Gizmodo: Alarms

HappyWakeUp S60 Alarm App Uses Your Phone's Microphone to Decide When to Wake You

Adrian Covert — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 21:15:00 EDT

HappyWakeUp is a new cellphone alarm app developed for S60 (the other open platform) that only wakes you when it knows you're in a light sleep cycle. How does it know? Well, Computerworld says HappyWakeUp actually uses the microphone from your phone to statistically analyze your sleep habits based on noises you make, and when placed under your pillow, it determines what phase of sleep you're in.

HappyWakeUp runs through your normal alarm clock and won't delay the alarm any later than you have it set for. Rather, it's meant to wake you if you're in a lighter state of sleep 20-30 minutes before your wake up time, and could actually make getting up easier. [HappyWakeUp via Computerworld via Raw Feed via Wired]

10 Extremely Unusual Burglar Alarms

Sean Fallon — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 18:30:00 EDT

The quest to protect ourselves and our property from thieves has given rise to some of the most bizarre and deadly devices ever conceived by man. OObject has compiled 10 burglar alarms that fit neatly in this category with devices that range from a mousetrap alarm that managed to capture a couple of schoolyard criminals "green handed," to a gramaphone alarm from 1939 that dials a telephone number and plays a message from the record when tripped. Ingenious. [OObject]

Home-Appliance Alarm Clocks, Wake You by Simulating Real Thing

Kit Eaton — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 09:18:54 EDT

Forget boring alarm clocks: now you can buy an alarm toy that looks like a washer, and shows bubbles and vibrates like it's on spin cycle to wake you. Or one that looks like a '60s fridge, but has a radio hidden inside, or even a blender that spins and plays '70s game show themes. How about an iron look-alike clock with a speaker on its foot, an FM radio and a plug to connect up your MP3 player? Or a stove version? They're dubbed "Homade," (no, seriously they are) all take AA batteries and are available for between $17 and $20. And you want one, you know you do. [Homeloo via DVice]

Ixp-Note is Post-It Note Of the Future: Digital, Alarming

Kit Eaton — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 04:52:11 EDT

A team of designers in Britain have give the good old fashioned Post-It note a 21st Century electronic make-over. Their Ixp-Note device is a new digital version incorporating a touchpad and alarm: you just slide to select time and date, and write down what you need reminding of. When it's time, it bleeps and the little thermo-chromic ink pad changes color. Neat, hey?

Originally designed to help Alzheimer's sufferers remember things, of course their potential appeal is much wider. The 1mm thick devices are made using similar circuit printing techniques as used in musical greeting cards, so they're pretty low cost at about $2 each. They're reusable, and you won't have to worry about battery life since they apparently last up to a year.

The designers hope they'll be on sale in 2009. Better put a note up to remind you to look out for them, then. [Telegraph]

Hasbro Room Tech Clock Wirelessly Wakes the Lamps in Your Room

Haroon Malik — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 04:55:00 EST

Hasbro's Room Tech Clock, which looks like a mix between an iPod and a Goomba, is an alarm clock with a wireless link to the shroom-shaped Room Tech Lamp. When the alarm goes off, two things happen; the alarm clock will either stomp its fists on the table making an awful racket, play back the radio or pump out tunes from a connected MP3 player. Secondly, the Room Tech Lamp, which is styled like a shroom-Martian hybrid, will be activated, bringing illumination to your dank, dingy room.

The Room Tech Lamp has a touch sensitive domed head, which allows the user to turn the light on, as well as select from a variety of colors simply by touching it. Additionally, the lamp has a speaker built in that can be hooked up to your MP3 player. The Room Tech duo are due out in September and will retail for £39.99 ($79) each.

Given Gizmodo writers mostly work from their beds, the biggest chore in the morning is turning on the light; we're just too lazy to pull the blinds up. Frankly, how we got by without the Room Tech series is quite beyond us. We're already in line. [Pocket-lint]

Bedroom Experimentation: Four Devices Exciting Enough to Put You to Sleep

Charlie White — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 12:00:00 EST

Okay, you caught us. We've been sleeping on the job, but only because we want to help you, dear reader, to get a better night's sleep and ease out of bed the next day, no worse for the wear. Come along with us into the world of sleep-enhancing and wakeup gadgets, where there are snake-oil salesmen trying to sell you a sack of goods, and others peddling products that actually work. We're here to help, testing out this stuff, subjectively determining which of these devices are legit, and which ones merely add pointless bells and whistles to your nightly cycle. Here we separate the best from the rest, searching for the perfect devices to help us sleep, perchance to dream.

