple enough. Guess I was looking for something a little more advanced : )

[Chromana @ Jul 13th 2009 9:28PM]

@Josh
But you have to set them quickly. If it's changing from 4.59 to 5.00 the hour could change first if you set it first and it would read 5.59. Or, worse yet, the single minute could change making it 4.50 then the hour (5.50) and then the ten-minute (5.00).

I think one of the digits will be the "control" digit that you set the time on and then wirelessly tells the others what to do.

[Mikee @ Jul 13th 2009 12:47PM]

I would buy one.

[why not the LS2LS7? @ Jul 13th 2009 12:50PM]

How about inventors make stuff instead of designers?

If this guy thinks he can make this with an OLED, he's a fool. It would require a fair amount of power, enough that it would have to plug in to be visible at all.

You could make it with EL ("Indiglo"), but then it wouldn't be visible in the day much at all. Maybe a combination of EL and a piezo flip display?

[CityZen @ Jul 13th 2009 1:00PM]

It should be E-Ink.

Also, lots of poor design: They imagine that each digit is independent. Many problems with this: how do you sync time setting, syncing day/night mode (as mentioned above), power (you don't want different digits dying at different times), expense.