Ask Engadget: Best digiframe / alarm clock combo?
By Darren Murph 
posted July 31st 2008 10:30PM
posted July 31st 2008 10:30PM
Frightening though it may be, the fall semester is just around the corner. You know what that means? You'll actually have to get up at -- wait for it -- an appointed time. Carissa, being the proactive student she is, posed this question: "Going to school in the fall, I'm looking for the ideal alarm clock to beat the late nights and what not and noticed a few digital photo frames / alarm clocks. I want a decent alarm clock that has battery backup and good resolution on the screen for viewing photos. An auxiliary audio jack would be a major plus. Which one do you guys recommend that falls under the 200 dollar mark? Thanks a million!"
Look at that -- you all even received a thank you in advance! For those who've mastered the art of waking up on time and pretending to be a real live adult, which alarm clock / digiframe hybrid have you found to be supreme? Oh, and you know that question you've been hitting the snooze on? Yeah, send it on over to ask at engadget dawt com.
sony ericsson w600.
Question really should be what song wakes you feeling amazing and ready to get a kickass day going:
Top Gun Theme Song!
When you hear this in the film you want to go out and do something incredible. I get the same feeling everytime i wake up now.
okay that's a load of crap i still wake up feeling like shit, but i feel shitty + 1 at least.
A custom script on your computer can accomplish this...simply research how to write a dat file to open a song or playlist with your favorite media player, and schedule it to run with the scheduled task application.
I recommend trying it a few times before depending upon it, but if you're using a laptop, that offers some degree of protection against power outages (provided they're not longer than a couple of hours), this is a great solution.
Plus, the laptop is a great photo-viewer already.
See. You can learn how to do all this with a google search, and save your $200 dollars for pizza, booze, and movie-tickets.
Agreed, love the Scheduled Task! Although to simplify it you can just create a scheduled task that points directly to an mp3 or playlist file. I set one up for each day of the week with a different song. You can make this coincide with wake on alarm settings in your BIOS so you don't always have to leave your computer on overnight. Just set it to wake up a few minutes before the scheduled task runs. Scheduled task has a checkbox to turn your computer on but it didn't work for me so I just changed my BIOS settings...
any winmo phone withspbtime software installed.
I have two alarms that run 15 minutes after the other and one thats 45 minutes later (if i fail to get up after the first 2)
gets me up everytime
Get a cheap Emerson and get a life.
I'm using an old Tapwave Zodiac for precisely this function. The main advantages:
(a) it is cheap.
(b) the speakers are really loud and you can choose whatever mp3 you like to wake you. I'm using a wren's warble at the moment.
(c) the screen resolution is 480x320 - pictures look great.
(d) it plays hundreds of games (Zodiac, Palm and emulated), is a rudimentary web tablet (with the Palm WiFi card, mobile google reader works great!) and great eBook reader (for in the bed reading).
(e) it has its own battery so, if you are really panicking about a power cut, it will continue to run and wake you up at the right time.
I agree, the Chumby is awesome....
but Oregon Scientific clocks are cheaper and better designed.
http://www2.oregonscientific.com/shop/product.asp?cid=30&scid=122&pid=879
well, I work for a company that do ODM battery packs (including NB batteries). I only add this comment to advise everyone not to do this.
When we assemble packs with cells in series/parallel config we match them by voltage and impedance for numerous performance and safety reasons. At the very least, his setup throws off the balancing circuit of the FG and protection IC. He is matching 6 red cells (probably made by Sanyo...god knows what the cell capacity is) with 3 green cells (probably made by SDI, again we don't know the cell capacity). This is not smart.
You do not want to see one of these 18650 cell "rapidly disassemble," let alone 9 of them firing off at the same time.
Certain thing is not worth messing with unless you really know what you are doing, especially if it can burn down your house or severely hurt you.
IGNORE...wrong article...sorry about this :)
Wow. How can you be that stupid? Seriously. Wow.
@jd:
WOW - how callous. Wow.
He probably just had a bunch of tabs open, flipped between them and posted in the wrong one. Not really a mark of stupidity.
What are you, twelve?
Use your cell phone alarm and save those $200 for some beer.
Piximodo Memento Black...best digital picture frame I've ever tested...and I test a lot!
@Anku,
I live in America & have lived in 4 differant states and the power everywhere I've lived be it rural or urban setting is out at least an hour or two every week. And I've experianced power outages for as long as five days at a time be it summer or winter in Idaho, Mich, NY, or Washinton state. I'd never be able to keep a job if my alarm didn't have a battery.
Stupid comment system. This was in responce to a comment by Anku earlyer about not needing a battery in an alarm if you live in America due to power outages being almost non events.
iPhone does it all and does it best. It's quite a bargain for what you get.
I own a Chumby. I love my Chumby.
However, Chumby completely fails as an alarm clock.
The poor response on the touchscreen makes every action you need to take with it a slow process. Fumbling to snooze your alarm clock or dealing with sleeping in when it loses network connectivity make this a poor choice for a wakeup device.
I bought a 7" digital photo frame with integrated calendar,clock & alarm, and it plays all major audio & photo formats+ mp4 and one more video format I can't remember.
All functions can be accessed also from its Creditcard like remote, but while it accepts with no problems memory keys and cards of 8GB and external HDDs, the included memory is virtually nonexistent (8 pics and 1 mp3 song and it was full)
It works as alarm clock even while playng slide shows with different fade outs and music background,it takes different memory cards and usb devices, like memo-keys. WIFI keys, BT keys, dab radio key, etc but having only one plug I had to buy an USB hub too.
To make it sound good enough I also added two amplified PC speakers because those inbuilt are abysmal.But Now it sounds great
Considered that it costed only 70 euros the expense for speakers , usb hub and wifi key was acceptable ( I dont care for DAB or BT in a frame)and now I am extremely satisfied by this ....Thing.
The brand that makes it is called LUMATRON (made in China), I had never heard of it before but this product is incredibly good for the price and its resolution while not exceptional its more than fair.
I hope this could help.
I bought a 7" digital photo frame with integrated calendar,clock & alarm, and it plays all major audio & photo formats+ mp4 and one more video format I can't remember.
All functions can be accessed also from its Creditcard like remote, but while it accepts with no problems memory keys and cards of 8GB and external HDDs, the included memory is virtually nonexistent (8 pics and 1 mp3 song and it was full)
It works as alarm clock even while playng slide shows with different fade outs and music background,it takes different memory cards and usb devices, like memo-keys. WIFI keys, BT keys, dab radio key, etc but having only one plug I had to buy an USB hub too.
To make it sound good enough I also added two amplified PC speakers because those inbuilt are abysmal.But Now it sounds great
Considered that it costed only 70 euros the expense for speakers , usb hub and wifi key was acceptable ( I dont care for DAB or BT in a frame)and now I am extremely satisfied by this ....Thing.
The brand that makes it is called LUMATRON (made in China), I had never heard of it before but this product is incredibly good for the price and its resolution while not exceptional its more than fair.
I hope this could help.
I forgot : IT looks great too: it's in alu or steel and it includes a choice of transparent (the best) black or white edges.
I must agree with many of the above readers. Chumby FTW. I've had it for 6 months and I it's a major step up from a traditional alarm clock.
Pros:
* Affordable (
Messed up in the use of parenthesis. Should read...
Pros:
* Affordable:
Argh!!! No Special Characters...
Pros:
* Affordable: Less than $200
* Serves as as a charger for all my USB based devices: 2 ports in back:
** iPhone, Jawbone, Blackberry, etc.
* Lots of customization.
* PandaCam!
Cons:
* Doesn't work as well disconnected. So not the best traveling alarm clock