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Harry Winston's Opus Eleven watch: mechanical masterpiece / bank breaker (video)
It's been a while since we gave Harry Winston's Opus watch any play, but some timepieces are just too lavish to pass up. Case in point: the Opus Eleven, designed by temporal taste-maker Denis Giguet of MCT. Aesthetically speaking, it's probably a touch too steampunk for some, but the way it tells time is straight up fascinating. Giguet points out the movement enlists 566 parts, a good deal of which are exposed in the main face -- the center piece displays the hour, while the upper right disc shows off the minutes. Now, it might look like a relatively minimal watch for Harry Winston, but its case is made of 18k white gold and sapphire crystal, and the Opus Eleven's definitely got a Winston-worthy price tag, ringing in at about $250,000. So if you've got a quarter of a mill just laying around, this is a definite contender for that stack of cash. Want to see all those tiny pieces in action? Check out the video after the break.
More iPhone clock problems reported
Apple continues to deal with problems with the clock on the iPhone -- this first cropped up back in November, when clocks were turned back an hour to standard time. Some issues were still popping up in January, and now this weekend, as clocks were turned forward for Daylight Savings time in the US, some users were still having issues of varying kinds, from clocks changing when they weren't supposed to, to alarms not going off when set up correctly. Some users are even reporting the time changing just fine, and then inexplicably switching back -- one of my friends had a problem like that with his first-generation AT&T iPhone last night. Unfortunately, since most of the information on the issues is anecdotal, it's hard to pin down exactly what's happening, but it seems to be something going on between the phone's software and a connection to the local provider's time information. Most of the issues are being fixed by flipping Airport Mode on and off (to re-establish the cellular connection) or even just restarting the phone. Alternately, you could just set the time yourself manually, though having a phone that sets its own time is obviously a lot more convenient. At any rate, it looks like Apple is continuing to deal with this ongoing issue. Do make sure to check your phone and get it right -- you wouldn't want to miss Pi Day today, after all.
The Daily Grind: What game would you play if you had the time?
There are a lot of MMOs on the market at the moment, and while it can be argued that many of them are drawing inspiration from the same well, there's still plenty of variety available. You can roam in post-apocalyptic Nevada, soar through a variety of spaceways, or slay a truly staggering number of different dragons in the myriad worlds available online. But you are limited by one force no matter what -- you only have so much time during a single day. That means that there's necessarily a game you'd love to play, but you just don't have the time. No matter what, the game you can't quite fit into your schedule is a game you like. It's usually just a case of not liking it quite enough to ditch the game (or games) you spend most of your time on. So what game would you love to play if you had more time for it? Is it an old favorite you've moved past, a new game that interests you, or a title that's long been on your radar but never quite moved into being a must-play venture? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Phosphor's Reveal wristwatch uses Swarovski crystals to tell time, bedazzle you
The Phosphor brand has usually been associated with E Ink watches in the past, but they're taking the off-the-beaten-path timekeeping technology in a very different direction this time around with the introduction of the new Reveal line. Of course, glittery little stones are no strangers to the surfaces of watches around the world, but with the Reveal, they play an active role: Phosphor is using what it describes as "proprietary Micro-Magnetic Mechanical Digital technology" to rotate Swarovski crystals into place to form digital time readouts on the thoroughly encrusted face. Think of it like an extremely low-res E Ink, we suppose... but with shiny rocks in place of electrically-charged granules of white and black pigment. The models are available in six styles -- four for women, two for men -- starting today from $199 and up. Follow the break for the full press release.
Timescape Sci-Fi watch makes you work for the time of day, looks good doing it (video)
If you're like us, you don't mind working that grey matter to tell the time, especially if the watch your wearing looks and acts like something ripped from the U.S.S. Enterprise. The Timescape Sci-Fi watch, thus named for its cryptic time telling interface, sports a chrome exterior and uses a series of blue LEDs to illuminate a rectangular grid, giving you unique temporal readouts. Each line contains a series of dots representing minutes or hours, with the vertical lines displaying hours, the first three horizontal lines showing five-minute increments, and the last row offering exact minutes. Sound complicated? Well it is, but sometimes looking good takes a little work -- you think Uhura rolls out of bed looking like that? The Timescape Sci-Fi watch is now on sale exclusively from Gadgets and Gear for $70, but if you just like staring at shiny flashy things, we've got a video of the timepiece after the jump.
