Mmmm young Padawans,  shoot sparks to wake you up in the morning this Wesco Star Wars Jedi Training Ball Alarm Clock will not. But Force push umm…. throw it you must for the alarm to turn off.

Available for preorder (expected delivery April/May) from Frontline Hobbies Australia for $29.99AU (approx $32US ).

Filed in categories: Geek Toys, News, Watches and Clocks

Tagged: Clock, Star Wars

Jedi Training Ball Alarm Clock – Use the Force Luke originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on March 20, 2012 at 8:00 am.

This is another Kickstarter project.  The Manifold Clock is a wall-mounted clock with a 30″ sweep.  The hour and minute hands are joined with a flexible sheet that forms a changing 3-D shape.  This “combination of simple mechanics and modern design is based on the mathematical notion of Riemann surfaces, derived from the log(z) function.”  Pledge at least $45 to receive a Manifold Clock.  Funding has already been exceeded, but there is still time to pledge and receive a clock.  The funding period ends February 23 at 5:00 pm EST.

Filed in categories: News, Watches and Clocks

Tagged: 3D, Clock

Manifold Clock: Telling time in 3D originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on February 10, 2012 at 8:00 am.

We’ve had no shortage of Lego Star Wars-related clocks ’round these parts.  So in honor of Father’s Day, check out this clock in the image of the “Dark Father” himself, the Lego Star Wars Darth Vader Minifigure Clock.  Except that this “mini” figure is not so mini, as he’s a whopping 9+ inches of menacing Dark Side timepiece.  Features articulated arms and legs plus digital, lighted display and alarm clock.  Also available are Yoda and Stormtrooper.  $29.99 each.

Filed in categories: Watches and Clocks

Tagged: Clock, Star Wars

Darth Vader Lego (Not-So-)Mini Figure Clock originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on June 19, 2011 at 10:35 pm.

This conceptual product by Michael Kritzer is called the DayMaker. This is an alarm clock, with a place for 2 iPhones and an analog clock in front. When the alarm on one of the iPhones rings, the iPhone jumps like a bread slice in a toaster. You can make it snooze by pressing it down again.

In order to help make this concept a real product, please check the product page on Habitco.

Filed in categories: iPhone, iPad, iPod related, News, Watches and Clocks

Tagged: Clock, concept product, iPhone

Concept: Toaster-Shaped Alarm Clock for the iPhone originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on May 24, 2011 at 2:13 pm.

The aXbo Sleepphase Alarm Clock knows the perfect time to wake you up and now it knows just the right length of time to let you snooze when you press the snooze button. aXbo has launched a new feature called iSnooze which considers your sleep phases unlike snooze features that wake you at fixed intervals. With the iSnooze function, the aXbo user will thus be woken gently from an optimal sleep phase for a second time while dozing. Current aXbo clocks can be upgraded with this new iSnooze feature for free by download of the software “up2date” on www.axbo.com.

Filed in categories: Health Related Gadgets, News, Watches and Clocks

Tagged: Clock, Health, Spotlight Gadgets

aXbo sleepphase alarmclocks get a smart snooze feature originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on March 7, 2011 at 3:00 pm.

I like unusual clocks, but I still like to be able to tell time with a quick glance – even if it means I have to learn a pattern of lights or something.  The Haoshi’s Merry-Go-Round Carousel Clock from A+R Store certainly is described by “unusual”, but I’m not sure that I’d ever be able to tell time with a quick glance.  The columns around the outside mark the hour positions for the clock.  Three disks inside act as the clock hands.  The inner disk has a boy mounted on a horse; this disk turns quickly to indicate seconds.  The middle disk, with a woman on a horse, marks the minutes.  The outer disk has a man on a horse; he moves slowly around the carousel to mark the hours.  I’m afraid the tent on top would block your view of the “hands” enough to make this “clock art” instead of just a “clock”.  The Haoshi’s Merry-Go-Round Carousel Clock is 6″ in circumference and 6.5″ tall and is made of hand-finished resin.  The clock sells for $140.00.

Filed in categories: News, Watches and Clocks

Tagged: Clock

Haoshi’s Merry-Go-Round Clock originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on February 3, 2011 at 2:00 pm.

Moshi has just announced the availablilty of a new Voice Control clock. This is the Moshi Voice Control Reflection clock. It features a cool reflective display with 6 nightlight colors to choose from and adjustable LCD brightness. In addition to using your voice to set the time, dual alarms and snooze, this new clock will allow you to ask for indoor and outdoor temperatures and record up to an 8 minute memo. I have reviewed a couple different Moshi Voice Control clocks in the last year or two and am still using one of them on my night stand. I love being able to set the alarm and time just by saying “Hello Moshi” and giving “her” a command. I also can’t help but smile when I say “thank you” after setting an alarm and she responds with “you’re welcome”. Little things make me happy The Moshi Reflection Clock is available exclusively at Brookstone.com for $59.95 MSRP.

Filed in categories: News, Windows Mobile related

Tagged: Clock, Spotlight Gadgets

Moshi Voice Control Reflection Clock available at Brookstone originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on December 28, 2010 at 11:47 am.

