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alarm posts

Seiko Ocean Theater alarm clock brings the life aquatic to your bedroom

by Laura June posted Nov 12th 2009 at 4:59AM

If you're anything like us, you're terrified of whales for pretty much no reason. Seiko's newest alarm clock -- the Ocean Theater -- probably isn't for you then. Fair enough, but plenty of people are not maladjusted, and we're willing to admit that it's pretty cool, even if it's terrifying. The clock, which responds to touch, can project various marine life upon your walls, and we imagine it'll be a huge hit with children. As you'll see in the video after the break, if this thing works as advertised, it's really rather impressive. The Ocean Theater also doubles as an iPod dock, and will be available from Japan Trends; it's up for pre-order now and runs $235. Like we said, definitely check out the video after the break.

[Via Uber Gizmo]

Continue reading Seiko Ocean Theater alarm clock brings the life aquatic to your bedroom

Sony ICF-CL75iP alarm clock / digital frame / iPod dock a surprisingly attractive assimilation

by Ross Miller posted Sep 2nd 2009 at 5:23PM

We'll be honest, it takes a whole lot to get us excited about iPhone / iPod docks or digital picture frames these days, but congratulations Sony, you've managed to pierce through our hardened hearts with the ICF-CL75iP Dream Machine. Sony Insider brings word of the actually quite handsome bedside attraction, an assimilation of those aforementioned products with an alarm clock to boot. We're looking at a 7-inch WVGA LCD screen, 1GB built-in memory, FM / AM radio, and a retractable dock -- in case you don't feel like capitalizing on the total synergistic package. Photos can be pulled directly from the Apple handheld or loaded via USB, and your wake-up options include built-in presets, a customizable 10-second voice recording, or the iPod / iPhone itself. Our only knock at this point is the minimal codec support -- MP3 and WMA for audio, and MP4, M-JPEG, and AVI for video -- but if the $149.95 price on a cached SonyStyle listing stays accurate, we can be a little forgiving. In fact, throw in Chumby widget support and we'll be downright smitten -- make it happen, Sony.

Update: Turns out it's actually up for pre-order right now through Sony Style Canada, CAN $199.99 (that's US $180) and shipping out October 1st.

[Thanks, Neil!]

Read - Sony Insider
Read - Sony Style cached listing

Philips HF3490 Wake-up Light is also a bedside lamp, iPod dock

by Vladislav Savov posted Jul 30th 2009 at 6:54PM

Did you know that waking up by natural light is a lot less stressful than doing it with sound? Yes, apparently your toast tastes better too. Philips has long been a proponent of light alarms and, in an effort to stay hip with the kids, it's added a detachable iPod / iPhone dock to its latest offering. The HF3490 might never serve as your music station, but it tries hard, bringing an FM radio and some soothing sounds along. With 30 different levels of brightness and a "dusk simulator," this device has enough tweaking options to ensure you wake up just the way nature intended -- with birds chirping and soft sunlight on your pillow, all simulated by futuristically ugly electronics. If you can get over the $199 price, you can pre-order one for delivery on August 22.

[Via Coolest Gadgets]

Finger Dance Alarm Clock: it's like DDR, in an alarm clock

by Darren Murph posted Jul 4th 2009 at 8:04AM

If the world required that you complete an expert DDR jam each morning only moments after you awoke, there's a solid chance the global death toll would far outpace the birth rate. Thankfully, all that's typically necessary is that you actually listen to whatever device you've got ringing. If you've noticed lately that said noises just aren't cutting it, here's a little puzzler that's pretty much guaranteed to either get you up or entangle you in infinite frustration. The £9.99 ($16) Finger Dance Alarm Clock sounds at a user-determined time, and once your weary eyes begin to focus, you then have to use your digits to follow a lighted dance pattern in order to shut the cacophony off. It's half torture, half genius -- precisely the way we like it.

[Via OhGizmo]

Samsung SPH-W7100 with 100 decibel siren: proof the terrorists have won

by Thomas Ricker posted Feb 24th 2009 at 2:44AM

Scared? So scared that you need to carry a 100dB alarm with a direct link to local emergency services? Good, the SPH-W7100 is for you and your milquetoastian kin. In addition to emitting an alarm blast equivalent to your MP3 player's earbuds set at full volume, the SPH-W7100 features an SOS function that alerts local authorities to your position via GPS. The phone is being marketed at women and children in Korea for its launch next month. And having gained FCC approval back in December, Samsung might be prepared to prey upon your fears Stateside in time. Too bad you've lost all ability to hope.