Time inks deal with HP to bring magazine subscriptions to the TouchPad
Time Inc. has been trying to work out a deal on tablet magazine subscriptions for some time now, and it's just made a fairly big move in that direction with the help of HP. It confirmed at its "Think Beyond" event today that it has teamed up with the publisher to offer subscriptions to some of its magazines on the TouchPad when it launches this summer. That will apparently include Sports Illustrated, Time and People initially, with Fortune and other Time Inc. titles to follow further on down the road, according to AdWeek. Still no word on pricing, but HP promises they'll deliver an "immersive reading" experience. Update: Palm's Lisa Bewster has confirmed via Twitter that this deal also involves Time getting its big wish: subscribe to the print magazine and you'll get full access to the tablet version. For more on all of HP's webOS announcements today, click here!
Verizon iPhone will go on general sale at 7AM on February 10th, you can reserve one on February 9th
Apple has just announced that tomorrow morning's early Verizon iPhone pre-orders will be available through its online Store as well -- starting at 3AM, available to current VZW subscribers only, and sold on a first-come, first-served basis. More pertinent news, however, can be found deeper in the company's press release, which states that pre-orders will be opened up to the general public on February 9th, when you'll be able to reserve or have one delivered on launch day, February 10th. Shops will open their doors early, 7AM -- matching AT&T's early opening for the iPhone 4's original launch way back in June -- and availability will be broad, encompassing Apple's brick and mortar Stores, Verizon's 2,000+ retail locations, select partners, and even a zany 1-800-2 JOIN IN phone number you can call. So, really, the only people left without a Verizon iPhone on February 11th should be those that don't actually want one.
Lost Pages of Taborea: Finding time to play Runes of Magic
Ever since my semester started up, I've had to learn new ways to budget my time. My schedule cuts right through the middle of every day, which is both good and bad. I don't have to get up at an obscene hour for class, and I'm not in school through the night. It still makes it hard to play Runes of Magic and other MMOs, though, as it chops my free-time up into short, interspersed chunks. I initially found some ways to satiate my gaming addiction by -- gasp -- playing Perpetuum. Games like Perpetuum -- and I suspect EVE Online -- have some nice pacing that allows me to go semi-AFK while I work on homework, articles or whatever. I can find safe places with large ore deposits, lay down a large container, and mine for 30 minutes at a time or longer. I'm still visiting the world of Taborea on weekends, and I make quick pit-stops during the week to check up on my fellow guild members, but I realized during my last visit that there are some nice ways for the returning college student to get in some game time and get his or her school-work done. If you find your having trouble balancing work, school and life with RoM, you might find some satisfaction in the long term pet, guild, crafting, and skill-building goals.
Lunchtime Clock mod offers false promises to beleaguered office workers
We've seen a lot of DIY clock mods in the past, but the Lunchtime Clock has to be the most useless. It's great in theory: the thing speeds up 20 percent starting at 11AM and slows down twenty percent at 11:48AM. So, at 11:48AM the clock reads noon, and by 1:00PM it's back in sync, giving you an extra 12 minutes to digest that chili dog you so hastily sucked down before returning to work. Here's the catch: watches, cellphones, and computers also tell time, and if you work in an office where you've got to fake it to get an extra 12 minutes with your chili dog, you can bet your boss isn't trusting ye olde wall clock. So, before you go tinkering with your office timepiece, thank the heavens you've been blessed with an hour long lunch break to begin with. We hear the guy at the chili dog stand only gets 15 minutes.