The iPad makes a great digital photo frame, eBook reader, magazine reader, web surfing device and gaming device. But can it also make a great alarm clock? The folks at Fishbone Studio think so. They have released an iPad version of their Clock Pro application that will turn your iPad (there’s an iPhone version too) into a clock with features galore. Let’s take a look.

Clock Pro HD has a visually appealing interface that includes analog and digital style clock faces.

You have a few options to customize the analog style clock, that basically consists of just changing the number style and second hand behavior.

There are more options to change the digital style clock, but I’d like to see even more styles and customizations available in future versions.

Clock Pro HD isn’t just a basic alarm clock. There are quite a few other features available that include a World Clock, Stop Watch, Cook Timer, Nature Timer, Chess Timer, Metronome, Count down, Sleep Timer and Project Clock.

For some reason the landscape orientation isn’t full screen, which is unfortunate…

There are a few neat little touches that I like. For example, the World Clock darkens the clock faces for locations where it is night time.

You even get a cool looking metronome.

Ok, so we know that the interface looks great and you get all kinds of cool clock / timer features right? So I should love this app. Well, I do like it, but I can’t love it for one BIG reason. The alarms and timer features only work if you’re running the app. What does that mean? It means if you set an alarm to wake up at 8am and then go goof around in another app before turning off the display, the alarm will never fire.

It also means that if you set the cook timer for 45mins so that you’ll know when to take the chicken out of the oven, and then go play a round of solitaire, you’ll probably be going to McDonald’s for dinner because the alarm will not go off.

The developers are up front with this issue and mention it on their site. Apparently it will be resolved once iOS4 for the iPad is released in September. Until then, you have to remember to leave the app running if you want to hear the alarms. Hmmmm…

Another problem is that EVEN if you do leave Clock Pro HD running, and an alarm does go off, it doesn’t wake up the screen so that you can press the Snooze or Stop button. The screen remains turned off. You’ll need to press the Home button or Idle button, unlock the screen and then press Snooze or Stop. Lame.

Clock Pro HD has a lot of potential, but at the moment, I’d hold on to my $’s and wait for the alarm issues to be fixed before buying it.

See it in Action

Filed in categories: iPhone, iPad, iPod related, Reviews

Tagged: App, Clock, iPad

Clock Pro HD iPad App Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on July 18, 2010 at 3:42 pm.

At one point or another, we all find ourselves in a situation where it would be beneficial to be a fly on the wall; whether it’s to figure out who it is that keeps stealing Netflix envelopes out of your mailbox, to keep an eye on the babysitter, or to reveal an even more unfortunate deceit, we all eventually find a need to have a view into someplace that we can’t always be.  Fortunately, there’s a spy camera out there for every such need, and the fine folks at Spy Gadgets were kind enough to provide me with a review sample of one of their newest pieces of surveillance equipment, the Infrared Spy Camera Cube Clock from Spy Gadgets.

Specs:

• Video Resolution: 720×480 / 320×240
• Frame Rate per Second: 1, 2, 3, 5, 15, 30fps
• Video Compression: MPEG-4
• •Video System: NTSC
• Camera: CCD-Black and White LOW LUX .0001 – Color is Day and night Auto Switching CCD Low Lux .05 color camera switching to black and white CCD low Lux .0001
• Video Recording Mode: Motion 150 grids user selectable, Continuous, Overwrite, Scheduled
• Play back: Multi-playback with event search function
• AV out and SD card play back on Windows media player version
• Embedded Time/Date Stamp: On video and Position Selectable
• Storage Media: 32 GB SD (support SDHC)
• Control: IR remote control
• Firmware Upgradeable: Through SD card
• Operating Temperature: 0~+50°C
• High Def resolution 1080 x 720 coming soon

First Impressions

First off, let me just say that what I received in the box isn’t exactly what I was expecting.  I’ve seen spy gadgets before, and the unfortunate majority of them are a tiny, low-resolution camera jammed into some sort of device that looks sort of like an innocuous household item, but still bears some tell-tale signs that something isn’t right:  an AC adapter with a SD card slot in the side for some reason, or a landline telephone that would look out of place in most modern homes.  Imagine my surprise when I opened the box to discover a perfectly normal-looking clock radio.  The styling is relatively modern, the device is entirely functional as a clock-radio, and unless you were to pick it up and give it a thorough examination, there is nothing to suggest that it is anything other than a regular clock-radio.

So what are the giveaways?  Well, for starters, one of the recessed holes for the case screws has been replaced with a jack for video output.  The other is that the backup battery compartment has been re-purposed as a home for the SD card slot (though it is important to note that the battery compartment cover conceals even this from casual inspection).  So yes, if someone were looking for a spy camera, this would not stand up to a thorough inspection.  But in any other case, this device is entirely incognito.

Before receiving the review sample, I had presumed that the various settings would be controlled through series’ of button-press combinations, as so often seems to be the case with lesser spy camera devices.  Fortunately, I was wrong:  the video out jack provides a view of the setup menu, which is navigated with the included remote control.  This is preferable both because it is a very easy way to adjust settings, and also because it allows for a very broad range of configuration options — which this unit has in spades.

