Gizmodo: Doorbells

Polly Want a Wireless Doorbell?

Charlie White — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 09:45:00 EDT

What, is this International Doorbell Week? The techno-doorbell scene continues its explosive growth and innovation, and following those two more-sophisticated MP3 doorbells we showed you earlier this week, this Chinese Recordable Parrot Wireless Doorbell approaches the realm of the absurd. This cheapshit $22 plastic bird is not like those doorbells, such as the ReBell and YourBell, both using your existing doorbell button and letting you plug your MP3s on board, but this one looks a lot better than they do and could be good for a few laughs.

Stick its wireless transmitting button outside your door, and it triggers the bird from up to 45 feet away, squawking over its 2-watt speaker either the included "birdsong" (and we're hoping that would have something to do with Polly wanting a cracker) or your own six-second prerecorded ditty. And no, the parrot's not dead, he's only sleeping. [Chinavasion, via Gizmodude]

YourBell USB Doorbell Lets You Choose Your Chime

Charlie White — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 13:00:00 EDT

Doorbell technology is in growth mode, as evidenced by YourBell, yet another USB-connected doorbell that stores and plays MP3 and WAV files and uses your existing doorbell button. It's similar to that ReBell we showed you yesterday. This one has a 4-inch speaker for so-called "CD-quality sound," and it's made out of your choice of a variety of real wood species. Never mind that its 7.5-inch case looks like it was designed back in 1932—this clunky thing can store 30 different sounds, and a total of around four minutes' worth of audio. And hey, at $89.99 it's $10 cheaper than that strange-looking silver ReBell MP3 doorbell we showed you yesterday. Finally, doorbells are starting to catch up with cellphones. [BCS Ideas]

ReBell Lets You Customize Your Doorbell Sound

Charlie White — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 11:33:45 EDT

We've shown you plenty of doorbells before, but here's ReBell, the first one with a USB port that lets you load up whatever 30-second sound effect you'd like to be summoned by. Of course, if you follow the example of this video and load up Darth Vader's entrance music, you'll never get laid again, but the choice is yours. After you've selected your fave sound and transferred it into the ReBell, connect the silver horn-like device to your existing doorbell chime, and whenever someone pushes your existing doorbell button, the MP3 or WAV file of your choice begins playing.

Since it uses two AA batteries, if you have lots of guests or like to ring your doorbell a lot, you might want to have that ladder handy for replacing the batteries on a regular basis. It lets you choose three volume levels, and there's a hook on the back that lets you remove the unit to change out the sound files or batteries. Too bad it doesn't use the power from the low voltage circuit that runs your doorbell chime. This customizable doorbell idea better be important to you, because the thing costs $100. [Think Geek]

Doorbell Privacy Device

johnb — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 14:40:43 EDT

Make is featuring a breadboard-based timer that turns off your front bell for a pre-set period of time, thereby ensuring day sleepers will get their 10 hours rest.

It doesn't look very complex—but then again I couldn't even mod my PS2 without burning it up, so I'm useless with electronics—and seems like an excellent and easy hack. – John Biggs

Door Chime Privacy Sentry [Cappels via Make]