We'll rate each product with Z's, with five Z's (ZZZZZ) being a complete relaxation-inducing miracle, and one Z leaving us frustrated and tired.
1. Pzizz: Available in either software-only ($29.95) or in a attractively-designed mp3 player ($147), Pzizz talks you into sleep or a nap, but frankly, the voiceover announcer was just distracting. Akin to hypnosis, he coos you into slumberland with a duration you can set, telling you to wake you up at the end, after which an alarm sounds. He seriously says: "Thoughts are just thoughts and not reality," while so-called soothing music plays. Worst of all, he kept mentioning my body, pronouncing it "baw-dee." Maybe with the voice turned off, some sleepers might find the new-agey music soothing, but for me, uh, no. Too distracting. Rating: Z [Pzizz]

2. NeverLate Executive Alarm: I never considered sleeping to be a group sport—until I got married. This sophisticated $59.95 clock/radio can handle even the most complicated sleep schedules for two people. You can set seven different daily alarms, different times for different days of the week, and separate alarms for your special someone. It lets you plug in your music player via aux input, and you can augment its weak speakers with your choice of powered speakers out of its headphone jack. It's even sporting a USB port in the back, but alas, only to power devices such as those USB humping dogs; no data transfer. Its reverse backlight was too bright even on its dimmest setting. Even so, if you have complicated schedules, are a power napper or need complete control over your life, this is the clock/radio for you. Rating: ZZZ [American Innovative]

3. Roku SoundBridge Radio ($250) I've tried all kinds of clock radios and alarm clocks, but none are as unobtrusive as this Roku SoundBridge Radio. It does great things, such as connecting via Wi-Fi to your PC and streaming audio from there (but no AAC tunes you bought from iTunes), or playing Internet radio stations from all over the world. But its best feature by far is its ability to slowly fade out its music when you go to sleep and ease into the music the next morning. That, combined with niceties such as kickass sound and a super-easy-to-use on-off/volume control, makes this a big winner and sleeper's friend. If it just had Sirius or XM satellite radio, it would be perfect. Rating: ZZZZ [Roku Labs]

4. Sleeptracker Pro: If you don't mind wearing a watch while you sleep, try this. It works with an on-board motion sensor, and by using proprietary algorithms it can tell if you're sleeping deeply (what researchers call "delta sleep"), or at a lighter stage. You assign it a 20-minute window to wake you up in the morning (or choose up to 90 minutes with this new Pro model), and it picks a time in that window when you're sleeping your lightest to wake you. At the end of that cycle, if it hasn't detected a light sleep cycle within your designated time window, it goes ahead and either awakens you to a vibrating alarm or a noisy one, your choice of one or both. We tested it on two subjects here at our Midwest Test Facility, and both found that it woke both of us up when our bodies were most ready for it, resulting in a more refreshed return to consciousness.

This past month, Sleeptracker introduced this Pro model we tested ($179), and you can now download each night's sleep data onto a PC. It can only store one night's data at a time, so you'll need to download that onto your PC each day. With the included software, you can then see how well you slept last night, statistically speaking. Check it out:

Notice in the six sleep sessions shown here (we tested it for 12), the hash marks indicate a light sleep phase, and the spaces between those marks are the deep sleep phases. We found it fascinating to see how well we slept all graphed up in front of us like that. That's right, the one who gets up at 6am is me, and all because of you fine readers. On one of the days, i got up at 6 but set the alarm for 10, and the result was wakeful dots added about every 8 minutes while I was working. So there it is, proof that I am indeed awake while writing!

This Sleeptracker actually works, picking just the right time to wake us up every morning. I also liked its quiet vibrating alarm, waking me up without disturbing my lovely wife. And, it's a kick to see exactly how well you slept, downloaded into your PC (sorry, no Mac version yet). No, the Sleeptracker's tricks can't totally make up for getting just six measly hours of sleep, but it made me feel way better than waking up to the SCREEE-SCREEE-SCREEE of ye olde clock/radio. Rating: ZZZZZ [Sleeptracker]

Alarm Clock Concept Wakes with Sound and Light Show

Louis Ramirez — Fri, 18 May 2007 19:20:36 EDT

Most alarm clocks have only one way of waking you up—with an annoying buzz that goes on until you hit snooze. The Hybrid Alarm Clock concept has two. It can either go off like a traditional alarm clock or it can wake you up silently with a pulsating light (in case you don't wanna wake up your significant other). I can barely wake up with 3 alarm clocks, so something tells me the light show ain't gonna work. Nice design (kudos to its creator Francesco Costacurta), but my tired bones need something like Clocky to get me going. – Louis Ramirez