Setup and features

The included remote, used for navigating the configuration menu

Setup using the on-screen menus was a piece of cake.  I simply plugged the included video cable into the jack on the back of the device and into the V-AUX composite port on the front of my home theater receiver, and plugged the Cube into the power outlet, and I was greeted with a full-screen view of what the device’s camera was seeing.  Pressing the “menu” button on the remote brought up the settings menu, and though the included manual does a good job of detailing what each setting does, I found most of them to be fairly self-explanatory.

The configuration menu allows you to select recording resolution, frame rate, and video quality, and in doing so you are given a rough estimate of the amount of video that you can store on the currently-inserted SD card.  The Cube is capable of always-on recording, or only when motion is detected.  Motion-sensitivity is configurable, which I expected, but what I did not expect is that you can set “active” areas in the camera’s field of view.  For example, perhaps you have a pet that may wander into the camera’s view, but that you don’t want to trigger a recording.  You can make the area at the bottom of the camera’s view “inactive”, and any motion that occurs in that area will be ignored, and will not trigger the motion detector.  Or perhaps your curtains tend to flap in the breeze.  That area can be deactivated  so that the motion of your curtains is ignored.  The active and inactive areas are presented as a grid of squares, so you really can customize the motion detection to whatever suits your purpose.

Another unexpected setting is the recording schedule:  you can set up special schedules on a day-by-day basis.  For instance, you can turn recording off completely during the hours that you are normally home, while also forcing always-on recording during a specific window of time on Tuesday morning, and scheduling motion-activated recording only during the weekend.  It’s extraordinarily flexible, and thoroughly impressive.

The Cube also allows you to set a maximum recording time for each video file.  The default 30 minute setting, for example, will force the creation of a new video file after each 30 minute mark is reached.  This is nice, not only because scanning through several hours of video is tedious, but also because it could be beneficial in the case of a power outage, which would otherwise render the ongoing recording corrupt and unusable.  In addition, you can specify how the device handles running out of space on the SD card.  You can simply have it stop recording when it’s full, or you can have it continually overwrite the oldest recording.

Recording quality

While the video that this device produces isn’t up to the standard of what you’d get from a DSLR (or even most higher-end webcams), it’s still fine for its intended purpose.  Faces and objects are easily identifiable, and the camera provides a wide-angle view, capturing a sizable portion of any room it’s placed in.

One of the touted features of this device is its IR recording capability, and for good reason.  A series of IR light sources are located behind the front panel of the clock radio, emitting IR light that is invisible to the naked eye.  The camera records in full color normally, and when it becomes too dark, it seamlessly switches to a black-and-white camera.  This doesn’t require stopping the recording, it just switches midstream, without a hitch.  As the available light becomes less and less, the IR output contributes more and more to lighting the scene.  Even in complete darkness, the IR source is able to produce enough light to illuminate most of what the camera can see.

Normal (adequate light) recording mode

Low-light mode. This sample was captured in a pitch-black room.

See it in action

Potential issues

Though easily the best, most capable, and most configurable spy camera I’ve ever laid hands on, the Infrared Spy Camera Cube Clock is not without its issues.  First of all, cutting power to the device results in corruption of the video file that is currently recording.  Manual recordings can be stopped with the remote prior to unplugging the device, but when in motion detection mode, this basically means either getting completely out of the way of the camera and standing still for a few moments prior to pulling the plug, or draping a towel or other cloth over the device so that the camera can detect no motion.  Either way, this is just another reason to make judicious use of the Recording Length setting.

Another issue is that, in commandeering the battery backup compartment, Spy Gadgets has left the clock radio without any sort of backup power.  This means that any time you unplug the device, you will have to set the time the next time you plug it in, or leave it blinking 12:00 like that VCR at your grandparents’ house.  This is a minor issue, but annoying, considering that you have to unplug the device in order to remove the SD card safely.  I want to point out that I am speaking only of the display clock on the clock radio here, and not the internal clock used by the spy camera… the internal clock seems to have a backup battery of its own, as it still seems to maintain the proper date and time even after multiple unpluggings and repluggings.

I also have a couple of issues concerning the video output.  For one, this is the only way to set the “active” areas for motion detection, but the only way to really set this up correctly is to hook the video output up to a TV while the clock radio is set up in the exact position where it will be during recording (otherwise, you’re just guessing about which areas on the grid correspond to which spots in your recording area).  Unless you happen to be setting it up very near a TV or happen to have a small portable TV at hand, this is going to be difficult at best.  The other issue here is that video output is provided as composite video only, using a special TS to RCA cable.  In an age where everything is going HDMI, and content owners are trying their hardest to close “the analog hole”, the Infrared Camera Cube Clock Radio is in danger of becoming unusable for most people.  I’d really have preferred to see some other form of modern video output, such as HDMI or DVI.  Certainly, there are composite video to HDMI converter boxes out there, but they can be expensive, and having to haul out a converter box and its associated cables just to spend five minutes configuring one device seems unnecessarily complicated.

