Skip to main content

You’ll know the time like the back of your hand, when this watch projects it there

Have you ever wondered how great it would be to make better use of all that blank, unproductive space on the back of your hand? Apparently four guys in San Jose, California, have thought about that very question, so they’ve launched a crowdfunding project to bring a unique type of watch to the masses.

The Ritot is touting itself as the world’s first “projection watch.” More specifically, it’s a bracelet that looks sort of like a Fitbit Flex and uses a pico projector to display the time and various smartphone notifications on the back of your hand.

The functionality is straightforward: Tap the Ritot or shake your hand and see the current time displayed on your hand for 10 seconds. Sync it with your smartphone and you can see a variety of notifications on the back of your hand – a caller’s name, text messages, reminders, social media alerts, weather alerts and emails, among others. The Ritot can also be set to vibrate when notifications are received or when an alarm goes off.

A base pad is included with the Ritot. It acts as a wireless charger and an interface you can use to customize the color of the watch’s projections. The base can also act as an alarm clock.

The Ritot comes in two flavors: bracelet and sport. The bracelet version has a leather surface and is available in white, black and completely black. The sport version uses plastic and rubber and comes in black or white.

Its Indiegogo campaign (which has a page chock-full of interesting photos) began on July 7 and has already raised more than $114,200, or 229 percent of its $50,000 goal. The campaign closes on Aug. 21.

The Ritot will have 150 hours (6.25 days) of battery life in projection mode and one month in standby mode. Indiegogo backers can get a Ritot set (watch and free base charger) for $120, which is $40 below the $160 retail price. Shipments are expected to begin at the end of January 2015.

Smartwatches are all the rage right now, and it seems that the only way the Ritot will truly be able to compete in the long run is if future builds enable users to interact with projections, essentially turning a human hand into a touchscreen.

Editors' Recommendations

Jason Hahn
Jason Hahn is a part-time freelance writer based in New Jersey. He earned his master's degree in journalism at Northwestern…
Don’t buy the Meta Quest Pro for gaming. It’s a metaverse headset first
Meta Quest Pro enables 3D modeling in mixed reality.

Last week’s Meta Connect started off promising on the gaming front. Viewers got release dates for Iron Man VR, an upcoming Quest game that was previously a PS VR exclusive, as well as Among Us VR. Meta, which owns Facebook, also announced that it was acquiring three major VR game studios -- Armature Studio, Camouflaj Team, and Twisted Pixel -- although we don’t know what they’re working on just yet.

Unfortunately, that’s where the Meta Connect's gaming section mostly ended. Besides tiny glimpses and a look into fitness, video games were not the show's focus. Instead, CEO Mark Zuckerberg wanted to focus on what seemed to be his company’s real vision of VR's future, which involves a lot of legs and a lot of work with the Quest Pro, a mixed reality headset that'll cost a whopping $1,500.

Read more
Meet the game-changing pitching robot that can perfectly mimic any human throw
baseball hitter swings and misses

Who’s your favorite baseball pitcher? Shane McClanahan? Sandy Alcantara? Justin Verlander? Whoever you said, two of the top sports-tech companies in the U.S. -- Rapsodo and Trajekt Sports -- have teamed up to build a robot version of them, and the results are reportedly uncannily accurate.

Okay, so we’re not talking about walking-talking-pitching standalone robots, as great a sci-fi-tinged MLB ad as that would be. However, Rapsodo and Trajekt have combined their considerable powers to throw a slew of different technologies at the problem of building a machine that's able to accurately simulate the pitching style of whichever player you want to practice batting against -- and they may just have pulled it off, too.

Read more
The best portable power stations
EcoFlow DELTA 2 on table at campsite for quick charging.

Affordable and efficient portable power is a necessity these days, keeping our electronic devices operational while on the go. But there are literally dozens of options to choose from, making it abundantly difficult to decide which mobile charging solution is best for you. We've sorted through countless portable power options and came up with six of the best portable power stations to keep your smartphones, tablets, laptops, and other gadgets functioning while living off the grid.
The best overall: Jackery Explorer 1000

Jackery has been a mainstay in the portable power market for several years, and today, the company continues to set the standard. With three AC outlets, two USB-A, and two USB-C plugs, you'll have plenty of options for keeping your gadgets charged.

Read more