The World's Most Devious Alarm Clock 639
wired_parrot writes "If you have trouble waking up, try this: MIT media lab has created an alarm clock that, when you press the snooze bar, runs off into a corner, a different hiding place every day. Try hitting the snooze bar again now!"
The typical things Slashdot users will say: (Score:5, Funny)
"Why not just get up when the alarm goes off the first time? I always wake up and face the day with a smile."
"I disabled the snooze button on my clock so I always have to get up"
Re:The typical things Slashdot users will say: (Score:3, Funny)
Re:The typical things Slashdot users will say: (Score:3, Funny)
Not only is the technology overcomplicated, but the life of the clock is only 4 days for most non-MIT mortals:
From TFS "when you press the snooze bar, runs off into a corner, a different hiding place every day". Now my bedroom has only four corners, this may be fine for MIT folks with their new buildings [bbc.co.uk], but what use is it for me! I'll have to move bedroom every fifth day!
As a side note, it would be interesting if the clock could move in 3 dimensions... in 2 dimensions our random paths a
Hey, it's much bettter... (Score:4, Insightful)
Yes, I stand up and face the day with a smile.
Re:Hey, it's much bettter... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:The typical things Slashdot users will say: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:The typical things Slashdot users will say: (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:The typical things Slashdot users will say: (Score:5, Funny)
best alarm = glass of water before bed (Score:5, Funny)
if you absolutely HAVE to get up - the most reliable
alarm clock is a glass of water before bed.
j.
Re:best alarm = glass of water before bed (Score:5, Funny)
lies, dirty lies (Score:3, Funny)
Re:best alarm = glass of water before bed (Score:5, Funny)
Wow. In what bizarre alternate universe did you think we'd want to know that?
Re:best alarm = glass of water before bed (Score:3, Funny)
Thank you Ralph Wiggum.
Re:The typical things Slashdot users will say: (Score:4, Interesting)
Now when the alarm rings, I turn it off, take a caffeine pill, and go back to sleep. After 20 minutes I slowly wake up again, and after 30 I get out of bed with no effort. I used to snooze snooze snooze for at least an hour, but I never hit "snooze" anymore. And it's cheap! No-name brand caffeine tablets are about as cheap as aspirin.
Falling asleep at night is another matter. That's a much harder problem- not just a matter of sustaining willpower like the problem of continually waking up on schedule. I found an OTC solution for that too. I take a 3mg melatonin tablet at about 11 PM and by midnight this vague feeling comes over me that it's late- I'm not exactly tired, but it "feels late". Falling asleep once I'm in that state takes 5 minutes. It doesn't work for everybody. Some people complain that they feel the effects of melatonin all through the next day, but that hasn't been my experience with it. I have a completely regular sleep schedule now. Melatonin is also very cheap.
Over the long term I'm more nervous about the melatonin than the caffeine. The long term effects of melatonin supplements are not as well known. But otherwise I'd be spending 90 minutes in bed every night trying to fall asleep. That adds up to some serious time- a significant chunk of your life! And you avoid a lot of health problems by sleeping normal hours. So I'm willing to accept a certain amount of risk, because this was a serious problem in my life that now appears completely solved.
Re:The typical things Slashdot users will say: (Score:3, Funny)
You are telling a crowd of soda drinking, caffiene soap using, programming code monkeys to get some exercise?
Good luck with that.
In other news today, a group of lobbyists confronted to the pope, asking him to be less Catholic.
Re:The typical things Slashdot users will say: (Score:3, Informative)
Re:The typical things Slashdot users will say: (Score:5, Funny)
However, I then found that the sudden dread that she might've smashed the crap out of my $5000 laptop made me get up right quick.
Re:The typical things Slashdot users will say: (Score:3, Interesting)
Equally motivating would be a crontab that "rm -rf ~/*". Put it on your powerbook, and leave your powerbook at work. That will provide motivation to arrive on time!!!
And, I know what you are thinking. "It's a great plan, and all, but I better at least back everything up, because I can't afford to lose everything". I say that you're weak....(mutters something about 3rd rule of fight club)... If you back it up, then the motivation will be gone.
Re:The typical things Slashdot users will say: (Score:5, Interesting)
fsck dat. I got a wind up alarm clock years ago and stick with it. It's devious enough that it has the deviousness to get faster during the damn night (change in spring temperature?) Can't say I've ever missed a wake-up that I've really needed. Take these windup clocks on trips too, can't trust power and such.