One final, minor issue: the price.  At over $600, this is not a surveillance device for casual use.  In fact, one might be tempted to try to assemble something for less with a netbook, a webcam, and the proper software, but even then one wouldn’t get the ability to record in complete darkness.  The price is justified by the array of features and just how flexible this device is overall, but it’s still a lot to swallow.

Conclusion

Despite the few issues that I found, the Spy Gadgets Infrared Spy Camera Cube Clock is a quite robust, feature-rich, and capable surveillance device.  If you need to keep a watchful eye on a specific area for extended periods of time — in light or dark — this is a fantastic solution.  I look forward to seeing Spy Gadgets include these same internals in other devices that would be at home in places other than a bedroom or home office.  A digital picture frame would be a natural fit, given that it effectively has a display built-in.

The Infrared Spy Camera Cube Clock is currently available from Spy Gadgets for US$649 (down from $699).

Filed in categories: Audio, Video, TV Gear, Reviews, Watches and Clocks

Tagged: Clock, Spy, Surveillance

Spy Gadgets Infrared Spy Camera Cube Clock Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on July 16, 2010 at 12:03 pm.

The Emerald Observatory app for iPad from Emerald Sequoia LLC is a clock and so much more.  In addition to the 12-hr and 24-hr analog time, you can see a heliocentric orrery (display of planets in orbit around the sun) and their rise/set times and altitude and azimuth.  You can determine the beginning and ending of civil, nautical and astronomical twilight, the “golden hour” when the sun is 15 degrees above the horizon and the light is generally best for outdoor photography, the equation of time, leap years, and a time zone indicator.  The inner subdials show UTC, sidereal, and solar time.  There’s also a photographic representation of the lunar phase and apparent size, and a geochron-type display of the earth’s daytime and night areas.  This information can be displayed for the current location or for any entered location and for the current time (as synchronized via NTP) or any time from 4000 BCE through 2800 CE.  You can set the program to be always on for a beautiful clock display.  The Emerald Observatory app is $0.99 from iTunes.

Filed in categories: iPhone, iPad, iPod related, News

Tagged: Clock, iPad app, Orrery

Emerald Observatory App for iPad originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on June 30, 2010 at 9:00 am.

Alarm clocks designed around the iPhone / iPod are not something new. But an alarm clock like the iHome iA5 App Enhanced Clock that can be completely controlled by an iPhone or iPod is new. You can use this device as a speaker and as an alarm clock with social networking features. Let’s take a closer look.

Package Contents

iHome iA5 App Enhanced Alarm Clock
AC Adapter
Instruction Manual

The iA5 is a compact speaker (9.34″ W x 5.83″ H x 3.9″ D) with a built in universal iPod dock connector on its front panel. Below the dock are 4 buttons. There is a bedtime button and a wakeup button. When the bedtime button is pressed, it will allow you to set a sleep timer to listen to music currently playing on your iPod or iPhone before shutting off at a chosen time. Pressing the bedtime button cycles through the sleep timer settings for 90, 60, 30 and 15 minutes. The +/- buttons adjust volume levels and are used for manually setting time and alarms. The wakeup button resets alarms.

The top panel of the iA5 has two buttons. A long snooze bar (marked as ZZZ) and the iHome logo power/app button. The snooze bar works as expected, to snooze currently sounding alarms (snooze interval times can be customized from 1-29 minutes). When an alarm isn’t sounding, you can use the snooze bar to cycle through the clock display brightness levels. The power/app button is used to reset an alarm and to turn off music playback.

On the rear panel of the iA5, you will find 4 buttons, an AC adapter plug and an Aux In jack. The buttons control the speaker’s clock display, EQ setting, Clock Sync and Alarm.

There is a backup battery compartment on the bottom of the speaker. It holds a CR2032 coin cell (included), that will keep the settings in the event of a power failure. A low battery indicator will appear on the display when the battery needs to be replaced.

While it is possible to use the iA5 without an iPod or iPhone, doing so pretty much defeats the whole purpose of this device. Using the buttons on the back panel, you can manually set the clock and set an alarm. You can also plug an audio device into the Aux In jack and use the iA5 as an external speaker.

Plugging in an iPhone / iPod and pressing the clock sync button on the back panel of the speaker will sync the speaker’s clock to the time set on the iPhone / iPod.

As you can see from the image above, there is a digital clock display behind the speaker grill. This display shows the time of day as well as the alarm status (a clock icon will show when an alarm is set).

To get the full benefit of the iA5, you need to download the Free iHome+Sleep app from the iTunes App store.

When it is installed and running while the iPhone is plugged into the speaker, it can be come the clock main display as well as the main controller for the alarm clock features. As you see from the image above, the speaker’s clock display is turned off. This is the default behavior when the iHome app is running. If you want the speaker’s clock display to always be on, you can do so.

The app is pretty robust, allowing up to 18 software alarms that can wake to any song or playlist on your device, or an alarm tone. The alarms can be set for daily, weekly, or a custom selection of days.

