Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with timer

Is there software that will time my game play?

TigerCrane — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 17:01:37 -0800

Is there a timer that will keep track of how much I spend on a game? I use games to practice my typing and I want to log my practice hours. I've googled the subject, and what I've found is programs that turn the game off after a certain time has passed. I want to play MORE, not less. Is there something out there that will do that?

Teethbrushing timer per quadrant

devnull — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 02:54:07 -0800

TeethBrushingFilter: where can I buy a visual teeth brushing timer? Bit of a weird one. A lot of pricey tooth brushes come with two minute timers that alert you every 30 seconds to move to the next quadrant in your mouth.

I'd like something similar, and visual, that I can stick on the bathroom wall. I hit it, then every 30 seconds until two minutes the next quadrant lights up.

I know I could use a timer, but it's morning, I'm looking for something I won't get annoyed with.

Network access control on a timer?

doomtop — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 08:35:41 -0800

Network access control on a timer? I'm looking for the most effective/efficient way to control access to the network at certain times of the day/week. What I want to do is essentially people logging onto the network at most times just simply get Internet access, but at certain time periods of each day the users would become restricted and not be able to access the Internet any longer. Instead, I'd like to have them redirected to a page telling them why they can't reach the Internet and when they will be able to again. The time frames change on different days of the week as well, so it isn't the same times every day.

I was thinking a linux machine with a proxy server that gets turned on/off by cron or something along those lines. I am looking for suggestion on if that is the best way to do it, or if maybe there are some more simple or elegant solutions to this problem out there.

If it helps, the application is a school environment where certain times of the day Internet access needs to be restricted, i.e. study hall time, late at night, etc.

Seeking multiple countdown timer solution

turbodog — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 16:02:14 -0800

I'm looking for an online, Windows or Linux application that lets me easily run multiple (say 10 or so) countdown timers with a label or note for each timer and a chime when each timer expires. For example, I might need to set 3 countdown timers:
- 6 minutes --> "turn cookie sheet"
- 47 minutes --> "get clothes out of dryer"
- 4:30 hours --> "turn on dishwasher"

Keys are ease of use and preferably free. I don't need this $5/month badly and I don't feel like scripting something with bash and cron. I could be putting in dozens of short countdowns per day, so creation needs to be very easy and show all running timers at once.

This thread is related but the sites there neither run multiple timers or have a "what is this timer for?" label.

Looking for a Countdown Timer That'll Go Higher Than 99 Hours

interrobang — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 14:55:41 -0800

I'm looking for an OSX application, widget, or menubar item that will display a countdown to a date. Ideally, I'd be able to set it for, say, May 14th, and it'll show me how many months, days, hours, and seconds are left until the date. It'd be even better if I could run more than one of these timers at a time. I need this to work on Tiger, but Leopard stuff could be useful, too. Thank you!

Working away, hopefully to the tune of Powerhouse....

oflinkey — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 14:44:24 -0800

This is probably stupidly easy.com: I would like to download a timer to my laptop which will go off every five minutes (or whatever increment I choose). I can't seem to get the right search terms to Google it, or even if it exists the way I would l like it to... I have entered the end-of-the-semester hell that is grading papers. I need to manage my time a bit better as I grade, so I would like a laptop timer which I can set for an increment of time-- say 10 minutes-- and then let it loop so that every 10 minutes it goes off and resets itself. Even better if it can give me a minute break between papers. Does such an animal exist?

How do I modify this script so I can change the time also?

IndigoRain — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 17:56:22 -0800

How can I modify this countdown script to be able to set the time, not just the date? I want to set the countdown timer to a date (not Christmas) this year. (I already noticed that when I generate the script, it sets to 2007 instead of 2008, so I have to manually fix it.) I'd like to be able to set the time to countdown to 1900 hours (7pm) - and that's CST if this is not dependent on the user's computer clock. (How do I tell if it's dependent on the user's clock?)

I know there are plenty of other copy-paste countdown timers out there, but I really prefer the appearance of this one over the others I've found.

Need a computer chess clock - for up to a dozen players at once.

bartleby — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 10:33:39 -0800

Looking for a Multitasking Timer: a bunch of timers on screen, clicking on one stops the others. Like a chess clock, but for 6 to 12 players. First, multitasking is a lie - it's just switching back and forth between tasks quickly.
But I find I now need to be able to track all that switching, without stopping in between to jot down the time and task every time I switch.