Re:The typical things Slashdot users will say: (Score:5, Funny)
Re:The typical things Slashdot users will say: (Score:3, Funny)
Re:The typical things Slashdot users will say: (Score:5, Funny)
Re:The typical things Slashdot users will say: (Score:5, Funny)
Re:The typical things Slashdot users will say: (Score:5, Funny)
Everyone knows that.
Re:The typical things Slashdot users will say: (Score:3, Funny)
Re:The typical things Slashdot users will say: (Score:3, Funny)
(Did you think I
Re:The typical things Slashdot users will say: (Score:3, Funny)
Re:The typical things Slashdot users will say: (Score:3, Funny)
The typical things Slashdot users will say... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:The typical things Slashdot users will say: (Score:3, Funny)
During the whole de-wheeling process I would have a grin on my face...because I'm a morning person.
Re:The typical things Slashdot users will say: (Score:5, Funny)
2)In Soviet Russia, You run away from alarm clock.
3) ??
4) Profit!
Re:The typical things Slashdot users will say: (Score:5, Funny)
(was that already done? I hope not...)
Re:Here's an idea: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Here's an idea: (Score:3, Informative)
Wow! (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Wow! (Score:5, Interesting)
When I used to wake up to music on my alarm clock I actually noticed a big difference in my attitude depending on which station I had it preset to. Classical music woke me up slowly, gently and left me in a very agreeable mood. Pop music or Rock music was not nearly as pleasant to wake up to but it was highly dependent on the particular song playing. Country music was the worst. I don't mind hearing it in the middle of the day, but waking up to 'Achey Breaky Heart' made me want to spit bile and kill something.
I quit waking to music though because sometimes the station would drift and I wouldn't be woken up at all. The buzzer never lets me down.
You know . . . (Score:5, Funny)
Re:You know . . . (Score:5, Interesting)
The 'alarm' sound consisted of the most annoying recordings of your mom nagging you in her most obnoxious tone to get out of bed.
But not just that - there was no snooze or power off. The only way to turn it off was to get onto the connected exercise bike that came with a heart monitor. You then had to pedal until your heart rate hit some critical value to turn off the alarm, at which point you wouldn't go back to sleep.
A funny skit, but totally brilliant as well.
Re:You know . . . (Score:3, Funny)
I had a "baseball" alarm clock in the 80's. the only way to hit snooze was to throw it. next time the alarm went off you HAD to get out of bed to hit it, and that typically would wake you enough to stay up.
Unless you left your bedroom door open and you threw it out into the hall where it rolled downstairs and you finally woke 2 hours later after 1st period exams were finished....
Luckily my Boss doesn't read slashdot (Score:5, Funny)
Luckily my wife doesn't read slashdot (Score:3, Funny)
Robert
Fantastic (Score:2, Funny)
Maybe if the clock rolled its way onto my bed and started harassing me that might do the trick, but I'm far enough from being a morning person that having the alarm going off won't stop me from snoozing, no matter where it is or how long it keeps going.
Re:Fantastic (Score:2)
Re:Fantastic (Score:3, Insightful)
You don't want a clock, you want a pet cat or dog. They can get very insistent when it's feeding time.
My universal snooze button: (Score:5, Funny)
I don't need it if .. (Score:5, Informative)
Re:I don't need it if .. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:I don't need it if .. (Score:5, Informative)
You missed one (Score:5, Funny)
I already have a good solution (Score:5, Insightful)
The smell of fresh brewed coffee makes me want to get out of bed to get my fix.
Re:I already have a good solution (Score:3, Funny)
if i hit the snooze button too many times, she takes my covers and occasionally hits me with her pillow.
it's a good system.
Another alternative (Score:3, Informative)
Does anyone know if there are other implementations of this? Devices which are designed to wake you up when you hit the lightest part of your cycle?
It would never make it (Score:5, Funny)
Wait (Score:5, Funny)
That way, you don't get a chance to hit the snooze button.
Heh, or make it run around WHEN it's alarm is on..
That would be very annoying and would wake you up faster with moving sound
Heh, annoying alarm clocks.. (Score:3, Funny)
I reckon this here alarm clock would mysteriously shatter into many pieces after one to many attempts to try and hit the snooze button again
Great... (Score:5, Funny)
Seems strangly apt here.
Glad to see.. (Score:2, Insightful)
Seriously, though, this could really come in handy after a coding marathon on the night before a midterm. Hell, it's probably the reason these guys even considered making something like this...
A simpler solution (Score:5, Interesting)
Wouldn't it be easier to just set the snooze button to give you a slowly increasing electric shock?