Renegade Roomba trips home alarm, cops underwhelmed upon arrival

by Darren Murph posted Dec 9th 2008 at 8:21AM

Note to Roomba owners -- shut that bad boy off before leaving the house and arming the alarm system. In what we can only imagine was a pretty comical scene, a runaway Roomba in a Denmark home tripped the motion sensors after it acted on its itch to suck up a few pints of dust and debris while its owners were out on the town. Once the alarm was tripped, authorities were automatically phoned in to see what kind of shenanigans were going on. Needless to say, it proved difficult to charge the innocent looking autovac with breaking and entering, but we hear it has been tagged and given a parole officer just in case it tries to cut loose in the future.

[Thanks, morten]

iLuv's iNT170 internet radio-alarm appears, no one's too excited

by Laura June posted Dec 4th 2008 at 4:32PM

Not to be left out, iLuv's also brought out another internet radio / alarm combo and it looks exactly like you'd think it would. Only cooler. The iNT170's packing access to 15,000 radio stations and podcasts through its built-in WiFi, aka INTERNET (see photo). It's got two 2.5 watt jAura sound speakers, a dual alarm clock, plus a 3.5mm line-in if you need to plug in your PMP. The clock self-updates via INTERNET, so you'll never be able to use that Daylight Saving Time excuse for being late to work again (we recommend the "flooded basement" or "sick cat" in its stead), and you'll have the option to wake to INTERNET or regular radio in addition to the old standby buzzer. It's available now for $199.

Moshi's IVR Alarm Clock accepts voice commands, harbors own primary directives

by Paul Miller posted Nov 14th 2008 at 10:21AM

The Moshi IVR (Interactive Voice Responsive) Alarm Clock is a chatty one. Instead of those perfectly reasonable physical buttons which have been providing us with additional five minute segments of sleep since time immemorial, the Moshi IVR wants to talk you through your morning. To activate a command, just say "Hello Moshi." Moshi will most likely mutter something threatening under its virtual breath, and then ask you "Command Please," to which you can instruct the clock to tell you the time, set the alarm, inform you of the temperature and a bunch of other things. Sounds great, and we doubt Moshi will be able to murder you in your sleep without any life support systems or pod bay doors under its dominion, but we still fear the prospect of attempting to reason with a too-smart-for-its-own-good alarm clock during one of those dreaded "before noon" hours of the day. Moshi IVR is available now for $50.

Stewart Copeland composes BlackBerry Bold soundtrack with negative effects

by Joshua Topolsky posted Aug 4th 2008 at 7:50PM

You know how Stewart Copeland plays that insanely slick triplet hi-hat part in "Message in a Bottle," and every time you hear it you wonder how it's possible for him to stay so perfectly in time? And you know how his drums fit so perfectly in the pocket with Sting and Andy Summers on pretty much anything The Police ever touched despite the fact they all hated each other? Well, Copeland's "soundtrack" for the BlackBerry Bold -- commissioned by RIM -- should rid you of all of those amazing memories real fast. The drummer provided six ringtones, an alarm sound, and a Bold "theme" for the company's new device, yet not one of them is remotely pleasant to listen to. In a word or two? They stink.

[Via CrackBerry; Photo courtesy of spisharam]

Researchers create sour milk alarm

by Joshua Topolsky posted Mar 15th 2008 at 9:26AM

Finally, the days of ruined breakfasts and tossed cups of coffee will be a thing of the past, thanks to work being done by researchers in the US and China. Scientists have discovered a simple chemical reaction that can sense if your 2 percent has lost its charm before you get it home and crack it open. The system works by floating a small widget in the milk which can be scanned at a supermarket checkout by magnet -- the device will vibrate slowly if the liquid has thickened. The same will occur if the potentially harmful bug Staphylococcus aureus -- which can cause food poisoning -- thins the consistency of the milk. Researchers claim that the system will cost less than a penny per carton, and could also be used in fruit juices. This all sounds pretty altruistic, but as soon as you can get this into super-cheap domestic beers, please give us a call.

