
Show HN: 288 Analog Clocks Give Digital Time - MichaelHoste
http://clocks.80limit.com
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chrisjshull
I'd love to see a version of this that didn't go through a "random" phase
every few seconds. I'd love to see the actual transitions between the times. I
think it would be more subtle, but more elegant. (You might be able to add
seconds display to the clock if you wanted it to be more active.)

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MichaelHoste
I was indeed afraid that it would look too static without using "random"
phases. Using seconds would be great (I could try to make them look smaller
too).

Looking at my source of inspiration
([http://www.humanssince1982.com/a-million-
times/](http://www.humanssince1982.com/a-million-times/)) you can see that the
random phases are way prettier than mine. But it would make the code uglier
with a lot of "setTimeout"s, and I wanted to keep it clean.

~~~
gravypod
Is it possible to make these scriptable? I think it would be fun to try and
visualize magnetic field lines with these.

Also on the clock front, can you change it to segment the array into different
digits. Then just do a full right hand rotation of the clocks in that segment
untill they get to their correct possition?

So if you have to update the single minute digit only those clocks spin and
they only spin to the right untill they fall into their correct possition. If
you needed to update hours and minutes then all of the clocks would rotate to
the right untill they fall into position.

Would be faster and I think it may look cool.

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joezydeco
Meanwhile, this person did a digital clock out of Conway's Life:

[http://codegolf.stackexchange.com/questions/88783/build-a-
di...](http://codegolf.stackexchange.com/questions/88783/build-a-digital-
clock-in-conways-game-of-life/111932#111932)

~~~
bbcbasic
Holy cow

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dexterdog
It would make a nice screen clock if it actually showed the time most of the
time. Instead most times when you look at it to see what time it is you have
to wait. At that point you're pulling your phone out of your pocket and next
thing you know you're reading HN and wasting time.

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GavinMcG
This is a design piece, inspired by a gallery exhibition that did something
similar, but mechanically.

The creator is in this thread and can speak for himself on this, but
complaining about it not being a clock you'd actually use really doesn't
contribute much.

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Someone
Those aren't analog clocks. Analog clocks don't have a state where both hands
of the clock are horizontal, or where one is pointing south and the other
pointing east or west.

~~~
biot
It is if you allow for rotation of the hands as well as rotating the entire
clock itself. If a clock showing 6:00 is rotated 90 degrees you get horizontal
hands. Similarly for rotating a clock that shows 3:00 or 9:00.

~~~
Someone
No, it isn't. The clocks have the two hands rotating in different directions
at times, too.

~~~
biot
Well, that's a different objection. If you want to get technical, these aren't
analog clocks because regardless of anything else they're running digitally on
your computer. QED.

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Entangled
Nice trick, you're only using six hours to show the time: four corners,
horizontal and vertical. The rest is just random movement to make it look like
a complex machine.

Kudos.

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sly010
I have seen a few real ones in design exhibitions [0]. I like this concept.

[0]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbulAxkeMbo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbulAxkeMbo)

~~~
othello
Here's a prettier one, very close to the digital version:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-MxGvtK2Bk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-MxGvtK2Bk)

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stevefeinstein
It takes about 15 seconds for the clock to cycle. Only three of these seconds
are spent actually showing the time. So if I want to know the time I need to
sit and wait typically about 10 seconds before I'll know what time it is. It's
cool, but it's upside down. It needs to be a clock first, then cool.

~~~
flogic
That depends on whether it's priority is to be a clock or a piece of art
first. As an artwork, it more than succeeds. In it's current form,
prioritizing art seems the correct choice. It takes up a fair chunk of screen
real estate. It's the kind of thing you pop up for a bit and look at as a
novelty. To be primarily a clock, it will need a more dedicated display. Even
if that's just an LCD monitor connected to a Raspberry PI.

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kwhitefoot
Clever but the clocks aren't really analogue. In an analogue clock the
movement is continuous and there is no state where both hands are horizontal

But still, it really is clever.

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ythn
Are the "analog" clocks actually analog? Seems like they just transition
between discrete states based on the current (digital) time.

Still, mesmerizing visualization.

~~~
S_A_P
Agree. I was initially expecting the "analog" clocks to show the time and he
arranged in a way that they formed the digital time. I do think it's cool to
look at though

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jhund
Here is a similar effect, just with physical clocks, and a larger number of
them:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdaKTnqotbE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdaKTnqotbE)

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pimlottc
Yeah, it's really cool. It's linked from this project as the inspiration!

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jimnotgym
Well I thought it was beautiful and, the real test, my children agree

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orless
Would be interesting to see a "digital text" version to display short text
messages the same way.

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rongway
If you look at it long enough, some of the analog clocks start twitching

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knqyf263
I want to display this on the iPad and put it in the room.

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Y_Y
Why say "over 280" when you could just say 288?

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MichaelHoste
I have no idea, the title changed after I posted it and it was "288". It was
also originally a "Show HN:" but someone removed it (maybe I was using it
wrong, I don't know).

~~~
sctb
We updated the title to “Over 280 Analog Clocks Give Digital Time”, but on
second thought have put it back to the original.

