clock

Nixie tube clocks have moxie!

One of the tragic victims of the cell phone's widespread popularity are good, old-fashioned timepieces. Everyone has a do-it-all, pocketable device that makes calls, tells time, and surfs the Internet, so clocks and watches have fallen by the wayside.

Thanks to these retro Nixie Tube Clocks and DIY kits, you can reclaim time-telling in the name of the clock. Not only that, you can also bring your desk's fashion sense back to the glory years of the standalone timepiece.

These hand-made clocks and clock-making kits display the time with old-fashioned glowing orange numbers in Russian Nixie tubes. According … Read more

A digital radio for treehuggers

Caring about the environment is trendier than ever in the tech world, with massive companies such as Apple and Dell at least paying lip service to the idea that our obsession with new products isn't taking an unnecessary toll on old Mother Earth. Keen to jump on the eco-bandwagon is Pure Digital, whose DAB radios lead the digital radio pack. Its new Siesta DAB alarm-clock radio is squarely aimed at hippies people who enthusiastically aim to reduce their negative impact on the environment.

At 50 pounds (abour $102), the Siesta is an affordable bit of gear and apparently uses … Read more

O2 Cocoon: The alarm clock phone

For starters, the Cocoon is highly stylish, featuring a smooth, curved white casing that slips easily into a pocket. In a neat touch, there are hidden LEDs behind the front cover that light up and tell you the time, and preview text messages and incoming caller details. But what's really impressive about these lights is how they work in conjunction with the provided dock, or "nest," as O2 likes to call it.

As well as charging the Cocoon, the dock turns the handset into a fully fledged alarm clock that constantly displays the time and can wake … Read more

Webware's official alarm clock

Here's another PC-based alarm clock: Naked Alarm Clock. It's just a little Flash-based clock with ringers. Things I like about it: It's easy to program. It has loud alarms, and you can turn them off by mashing the space bar. Second, although it's Web-based, it's a self-contained Flash application, so it will ring even if your Internet connection dies in the middle of the night. It's missing a snooze alarm, though.

I might actually use this as an alarm clock next time I'm in a hotel. Yeah, I could use my mobile phone, … Read more

Philips' Wi-Fi alarm clock: less rubbish

Alarm clocks are typically--though not always--hateful little sods, synonymous with a miserable feeling of remorse that the night is over and that romantic tryst with Philippa Forester was merely a dream. Solely responsible for getting us out of bed at the butt-crack of dawn, they're hated with the fury of a thousand suns. The nerds at Philips also have to get out of bed, so it's no surprise they've put considerable effort into making them less rubbish with the WAK3300.

This system goes hand-in-hand with Philips' WACS7000 music system we recently reviewed. As a stand-alone alarm … Read more

More iPod-friendly products from Sony

Sony's taken the wraps off two more iPod-compatible home audio products: the ICF-C1iP clock radio, and the ZS-S2iP boom box. The ICF-C1iP clock radio is available in black or white and offers an adjustable backstop for accommodating various sizes of 'Pods in the built-in dock. Otherwise, it's a pretty standard feature set for the clock radio category--adjustable brightness control; AM/FM radio; wake to iPod, radio, or alarm; and wireless remote. Personally, i think the clock's digital display--along the bottom of the iPod dock--seems like it would be too easily obscured, but maybe I just have too many books on my nightstand. … Read more

Deal of the day: iClock AM/FM alarm clock for iPod, $45

Picture this. It's Monday morning. You're a little bleary from your weekend indulging, and it's time for your virtuous 6 a.m. trip to the gym to sweat out those toxins. But your old clock radio only gets two choices, troubling reports from war zones or the local pop radio station. Not wishing to subject yourself to treacly theme songs or fearsome news reports first thing in the morning, preferring to ease yourself into the day with a little Megadeth, perhaps, what will you do?

You can't just plug one of those clunky plastic dial timers … Read more

The latest in surveillance: spy tires

If you think your surveillance subjects are suspicious of the eavesdropping lamps and spying alarm clock that you left as housewarming gifts, it may be time to go into true stealth mode. That can mean only one thing: a spy cam hidden inside a wall clock that looks like a tire (or "tyre," in this case).

This unobtrusive, everyday household item is equipped with a remote-controlled digital video camera and a 2.4 wireless transmitter, according to Technabob, as well as a viewing receiver. It's right out of Get Smart.

But don't fret. If this doesn'… Read more

Alarmd: The most expensive, non-energy-efficient alarm clock ever

Your computer might be able to help cure cancer, or run fancy shmancy high-end games, but let's face it, that high-resolution display would make a really great-looking alarm clock. User interface programmer Zach Leatherman seems to have had the same thought, and has designed a very Webby desktop alarm clock service called Alarmd that runs right in your browser. It gives you a few options to choose how you want your slumber interrupted, like music from Last.fm, a video from YouTube, or a hosted MP3.

Users can set alarms for any day of the week, and keep track … Read more

Don't we all need a USB letter opener?

How many times have you sat around wishing that you had a combination alarm clock and letter opener with a four-port USB hub? Yeah, we've lost count too.

But our prayers have been answered by a company in China, naturally, where entrepreneurs have proved willing to produce practically any idea--regardless of whether anyone needs it. No price is listed by Shenzhen Sunstars Electronics for the combo letter opener, which we spotted on Red Ferret, but we're guessing that it won't break the bank. And the alarm clock will keep you from falling asleep at the desk, so … Read more