[Via Switched]

Homegrown alarm clock tests your math to gauge alertness

by Darren Murph posted Feb 26th 2008 at 4:38PM

We've seen some fairly sinister alarm clocks in our day -- ones that fly around, nearly make you go deaf and "explode" if you don't get up in time, for starters -- but this DIY creation is definitely lobbying for top honors. The Turing Alarm Clock, which has admittedly been making the rounds of late, starts making racket just as any other alarm clock when the time comes, but rather than letting you smash the snooze button, it forces you to answer math questions with varying levels of difficulty before quieting down. Evil? Sure. Effective? You betcha. Check the video after the jump.

[Via Hack-A-Day]

Continue reading Homegrown alarm clock tests your math to gauge alertness

Mitsubishi arms the FL7000U projector

by Darren Murph posted Jan 7th 2008 at 12:01AM

We're not exactly sure when 1080p projectors became fit for "educational applications," but if that is indeed the case, consider us enrolled. Mitsubishi's FL7000U projector is hailed as the firm's first ultra-bright 1080p HD PJ "for commercial, home theater and education installations." Specs wise, it features 5,000 lumens, a 1,000:1 contrast ratio and a trio of 1.1-inch 3LCD inorganic panels -- somehow, all that adds up to a list price of $14,995. 'Course, it can create "side-by-side images for enhanced video conferencing applications," and there is a built-in motion-sensitive anti-theft alarm, but we still can't see throwing this on anything other than a university card.

Sleep.FM brings social networking to the alarm clock -- forgets to ask why?

by Thomas Ricker posted Dec 12th 2007 at 4:21AM

Unless you're waking to a playlist, you're likely subjecting yourself to a constant AM rehash of the same alarm drudgery. The kind of fitful start which makes any netizen long for the gray and death-accented cubicle release of work. Enter Sleep.FM, "the social alarm clock." The beta service allows your friends and family to record custom audio alarms which playback on your PC or other Internet enabled device. "Honey I've left, and I took the kids," has never been so arousing. Tear-jerker of a demonstration after the break.

[Via The Red Ferret Journal]

Continue reading Sleep.FM brings social networking to the alarm clock -- forgets to ask why?

Neverlate Executive alarm clock -- sleep's worst nightmare

by Darren Murph posted Nov 27th 2007 at 12:01PM

If you thought the original Neverlate 7-day alarm clock kept your eyes peeled, you ain't seen nothin' yet. Years after the original took bedside tables by storm, American Innovative has finally unveiled the Neverlate Executive, which boasts a sleeker design along with a myriad new amenities. For starters, this version includes a pair of 7-day alarm banks, Daily Reminders and a full-blown Preferences Menu that enables you to control everything from the backlight brightness to the alarm duration. You'll also find an AM / FM tuner, which as you may expect, allows users to assign different stations to each alarm; furthermore, the line-in, headphone and USB jacks add even more connectivity options, and the Descending Snooze feature forces you to wake up after you slam it too many times. Interested consumers can get their pre-order in now for $59.95, and truthfully, that's a small price to pay when staring termination (due to chronic tardiness, of course) in the face.

[Via Gizmag]

Shooting Cubicle Alarm System keeps your stapler, paperclips safe

by Darren Murph posted Oct 27th 2007 at 9:32AM

If you're truly trying to protect wares that actually posses a substantial level of worth, we'd recommend a few alternatives more suited for the job, but if you're simply trying to keep the office snoop from "borrowing" your red stapler, this cubicle defense system ought to suffice. Put simply, the three devices can be set up around your personal space, and while the first unit simply flashes, emits a blast and simultaneously alarms the other two, the second device actually throws out an uber-terrifying (okay, so maybe that's a stretch) red beam to further startle the invader. If he / she persists, the final unit launches two non-lethal missiles to let that encroacher know that you mean business. Yeah, it's not exactly intimidating, but if you've nothing better to do than watch a demonstration of the $39.99 system in action, check it out after the jump.

[Via Coolest-Gadgets]

Continue reading Shooting Cubicle Alarm System keeps your stapler, paperclips safe