WSJ: Google plans a 'digital newsstand' to unite all newspapers and magazines under Android's umbrella
The Wall Street Journal has rounded up its cabal of sources today to present another delicious new battlefield in the struggle between Google and Apple for mobile supremacy. Specifically, it reports that the Mountain View team has approached Time Warner, Condé Nast and Hearst -- three of the biggest publishers of periodicals in the US -- with a view to offering their content through a Google-operated "digital newsstand" for Android devices. The appeal for media companies will be an easier route to monetizing their content, apparently, including the possibility that Google could take a smaller slice of revenues than the 30 percent charged by Apple and Amazon. There's also word of developments behind the scenes at Cupertino, where "several changes in iTunes" are expected to improve the publisher's experience of using the service, including making it easier to offer long-term subscriptions and related discounts. Apple's had nothing to say on the matter, while Google's responded by noting it's always in discussions with publishers and has nothing to announce at this point.
iPhone alarms may fail to activate on New Year's Day
If you're using your iPhone or iPod touch as your primary alarm clock, it might be time to reconsider. In 2010, Apple had well-publicized difficulties with the switchover to Daylight Saving Time. Alarms failed to go off at their proper times, causing thousands of people in the Southern Hemisphere to wake up an hour early and many more thousands in the Northern Hemisphere to wake up an hour late. Now yet another bug has struck Apple's Clock app in iOS: single-use, non-repeating alarms fail to go off at all after New Year's Day. Just like the Daylight Saving Time bug, living in New Zealand has given me the opportunity to test this bug ahead of time. Strangely, a single-use alarm scheduled to go off at 7:00 AM today went off on time, but now single-use alarms don't work at all. Only alarms set to repeat at least once during the week will work properly. 9to5Mac suggests that the problem will clear up after January 3, and our testing confirms that -- in a couple of days, the alarms are back to normal. This bug in the Clock app is somewhat less insidious than the Daylight Saving Time bug, which affected repeating alarms. With this New Year's Day bug, you'll still be safe if you've got a repeating alarm set during the work week. Only single-use alarms will fail to go off. I've tested this with alarms created in 2010 and alarms created in 2011, and it makes no difference; all single-use alarms now fail to activate until after 1/3. I've tested this on an iPhone 4 running iOS 4.2.1 -- your experience may differ if you have a different iOS device or software version. Considering how many things Apple's managed to get right in iOS, it seems really odd that, of all things, it's the Clock app that keeps getting mucked up. Let us know in the comments if any third-party alarm clock apps are experiencing the same issue (though I doubt it). In the meantime, if you've been using your iPhone or iPod touch to wake you up in the morning, it might be a good idea to invest in a cheap standalone alarm clock -- or take off work until Monday.
The Daily Grind: What's your longest journey to the level cap?
So I recently hit the level cap (again) in Age of Conan, and it got me to thinking about how rare an occasion that really is. While I've played a huge number of MMORPGs over the years, I can count the number of times I've managed to reach the mythical endgame on one hand. I came close on a couple of occasions (notably in Aion and Lord of the Rings Online) only to have an expansion come out and bump the cap beyond the reach of an unrepentant game-hopper. Recently I've returned to Atreia for a bit of dabbling, and given the stately pace of NCsoft's updates, it looks like I might possibly max out at 55 in the near future. If and when that momentous occasion occurs, my Sorcerer will be well over a year in the making. Conversely, I'm about to ding 50 on my first Global Agenda character even though I only started playing the game in October. These two titles sit at opposite ends of the MMO progression spectrum. One has been watered down from its grindy roots but still boasts a disheartening 50-to-55 summit, while the other is expressly designed for lighting-fast progression (made even faster by boosts from Hi-Rez's store). Today's Daily Grind is all about leveling speed. What's yours? What is the longest time frame you've ever spent maxing out a character? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Alan Wake, Mass Effect 2 and Limbo among Time's best games of 2010
In collating the top ten of everything in 2010 (excluding the top ten recursive jokes about top ten lists), Time has picked some of its favorite video games from the last twelve months. Among the top ten are science fiction stalwarts Halo: Reach and Mass Effect 2, the elegant and creepy Limbo, and iPhone finch fling-em-up, Angry Birds (which just makes it in, having launched at the very end of 2009). Time's top choice is Remedy Entertainment's Alan Wake, which is praised by writer Evan Narcisse for its mature craft and metaphoric gameplay. "Its mix of meta-awareness and Hitchcockian suspense make Alan Wake a unique and fun experiment and one of the best games of the year." Alan Wake's devoted fans are likely to agree: Time couldn't have picked a better game, and the game couldn't have picked a worse time.