Hybrid Alarm Clock [Yanko Design]

Make This Product: SnuzNLuz

Jason Chen — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 19:40:48 EDT

Being unconscious for most of April Fools', we happened to miss this 4/1 joke/concept from Think Geek. It's a Wi-Fi alarm that connects to a bank and transfers your money to an organization of choice every time you hit the snooze. They give examples of donating to charities you hate, which gives a real monetary incentive to not going back to sleep.

Why not make this a real product? Instead of just limiting your donations to organizations you hate (or like), you could have the product set aside funds each day for your retirement. Or if you're less forward thinking, into an account that you can use to purchase gadgets once you've collected enough cash.

Make this product, ThinkGeek. – Jason Chen

Product Page [ThinkGeek]

Rosendahl Alarm Clock: Designer Sensibilities, Wakes You Up Anyway

Charlie White — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 14:00:00 EST

As part of our No Alarm Clock Left Behind program, we can't leave out this Rosendahl bauble, whose case is made of polycarbonate crystal and features a chic blue backlight for its digital display. As it leans back, it rests on a pyramid beneath, dazzling all who gaze upon its countenance.

Take your pick of a 12-or 24-hour display, load it up with two AA batteries, and impress your friends with this upscale design by Flemming Bo Hansen for $99. – Charlie White

Rosendahl Alarm Clock [Think Geek]

Daylight Savings: Stupid Clocks?

Mark Wilson — Sun, 29 Oct 2006 12:24:39 EST

I have a fairly nice Sony CD Alarm clock. Whenever the power goes out, I need to reset the year, date, SSN, etc, and it's a pretty big pain in the butt. So most of the time, I don't bother to program the real date in because it doesn't even appear on the display.

About a week ago we had another momentary power outage. Knowing that the end of daylight savings was fast approaching, I spent the extra 10 seconds to save 10 seconds later, thinking my clock might update automatically. It did not. So why does my alarm need a date at all? For its own peace of mind? So it knows to call its mom on her birthday? WTF? I realize not everyone celebrates this joyous event, but most of us do.

Anyone else out there have a stupid gadget that should auto update, but doesn't? Anyone hate that I incorrectly said "savings" instead of the technically proper "daylight saving"? Anyone just hate posts about clocks? – Mark Wilson

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iAlertU MacBook Alarm Demoed

Robb — Sat, 08 Apr 2006 13:51:46 EDT

Those responsible for the iAlertU alarm application now have footage of the application in action. Though mere software, it allows the operator to use the infrared remote to set their MacBook Pro, from afar, to become a noisy public nuisance if it is moved.

This is made possible thanks to the motion sensor in the new MacBook: the villain grabs it, moves it, and the MacBook goes crazy and starts screaming and slapping its own head. Our villain yelps in surprise and drops your MacBook to the ground, where it breaks into a $3,000 pile of junk.

It's early days, with some obvious gotchas: the mute button, for example. As a first line of defence, however, it could be a boon for students and anyone else who doesn't want to have to lug their machine with them every time they want to get a coke or spend a penny.

iAlertU video [ialertu.com]

The Nap Alarm, Another Innovation From Japan

Gizloco — Wed, 05 Apr 2006 09:48:36 EDT

A Japanese company by the name of Takanoha has come up with a tiny gadget that prevents you from falling asleep. Putting the Nap Alarm behind your ear, the gadget vibrates once it detects that you are falling asleep. It measures the speed of head movements in order to determine whether or not the user is falling asleep. Just think of all those times you stayed up all night cramming for an exam—or, at least you planned on staying up. With the Nap Alarm, waking up 15 minutes before said exam may be a thing of the past, though falling asleep while driving is another matter entirely. (Hint: Find a place to stop, pull over. Problem solved.)

Japanese Nap Alarm [I4U News]

Product Page (In Japanese) [Takanoha]

Digital Earlarm II

Travis Hudson — Tue, 18 Oct 2005 18:55:36 EDT

This is an earbud device that allows alarms to be set up to 7 hours and 50 minutes in advance. Apparently it is good for all kinds of uses, such as studying and cooking, but really the only practical use would be for naps on the go. How can you go wrong? Look at those illustrations!

Product Page [Earlarm II]