Projection Alarm Clocks

16 Comments

1. bit_tos_tracker
   Posted August 17, 2010 at 10:09 am | Permalink

   Ensure you have the most accurate time with this Digital Atomic Wall Clock from Sharp®. Only $34.13

2. lare
   Posted August 18, 2010 at 10:16 am | Permalink

   so-called atomic clocks actually run from an internal crystal timer. they incorporate a 60 KHz receiver that tunes a radio data signal broadcast from Ft Collins Colorado. The clock uses the data signal to correct its internal time keeping, so that it will stay in step with the reference. Because the data is digital, it can send info on leap seconds, savings time changes, UTC hour, day and year.

   the only jamming you might be able to accomplish is to cause enough interference to block reception, but that usually is done only once a day, late at night when school is closed. When the clock misses an automatic update, it displays an error flag.

   the old fashioned "IBM" school clocks were made to synchronize to the central controller, usually in the principals office. if you could trick the controller, all the school clocks would change in step.

3. Larry454
   Posted August 23, 2010 at 8:26 am | Permalink

   No, the difference in the two time standards is due to the cumulative slowing. If the slowing ceased, we would still need to add those leap seconds regularly. It's like having a clock that's slow – if it loses five minutes a day, it can continue to do so indefinitely. By some innumerate arguments, you would expect it to slow to a dead stop in less than a year. The first number stated is the actual rate of slowing – 0.002 seconds per day per century. That's about 0.0036 seconds per year, not 0.7. That's a long-term average for the current era. It is in fact faster now than it was in the distant past because the ocean tides are close to resonance and are therefore absorbing more energy. There are also a variety of factors that can speed or slow the Earth's rotation in the short term, so the slowing is not constant.

   As for your second question, about the leap seconds, I have seen some very confused arguments from people who think that if we need to add a leap second every other year, that the length of the year (or maybe even the *day*) is increasing by that amount every year, from which they linearly extrapolate a time when the rotation rate will go to zero.

4. Mike
   Posted August 30, 2010 at 1:05 pm | Permalink

   not sure about yours but the one I got from c/net changed mine automatically over the weekend — all you have to do is ping it — here's a link if you want to download it just checked for size of download it's supersmall (628k)

5. Jayslamdunk
   Posted September 13, 2010 at 10:43 pm | Permalink

   Casio Women's Solar Atomic Sports Watch (and free travel clock): $53.12, w/FSSS Amazon

6. IConrad
   Posted September 17, 2010 at 2:37 am | Permalink

   > It’s my profession to schedule those ships at their berth. You are entirely wrong when you claim they are timed precisely. If I have a ship delayed 6hrs, all that I do is call the stevedore and my agent and they change the berth. If there is no berth available we wait, It’s really not a big deal. Timing is not important, as we are prone to delays constantly. Ports America is a big stevedore I use, they have a 24 hour gang policy, IE i have to order my gangs 24 hours in advance or I pay ILA guarantee time. So… delays don’t cost anything except when they do. Got it. Anything else you want to be full of shit on in this conversation? > You are drastically ignorant of how ships operate aren’t you? If GPS goes out we simply use our chronometer checked against a radio tack. Exactly what is the fucking nightmare here? That radio tack ***is synchronized by the GPS system***. Your own link corroborates that. > > At least one quartz chronometer made for advanced navigation utilizes multiple quartz crystals which are corrected by a computer using an average value, in addition to GPS time signal corrections. And that system is still lossy to the tune of milliseconds — and isn’t even in widespread adoption. > And both times you’ve been utterly wrong in how you think navigation by a celestial body works. That’s funny. ***I HAVEN’T SAID A GOD-DAMNED FUCKING THING ABOUT HOW NAVIGATION BY A CELESTIAL BODY WORKS***. > > I based that statement on the loss of immediate checks GPS provides — which you have not rebutted whatsoever; > I’ve totally rebutted this bullshit assumption – see the points about celestial navigation. No, man. You’ve said not one word in contradiction of it. Not one fucking word. You stated in fact quite the opposite. Sightings. As in discrete actions. Which ***BY YOUR OWN WORDS*** are not done in real-time. > The fact that you don’t even realize we use independent time pieces That’s because you don’t. No one does. They basically do not exist. The atomic clock system of the GPS system is used to fix positions but it is also secondarily used to synchronize times and is the primary system for that purpose throughout the world. Without it, time-sensitive systems such as oceanic trans-shipping will become “lossy”. > Why would someone check a GPS system, using the GPS system itself? That doesn’t make any sense. If I’d said that’s what was being done, you might have a case to stand on with this accusation. But of course, I made no such statement. And with that, I’m done. Have fun getting in your last word, as I’m sure you will. Please, do at least **TRY** to respond to the things I say with something other than “Nuh-uh!” or “No, you’re wrong because of [thing that says you're right]!”

