[time-nuts] final rules and regulations for IEEE Spectrum clock-making contest

[Neville Michie]

Hi,
this contest is a bit late,
surely there are thousands of products developed over the last 20 years
that have all but exhausted the possibilities for such a product.
The "best" clock that I have is a Swiss made analogue quartz clock.
It bears the brand "Swiss Army", it is a travel alarm clock and runs  
on a "N" sized cell.
It seems to keep time to about 20 secs in a year. My wrist watch is  
similarly good
in performance.
I was discussing this project with my wife, who is an artist and  
designer, and she suggested
a clock in the form of a row of isolated cylinders or cubes, each  
bearing one digit.
THAT would be really cool!
To have no wires it might be an idea for each to have a photovoltaic  
on on one face
to power each element of the device, and a variety of methods could  
be used to have
them communicate.
Magnetic field, radio, anything would work on micropower at a range  
of two inches.
If you wanted them to be supercool, design them so that they assume  
the appropriate
digit no matter how you re-arrange the order, as long as they are in  
a row.
Now there is a challenge,

cheers, Neville Michie











On 22/01/2008, at 8:32 AM, p.ross at ieee.org wrote:

> Here are the final details of the competition IEEE Spectrum  
> announced in
> November:
>
>
>
> Competition Description:
> IEEE Spectrum, the magazine of the Institute of Electrical and  
> Electronic
> Engineers, is sponsoring a contest to build the ideal digital clock  
> -- one
> that is attractive, interesting, functional, and suitable for use in a
> typical small office or indoor home environment.
> The magazine's staff will judge the entries based on the following  
> seven
> criteria: display readability, DIY construction, a $100 limit for  
> all the
> parts, engineering design quality, accuracy, ease of setup and use,  
> and
> attractiveness.
> Judges will subjectively assign a 1 to 10 score for each criteria and
> objectively select three candidates based on the scores.
> The top three entries will be judged by our collaborator, Make  
> Magazine.
> The winner will travel to San Mateo, Calif. for Maker Faire on May  
> 3-4,
> 2008.
> Judging Notes:
> Display -- Should be readable by day or night from across a small  
> room.
> DIY -- Other engineers should be able to reproduce your clock,  
> based on
> your documented design.
> Cost -- Parts should be readably available from standard sources for a
> total of under $100.
> Quality -- Design and construction should be robust, showing  
> attention to
> detail, inside and out.
> Accuracy -- Clocks should keep good time.
> Usability -- Initial setup, time setting, or other features should be
> simple and intuitive (with a minimum of manual reading).
> Attractiveness -- The clock should draw attention some combination  
> of the
> following attributes: beauty, cleverness, interesting design,
> envy-inspiring coolness, or just a "wow" factor.
> Technical Notes:
> Proximity to a socket for AC or wall-wart DC power is assumed, if
> necessary.
> Accuracy will computed by measuring time error at one-week intervals
> (submissions designed to excel in the accuracy category may provide an
> unobtrusive 1PPS pin that the judges can use for precise  
> measurements).
> Use of ultra-precise time sources such as GPS, WWVB, telephone, or
> Internet is not precluded but designers should realize that  
> dependence on
> these technologies is likely to both increase cost and reduce the  
> chance
> that the clock works out-of-the-box in all home and office  
> environments.
> A formal, publishable project/kit description can wait until the  
> clock is
> selected as one of the winners.
> Use of microcontrollers is acceptable as long as binary and source  
> code
> can be included with the design.
>
> Send prototypes to: Clock Competition, IEEE Spectrum, 3 Park  
> Avenue, 17th
> Floor, New York, NY 10016-5997
> Delivery must be dated on or before 7 April 2008, based on postmark or
> courier-service registration.
>
>
>
>
>
> Philip E. Ross
> Senior editor
> IEEE Spectrum Magazine
> 212 419 7562
> http://www.spectrum.ieee.org
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