I said it before and I'll say it again: God love the Germans. After our big story on Napgrass yesterday, we're back again today with this smokin' digital hourglass project. The aim of this stunning product is to make a new kind of alarm clock, which would focus on the amount of sleep you should be getting, not what time you wake up. I don't know how they came up with this, but it sounds like it's part of the time/space continuum. Here's how it works:
The hourglass is set by holding it in both hands and tilting it in a up to 45 angle. One hour of sleep is represented by one LED (which, at night, makes it possible to either read or estimate the time left to stay in bed). Once it stands on a surface in a 90 (or 270 ) angle, it is activated. It also has a 5 minute snooze function, which is activated by simply turning it upside down once the alarm goes off. To turn off the hourglass, it has to be put down horizontally - it rolls onto its display then (because of the batteries' position) and goes into stand-by.
Well, it looks cool. And that's the last I have to say about it.
The digital hourglass [fabianhemmert]