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!"
Wow! (Score:2, Interesting)
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?
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
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.
Re:The typical things Slashdot users will say: (Score:3, Interesting)
If I didn't know any better I'd say my alarms were to wake my girlfriend up so she can nag me up.
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.
A simpler solution-The Clock is strong in this one (Score:2, Interesting)
I much prefer the Darth Vader model. Now there's a clock you dare not ignore.
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.
Re:The typical things Slashdot users will say: (Score:5, Interesting)
FYI (Score:2, Interesting)
there is not a lot of info on the internal of this clock, but i wouldn't be surprise if it's entirely built from lego mindstroms system. hell, let me break it down for ya, it's a damn clock with segway like propulsional system and a line of random num generator in the programing...wanta see some thing a bit more advanced? check out this page: http://lego.dongzr.com/ [dongzr.com]
Re:A simpler solution (Score:2, Interesting)
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.
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.
One question: (Score:2, Interesting)
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: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.
Weird (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:The typical things Slashdot users will say: (Score:2, Interesting)
I have the same problem, except I have to wake up at 6:30. No matter how many hours of sleep I get, it's always a problem.
I resorted to using a very loud alarm clock and an additional (almost) fail-safe system.
I use iCal to fire up an Applescript which starts up iTunes at max volume, with the equalizer set all the way up, so that the Powerbook speakers will sound all distorted and unbearably out of range.
The script is purposedly running on an infinite loop, so that it can't be easily quit. You need to walk up to the Powerbook and be so awake as to be able to press Cmd-Alt-Esc and force-quit it, then set iTunes to its proper EQ and volume settings.
Not as nerdy as Perl, but it does its job most of the times... I wish I had louder speakers, though.
My no-snooze method (Score:2, Interesting)
Overall, this method worked pretty close to 100%.
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: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.
"Clocky" may be cute, but ... (Score:2, Interesting)
I'd rather use this elegant solution [core77.com].
Plus, this hanging one wouldn't try to kill my cat every morning like Clocky would.
My solution (Score:2, Interesting)
I synched my 2 cell phones (1 personal, 1 work) with my alarm clock. The alarm clock is in a backpack with the zippers tied together with a keyring. All three devices go off at the same time. I call this "Confusion". Every morning, all three devices sound at the same time. I get all CONFUSED! Which one to silence first? It should be noted that I live in a house where I am the first to wake, and therefore risk waking the others prematurely. Even in my morning fog, I do not wish to cause others a disturbance, so it is in my best interest to silence these alarms as soon as possible. BUT WHICH ONE FIRST!?! By the time I've gone through the mental gymnastics required to figure this problem out every morning, I'm wide fuckin' awake!
I do have to resync these devices every other week or so.
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...
Re:I don't need it if .. (Score:2, Interesting)
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.