A custom background picture can be set for the clock display and you can show the current weather at the top.

Another interesting feature allows you to link your Twitter and Facebook accounts to the iHome app so that you can let your friends know when you go to sleep and wake up each day. This borders on TMI (too much info) to me and also who the heck really cares? But hey, if you’re into letting the whole world know all your daily activities, this app can do that for you. Upon waking it will also display Twitter and Facebook happenings while you were asleep. The only trouble with these features are that they are not automatic. You have to manually tap the screen to send the notices.

Having so many features is really cool, but there is one big problem with the iA5… The iHome app has to be running on the iPhone / iPod in order for the alarms to work. Actually that’s not quite true, which is a bit confusing. One alarm can be set on the speaker using the iPhone and even if the iPhone is disconnected or the app isn’t running, that alarm will work (with a high pitched beep). But all the other alarms will not work. This is a big bummer in my book. I would think that if one alarm can be set on the speaker, then why can’t they all? But as the saying goes, it is what it is.

Ok, we’ve only been focusing on the alarm clock features of the iA5 so far, but what about the audio quality from the speakers? I’m happy to report that for a such a small unit like this one, it does a very good job. It has Reson8® speaker chamber technology which allows it to have surprisingly good bass. Listening to music through the iA5 in my basement office has been enjoyable. Of course, it isn’t going to out perform a larger set of speakers, but it is perfect for a small bedroom, dorm room or office.

The $99.99 price tag feels a bit steep to me but I think the iHome iA5 App Enhanced Alarm Clock is a cool product with a lot of potential.

Filed in categories: iPhone, iPad, iPod related, Reviews, Watches and Clocks

Tagged: Clock, iPhone, iPod

iHome iA5 App Enhanced Alarm Clock Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on May 9, 2010 at 5:11 pm.

Tired of your iPhone/iPod staring at you rigidly from its speaker dock, fixed in portrait position?  Check out the iMM90 App Station “App Driven Rotational Dock” from iLuv.  The App Station’s design allows you to dock your iPhone/iPod and orient it however you’d like depending on what app you’re using at the time.  Watching a movie?  Flip it to landscape.  Skypeing?  Roll it over to portrait.  You can also download the free iLuv App Clock from iTunes, which turns your device into a big display alarm clock with weather info, and includes multiple alarms to wake to your own favorite music.  Operates on AC or 6 x AA batteries and includes a 3.5mm audio line-in.  $89.99.

Filed in categories: iPhone, iPad, iPod related, News

Tagged: Clock, iPhone/iPod speaker

App Station rocks and rolls—literally originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on May 6, 2010 at 9:28 pm.

It’s not uncommon to keep yourself up at night as you race through the mounting “to-do” lists in your mind…but why lose sleep over it?  The Voice Interactive Personal Assistant from Hammacher Schlemmer lets you rest easy by recording and replaying up to six commands at the time of your choosing.  This voice-activated alarm clock responds to verbal cues such as “Today’s Reminders” and “Help” (hopefully you won’t need that one, though) and replies in what HS calls “a pleasant female voice.”  The device is powered via AC adapter or 3 AAA batteries.  Price: $59.95

[Via Hammacher Schlemmer]

Filed in categories: Home Tech, News, Watches and Clocks

Tagged: Clock, Gadgets, Spotlight Gadgets, Voice

The Voice Interactive Personal Assistant originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on February 22, 2010 at 9:30 am.

Even though I hate getting up in the mornings to get ready for work, I have a thing for alarm clocks. It’s not that I enjoy hearing them go off in the morning as much as I just like finding clocks with cool and unique features to make the early morning wake ups a bit more ‘fun’. That’s why I couldn’t wait to try the Moshi Voice Control Alarm Clock, a clock that I could control with my voice.

Package Contents

Moshi Alarm clock
AC Adapter
Quick start guide
Manual

The 7.5″ x 3.25″ x 4.5″ clock has a White plastic base with a large mono LCD screen sticking out of it.

The display is also a button. You can push it back to wake up the clock to receive your commands. It also works as a snooze button.

Click for larger view of buttons

On the back side of the display, you will find several buttons and switches that you can use to customize the clock features such as volume level, night light type and alarm on/off toggle. There are also buttons to see the time and date manually. But, the main feature of the Moshi Voice Control Alarm Clock is that you can control it with your voice, so let’s check that out.

The clock is really easy to interact with. Just plug it in and it’s ready and waiting for your command. All you have to do is say “Hello Moshi”. You do not have to press any buttons first or anything. Just say “Hello Moshi” and then the clock will reply in a woman’s voice “Command Please”. From there, you can say any of the 11 voice commands:

Time – Tells the time
Set Time – Set time by voice
Alarm – Tells you time alarm is set
Set Alarm – Set alarm by voice
Alarm Sound – Choose 1 of 3 available alarms
Sleep Sound – Choose 1 of 3 available sleep sounds
Play Sleep Sound – Plays 5 minutes of sleep sound
Today’s Date – Tells you today’s date
Temperature – Tells you current temperature
Night Light – Turns on night light
Help – Offers a help menu of assistance

There’s one command that you doesn’t require you to first say “Hello Moshi”. That’s the command to turn off the alarm when it’s gone off. You just wait for a pause between alarm sounds and say “Turn off the Alarm”.  That turns off the alarm and also speaks the current time, date, and temperature.