Attention US iPhone users: use a standby alarm clock for now
If you live in the United States, you're probably already aware that the nation is set to switch to Standard Time on November 7, moving clocks one hour back. What you may not be aware of is that if you're using an iPhone or other iOS device as your primary alarm clock, it might not make the switch as planned -- and you could end up late to work on Monday as a result. iOS 4 introduced a bug into how iOS devices handle the switch between Daylight Saving and Standard Time. The bug got some attention when it first hit New Zealand back in September -- when our clocks rolled forward an hour, our iOS alarms did not. Many New Zealanders woke up an hour early following the switch to DST because of this bug, myself included. The same thing happened a couple weeks later when certain Australian territories switched to DST, and Apple promised a fix. Southern Hemisphere iOS users had it bad enough being woken up an hour early, but when Europe switched to Standard Time last week, iOS users there found their alarms going off an hour late. The internet was flooded with reports of Europeans whose iPhones and iPods failed to wake them up on time last Monday. At the same time, some of our US commenters noted that alarms in the States were going off an hour early. Apple has posted a support doc on its iOS DST issues, and the company recommends changing repeating iOS alarms in the Clock app to single-use alarms instead as a way of skirting the issue. This procedure worked for us in New Zealand, but it has the added inconvenience of having to remember to set the alarm every day. Bottom line: if you're worried about being late to work on Monday, or losing an hour of sleep, the best advice we can give you is to use a different alarm other than your iPhone or iPod touch for now. While the issue is reportedly resolved in the forthcoming iOS 4.2 update, that update is unlikely to be publicly released before the changeover to Standard Time this Sunday -- so if you're on thin ice at work already, don't depend on your iPhone to wake you up on Monday morning.
Tokyoflash Wasted watch offers a safe, legal high that's much more expensive (and much less effective) than street drugs
Just when a Tokyoflash watch has reached the pinnacle of unreadability, it looks like the company has scaled things back slightly -- very, very, very slightly. Kisai's Wasted watch makes "your senses [come] alive" by turning the time display into a sort of psychedelic light show, one that it would take a modern day Timothy Leary to decode. It's apparently supposed to simulate some sort of hallucinatory state, although we're guessing that it's much more likely to give you a migraine. Rechargeable via USB, and available now for $85 plus shipping. Turn on, tune in, and click the source link to get started -- or peep the video after the break if you're uncertain, man.
The Daily Grind: How do you balance your time?
November marks the beginning of a busy couple of months. Two major holidays are just around the corner, necessitating gift-buying and holiday events in your favorite games. There's a new year just around the corner, too. New games are being released for the holiday season. And of course, you have to balance your commitments in-game with your expectations in the real world, ranging from holding down multiple jobs to just making it to your final exams (which are also afflicting school-age gamers this time of year). And that doesn't count balancing alts, balancing progression with exploration in-game... Of course, for those of us who play multiple games, the issue of time is a persistent one. But right around now, everyone starts feeling the crunch, and despite numerous petitions, the length of the day remains at a strict 24 hours. So how do you balance all of the things that are expected of you across multiple game and real-life commitments? Do you have a priority system and set days for set tasks, or do you just wing everything and hope it works out for the best? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
iOS Daylight Saving Time bug hits Europe (and the US too?)
