Swatch Internet Time (@Beats)

[Melooon]

So! I had a meeting this morning with the local enterprise office where I pitched the idea that I wanted to start a company manufacturing beat watches with built-in Tamagotchi-style pets. They seemed... a little sceptical, but not dismissive 

They wanted me to talk to some engineering people to get advice and come up with a prototype and do more market research before they would be convinced anyone would buy such a thing; I'm going to reach out to a few of the contacts they recommended and see what happens 

Im kinda just having fun seeing how far I can take this idea, but I think people would be super into them too!

[Còbra!]

So! I had a meeting this morning with the local enterprise office where I pitched the idea that I wanted to start a company manufacturing beat watches with built-in Tamagotchi-style pets. They seemed... a little sceptical, but not dismissive 

They wanted me to talk to some engineering people to get advice and come up with a prototype and do more market research before they would be convinced anyone would buy such a thing; I'm going to reach out to a few of the contacts they recommended and see what happens 

Im kinda just having fun seeing how far I can take this idea, but I think people would be super into them too!

I would totally buy one! :D

Maybe make it LCD (with the 8 segment displays). Might save money and it would be authentically retro!

and I know there might not be a market for it, but I would love a model that only tells the time in beats, as I already have a watch that tells the IRL time. :P

[Melooon]

I would totally buy one! :D

Maybe make it LCD and have a model that only tells the time in beats, as I already have a watch that tells the IRL time. :P

That was my plan! I was thinking of seeing if I could get the internals of something like generic kids toy watch - putting a tiny low res square pixel LCD on it - making some cool custom case designs (like transparent purple with glitter or SNES colours) - and then putting custom software on it that just showed beat time and your virtual pet (which could be optionally disabled) - since all the pets would be running on universal beat time, you could do like global special events where all the pets would wear a funny hat or something 

It would not have any connectivity beyond that, and I don't think it should cost more than 30 euro.

[Còbra!]

That was my plan! I was thinking of seeing if I could get the internals of something like generic kids toy watch - putting a tiny low res square pixel LCD on it - making some cool custom case designs (like transparent purple with glitter or SNES colours) - and then putting custom software on it that just showed beat time and your virtual pet (which could be optionally disabled) - since all the pets would be running on universal beat time, you could do like global special events where all the pets would wear a funny hat or something 

It would not have any connectivity beyond that, and I don't think it should cost more than 30 euro.

What about the ability to program software for it like homebrew? That would be pretty sweet!

[Memory]

I mean, the PineTime already exists, a $20 smartwatch with an open source and hackable operating system.

Of course your project would be way different, but I'm saying that it took five plus years and several dozen engineers, let alone an entire existing company and tens of thousands of pledges, to make even that a reality.

[Melooon]

I'm saying that it took five plus years and several dozen engineers

Agreed! While hackability is cool, there is no way I'd be able to provide the infrastructure for it. I'm more interested in taking my usual approach of combining pre-existing bits, modern and retro, into something with an aesthetic focus in a really simple way.

I also think maybe there is a cheeky commentary on consumerism and mass production in relation to the internet and the idea of universal shared time and culture. I haven't solidified that in my mind yet, but I find that philosophically intriguing

[Còbra!]

Agreed! While hackability is cool, there is no way I'd be able to provide the infrastructure for it. I'm more interested in taking my usual approach of combining pre-existing bits, modern and retro, into something with an aesthetic focus in a really simple way.

I also think maybe there is a cheeky commentary on consumerism and mass production in relation to the internet and the idea of universal shared time and culture. I haven't solidified that in my mind yet, but I find that philosophically intriguing

Fair enough, yeah. Looking forward to it either way!

[DNxi]

after the most recent vrchat meetup, i got thinking about how to make it easier to convert beat time to "regular" time for when organizing and attending events like this. i had used the beat time conversion website linked to in that forum thread, but it was just a little bit more cumbersome to use than i would've liked, and i wasn't totally sure if it was taking DST into account or not. so for any future events held on this forum, i've created a widget that'll automatically show a specified beat time in your local time that you can embed right into your forum posts! it utilizes the webgarden embedding functionality that this forum offers.

to use it, just copy and paste the following code into your post and replace the "750" at the end with the beat time you want to be displayed (this would probably be the time your event starts).

Code

[webgarden]https://www.cyberdragon.digital/beatdisplay/?beats=750[/webgarden]

the widget will look like this in your post. (the converted local time is shown under "target time") let me know if you find any bugs or have any thoughts or ideas for it!


Webgarden - https://www.cyberdragon.digital/beatdisplay/?beats=750

[Melooon]

he widget will look like this in your post.