I love that I can just find out the time in the middle of the night by just using my voice. This clock would be perfect for people with vision problems. I guess that includes me because I can’t see anything without my glasses…

Using your voice to control the clock is easy and for me, it works correctly about 95% of the time. Sometimes Moshi doesn’t understand me when I set the time of day or the alarm time and will set the wrong time. For some reason when I say 10, the clock thinks I’m saying 2. When this happens, I try again and 8 times out of 10, the correct time will be recognized.

I do wish that this clock had more than the 3 alarm sounds, which include a chime, beep and a phone ring type sound. I also think it would be great if there were at least 2 alarm time settings instead of just one.

If you like your room dark while you’re sleeping and often don’t like bright clocks, you’ll like Moshi. By default, the LCD is not lit and will not provide any light in a dark room. There is one part of this clock that does provide light though… it’s the AC adapter. It has a Blue LED on the site that is crazy bright and will light up your room. I suggest putting a small piece of duct tape over it.

If you prefer that the time be visible in the dark, you can turn on the night light feature which can cycle through multiple colors (Blue, Red, Green, Purple) or be set to a single color.

The clock also has 3 sleep sounds that will play for 5 minutes before automatically turning off. The sounds include a white noise sound, chirping birds and running water. I find these sleep sounds slightly annoying because I can hear them loop.

I really like this clock because I don’t have to pull out the instructions every time I need to reset the time or set the alarm. I’d love to see additional features added for the next version. Atomic time setting, iPod control, additional alarms, alarm sounds and sleep sounds would make it even better. But as is, it gets two thumbs up for me.

Filed in categories: Reviews, Watches and Clocks

Tagged: Clock

Moshi Voice Control Alarm Clock Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on November 16, 2009 at 2:33 pm.

I want one of these for my next trip. I always seem to get a hotel room that has the world’s crummiest and / or hardest to set alarm clock. The Voice Control Travel Alarm Clock from Moshi listens to your commands and sets the time and alarm time accordingly. You just press a button, say the command, such as “Set Time”. It understands 9 commands and will even tell you the room temperature. It’s available in 4 colors and is priced at $24.99.

Filed in categories: News, Watches and Clocks

Tagged: Clock, Spotlight Gadgets, Voice

Talk to your clock – Moshi Voice Control Travel Alarm Clock originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on November 3, 2009 at 6:43 pm.

Not to be outdone by the iHome iP88 Dual Dock Alarm Clock, iLuv has just announced their own version. The iMM183 Hi-Fi Dual Dock Alarm Clock has all the features that you would expect to be included in a clock radio, but it includes a trick up its sleeve that might have you choosing it over the iHome. It offers a Weather Band Radio with the NOAA emergency alert system. It uses Digital SAME Technology to provide localized weather warnings. You can buy one for $149.99.

Filed in categories: iPhone, iPad, iPod related, News, Watches and Clocks

Tagged: Clock, iPhone, Radio, Spotlight Gadgets, weather

iLuv sees double with iMM183 Dual Dock Alarm Clock originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on October 29, 2009 at 4:37 pm.

Wow, time flies! I reviewed the original Chumby almost two years ago and coming in early November we’ll get a chance to check out a brand new version: the chumby one clock radio. It looks like this new model is focusing more radio features as it has Pandora (and can access other internet radio stations) as well as a built in FM radio. Like the original version, you can install widgets (there are currently around 1500 of them) to do all sorts of things like show your Google calendar, check the weather, show your friends Facebook status, etc. The display is the same size and resolution 320×240, but the processor has been bumped up from 350mhz to 454mhz. The chumby one will retail for approximately $100. I can’t wait to check it out.

Filed in categories: Watches and Clocks

Tagged: Clock, Radio, Spotlight Gadgets, WiFi

New chumby one – More clock radio, less squishy clock thingy originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on September 29, 2009 at 9:19 pm.

Reader Michelle Pain sent this in: The Kensington Nightstand Charging Dock turns your iPhone or iPod Touch into a handy bedside clock. The right angle dock holds your device in landscape mode using a kickstand to clearly display the time. A free application features a clock that doesn’t go into sleep mode. It has an optional screen dimming setting as well as weather info. It’s available for pre-order for $39.99. I just downloaded the app and can probably rig up a free alternative

Filed in categories: iPhone, iPad, iPod related, Watches and Clocks

Tagged: Clock, iPhone, Spotlight Gadgets

Kensington Nightstand Dock turns your iPhone into a bedside clock originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on July 25, 2009 at 2:20 pm.

The new iMM153 alarm clock from iLuv will not only wake you with your favorite iPod tunes, but will also shake the bed to wake even the sleepiest gadgeteers. It has several other features that interest me too, including a 10 level LCD dimmer control, dual alarms and four color choices. It will sell for $59.99 starting in July 2009.

