
Internet Time and Sputnik 99
Swiss watch company Swatch came up with a new way…
Tech Tales · Corbin Davenport
May 4, 202540m 21s
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Show Notes
Swiss watch company Swatch came up with a new way to tell time in 1998, known as "Internet Time" or ".beats time." It led to an international controversy over advertising, radio frequencies, and Russia's Mir space station.
Hosted by Corbin Davenport, guest starring Cody Toombs.
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Watches:
• https://www.swatch.com/en-en/webmaster-ii-sqb101c/SQB101C.html
• https://www.swatch.com/en-en/great-australian-byte-sqz100/SQZ100.html
• https://www.swatch.com/en-en/webstream-green-yqs1001ag/YQS1001AG.html
• https://www.swatch.com/en-en/moon-or-beat-iv-yfs4010/YFS4010.html
• https://www.swatch.com/en-en/sonic-the-hedgehog-sqk101/SQK101.html
Sources:
• https://www.zdnet.com/article/swatch-wont-take-apple-to-court-over-iwatch-trademark/
• https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-37350870
• https://www.wnyc.org/story/tldr-15-internet-time/
• https://www.wired.com/1998/12/time-for-a-change/
• https://news.mit.edu/1998/summit-1118
• https://segaretro.org/Press_release:_2000-02-24:_Sega_and_Swatch_Team_Up:_Two_Major_Players_Meet_in_Cyberspace
• https://lpcwiki.miraheze.org/wiki/Ericsson_T20
• https://novayagazeta.eu/articles/2024/05/14/lost-in-space-en
• https://www.wired.com/1999/04/spam-thats-out-of-this-world/
• https://web.archive.org/web/19991110070006/http://www.ccr.jussieu.fr/physio/amsat-france/Press-rel-05.htm
• https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/sputnik-40.htm
• https://www.pso-world.com/sections.php?op=viewarticle&artid=883
• https://web.archive.org/web/20010215002746/http://hamradio-online.com/1999/apr/arrl-swatch.html
• https://latimes.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times-swatch-beatnik-can/170703674/
• https://www.n2yo.com/satellite/?s=25685
Chapters:
0:00:00 Intro
0:00:27 Swatch & Internet Time
0:07:50 The Watches
0:16:44 Adoption of Internet Time
0:20:05 Sputnik 99
0:36:18 Swatch vs. Apple
0:38:00 Outro