Metaphorical scenario: Right now, all I can say about what I did today is that I made Thanksgiving dinner for 8, with turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, candied yams, apple pie, bread, and a green salad. I order to get it all done, several things were always going on at once at all times, with a lot of switching around. I have no time how much time I spent focussed on each thing, and I can't say that it takes 6 hours to cook a turkey because most of that time it's in the oven and I'm doing something else.

I now find myself in a position where I need instead to be able to report that I spent my time actually focused on
3.5 hours for turkey
2.0 hours on pie
20 minutes on cranberry sauce
45 minutes on the salad
25 minutes setting the table
etc.
So that all that time can now be analyzed, saying that while the homemade cranberry sauce has maximal benefit with minimal time, the bread could be outsourced without affecting overall meal quality, and the salad should be discontinued because no one ever eats it anyway so it's a waste of my time.

If I had some way of having several renamable timer widgets that I could call up, and click on the course I was preparing just that moment, I would be a happy chef. One timer would stop whenever another timer was clicked on, and resume its count when clicked again - pie timer running while rolling out crust, stopped when turkey timer clicked on for a basting, turkey timer stops and pie timer resumes counting when I click on it and swap the baster for the rolling pin.

Chess players use a thing where each player has a clock timing their moves - Black's stops when he makes a move, which automatically starts White's clock, White moves and Black's timer resumes counting. A chess clock widget deal, where I could set up onscreen timers for Turkey, Pie, etc., that would then print me out a report for each at the end of the day is what I'm looking for. But I need anywhere from 6 to 12 players.

Does such a thing exist?

Help me get paid, plez.

damnjezebel — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 09:51:59 -0800

Because of my time clock at my online job, I have to log in every two hours or else the system thinks that I forgot to log out and I don't get paid for that time. I need an online timer that, at the 2 hour mark or whatever I set, a window will flash on my screen to remind me to go log in again. For your info, I'm running Vista.

Vaio gives "system timer error"

daksya — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 07:58:44 -0800

My laptop gives a "system timer error" and so I probably need some guidance in replacing my laptop's CMOS battery I've an 8 yr old Sony Vaio laptop, model PCG-F590 (a.k.a PCG-9201), which for practical purposes, stopped working 3 weeks ago. The computer boots into XP, but during the login screen, or shortly after logging in, freezes altogether, not responding to any input. Occasionally, it gets stuck during POST itself, displaying "KEYBOARD ERROR" and "SYSTEM TIMER ERROR". Some web browsing tells me that it's likely that the CMOS battery has a lifespan of around 10 years and that could be the issue here.

Before I replace the battery, is there something else I should look into? There was no physical trauma inflicted on the laptop, and I guess the system timer hardware itself hasn't gone kaput. This initially happened all of a sudden while watching a video (the sole purpose of the laptop) 3 weeks ago.

I searched online and this store indicates that the battery is NiMH 2 cells with a mainboard connector. How specific do I have to be with the battery purchase besides the voltage and the connector type?

Most importantly, before I open my laptop, I'd like to know where the battery is located and how I should go on about replacing it? Despite my best efforts, I can't find a motherboard schematic for this laptop. The laptop's way past warranty and besides I'm not the original owner. Repair businesses here charge exorbitantly, so I'd like to do it myself.

is there a problem cutting pwer to a laser printer?

dripped — Thu, 15 May 2008 20:59:58 -0800

Is there an issue with putting a laser printer (Lexmark c522) onto a simple timer that just kills the power at night, and lets it power up again in the morning? Am I going to damage components significantly?

HRM With Interval Timer?

forallmankind — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 10:42:45 -0800

Shopping for a heart rate monitor which includes an interval timer - this is the cheapest Timex ($78), this is cheapest Suunto ($115) and this is the cheapest Polar ($140). Does anyone have experience of any of these, or have other recommendations to offer? The Timex has only 4 reviews on Amazon and 2 of them are bad (how much can you trust an Amazon review?) - average = 3*s. The Suunto has mixed reviews and averages 3.5*s. And the Polar has better reviews - averages 4*s. Also in it's favor, the Polar has the soft Wearlink strap. But there again, it's nearly twice the price of the Timex.

Any advice/ suggestions/ recommendations? This is for cycle training at home (unfortunately hrm cycle computers with interval timers are crazy expensive).

