1. Swatch Internet Time
Switzerland is known for its excellent timepieces and Swatch is a world-renowned brand. But, in 1998 it became too big for its own boots and tried to reinvent time itself.
This new time standard was known as Swatch Internet Time and contained no time zones to learn. The new time scale of Biel Meantime (BMT) would be the epicentre for all connected devices and users. The best thing about it? It wasn't confusing to read or understand at all!
Instead of hours and minutes, the solar day is divided into 1,000 parts known as “.beats”. Each .beat lasts for 1 minute and 26.4 seconds. Times were always noted as a three-digit number out of 1000 after midnight, so a time of @400 would mean 400 .beats past midnight, 400/1000 of a day, so around 8:30 in the morning. Got it? Good.
Because nobody really did, actually, get how it all worked. After a short-lived time being used on Swatch .beat watches, a short stint on a few websites, and even having a PHP command, Swatch Internet Time fell by the wayside in favour of a system as old as time itself.
This article originally appeared at pcpro.co.uk
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