Digital Ruler

It is cool, but would be very functional and super cool if you could calibrate it for scale drawings. Lets say for simple math your making a design drawing of something at 1/12 scale. The readout displays one foot when you draw one inch. Should be an easy feature to add since it's all digital.
I do agree with the earlier comment that you'd have to also get it to read out in feet, inches etc, which means losing the decimal place, but again an easy fix, just add more LED displays.
Ideally America would just switch to the metric system, but that is unlikely.

Mark Owen Johnson

@jboy06: That's akin to claiming that digital clocks only serve to make people dumber as well. I don't think this was designed for ease of use, but rather aesthetic awesomeness.

Skot

@Hahaue: I almost wish i was dead....this thing is sad

nikeplr

@Wingnut: sorry, but I don't ever think of "Aqua Teen Hunger Force".

@Aleki: He's a quick one, he is. Sigh...I love it when some people's self-righteousness becomes self defeating.

Looks awful to use.

chrstphr

@RobotVampire: I think he was reffering to the "digits" on his hand. See? It's much funnier when you explain the joke.

Aleki

Combine this with a dash of Photoshop,and everyone's profiles will suddenly state that they have "12 1/2 inches-look,it even says so on my digital ruler!" lol

An interesting take on the simple ruler but completely unnecessary IMHO. A simple ruler can provide the same precision that this provides and if higher accuracy is needed, a caliper will fill that need easily.

I_have_something_to_say

@RobotVampire:
Scotland: "Trying to find a fellow Gizmodo Robot(ian)?"
RobotVampire: "Perhaps"
Scotland: "I am trying to find a fellow Gizmodo Scot - [gizmodo.com] (step 8)
RobotVampire: "..."
Scotland: "Hello?"
RobotVampire: *no dial tone*
Scotland: *Hangs up imaginary phone and shrugs his shoulders*

Scotland

That will never replace the old multi-scale triangular architects scale. It's an interesting idea, could see it being far more useful for hobby woodworking though.

RobotVampire

@shenanigans61: Uh, this is the internet, home to rude, baseless, mean-spirited attacks. That's now the intertubes roll.

RobotVampire

@PanhandleJoe: That would be analog, unless you're a robot. Are you a robot?

RobotVampire

Battery operated measuring devices are ridiculous. Use and understanding of a standard caliper/micrometer increases proficiency; use of a digital measuring device does nothing but provide a number. I can't tell you how many times I've had to re-teach people how to use calipers or micrometers when the batteries die on the digital ones. HUGE, unnecessary pain in the ass.

Lizard_King

I want one now!

mikegriffin

@SalmaFlorus:

Maybe you should adopt the metric system!
All the S.I. uses the metric system.

Amir Oulad

Will Nuns still hit you with it in Catholic Schools, or would that break it?

I've never seen more outright rude criticism of a plain and simple product.
If you don't like it, don't post.

@SalmaFlorus: Teachers in Austin, TX are starting to encourage the use of both measuring systems.

Matingmonkey is a proud eMac owner

@gauden44: Exactly. What's wrong with a good old-fashioned ruler for quick measurements? And as pointed out above, if you're worried about accuracy you'd use a caliper anyways.

This is stupid.

blash

@SalmaFlorus: Maybe inches, but we use decimals here too. Anyone with a high school degree can do metric calculations as well.

Zomb

@gauden44: Much like Lisa Simpson, the answer to a question no one asked.

@SalmaFlorus: The metric system is a tool of the devil!!

Did anyone see the title and think of the Mooninites from Aqua Teen Hunger Force? If I was going to accept any digital being as my ruler, it would be them.

No units? The next NASA tragedy begins to unfold.

spikespeigel

I'll give it points for being interesting, but it seems more hassle than convenience, and seems to fit more into dumbing down the current ruler where you have to understand tough things, like numbers and what a sixteenth is.

@Discosis: Yeah but only because those school rulers are cheap pieces of drawn on, chewed on, bent up plastic lol. This would be a bit more costly and thus you'd probably pay more attention to what your doing with it.

Kakkoister

Umm... no. I find this dumb, as does my roommate who is majoring in landscape architecture... so I'd call him experienced in rulers and measuring.

Seems unnecessary, but I would still get one to show it off.

ImaginaryBear56

A solution to a problem that doesn't exist...

gauden44

I already have a digital ruler. My hand span is exactly 10 inches. So there!

PanhandleJoe

Like most people commenting on here, I find this completely unnecessary, but it's awesome. I wonder how easy something like this would snap in half?

Thats awesome. Completely unnecessary but so cool I want it, haha.

SAfiftyseven

@Maximillian: That was my first thought when I saw this too.

And how many times did you lose a ruler at school?

Discosis

Finally, a conceptual product backed up by a working proof-of-concept and not a render. I could see this being used in drafting where you're almost guaranteed to be using a mechanical pencil with a metal nib.

dingus

But you need an input device just to measure something! That's just dumb. I don't want to use an input device for something I want to eyeball quickly.

yeah and i bet its posible just have thin layer on top of a small screen mmm maybe yet flexible?? sounds like it will be posiible in few years !!!

luisgoesrawr

:-O

Won't fly in America if it doesn't have inches and fractions. Could work as a metric-only device.

SalmaFlorus

That is pretty badass. I almost wish I was in school again... almost.

Not cool at all. If precision is what you need, use a caliper (digital or analog). Otherwise, learn to read a ruler. This gadget just serves to make people dumbers...yeah I spelled it right...dumbers.

jboy06

@jboy06: What if I want to make a measurement without leaving a long pencil line?

Most measurements you make, require you to have to read the markings on the ruler, not draw a line until you've reached your length.

Justin Culmo

@Skot:

That's pretty accurate. I still have problems reading regular clocks, despite all the school exercises, and I blame digital clocks and general human laziness on that - I never saw a reason to learn it or learn to recognize it that well because there was always a simpler alternative.

Totally useless for artistic drawing, but might be useful for drafting if they can change the scale.

@ttech10: Yeah - and paintings are stupid because they just hang on the wall and don't do anything. You should just get a window. And toys? Don't get me started - toys are all dumb because all you can do is play with them. And jewelry? Puh-lease - pointless....
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What's wrong with the idea that something can just be cool for the sake of being cool? Giz is a website about gadgets. This is a cool gadget. What it lacks in practicality, it more than makes up for in awesomeness. Please, everyone, get over yourselves and judge this (positively or negatively) on its merits as a cool bit of tech geekery, not as being the best way to measure from point a to point b.

Thank you.

-DTE

DreamTheEndless

Reminds of the "magic wand" apprentice wizards use that they can't get to work.

Would look cool to whip out, but to have someone watch me using it....nahhhh.

@gauden44: You can measure stuff when the lights are off. Duh!

NurseDave