This is hyper cool! And a really clever use of webgardens! Its like a webgarden 2.0!!

I DO have feedback though.. Firstly the current beats is wrong for me! It says @67, but its @26 as Im writing.

I would also add a bit of explanation to the display maybe add a title that says like "Beat Time Converter" and add an option for people to include custom text along with the custom beat time? e.g. (/beatdisplay/?beats=750&title=VR+Meetup+26-4)

So it would show up as like:

Beat Converter
(VR Meetup 26-4)
The event will start at the target time!

Also also Id make it very clear that "Target time" is YOUR target time. so should say like:
Target Time
(Local time for you)

EDIT: ALSO ASLO
Add a button that says "Make your own beat event" - when you click it it will take you to another page (within the webgarden) that lets you input your time and title and generates your custom bbcode and HTML URLs 

[DNxi]

This is hyper cool! And a really clever use of webgardens! Its like a webgarden 2.0!!

I DO have feedback though.. Firstly the current beats is wrong for me! It says @67, but its @26 as Im writing.

you're right, it was hecked up! turns out that i just had a silly math mistake in my code for converting from UTC to UTC+1. hopefully i've fixed it now!

I would also add a bit of explanation to the display maybe add a title that says like "Beat Time Converter" and add an option for people to include custom text along with the custom beat time? e.g. (/beatdisplay/?beats=750&title=VR+Meetup+26-4)

So it would show up as like:

Beat Converter
(VR Meetup 26-4)
The event will start at the target time!

Also also Id make it very clear that "Target time" is YOUR target time. so should say like:
Target Time
(Local time for you)

EDIT: ALSO ASLO
Add a button that says "Make your own beat event" - when you click it it will take you to another page (within the webgarden) that lets you input your time and title and generates your custom bbcode and HTML URLs 

thanks for all the suggestions! these all sound great, so i'll work on getting them implemented.

[DNxi]

I would also add a bit of explanation to the display maybe add a title that says like "Beat Time Converter" and add an option for people to include custom text along with the custom beat time? e.g. (/beatdisplay/?beats=750&title=VR+Meetup+26-4)

So it would show up as like:

Beat Converter
(VR Meetup 26-4)
The event will start at the target time!

Also also Id make it very clear that "Target time" is YOUR target time. so should say like:
Target Time
(Local time for you)

EDIT: ALSO ASLO
Add a button that says "Make your own beat event" - when you click it it will take you to another page (within the webgarden) that lets you input your time and title and generates your custom bbcode and HTML URLs 

i've included all of your suggestions! there's now a "make your own beat converter" button that opens up a form for creating your own converter widget and generating the BBcode to copy and paste it into a forum post. you can also optionally include a title that will be displayed on the widget.


Webgarden - https://www.cyberdragon.digital/beatdisplay/?beats=123&title=titles%20are%20here!

[Memory]

So! I had a meeting this morning with the local enterprise office where I pitched the idea that I wanted to start a company manufacturing beat watches with built-in Tamagotchi-style pets. They seemed... a little sceptical, but not dismissive 

They wanted me to talk to some engineering people to get advice and come up with a prototype and do more market research before they would be convinced anyone would buy such a thing; I'm going to reach out to a few of the contacts they recommended and see what happens 

Im kinda just having fun seeing how far I can take this idea, but I think people would be super into them too!

Really love the idea. Only if I could buy one...

[wetnoodle]

Hey all, I really like the idea of beat time, one thing I'm struggling to wrap my brain around is how to work out the dates. It's still Tuesday where I am so if I wanted to schedule something for the current time in 3 days, would I say Friday @201 (using my date) or Saturday @201 (the date in Biel, where swatch time is based)

Also @Melooon I would love to get one of those watches if it works out!

[Còbra!]

Hey all, I really like the idea of beat time, one thing I'm struggling to wrap my brain around is how to work out the dates. It's still Tuesday where I am so if I wanted to schedule something for the current time in 3 days, would I say Friday @201 (using my date) or Saturday @201 (the date in Biel, where swatch time is based)

I imagine it would be the timezone Swatch time is based. I can see how that would cause confusion, though...

[m1k3]

I dunno, while neat I find it harder to convert than UTC. With UTC you just need to know what offset you are. For example, I know that I am -5 UTC. Thus, if UTC is 12:00 then it's 07:00 where I am. This makes it easier to figure out dates too. If it's 01:00 UTC then I'm still in the previous day at 20:00 (8pm).

With swatch I have no easy reference to know the time relative to my location without a swatch clock or converter. Eventually over time I would get used to it like anything else but 24 hour time is universal at this point and knowing your timezone offset is easy to convert in your head.