Filed in categories: Audio, Video, TV Gear, Watches and Clocks

Tagged: Clock, iPod

iLuv iMM153 alarm clock shakes you awake originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on June 23, 2009 at 12:57 pm.

I know there are still many shopping days left before Christmas, but I’m trying to turn over a new leaf this year and actually get my shopping finished before 11:59pm on December 24th. This will be a first for me if I can actually do it. I figure there are other gadgeteers out there that have procrastination problems like I do, so I wanted to share a fun item that I came across recently. It’s the Tokibot Robot Clock from TOKYOBay.

I couldn’t help but fall in love with this 4 inch tall retro looking time piece. TOKYObay sells three styles of robot clocks, two of which are alarm clocks. They also sell a cute 2 inch tall robot keychain – I have to order one or two of them soon too.

Each of their three clocks has a name and a personality. The one that they sent me is called Oilpan. It’s available in Red, Green and Blue. It’s all metal except the glass clock face. It’s a surprisingly hefty little guy and weighs in at 10 ounces.

The clock is analog (not an alarm clock), with a second hand. It runs on a coin cell battery that be accessed by prying off the back cover.

The time is easily set by pulling out the crown on the Right side of the robot.

The robot’s arms, legs and head can move. Unfortunately, the legs won’t rotate far enough so that you can make the robot sit.

I think the Tokibot Robot Clock would make a fun and relatively inexpensive gift for your favorite geek or anyone that loves robots or vintage styled tchotchkes. It would also make a great little clock for your cube at work.

Filed in categories: Geek Toys, Watches and Clocks

Tagged: Clock

TOKYObay Tokibot Robot Clock Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on October 10, 2008 at 5:45 pm.

As a person who is always looking for the ultimate alarm clock, I think I’ve found one that definitely comes closer than any product that I’ve tested so far. The people at American Innovative have taken their
Neverlate 7-day alarm clock, which I had reviewed 3 years ago and have updated it with new features to create a model called the Executive. This one has the ability to program up to 9 alarms per day. Wow!

I’ve reviewed several products from American Innovative in the past, so I was excited to learn that they had updated their original 7-day clock with more features. Let’s see if it earns a permanent spot on my night stand.

Package Contents

Executive 7-day Alarm Clock
Quick Start guide
Manual
CR2032 coin cell backup battery

The Executive is made of White and Beige plastic and is heavy enough to stay put while pushing buttons and rotating knobs.

The face of the clock has a backlit LCD and a collection of 7 buttons. These buttons control the FM radio features such as volume, station scanning and station presets. The oval button in the center saves radio station presets, of which you can have up to 20.

On the back side of the Executive, you’ll find the speakers, a USB port, Auxiliary In jack, headphone jack, backup battery compartment and power cord.

I was pretty curious when I saw the USB port and envisioned all sorts of interesting things that it might be able to do like play music from a flash drive, load my own alarm sounds etc. My dreams were somewhat dashed when I learned that it’s only there for power features. It’s a standard 5V USB port but contains no facility for data transmission. You can use it to charge your phone, iPod, or to power a USB device such as a light or small fan.

The backup battery compartment holds an included CR2032 coin cell battery. It stores the time, alarm settings and other preferences in the event of a power loss.

Like the original Neverlate 7-Day alarm clock, the Executive has a two ring dial that is used for setting alarms. Also on the top of the clock, you’ll find a large snooze button bar, a radio/alarm on/off button, alarm bank toggle button, setup / pref settings button, nap and sleep buttons. All of these buttons make it really easy to change the various clock settings. Unlike some of the clocks on the market these days, you don’t need a degree in programming in order to figure out how to set an alarm. I mean, I rarely read user manuals, but there’s something about setting a multi-alarm clock that tends to trip me up every time. Not so with the Executive.

You’ve heard of multi-alarm clocks before, but the Neverlate takes multi-alarm to a new level. There are three types of alarms. First of all, you have seven every-day alarms. These alarms will go off every day no matter the day of the week. Then you have two banks of daily alarms that are designated as ‘his’ and ‘her’ alarms. This will allow you to set one alarm per day of the week. For example, you can program a Bank1 alarm Mondays, so that the clock will go off at 6am. But maybe your significant other doesn’t get up till 7am on Mondays. No problem. Just set the Bank2 Monday alarm to 7am. Easy.

Each alarm can be set to either be one of four ringtones or to play the radio. You can also set each alarm to a different radio station. And each alarm can also be set to gradually increase the volume level.

But, what might be even more impressive than that is that you do something like this… say you have to be at work at 8am on Mondays and you have a really hard time getting out of bed (I put myself in this category). So, you could set a daily alarm to wake you at 6am with the radio set to gradually increase the volume. Then you could set the Bank1 Monday alarm to buzz you at 6:30am and the Bank2 Monday alarm to play a different ringtone at 6:45am. That gives you three different wake notifications. This is what I do now, but have been using three different clocks to do it ;o) Now I only need one.

The display on the clock is large, but even when set to the highest illumination level, it is a bit too dim for my liking. People that don’t like anything to disturb the darkness of their bedroom, will be happy to know that you can completely turn off the display if you desire.