Re:A simpler solution (Score:5, Funny)
"In this isle we have the Guantonimo Bay model..."
Re:A simpler solution (Score:3, Informative)
Re:A simpler solution (Score:3, Insightful)
They'd be wise not to include a warranty (Score:5, Funny)
Me: "It uh... broke"
Clockly Repair Man: "it rather looks as if it was smashed with a hammer, repeatedly"
Me: "well it fell... into... a bag of hammers"
Thank you, MIT. (Score:5, Funny)
You've now created a robot that opposes the will of carbon-based lifeforms by design.
It's sole purpose, bringing suffering to humanity.
AND THEN YOU BOOBY-TRAPPED THE OFF SWITCH.
Buncha friggin' geniuses./P
Prior art. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Prior art. (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Prior art. (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Prior art. (Score:5, Funny)
I think you're screwed.
Cheaper alternatives are available (Score:5, Funny)
Not only will you not hit the snooze button, but you get to hear the doppler effect each morning!
Re:Cheaper alternatives are available (Score:5, Funny)
One Of Us (Score:3, Interesting)
If you've never read any Smith, I definitely recommend it - One Of Us is one of the funniest books I've ever read.
Very hilarious prank (Score:2, Interesting)
It just goes and hides from the person... hhahaha
Perfect (Score:2)
Heh (Score:5, Interesting)
Instead, I figure I'll talk about what I do use for an alarm clock. I have a Nokia 3650 that I have retired. (Battery is toast...) I set up reoccuring appointments on it so it wakes me up on weekdays. Okay, that's pretty boring. However, when I have to wake up for special circumstances, I set up an alarm with a text message telling me why I need to get it. (i.e. You've got a flight at 6 am!!!) Why does that matter? I always read the message. If it's something really important, I simply don't snooze.
Again, not sure if anybody really cares but I thought I'd share anyway. Knowing why should wake up helps deal with the whole snooze problem.
What'll probably happen (Score:2)
Once I got ahold of the damn thing (Score:2)
I prefer to wake up gently and kindly. I have a CD player alarm clock and I burned a custom CD that wakes me up gently and kindly with music of my choice.
I change the CD every few months. Right now the play list is:
1. 2/2 by Brian Eno from Music for Airports
2. Aguirre by Popul Vuh
3. Ode to Hats, by yours truly
4. Autumn by Wendy Carlos from Sonic Seasonings
by that time, I'm up and out of bed, grumbling about the day, and getting my daughter fed and d
Lawsuit waiting to happen... (Score:2, Funny)
This is new? (Score:5, Interesting)
For an project for an Engineering class, I built an alarm clock based on an a 6811 board. It could decode a signal from WWV so it never needed setting and it had some advanced alarm features such as figuring out when the lights went out to decide how much to advance the wake up time. It also could cope with the later classes on Tue and Thur and beep in a non threatening way around noon or so on Sat and Sunday.
It also had a temperature sensor and a humidity sensor so it if it was very cold or raining then it would go off about 10 minutes early. If it was real dark and wet and cold, then it wouldn't go off at all. For some reason, the professor didn't like that feature.
Wind up alarm clock in the closet (Score:5, Informative)
Even then I woke up one morning on the floor in front of my closet with the clock in my hand, late for work again.
Not long after that I moved back down South.
My Alarm Clock (Score:5, Funny)
MY room... (Score:3, Funny)
Oh My God! (Score:3, Funny)
Holy Crap! (Score:3, Funny)
Yeah, I guess Clocky will roll off into the corner (Score:3, Funny)
Another solution (Score:5, Interesting)
Have an alarm clock with a keypad and a multi-digit display. When the alarm goes off, display a randomly generated multi-digit code. The user must enter the correct code to stop the noise.
I think the ability to read and correctly key a code requires a level of consiousness similar to searching a room. The complexity of the code could vary depending on the user's ability to handle numerical data entry when half asleep.
Re:Another solution (Score:3, Interesting)
When I was living in the dorms, I put my alarm clock on top of my TV, which was on top of a huge dresser. I could only reach it by jumping to hit the snooze. After about 3 days, I just pulled the plug and went back to sleep.
Maybe that's why I'm going to community college now....
Re:Another solution (Score:3)
It also helps to go to bed at a reasonable hour. Maybe we argue that there is too much to do in a day to affo
Re:Another solution (Score:3, Informative)
Here you go. [chiropharma.com]
Re:Another solution (Score:3, Informative)
I had so much trouble with just turning my alarm off in the morning and going back to sleep that I set the alarm clock clear across the room, requiring me to quickly wake up and LEAP out of bed (literally!) to kill it. Eventually, I got the mus
The unperfect alarm clock... (Score:5, Funny)
First they yell at you. "Daddy, it's time to wake up!"
