That "clock" that Mohamed Ahmed made is a 1980's Digital Alarm Clock

[ChrisxIxCross]

I had a feeling that there was something more to all this story and I can't believe that I actually fell for this whole spin that the media put on it. Apparently this kids parents are assosciated with CAIR (Council in American-Islamic Relations). So in my eyes it seems like they were looking to get a reaction and they succeeded by milking this in the media and all the way to the WH or it very well could have been this kids luck that all he did was tinker and reassemble an old clock that looked like a "bomb" and the whole thing just blew up out of proportion due to him being Muslim/Arabic. I'm sure if it was some regular white, asian, or latino kid it wouldn't have gotten past local news. Still we've all been taken for fools and it infuriates me how much "praise" and free stuff this kid has gotten purely because of the Schools/ Police's stupidity of taking it too far and his Ethnicity when he personally hasn't done anything impressive at all...

Anyway its clearly obvious that companies, and politicians are just taking advantage of all this to make themselves look good and prove to everyone how supportive and not racist they are. Kid pretty much hit the lottery.

Two investigators who have studied the image of Mohamed’s device provided by Irving, Texas police have concluded that Mohamed did not make the clock. Both conclude that Mohamed disassembled a manufactured clock and installed it in a large pencil box without its casing. And both say it is possible it was done to provoke suspicion or to resemble a bomb.
Update: Clock has been identified as being sold in a 1986 Radio Shack catalogue by an Art Voice reader. The headline and text for this article has been changed to reflect the update.

“So I turned to eBay, searching for vintage alarm clocks. It only took a minute to locate Ahmed’s clock.See this eBay listing, up at the time of this writing. Amhed’s clock was invented, and built, by Micronta, a Radio Shack subsidary. Catalog number 63 756.”
“The shape and design is a dead give away. The large screen. The buttons on the front laid out horizontally would have been on a separate board – a large snooze button, four control buttons, and two switches to turn the alarm on and off, and choose two brightness levels. A second board inside would have contained the actual “brains” of the unit. The clock features a 9v battery back-up, and a switch on the rear allows the owner to choose between 12 and 24 hour time. (Features like a battery back-up, and a 24 hour time selection seems awful superfluous for a hobby project, don’t you think?) Oh, and about that “M” logo on the circuit board mentioned above? Micronta.”

Source: http://blogs.artvoice.com/techvoice/2015/09/17/reverse-engineering-ahmed-mohameds-clock-and-ourselves/#comment-2261708298

[Nineshadow]

Oh well...

[Kherm]

WOW

 

then they did have a right to arrest him, but they shouldn't have jumped to conclusions so quickly. 

 

And Microsoft even gave him a Surface Pro 3. ( http://www.winbeta.org/news/ahmed-mohamed-gets-a-new-surface-pro-3-band-and-more-from-microsoft )

[tt2468]

I really dont care.

[ChrisxIxCross]

Oh well...

\_(ツ)_/¯

[Nowak]

Wellllllll... he disassembled a clock and rebuilt it, and got it working. How is that doing nothing?

[ChrisxIxCross]

I really dont care.

Okay and? If you don't care then there is no need for you to comment. 

[ChrisxIxCross]

Wellllllll... he disassembled a clock and rebuilt it, and got it working. How is that doing nothing?

Uuuuh he didn't build it from scratch or program anything? All he did was reassemble a fully functional clock... Any idiot can do that. Especially if google, facebook, and MIT etc want to invite him thats really embarassing. 

[Guest]

Because he disassembled a clock, and put it in a case, that now means it was all done by the parents to provoke a media response? 

 

K then

[JuztBe]

 

 

Had this been some average kid who got busted doing the same thing no one would have blinked an eye. 

I think same thing would have happened. Maybe not as high of a scale, but internet would be blinking with it anyway. 

[Volbet]

How did you come from ´he didn't build the clock himself´ to "All of this was based on an intentional ploy, and it came at the expense of the police and school staff."?

He might have just ripped the guts from an old clock and claimed it as his own. In that case it is just a lie that got way out of hand. Why attribute it to malice?

And even if it was a just a disassembled clock that doesn't give anyone a right to arrest the kid. 

Even if CAIR used the kid to provoke a response, isn't it rather telling that they got the respons they wanted?

[ChrisxIxCross]

Because he disassembled a clock, and put it in a case, that now means it was all done by the parents to provoke a media response? 

 

K then

Its a very likely possibility... The whole police brutality/ black lives matter movement has been milked to no end and now they're shifting to how "discriminated" Muslims are. 

And even then lets say there was no intention at all to get a media response, he didn't do anything and he's getting all this attention? 

[MageTank]

Because he disassembled a clock, and put it in a case, that now means it was all done by the parents to provoke a media response? 

 

K then

Yeah, people are going to break their legs jumping that far to a conclusion. I do not believe he intentionally made it look like a bomb. I believe he was a kid, doing what kids do. Lie about making something in order to receive undeserved credit or praise. We've all done it at one point or another. Whether it was in the form of cheating on a test, or tracing over another drawing and claiming we drew it. 

