Gizmodo: antikythera mechanism

2000 Year Old Computing Calendar/Clock Replica Is Better Than Your Taskbar Calendar

Jason Chen — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 15:20:00 EST

A man reconstructed the 2000 year old Antikythera Mechanism, an ancient "computer" built by the Greeks to keep track of the moon, the planets and cycles. It's as amazing now as it was then.

The video shows off how it worked. Turning the dial shifted the moon, the sun and planets around the Earth and let users keep track of where each was supposed to be. Michael Wright and his first working model of the Antikythera Mechanism then go on to show off stuff like keeping track of the Olympics every four years and seeing when there are going to be eclipses. That's right, they could predict eclipses—which happen on an 18-year cycle—using this device! [Neatorama via Geeksaresexy]

10 Gadgets With Mind-Boggling Moving Parts

Sean Fallon — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 16:00:00 EDT

At their best, gadgets transcend the world of technology and become "living" works of art. The following ten gadgets are awe-inspiring in their complexity, mind boggling in their motion and beautiful enough to stand alongside the work of any old master. Naturally, there is a clock or two, but there are also calculators, a Rube Goldberg machine and a crazy moving building rounding out the list.

Ancient Computer Found, Can't Play Doom

Charlie White — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 14:39:40 EST

They did have computers back in the days before The Beatles, around the second century B.C., and now scientists have used high-rez imaging and 3D technology to decipher the contraption's function, showing us that civilization in those days was a lot more technically proficient than we all thought. Carefully examining artifacts found on a shipwreck near Greece, researchers say the complex Antikythera Mechanism was used to accurately compute phases of the moon and planetary motion.

How did it work?

The thing used as many as 37 hand-cut bronze gear wheels, each with 53 teeth and a seriously clever pen-and-slot device that connected two wheels, allowing it to make subtle calculations about the moon's elliptical orbit around our planet. No word about whether the computer was a Mac or PC, but some wags were heard muttering that development of Windows Vista began on this very machine. – Charlie White

An Ancient Computer Surprises Scientists [New York Times]