Update: Some of our commenters are reporting that they're also seeing hour-early alarms in parts of North America. It's not yet clear if this is widespread or idiosyncratic, and if all 4.x devices are affected. Update #2: Engadget points out that alarms set never to repeat, or set to repeat every day, are unaffected; just the selective repeat alarms (only weekends, only weekdays) are getting munged. The iOS bug that caused recurring alarms to go off an hour early in New Zealand after its switch to Daylight Saving Time subsequently hit some territories in Australia following their switchover a week later. Apple promised a fix to the problem, and it's likely the fix will be bundled with the forthcoming iOS 4.2 update -- but that update hasn't come soon enough to stop the problem from striking Europe. With the switchover to Standard Time in Northern Hemisphere nations, European and Middle Eastern countries that have switched are now experiencing the same problem we saw in New Zealand and Australia, but in reverse: Europeans' recurring alarms are going off an hour later following the switch to Standard Time. In New Zealand, the issue eventually resolved itself. A couple weeks after the switch to DST, recurring alarms started going off at the correct time again. The going theory was that Apple's time zone programming in iOS relied on obsolete protocols for DST; New Zealand used to switch to DST on the first Sunday in October, but switched to the last Sunday in September in 2007. It's possible the issue may eventually sort itself out in Europe as well, but not before a lot of Europeans who rely on their iPhones to wake them wind up late for work.
Tokyoflash reaches new heights of unreadability with latest concept watch
Technically speaking, the maze-like array of diagonals you see above is actually showing you the time. But, as is Tokyoflash's wont, the point here isn't so much about time itself as it is about the journey of figuring it out. Well trained ninjas might be able to decouple the numbers from their unhelpfully similar background, but for the rest of us this "Optical Illusion" LED watch will be an enigma of random black lines wrapped inside a lime green mystery. Thankfully, it does come with a button to clear away the mists of confusion if you ever need to, you know, actually tell the time. The watch remains a concept for now, but if enough people vote in favor of its unnecessarily convoluted design, Tokyoflash might just go ahead and build a few. So why not jump off the fence and make your voice heard in the source below?
iOS alarms broken for New Zealand users after Daylight Saving
We just started Daylight Saving Time in New Zealand yesterday. Since then, many iOS users here have experienced what's probably one of the weirdest bugs I've ever seen: our alarms are now going off an hour early. My iPhone's alarm woke me up at 5:50 in the morning today instead of 6:50, and it turns out I'm not the only one. In the iPhone's built-in Clock app, setting a recurring alarm will cause it to trigger an hour early every time if you're running iOS 4.1, iTunes 10.0.1, and live in a Southern Hemisphere country that's just gone over to Daylight Saving Time (which, for now at least, just means New Zealand). It's also been affecting US users in Indiana since late June because of the weird time zone situation in that state. For some reason, non-recurring alarms aren't affected; so far, changing recurring alarms to non-recurring is the only thing that's fixed the problem. Standard Time doesn't start in the US until November 7, which is right around the time that iOS 4.2 is supposed to come out. Since this bug is probably something that can only be addressed by an iOS update, and since a relatively small portion of iOS users will be affected, I won't be surprised at all if Apple sits on this bug until November and bundles the fix into iOS 4.2. Meanwhile, Australian iOS users in territories that observe DST will have something to look forward to: unless this gets fixed before October 3rd, their alarms are going to start going off an hour earlier, too.
Time Inc. relents on digital magazine prices
For the past few months, Time Inc. has been at odds with Apple over magazine subscription models in the App Store. The publishing giant took a big step forward this week in announcing that People Magazine for the iPad will now be free for those who subscribe to the paper version, though that doesn't seem to address the company's initial complaint. Time's original intention was to have users download an app from the store and then pay them directly for future issues. Apple refused, forcing Time to sell single copies of the magazine. That's still the case for most customers, but subscribers can now consider a digital copy a part of their subscription. People is the first title to adopt this model, and its expected that other properties, like Fortune, will soon follow suit. In the end, subscribers are happy -- but the publishers still can't sell subscriptions through their apps. [via Apple 2.0]
