Awesome Digital

While analog watches might have a more classic look, there’s no question that digital watches are easier to read and can pack more functions. Our pals at Everyday Carry have rounded up 10 great digital watches from the back-to-basics Casio W-59 to the feature-rich Suunto 9 Baro Titanium smartwatch.

A while back, expert LEGO engineer and mathematician Alexander Holroyd created a 7-segment display that uses LEGO Technic parts to change digits. Fello LEGO fan and GBC builder Fernando recreated the intriguing machine, and shared video footage of his version in action.

A budget-priced digital watch for travelers or those working with remote teams, the AE-3000W can simultaneously display times in three time zones. It has day/date, stopwatch, and countdown functions, along with five alarms. It’s water-resistant to 100m and has an enormous 55mm face, so looks best on a big wrist.

If you’ve used Photoshop’s content-aware fill, you know that it’s gotten easier to remove objects from still images. Doing the same in video is much trickier, but as Two Minute Papers explains, there’s new AI-based tech that’s really good at removing objects from moving images. It can also expand content into missing areas.

Computer scientists from Google, MIT, and UC Berkeley have developed incredible image correction software that uses artificial intelligence to remove or soften unwanted shadows and harsh highlights from faces without affecting other naturally-occurring shadows. Read more about the tech on the project’s website.

Brandon James Greer is a master at creating pixel art. In this tutorial video, he explains some tricks and techniques for working with the most rudimentary of color palettes. 1-bit art embraces the limitations of a low-res monochrome image to focus on composition, patterns, and textures.

The Kisai Quasar has a deceptively easy to read display. Despite the geometric patterns covering its face, its digits are actually hiding in plain sight at the center of its hexagonal quadrants. It offers date, stopwatch, and alarm functions, along with electroluminescent backlighting, and 12-hour and 24-hour modes.

This retro-modernist alarm clock clearly gets inspiration from vintage Nixie tubes, but it uses LEDs instead. These red LEDs have two big advantages to Nixie: longevity and power consumption. The seven-digit display shows hours and minutes on its larger tubes and seconds on the smaller ones. Note: Only supports 24-hour time.

Motion artist Colin Toupe presents a series of three digital portraits, each of which is a wild abstract image which morphs through a trippy landscape of color and procedural textures. The resulting video is like a crazy fever dream.

Capture delightfully imperfect photos with Holga’s inexpensive digital camera. It features a retro-style body in black, black/silver, or multicolor and captures 8-megapixel images through its low-fi viewfinder and lens. Save 22% in The Awesomer Shop.

A fun DIY kit for musicians, electronics hobbyists, and just about anyone who likes cool gadgets. The Rhythmo Beatbox lets you build a MIDI controller and drum machine in a cardboard box. It’s got arcade-style buttons, built-in sounds, a battery, and speakers. Its companion mobile app enables sound customization.

Interactive system maker Realtime Department shows off a modern version of the classic foosball game where you never have to worry about losing the ball again. It features a 4K display and spinner style rod controls, and its virtual stadium and player uniforms can be customized.

The 1979 Sugar Hill Gang track Rapper’s Delight put hip hop on the map for many of us. Now enjoy a cover of the seminal rap track, as performed by the trio of Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant, courtesy of YouTuber Steven Rosenthal. It seems like Siri has the best sense of rhythm.

Engineers from the MIT Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence Lab (CSAIL) developed a technology which uses RF signals and deep learning algorithms to approximate the movements of people as they go behind a wall or walk in a darkened room.

Most digital displays are completely solid state, with no moving parts. But check out these nifty (and noisy) Alfa Zeta 7-segment displays from FlipDots, which look digital, but use magnetic fields to change states. Check out more cool FlipDot demonstrations here and here.

Make: author Caleb Kraft came across this nifty plaything by Mike’s Electric Stuff, which uses sensors and a cylindrical grid of LEDs that simulate falling snow or sand as it’s flipped end-over-end. Mike needs to turn this thing into a toy you can buy. He’d sell thousands.

One of the more entertaining robotic groups we’ve heard was built by FT Mechatronics, whose electronic band consists of a variety of stepper motors, solenoids, hard drives, oscilloscopes, a robot xylophone, nixie tubes, and a tesla coil. Here, it plays Hello by OMFG.

A slick new take on vintage Nixie tubes. The open-source Lixie display uses LED edge-lit acrylic sheets to display different digits. Unlike Nixies they can be any color, and don’t require high voltage to operate. Designer Connor Nishijima explains how it works.

An modern and minimal analog watch that packs digital integrations with your iOS or Android smartphone via Bluetooth. It offers activity tracking, sleep monitoring, and notifications, and battery life up to 6 months.

ZIIRO takes their unique LCD watch display and embeds it in a modern pocket watch. Made from a sturdy anodized aluminum, with a mineral crystal front, and EL backlighting. Comes with a black metal chain and matching carabiner.

The touchscreen Synapse can tell time in four timezones simultaneously, and looks cool doing it on its dot-matrix display. Available in black, gunmetal, gold and silver stainless steel finishes.

Previously featured for his pencil/photo mashups, artist Ben Heine has a unique new technique – creating entire portraits from a series of perfect circles with only Photoshop CS4 and his raw talent.

Panasonic’s LUMIX DMC-TS3 camera is equipped with GPS and compass and features 3D Photo mode; it creates images by taking 20 consecutive photos and overlaying the 2 best for the final shot.