Ahoy, Space Pirates, Spend Your Booty On This Crazy Watch

Arrr! Here be space pirates and where there are space pirates there is need of a $230,000 mechanical watch. Wild watch makers MB&F have just announced their MB&F HM6, a watch based on a 1970s cartoon called Capitaine Flam (Captain Flame). The bulbous watch is built of titanium alloy and you can tell the time using the little curved bulbs on one end of the piece. You can see more photos here.

What the heck is going on here and why is this important? Well, in terms of materials science this is pretty cutting edge stuff. To create a working watch in this shape and size, using curved metal and carefully curved sapphire crystal, is a feat in itself and could point to future design cues in consumer electronics. The biomorphic design looks like something laid eggs on your wrist and is a huge departure from MB&F’s previous spaceship-themed watches. The central tourbillion – the little bit in the center that spins – can be hidden with an eyelid-like cover and the watch winds itself automatically.

Thanks to devices like the Apple Watch, watch design is a hot topic these days and the tools and techniques used to create high-end watches like this one will soon trickle down into cheaper watches. While this object is made by hand – hence the price – a mass produced curved crystal isn’t impossible and titanium bodies are already popular in phones and computers. While MB&F might not like it, we can expect to see this design language in wearables as we move away from blocky and bulky to more organic systems. Duplication, as they say, is the sincerest form of flattery.

How To Hide Text In Microsoft Word 2007, Reveal It & Protect It

Sometimes what we hide is more important than what we reveal. Especially, documents with sensitive information, some things are supposed to be ‘for some eyes only’. Such scenarios are quite common, even for the more un-secretive among us. You want to show someone a letter composed in MS Word, but want to keep some of the content private; or it’s an official letter with some part of it having critical data. As important as these two are, the most common use could involve a normal printing job. Many a time we have to print different versions of a document, one copy for one set of eyes and others for other sets. Rather than creating multiple copies and therefore multiple printing jobs, what if we could just do it from the same document? That too, without the hassle of repeated cut and paste. We can, with a simple feature in MS Word – it’s just called Hidden and let me show you how to use it to hide text in Microsoft Word 2007. It’s a simple single click process. Open the docum...

Boom, the startup that wants to build supersonic planes, just signed a massive deal with Virgin

Have you heard about Boom? Boom is a relatively new startup that’s aiming to build something pretty crazy. They’re not building an app… or a social network… or even some new gadget for the Kickstarter crowd. Boom wants to build planes. Really, really, really fast planes. Specifically, they’re trying to design and build a supersonic passenger plane that goes 2.2x the speed of sound. If all goes to plan, they’ll be able to shuttle people from New York to London in 3.5 hours, and SF to Tokyo in 4.5. Sound crazy? I wouldn’t disagree. It’s worth noting that the company is in the very early days for something as intensive, massive, and hugely expensive as designing and producing a passenger aircraft. They’re still working on their first prototype, and hope to fly it by late next year. But it’s also worth noting that the team behind the plane has some serious talent in its blood: the company’s 11 employees have collectively contributed to over 30 aircrafts — having worked on thin...

Fun Tools to Translate Your Name into Japanese Calligraphy

Japanese calligraphy is an artistic writing style of the Japanese language. Its Chinese origins can be traced back to the twenty-eighth century BCE. Calligraphy found its way into Japanese culture in 600 CE and is known as the karayo tradition. For Westerners, calligraphy is forever fascinating. However, it takes years to learn how to properly draw the signs. Two basic principles must be known to understand Japanese writing: there are different writing styles and different alphabets. Kaisho for example, is a writing style most commonly used in print media. Tensho on the other hand is used in signatures. Other writing styles are Reisho, Gyosho and Sousho. The alphabets include Kanji, Hiragana, and Katakana. Katakana is used for writing foreign words. It can also serve to highlight words, in analogy to capital letters as we know them from the Roman / Latin alphabet (Romaji in Japanese). Each Kanji character has a meaning of its own, while Hiragana or Katakana characters merely repres...

Kiran Upadhyay

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