Philips Wake-up Light simulates sunrise, still can't call in sick for you

Some pretty extreme methods for waking up are out there, but for those of you who'd prefer something a bit more natural, have a passing glance at Philips' Wake-up Light. This admittedly brilliant device simulates the rising of the sun by gradually getting brighter as your desired required wake-up time draws near. If that's not enough, your windowless apartment can become the middle of Central Park with the inclusion of bird sounds, babbling brooks and millions of citizens yapping on mobiles. Okay, so maybe that last bit will come with a future firmware update, but if the current iteration is good enough for you, it can be acquired now for around $120.

[Via UberReview]

Update: Seems this has been around for at least a bit in some parts of Europe. Share the love!

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 4th 2008 1:21PM]

I was looking at the dawn-simulating alarm clock, but finally ended up an Intermatic remote/dimmer/timer kit ( http://www.homesettings.com/products/kits/ha101k.aspx ). You can plug two lights through it and program them to gradually increase brightness in the morning and decrease it at night. And you can find it cheaper than $120.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 5th 2008 2:55AM]

Simply a case of worng photo here. Philips has just announced the new version of this product (far nicer design, by the way).

There's a HQ photo of the new one here: http://www.ifa.philips.com/images/products/Wake_up_Light_Dawn.jpg

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 7th 2008 9:48PM]

Where can you buy this outside of Europe? I can't find any USA sites that sells this thing.. They have it in amazon.co.uk for a price of 100GBP! That's in no way equivalent to 120USD!