 

Is it the kids fault that the country is doing damage control to prove they are not racists? Not really. It's less of the kids family wanting attention, and more so the politicians and companies wanting attention. "We support this kid, clearly we are not racist, and we are nice. VOTE FOR US/BUY OUR PRODUCTS!". 

[Sidiox]

Still though, maybe he didn't "invent" it but that doesn't need to be the case. He just reassembled it, in a different form factor, and with electronics that alone can still be tricky sometimes (keep in mind this kid is 14). Maybe he made to brag "hey look at how good I am" and now his story, that he made up just for bragging, got swept up into the media. 

Or maybe it was indeed to provoke a reaction, I don't know

But it is good that this video has come out

[Quinnbeast]

Exposed? Oh, how very sensationalist of you. More drama, please!

 

The praise he received was in response to being detained and accused of making an explosive. One would not have happened without the other. At worst he might deserve to have his classwork marked down.

[Burusutazu]

The clock could have been built from multiple different pieces of different clocks or even one clock. Taking one apart and putting one together is not something I would think as easy since I cannot do it myself... 

[TEC]

Isn't that what you do with your computer. You get components someone else made and put them togheter. You also said you build that yourself didn't you. Did you expect him to go mine copper. Create his own plastic and then his own LCD display. No, you didn't. Did you expect him to create his own circuit board and program stuff on that. No you didn't. So just stop picking on him all the time only because he build a f***ing clock. It is just a kid, you guys. Come on... 

[Dimi3os]

Still though, maybe he didn't "invent" it but that doesn't need to be the case. He just reassembled it, in a different form factor, and with electronics that alone can still be tricky sometimes (keep in mind this kid is 14). Maybe he made to brag "hey look at how good I am" and now his story, that he made up just for bragging, got swept up into the media. 

Or maybe it was indeed to provoke a reaction, I don't know

But it is good that this video has come out

So you're telling me that disassembling a DIGITAL clock is anything near hard? At the age of 16 I disassembled and reassembled a laptop and I feel that that's way harder than doing the same thing with a clock. (Also, I never asked for recognition for it, nor do I call myself an inventor (don't think the kid does so himself but you can at least step forward instead of being dazzled by the fame). 

 

To the gallows is what I say!

[Fetzie]

This is somehow news? Of course he didn't etch his own PCBs, program his own ASIC and construct an LCD panel. I'd have thought it was perfectly obvious that he dismantled a clock and put it back together again.

[ChrisxIxCross]

Exposed? Oh, how very sensationalist of you. More drama, please!

 

The praise he received was in response to being detained and accused of making an explosive. One would not have happened without the other. At worst he might deserve to have his classwork marked down.

Edited. Yeah in the end the press/media is just using all of this to their advantage. 

[Centurius]

Even if hypothetically this was all a ploy to get such a response, the fact that said response occurred is no less damning. Neither the school or the police knew he didn't build it himself from scratch and most likely thought it was a bomb because of his background. It's a nice strawman though.

[ChrisxIxCross]

This is somehow news? Of course he didn't etch his own PCBs, program his own ASIC and construct an LCD panel. I'd have thought it was perfectly obvious that he dismantled a clock and put it back together again.

Sure but if he had done it right he would have bought all the parts and programmed/ assembled it on his own. There are TONS of DIY make your own clock guides out there. All he did was take a working clock and put it back together. 

[asim1999]

Wow, 35 users reading this topic. I have heard that he has now been invited to MIT as well

[Dimi3os]

Isn't that what you do with your computer. You get components someone else made and put them togheter. You also said you build that yourself didn't you. Did you expect him to go mine copper. Create his own plastic and then his own LCD display. No, you didn't. Did you expect him to create his own circuit board and program stuff on that. No you didn't. So just stop picking on him all the time only because he build a f***ing clock. It is just a kid, you guys. Come on... 

Will you stop underestimating "kids". Linus' 3 year old son is "building" a pc (be it with help). Many other, younger kids (including myself) have been doing this, in high school at the age of 11-13 I even had a class called "Technological Education" in which kids (including myself again) who were studying greek and latin as main subjects (ASO (Grieks-Latijn) for the Belgian people) and had no background in this build small electrical devices, be it with batteries instead of DC current but still.

It's not that he's a craftsman or an inventor or something. Pretty sure kids are forced to assemble clocks in less developed countries, maybe the same clock as the original and no one is helping them, let alone inviting them to the White House or Facebook HQ.

[Centurius]

Will you stop underestimating "kids". Linus' 3 year old son is "building" a pc (be it with help). Many other, younger kids (including myself) have been doing this, in high school at the age of 11-13 I even had a class called "Technological Education" in which kids (including myself again) who were studying greek and latin as main subjects (ASO (Grieks-Latijn) for the Belgian people) and had no background in this build small electrical devices, be it with batteries instead of DC current but still.

It's not that he's a craftsman or an inventor or something. Pretty sure kids are forced to assemble clocks in less developed countries, maybe the same clock as the original and no one is helping them, let alone inviting them to the White House or Facebook HQ.

You and they didn't get arrested.