Are there any web 2.0 countdown timers out there?

zzztimbo — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 12:34:28 -0800

Are there any web 2.0 countdown timers out there? I would like a to find a site similar to http://slimtimer.com except instead of being a timer, I'd like it to be a countdown timer, i.e., I'd like to be informed of the remaining days, hours, minutes, seconds until a particular event occurs.

Freeware for Alarming Librarians

exceptinsects — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 10:53:20 -0800

Help my librarians remember to rove! I need a specific sort of break timer and I can't seem to find one anywhere. We are trying to implement the practice of "roving" at my library; that is, when it isn't busy at the reference desk the librarians should go walk around and be available if people have questions out in the stacks.
The problem is that it's hard to get in the habit of doing this, so I thought a little reminder message would help. I want it to just give you a little nudge when things aren't busy, but not to be annoying when you're trying to help someone.

What I want it to do:
--Pop up a message of my choosing at intervals of my choosing. (e.g. "Rove?" every 10 minutes regardless of what else is going on on the computer)
--It should require the person to click the window to close it, but should close without any further waiting.

It must:
--be free
--be web-based (Firefox or IE) or able to be installed on Windows without the intervention of the IT people. (Similar to Firefox).
--be unobtrusive when it isn't alerting you
--not be linked with Outlook since it doesn't work with the profile we use at the desk

I tried Workrave, but I couldn't get it to work like I wanted--it seems like it doesn't pop up consistently--maybe it doesn't count the time when you're not actually typing? Plus, you can't edit the text.

Other previously recommended options mostly seemed to cost money or not do what I wanted--a lot of them seem to want you to take a break for a certain amount of time, but I just want the message and that's it.

Light alarm clock.

davidriley — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 13:15:15 -0800

Do dimmer/timer combo adapters for lamps exist? I want to be able to set a timer AND dimmer on my bedside lamp so that at a scheduled time in the morning it will slowly scale upwards in brightness, simulating a sunrise. I know lamps with this feature built-in exist, but can you get an adapter that works on any lamp? I can only find timer and dimmer adapters alone, but never as a unit.

Timer Troubles

infomaniac — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 20:53:29 -0800

I'm making a timer for skateboard racing and need some help. Does anyone have some advice on wiring simple circuits to lend? THANKS!
The timer I'm making is connected to two pressure sensitive tape switches for the start and finish. The problem I'm having is that at very slow speeds the pressure tape records both front and back wheels separately. At high speeds the connection time in the tape seems too brief to be recorded by the timer.
Is there simple (ie. cheap radioshack item) capacitor or voltage regulator-like circuit that could be added to my tape switches that will register a connection and keep the gate closed for a period of time to ensure the timer receives the signals for start and finish?

Again, thanks.

Time left in the title

cashman — Thu, 31 May 2007 12:55:26 -0800

Programmable timer in browser title? Know where there's a programmable timer that shows the results in the title of the browser?

I'd like to put an hour on a timer, be able to have a bunch of windows open, put that one in the back of them all and be able to gaze up at the top of my screen to see the countdown of how much time is left.

Or, a firefox extension that somehow did it would work too, though there doesn't seem to be a decent looking one that puts it in the title.

I don't want to have to download anything.

Help me keep track of the time I spend writing

agent99 — Wed, 02 May 2007 12:13:53 -0800

Is there a Mac application that can help me keep track of hours, dates, and time I spend writing? I'm facing a giant writing project in the next six months or so and I want to keep track of how many hours I'm working and when. So, at the end of it all, I want to be able to look at a bunch of data and see that I worked for 35 hours on chapter 1, mostly between 11 pm and 2 am, or that the entire project took me 700 hours of writing.

Ideally it would be some kind of small widget where you just press "start" and "stop" every time you work.

I've checked out a few web apps, like toggl (too simple), harvest (not free), and tick (not enough detail)--are there others that do what I want them to, or am I missing features on the ones above that already do what I want them to?

Desired qualities:

1. Free (ideally)
2. Mac compatible
3. Has a widget interface of some kind (not essential)
4. Keeps track of the amount of time AND the time of day and dates
5. Data is downloadable into csv format
6. Web app is OK but must be able to record time while I'm not connected to the internet (and then upload later).

Does such a thing exist?

Make it beep every minute!

jesirose — Sat, 21 Apr 2007 12:22:17 -0800

Is there a stopwatch that will play an alarm every X minutes until I tell it to stop? With all the watches with alarms I have found, you press a button to start the alarm, then after the time is up, you have to restart it again. I want one where I can have it go off every minute, without having to press something every minute, until I press the stop button.

