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Futuristic watch beams time onto your hand

Got time on your hands? An Indiegogo campaign promises to deliver the world's "First Projection Watch."

Michael Franco
Freelancer Michael Franco writes about the serious and silly sides of science and technology for CNET and other pixel and paper pubs. He's kept his fingers on the keyboard while owning a B&B in Amish country, managing an eco-resort in the Caribbean, sweating in Singapore, and rehydrating (with beer, of course) in Prague. E-mail Michael.
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Michael Franco
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Hmm, if only I could figure out what time it is. Ritot

In the 2011 movie "In Time," the amount of time people had left to live was displayed digitally on their arms. I have a feeling the two Indiegogo fund seekers who've come up with the Ritot projection watch must have liked the movie, because their new gizmo also displays time on your body. Only with their watch, the display tells you the time of the day, not the moment you will cease to exist (now THAT would be an Indiegogo campaign worth funding indeed!).

Billed as the "World's First Projection Watch," the Ritot works by using an embedded pico projector (another phrase for "tiny projector") in the watch band to blast out the time onto your hand. All you do is push the single button, and voila, your hand lights up with the time in any of 20 different colors of light that you can customize using a base station.

You can set the watch to have the display vanish after 10 seconds, or you can leave it on permanently. The base station also charges the watch, lets you set its time, and works as an alarm clock.

Ritot can pair with your smartphone to deliver Facebook and Twitter notifications onto your hand (which won't get annoying at all), as well as texts, email updates, and reminders.

The waterproof watch, which can be yours for a $120 pledge, will be available in two versions: the aluminum and leather "bracelet" style and the rubber and plastic "sport" style. As with many crowd-funded projects these days (like the super awesome "="" cooler"="" shortcode="link" asset-type="article" uuid="d51e83ff-899c-4e1c-a977-554b822f2ef6" slug="high-tech-cooler-boasts-bluetooth-blender" link-text="" section="news" title="High-tech cooler boasts Bluetooth, blender" edition="us" data-key="link_bulk_key" api="{"id":null,"slug":null,"contentType":null,"edition":"us","topic":{},"metaData":{}}"> ), the Ritot has rocketed past its goal of raising $50,000 and is now in the neighborhood of $400,000 with over a month left to collect even more backers.

I guess there are a lot of people out there who'd like to have some time on their hands.