

Google Timer - franze
https://www.google.com/search?q=timer&pws=0&hl=en

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cvburgess
You must be logged in to use a timer? Pass...

Edit: Here's what I see [http://imgur.com/0bA7aJ3](http://imgur.com/0bA7aJ3)

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jffry
You can also use DuckDuckGo:

[https://duckduckgo.com/?q=timer](https://duckduckgo.com/?q=timer)

[https://duckduckgo.com/?q=timer+4+minutes+33+seconds](https://duckduckgo.com/?q=timer+4+minutes+33+seconds)

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cvburgess
I actually do use DDG prolifically and have come to love all the widgets. I
just think its silly for google to demand that you log in to use a glorified
egg timer. Why do you _need_ me to log in for that?

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michaelmior
Presumably they do this because there are other widgets which require login
and they haven't bothered to separate the two.

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nanoscopic
You can google "timer 4 minutes" or "timer 200 seconds" to get equivalent
timers. The reverse also works "3 minute timer" as described by herf. Google
bug: "Timer 4:50 minutes" gives you a timer for 450 minutes.

Also "timer 450" gives you a timer for 450 minutes. Oddly "timer 62" does not
give you a timer at all.

"timer 6h" gives you a timer for "19h 28m 55s". What?

1a = 2 27 06

1h = 14 26 24

1o = 2 25 56

1p = 2 25 37

1 = 2 24 59

1! = 2 24 04

1@ = 2 23 51

1# = 2 23 36

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wcoenen
> Google bug: "Timer 4:50 minutes" gives you a timer for 450 minutes.

"timer 4 minutes 50 seconds" works fine.

I think that "4:50 minutes" is not a proper way to specify that time span. It
would confuse me as well.

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richbradshaw
[https://www.google.com/?q=remind+me+to+upvote+this+comment+i...](https://www.google.com/?q=remind+me+to+upvote+this+comment+in+60+minutes)
is also useful, and will set it in Google Now, so your
phone/tablet/Chromebook/normal computer will all remind you.

Annoyingly you can't do it too soon, (e.g. less than an hour away) - I guess
because they are concerned it won't sync in time.

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michaelmior
Hmm, this doesn't work at all for me. I can see how this would be useful
though.

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Guillaume86
Google Now on desktop don't work on others languages than en-US. Same thing
with hotword (Ok Google) detection on any screen and when screen off on
android.

Disapointing given Google have a pretty good history in the area of providing
same features everywhere.

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michaelmior
Ah, you're right. That seems to be the problem. I added &hl=en to the end of
the URL and the timer showed up.

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kraig
I use DuckDuckGo's version of this every morning when I make tea.

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bryogenic
[http://steep.it/](http://steep.it/)

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Tenhundfeld
Too bad it uses Flash, especially when it doesn't seem necessary – at all.

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bilalhusain
I was suspecting that it was from old times when audio wasn't supported in
browser and you had to rely on Flash. The decompiled code[1] for the swf
file[2] hints that sound is being used.

[1] [http://pastie.org/9637758](http://pastie.org/9637758)

[2] [http://steep.it/timer/steep.it.swf](http://steep.it/timer/steep.it.swf)

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liviuchircu
It seems you can toggle start/stop with "Space". However, there is no mapping
for the "Reset" command. You had two buttons, Google! And you failed...

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shacharz
This was posted like a year ago
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6429564](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6429564)

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serf
well, this blows steep.it/3minutes out of the water for my regular tea timer.

Thanks. I had wondered why Google hadn't added this before.

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DaFranker
It's been there for a while. I've been typing "timer 15 min" in my Chrome
quicksearch for well over a year, according to my browsing history. They just
never really did much fanfare about it - this came around the time where
Wolfram|alpha was an online sensation because of its smart parsing, IIRC.

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k-mcgrady
Yeah this has definitely been around quite a while. I still find it much
easier to just open a timer app on my phone. It provides a much nicer UI for
selecting a time (scroll wheel) as opposed to typing it. This is handy when at
a computer but I could see myself accidentally closing the tab/window and
losing my timer.

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jlas
Initial trigger has a noticeable lag until the timer starts. Otherwise,
beautiful interface & the full screen feature is pretty neat.

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serve_yay
Just looks like a regular Google search here.

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bratsche
Doesn't seem to work with decimals. I tried "timer 4.5 minutes" and it started
at "5h 01m 54s"

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swframe
During your 9-to-5, you should probably take a break/exercise every 50 minutes
for 10 minutes

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lmg643
how about google stopwatch? I was using a stopwatch the other day to time some
complex GUI stuff where I couldn't quickly or easily put a software timer in.

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herf
Or, Siri for this: "5 minute timer" works great.

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bookwormAT
Or, "Ok Google, set a timer for 5 minutes" on Android

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Guillaume86
Do you get the countdown in that situation? I get an alarm (trying in french
but don't think it's the issue).

