Running On G-Time

There's a new way of reckoning time, a global, cyber-based measurement that breaks the 24-hour day into 1,000 "beats." Centuries ago, Paul had a clear understanding of whose time zone he was functioning in. For him, running on G-Time meant: "To live is Christ; to die is gain."

CNN uses it.

Global corporations are turning to it.

A new Swatch watch now uses it.

Beat time. Or, Internet time.

In fact, it was the Swatch company, with headquarters in Switzerland, who came up with a revolutionary new idea: synchronizing the world's timepieces on one time.

No more EST, CST, MST, PST.

The times no longer need to be "a-changin'." "Beat Time" proposes a new way of reckoning time. It's a global, cyber-based measurement that breaks the 24-hour day into 1,000 "beats." You can check the current beat time on the CNN Web site. For Internet purposes, the entire world is aligned on the same beat -- all on the same time zone. When it's 750 beats in Cleveland, it's also 750 in Los Angeles, Rome, Tokyo and everywhere else.

It's not clear that "Beat Time" will catch on across the planet; there is something inherent in us that makes us calculate the time "here" versus the time "there" when looking at a TV report from London or Paris or Beijing. And while running the...