Need a computer chess clock - for up to a dozen players at once.
October 28, 2008 10:33 AM Subscribe
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?
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?
SlimTimer sounds like it's exactly what you're looking for.
Combine it with Bubbles and you can keep it conveniently tucked away in your task bar.
posted by DrDreidel at 11:37 AM on October 28, 2008
Combine it with Bubbles and you can keep it conveniently tucked away in your task bar.
posted by DrDreidel at 11:37 AM on October 28, 2008
Lifehacker recently reviewed one. Others in the comments too.
posted by i_am_a_Jedi at 4:12 PM on October 28, 2008
posted by i_am_a_Jedi at 4:12 PM on October 28, 2008
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posted by prefpara at 10:52 AM on October 28, 2008 [1 favorite]