Then, they start beating on you.
Finally, they pry your eyes open.
Just dandy fun at 6am on a Sat or Sun morning.
I already have something like that... (Score:5, Funny)
Snooze button? Pah, get a 2 year old (Score:5, Funny)
Then, he starts hitting me. I've had my alarm clock disconnected for months. Waste of electricity.
Has a Snooze Button Though (Score:5, Funny)
Another option (Score:5, Interesting)
Until I bought a "dawn simulator". here's one [toolsforwellness.com], there are many others.
Essentially, it's just a bright light, with a matte glass so it spreads out a little (you can actually look into it without hurting your eyes, even though it's bright enough to light up the room).
What it does is dim it up slowly. Really slowly. Mine can be programmed to start at 90, 60 or 30 minutes prior to "wakeup time".
So I need to get up at 7 am. At 6:30, it will start to slowly dim up the light, reaching full brightness at 7 am, at which time it also sounds a soft alarm. By that time, however, I'm usually already awake.
I was a bit reluctant until I said "what the heck" one day and just tried it (found a vendor with a 21-day money-back-no-questions-asked policy).
The concept is that it simulates dawn, triggering your natural processes of waking up. A normal alarm clock just shakes you out of bed, and leaves it to you to become awake over the next few hours or so.
Re:Another option (Score:3, Funny)
When I wake up, I generally have no idea who I am, where I am, what I'm supposed to be doing... I sometimes have the feeling that if I could just get out of bed, things would become more clear, but I can't remember how to do that. I've slept through about anything you can think of, including
Flawed design (Score:3, Funny)
My floor? It'll make it all of two feet before getting caught at the Ephel Duath of papers, books, and clothes on the floor.
Minutes later, when the alarm sounds again, the sleeper must get up out of bed and search for Clocky.
I think not! They really should look at the habits of people who *need* a devious alarm clock and hurry out an all-terrain model
Snooze button schmooze button... (Score:3, Interesting)
Then it just clicked a few weeks ago - one of those "duh" moments. ( As blogged on my site [deryk.co.uk] ) I threw out my digital alarms, went out and bought an old-fashioned Westclox wind-up alarm. You wind it up every night, adjust the little lever to allow the hammer to move between the bells at the alarm time, and that's it!
Then it goes off and you get up.
It really is that simple. I wish I'd thought of it 10,15+ years ago!
It doesn't have a snooze function, so you know you have no choice in the matter... you can't "just return to that dream for another 10 minutes" - you have to get up. And there's nothing like a hammer striking a couple of bells to make you jump out of bed, much more effective than some little buzzer.
About 3 weeks using it so far, haven't snoozed once ;) Best "gadget" (traditional clocks are actually pretty cool IMO) that I've bought in a long, long time! And they're so user friendly... ok they're not millisecond-accurate but it's fun adjusting them to get as reasonably-accurate as you can.
I tell ya, the snooze button was the worst design decision ever made. Alarm clocks are designed to be evil, to give you a sudden kick to get you out of bed - then they went and put a "shut up" button on it! Evil, evil idea and so many of us now waste up to an hour of our days just fighting that damn button because we all sit there and accept it. I'd love to meet whoever invented it so I could bring along the biggest "snooze button" I can find and hit him around the head with it.
End of the World Alarm Clock (Score:3, Interesting)
I cannot describe the toodling buzzing, distorted horn noise it made. If you heard it you'd know. When I'd visit him and stay overnight I could hear it in the next room. The thing is he wouldn't wake up. He wasn't dead or drunk. No one else I knew was immune to the sound. Not even his room mate. Now that my friend is married I don't think he has that alarm clock any more. But I'm sure we'll all hear it again someday...
Snooze buttons waste time (Score:4, Insightful)
And if it turns out to be not enough sleep, I just sleep through the alarm anyways. And if I'm late, I'm late, and it doesn't matter if you're late by 10 minutes or 2 hours - I still have to lie about dog ate my homework, or buy new plane tickets, or whatever, right?
Life is short. I don't have time for snooze buttons.
Re:What (Score:3, Funny)
Perhaps he drives a Sob?
Re:Why hit snooze then? (Score:3, Funny)
Like what? Setting it to receive both the conservative talk radio station and the Ranchero music station at the same time?