Alarm clock that makes you really get up

This one falls somewhere in the area of a thesis project, but a couple of students at the Interaction Design Institute Ivrea have come up with a hanging radio alarm clock called the Sfera that's designed to really get you out of bed in the morning. The clock itself actually hangs from a string, and automatically raises itself a little bit higher off the ground every time you hit snooze, in turn forcing you to actually get up out of bed if you want to turn it off.

[tainted @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

I actually think it moves the wrong way...I would be more inclined to get up if it were more pendulum-like, swinging and moving downward so instead of just having to stand up then fall back into bed, it actually gives me a good conk in the head after a few snooze cycles.

[EyePAQ @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

Why not just put your alarm clock on the other side of the room. Useless innovation.

[Edison @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

Well EyePAQ, I can't see the time if the clock is the other side of the room, and that doesn't allow the possibilty of hitting snooze just once or twice.

Great solution.

[Guttrhead @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

The alarm clock I use is called the Sonic Boom. Up to 113db, a vibrating device to put in your pillow and you can plug a lamp into it and it will start flashing when the alarm starts. You could hear it 2 rooms away in my dorm.

[Brian @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

I put my clock 5 feet from my bed, but I still manage to get up, hit snooze, and actually go back to bed.

[Jerrod Hofferth @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

Re: Sonic Boom

That's hilarious! I have got to get one of those for my girlfriend!!!



(As for me, yes... I just put my alarm clock across the room)

[matt @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

I happen to have the luxury of having an (iBook) laptop that I don't really use too often so it does double time as my alarm clock. I use a combination of two programs to really help me go to sleep/wake up. It's actually quite key that I use a laptop because I can set the brightness extremely low so that it can be a black screen without being 'bright,' if you have a laptop you understand what I'm saying.

Traveler's Clock: This is an OSX screensaver ($5) that emits white noise (I have sleep problems so this helps I guess) and lets you put up a clock (digital) as the screensaver. You can select the color, font and size. I use the largest readable font (nothing too fancy) and I make the color red, it is the least harsh on the eyes in the night (which is why most car dashboards are illuminated in red). So not only does this allow me to see the time (rather large I might add which is helpful if you are all blurry eyed) but it doesn't hurt my eyes because its not too bright. There are other screensavers that are free that just do the clock but I like the white noise feature (takes some getting used to but worth it).

MP3 Alarm Clock: This is a rather old OSX application (2001 or 2002) that lets you set multiple alarm clocks for different days. I have looked into other alarm clock programs that cost money but honestly this is the easiest and best one I have found dispite the fact that it's old. Aside from waking up to any MP3s I select (random mode available) it has a decreasing snooze which is fabulous. I can hit snooze once and I will get 8 minutes to snooze, followed by 6, 4, 2, 1, etc. Eventually its a matter of seconds before it comes back on again and then you are almost forced to get out of bed (user adjustable).

If you have an old laptop just chilling there I HIGHLY recommend this setup. Its so nice to wake up to random music instead of some crazy ass beeping. Besides, looking at an iBook first thing in the morning ain't too shabby either!

[Duane @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

Eons ago a friend in college had an alarm clock encased in something like a baseball. A thud of any kind (such as picking it up and slamming it back down on the desk, or just plain throwing it across the room) would activate the snooze. However, it would keep getting louder until you eventually turned it off the right way. Same concept. But that was ... god, 15+ years ago?

[Ryan Waddell @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

I'm in the same boat as Brian - my alarm clock could be 15 feet away, I will still manage to get up, hit snooze, and fall back into bed without ever really waking up. What I need is an alarm clock with a snooze time that gets shorter and shorter every time you hit snooze. Louder doesn't do me any good, as I will get up and turn it off within seconds anyway.

[G. Hopper @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

Has anyone tried the Zen Alarm Clock?
http://www.now-zen.com/

It's touted to wake you "gently & naturally" - but I haven't felt like forking over $100 to try it out.

[TheMatt @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

G. Hopper, I don't have one, but being in Boulder, I've been in their store. Every time I'm there, it seems like those clocks make me sleepy rather than awake. I need an old-fashioned bell alarm! Or my current one, the Sony clock radio that can turn on your TV.

[Tyler @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

One saturday I wanted to get up early so I set my alarm clock for 8am, and cause I knew I would end up turning it off or hit snooze a million times i put it on the opposite side of my bedroom (about 8 full steps from my bed)

11am rolled around and I had hit snooze 25 times (walking across the room and back and falling right back asleep) I just turned it off and slept til 1 after that

[Cheek @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

In a truly geeky fashion, i'm with matt. I use my pc as an alarm. Using a batch file i made, a tiny cron daemon for windows called nncron, and winamp.

I had thuoght about using a random selection of mp3's, or a predefined set or something, but my collection contains a lot of calming music, so i opted to create my own alarm in a sound editor.

Using cron.tab i can set as many alarms as i want... one for each day, as my school schedule requires me to get up at different times daily. The night before i just make sure my 5.1 speakers are turned up all the way, and head to bed. For a while i played with turning the windows master volume down and gradually turning it up the longer the alarm went, but decided in the end, that it was better to just blast it right away.