Anyone know of a watch or something that will do this? It needs to be portable, not a computer program or something.

Thanks!

Beepless watch with a timer and a stop watch?

buriedpaul — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 16:05:08 -0800

I'm looking for a digital watch that has both a timer (set the amount of time and it counts down) and a stopwatch (starts at zero and counts up) that doesn't beep when you press any of the buttons to start or stop the timer/stopwatch. I'm preparing to take a standardized test and need to time myself while practicing, and I like to study in the library. I have a crappy old Timex Ironman watch that has a stopwatch and timer, but it beeps when you start or stop the timer even when you have the button chimes setting turned off. I need a watch that I can set to be totally quiet. (And I'd like to pay no more than fifty bucks for it, if possible.)

Help My Mac Tell Me When to Blow My Nose ...

WCityMike — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 15:08:03 -0800

I'm looking for a Mac OS X application that lets me quickly, without a clunky UI or 500 steps, tell the Mac to pop up an alert at specific times of day, with the ability of recurrence. I've tried some apps and ruled them out: Alarm Clock Pro has a background daemon that has a nasty memory leak that the programmers just won't fix, and its UI isn't really good (it's a crossplatform app); iCal and Entourage are very bloated for this sole purpose, and I dislike iCal's UI for entering tasks; remind combined with growlnotify was unreliable, despite a lot of effort to debug; and Quicksilver's timed events isn't really what I'm looking for, either. Just give me something that lets me tell my Mac to pop up a window every Thursday at 7:30 pm, or every day at 10:30 pm, or just tonight at 5:00 pm, or so on that says text of my choosing. Preferably freeware and a universal binary (an application that runs natively on the Intel Macs), but I won't be more picky than I've been already! :)

You can assume my level of competency on the Mac is not too bad. I've goofed with Unix and command-line stuff, and I feel moderately comfortable with higher-level techie stuff, although by no means am I an expert.

Home time travel device?

bbuda — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 22:43:39 -0800

What does this strange dial in my apartment do? The dial (knob? switch?) linked above is in a closet in my apartment, and neither my girlfriend nor I have any idea what it does. It seems to have something to do with timing/scheduling (the dial around it is labeled 1-12AM and 1-12PM) but we don't know what it controls.

Having no context, I don't know what magic words to punch into Google to find this thing, so I turn to you for help. What does it do?!?

Looking for a small wearable periodic alarm

qvtqht — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 02:12:39 -0800

I am looking for a small device that I can either wear or carry in my pocket that will beep, ring, and/or vibrate at a pre-set interval. (I'm thinking every 15 minutes.) I am an easily distracted individual, and I think that this would help me focus on what I should be doing at the moment.

White and black wires, no green and blue?

Blue Buddha — Fri, 28 Jul 2006 16:09:33 -0800

I want to install a timer wall switch to my bathroom fan, and have a wiring question. The current switch just has two wires, white and black. The timer switch has these two, plus a green and blue wire. The green one is supposed to go to the circuit's grounding conductor, and the blue one to the circuit's load conductor, according to the instructions. Considering I only have the white and black in my wall, do I install the switch by connecting those wires and leaving the green and blue wires as is (closing with electrical tape)?

Where can I find a large 6 ft. segmented LCD display?

ostranenie — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 14:28:42 -0800

Where can I find a large (> 6 ft.) segmented LED display? I'm looking for a very large (+6ft. horizontal) LED display. Sort of like an array of these but much larger. It can be driven by serial or parallel input.

The reason why: we have large (segmented LED display, like the numbers on your calculator) digital clocks at work that cost upwards of $20,000. I imagine the reason for their cost is that they are feature-packed and can act as Code Blue timers, countdown timers, mission clocks, you can drive them with NTP and 50 other things we don't care about or need (and that we ostensibly do not want to pay for).

What I'd like to do is buy a nice large serial-powered segmented LED or LCD display that can attached to a networked computer (which are a dime a dozen) and stop buying these fancy clocks with fancy integrated features. Preferably it will already be in a nice case, but we can have one made if it's just the display. If it can be serially driven that's a plus, if not we can find or build a backpack to drive it.

Are there readymade displays like BRG's that don't have all the timing and counting logic built-in - just the display?