7. RG
   Posted September 25, 2010 at 7:59 pm | Permalink

   My holy grail is a 24 hour analog Atomic clock or watch. There are tons of clocks and watches that are synchronized by radio, but I have never found an analog 24 hr one. The closest I came was a 24hr dial option for a master clock system costing several thousand dollars.

   I had an old Franklin 24 hr clock in the 1970's. Like most wall clocks made back then it was AC powered with a synchronous motor, so it kept excellent time. Unfortunately the case was damaged during a move. I wish I had known that the movement would become obsolete and unavailable, I would have kept it.

8. ThatFeelsNICE
   Posted October 19, 2010 at 7:22 am | Permalink

   //IPHONE Utilities / Atomic Clock – 3.0 iphone apps ipa:
    6.8 / 175Atomic Clock
   Atomic Clock Pro features alarm a… http://bit.ly/d9Qbx3

9. RRRMMM1111
   Posted November 7, 2010 at 10:37 pm | Permalink

   If it keeps track of time then it should be OK. My guess is the gears inside of the clock are very slacky. It seems it could be an atomic clock.

10. lare
    Posted November 11, 2010 at 4:42 pm | Permalink

    so-called atomic clocks actually run from an internal crystal timer. they incorporate a 60 KHz receiver that tunes a radio data signal broadcast from Ft Collins Colorado. The clock uses the data signal to correct its internal time keeping, so that it will stay in step with the reference. Because the data is digital, it can send info on leap seconds, savings time changes, UTC hour, day and year.

    the only jamming you might be able to accomplish is to cause enough interference to block reception, but that usually is done only once a day, late at night when school is closed. When the clock misses an automatic update, it displays an error flag.

    the old fashioned "IBM" school clocks were made to synchronize to the central controller, usually in the principals office. if you could trick the controller, all the school clocks would change in step.

11. bashed1
    Posted November 19, 2010 at 10:54 am | Permalink

    I've had a Casio Wave Ceptor for years; never had a problem with it syncing – unless I tried forciing it to do so during the daytime.  The atomic clock that Casio watches sync with is in Fort Collins, CO; the signal is not that strong during the day but it is stronger at night (due to less interference). Just have patience and leave the watch near a window facing Fort Collins at night; it should sync by morning.

12. brecciwolf
    Posted January 6, 2011 at 5:20 am | Permalink

    Jesus, how the fuck can one person hit the double bass that fast?

13. yabba155
    Posted March 19, 2011 at 10:17 pm | Permalink

    no one cares u got 1st trashy

14. fakename2
    Posted July 11, 2011 at 1:37 am | Permalink

    That was quite the story about the kilogram. It states, the speed of light is always constant. Are they sure about that? I personally have spent many sleepless seconds worrying about the precision of time. allows you to coordinate the time on your computer with an atomic clock in Boulder, Colorado. But what if the clock is wrong? What if it has sped up and it's already 2050, only we don't know it? Rocky needs to add sunglasses to his repertoire. They are essential in Florida (and when NYC becomes like Florida)where you often find you need them and your umbrella at the same time.

15. batizkil
    Posted November 18, 2011 at 2:56 pm | Permalink

    mr. kennedy has an atomic clock (&) it is wrong -__-

16. Laurie
    Posted May 9, 2012 at 10:27 am | Permalink

    Mine didn't reset itself either. I had to do it manually.. What is this world coming to!!