I have a saitek gaming keyboard with a customizable seperated button pad, which i have set up for profiles. Setting the profile to Snooze allows me to mash the keys, as they all set the alarm to snooze that decreases in time upon repeated mashes. Using a shift state built into the button pad allows me to select a snooze time, provided that i'm coherent enough to hold the shift key and press. There is no button set to stop the alarm on that profile, so if i want to stop it, despite the fact that its close enough to me to reach, i have to get up, turn on the monitor, and click stop.

The nice thing about using your pc, is that you're only limited by your imagination. So far, i havent had to pay a cent for my setup.

[Nate Friedman @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

I wrote a nice rant about what i would like in an alarm clock back in October. I figured that would be at least partially on topic. ;)

http://blog.forgottennewbies.com/item/33

[Other Mat @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

Banshi alarm clock for windows works really well, it is just a basic pc alarm clock that plays mp3s or the annoying beep. The only hinderance is I normally just hit the mute button on the wireless keyboard. But I dont have to use it very much anymore as I work 2nd shift have to be by 1 pm.

[Jay-B @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

That would have been helpful for my 9:30 Politics of the Welfare state class this morning. Now I need to go borrow someone's notes.

[010111 @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

i'm actually totally digging the built-in alarm on my DS. easily the best alarm i have had in awhile. though i haven't actually set up the computer-styley one i keep meaning to do... so compared to like $5 clock radios ... the DS is rad. makes a good travel alarm too... as unlike an actual travel alarm... it like plays games and stuff.

[Foebea @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

At 9:30 my computer starts playing a wide range of alarms, at what feels like 120 decibles. It can be heard from outside the house (full house, the system is in the basement). It is a random mix, and I find most days I wake up moments before this goes off so I can turn it off without hearing it. It includes:

That monkey with the cymbols theme, fog horn, train horn, rooster, various chimes, maniacal laughter, tug boat horn, cows, explosions, gunfire, thunder, etc.

Find a collection like this, and within a week you should be waking up before it goes off without problem.

I just use a simple at command to run this daily, but you can of course run it through any mp3 supporting clock software. Set it to random. Set it to repeat endlessly - just to be sure. Make it loud.

[Tbt @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

Hah! I had you all beat! I used to use my toshiba alarm clock (2 alarms and a keypad to set them (its too bad it didnt catch on, its a pleasure to press 6 buttons to set an alarm instead of holding stupid hour and minute buttons down for a minute to set the alarm)) computer with songs and annoying pc speaker beeps (almost impossible to unset without going through the screensaver password and running killall), and a lamp attached to a kitchen clock/radio thing that switches appliances on and off. The only time I missed the bus was when it was running 5 min early.

[Cloudane @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

I'm another chronic snoozer. Although normally I'm massively into gadgets, the solution I finally came up with was to throw all the digital snooze alarms and vibrating pillow alarm (with snooze function - sigh) away and get an old-fashioned wind-up alarm clock with 2 bells on top.

No problems getting up ever since, because it doesn't have a snooze function! And the bells are loud enough to wake up the street, so there's no chance of sleeping through it. I can't believe it's taken so long to realise such a simple answer. No snooze function means when it goes off you get up... even in your non-intelligent slumber you realise that if you don't get up you're gonna be late for work.

[E. Marrs @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

I have a Nickelodeon alarm clock I have had for about 10 years or so now. Its the greatest alarm clock of the 90s. What makes it so great, is it has no regular alarm. No BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP that everyone hates. What it has instead, is 10 (give or take) different sounds, such as a marching band, cow mooing, kids screaming "Wake up. . Wake up!", a trumpet, it can play the radio and others. It also goes SUPER LOUD. At 70% max volume, it will wake everyone else in my house up... and my room is in the basement. I saw this thing in the nickelodeon magazine when i used to get it, and i love it. The snooze button, you cannot miss it. It is a huge RED Button (about half the size of a baseball) so you never miss it. You also can sleep with comfort knowing that it is on- it has a switch to set it on/off (like a power switch from frankenstein, where you pull the lever down)

its complete with a flashing light, and it will sound a countdown before it starts the alarm. sometime Im up before it even starts the alarm. (how it works- will start by - 3 . 2. 1. with a rocket launch noise, then it will sound the alarm and flash the green light on the top. )
I love it and I would reccomend it to anyone who has trouble with their alarm clocks (all the buttons have a different form so you will never hit the wrong button on accident)

[Todd Marver @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

The Nickelodeon clock is great. I would say that the wake up sound is the best sound. I got it from Zany Brainy. Zany Brainy is closed now and I do not think that it is sold anywhere anymore. The only place a person could really get it is on Ebay or something like that.

[jez @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

where can i get a sfera alarm clock from and how much are they ?

[jez @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

CAN SOMEBODY TELL THIS CHAPPIE HOW TO GET ONE?

[jez @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

HOW CAN I GET ONE
PLEASE HELP!!!!!

[jez @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

anybody going to help me







































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[TheJut @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

Just set your PC to start playing "Determined" by Mudvayne at a really high volume. You'll be up in seconds.

[Peter @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

21 & 22, I have the Nick clock as well! it works really well, and is really loud.

[fireunderwater @ Dec 19th 2005 12:09AM]

Cloudane - tried that once. I just jammed my finger between the clacker and the bell and fell asleep again.