The image above on the Left is the display that you’ll see when the clock is in time mode. The time of day is in the upper large section of the LCD and the date is in the bottom right corner.

On the Right, is what the display looks like when you are using the radio. The frequency is shown in the lower Left corner. The quality of the radio is ok. It uses the power cord as the antenna which in my opinion leaves it a little weak. I wish it had a regular antenna. That said, I do like that there are radio presets and a digital tuner.

Setting alarms is just a matter of turning the center knob to the desired day of the week and the outer dial to the wake time. Then pressing the oval button on the face of the clock to toggle between radio or ringtone for the alarm type. There are four different ringtones that you can choose from:

Ringtone #1 – high pitched beep-beep
Ringtone #2 – high pitched beep-beep-beep-beep
Ringtone #3 – high pitched beep-beep-boop-boop
Ringtone #4 – very fast high pitched beep-beep-beep-boop-boop-boop

It’s too bad that you can’t load your own ringtones, but I guess we can wait for that feature with version 3 of the Neverlate 7-day alarm clock )

In addition to having seven daily alarms and two day of the week alarms, there is also a Nap and Sleep feature that you can take advantage of. The Nap timer provides an easy way to take a power nap without having to modify any of your other alarms that might already be set. To use it, you just tap the Nap key. By default, it will give you 20 minutes. But you can adjust that value by turning the outer dial up to 2 hours.

The Sleep feature gives you the ability to listen to the radio for up to 2 hours before it automatically turns off. This is a nice way to de-stress and fall asleep.

The American Innovative Neverlate Executive 7-day Alarm clock is probably the most feature rich clock that I’ve had the opportunity to test. There is a lot to like about it. It’s compact, easy to set and has enough alarms and alarm options for most people or couples. I really have enjoyed using it the past several weeks. Right now it’s my ultimate alarm clock, but it could be even better if it had just a few more features. I know, I’m never satisfied am I? My wish list for next version of this clock would include a brighter display, an iPod interface, automatic time setting and DST setting. That said, good work AI! Keep those cool time products coming.

Filed in categories: Watches and Clocks

Tagged: Clock

American Innovative Neverlate Executive 7-day Alarm Clock Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on June 10, 2008 at 10:00 pm.

A couple of years ago, I reviewed the Innovative Sleep Solutions Sleeptracker watch. This watch claimed to wake a person up at the optimal time in his or her sleep cycle, causing the person to awake refreshed and ready to face their day. Unfortunately, the watch didn’t work well for me and I have continued to bury my head under the covers every morning when my evil alarm clock rings. Since that review, I’ve kept an interest in these types of devices and was happy to try again when the folks at aXbo offered their Sleepphase alarm clock for review.

What is it?

aXbo is a small start-up company based in Austria, which has won several design awards for this product. Basically, the Sleepphase Alarm Clock monitors your body movements to figure out the different phases of your sleep cycle. Typically a person has 3 to 5 sleep cycles per night, which take about 90-110 minutes each. There are four phases to a cycle and they include the falling asleep / dream state / wake-up state, light sleep state, medium sleep state and deep sleep state. The whole trick is to have the alarm go off during the first state as this is the state in which you will more easily wake up and be refreshed and ready to hop out of bed.

Package contents

Sleepphase clock
2 sensors
2 wrist bands
AC adapter / USB cable for charging
Plug adapters for the US, Europe and Asia
Instruction manual (not pictured)

The clock

Unlike the Sleeptracker watch, this product has both a desktop / nightstand clock, as well as a module that is worn on the wrist. It actually has two modules as you can use this clock for two people. First let’s look at the clock.

The clock has a very slick looking modern design. It is made of White and Grey plastic with a see through backlit LCD display. The image above looks like the segments are Blue and Black. This is not what the display actually looks like. The digits are really Black or a very dark Blue. The clock has a footprint of 4.375 x 4.375 x 1.5 inches.

On the top Right corner you will find a rubber wheel surrounded by a button on either side of it. The wheel can roll in either direction to scroll through menu options, functions, etc. Pressing the wheel acts as select or OK function. The buttons on either side of the wheel act as home and back functions. The user interface is super easy to use and did not require me to read the manual.

The speaker is build into the Left side of the clock. Although not pictured, the back of the clock just has the connector for the AC adapter. An interesting feature of the Sleepphase alarm clock is the fact that it has rechargeable batteries inside. So, you can charge it up and it will then run wirelessly for 7-10 days before needing a recharge. This also means that if you decide to leave it plugged into a outlet, it will continue to run even if the power goes out. I appreciate this feature in an alarm clock as you will not have to worry about it losing your settings.

The LCD display is large and easy to read. It shows the current time along with with the set alarm time directly below the time of day (if just one alarm is being used). Also shown is the battery charge state. In the example picture above, I have set an alarm for sensor #2 at 8am. If I had an alarm set for sensor #1 and #2, it would show the icon in the top Left corner for the alarm, but would not show the alarm time under the time of day.

The LCD is backlit in Purple whenever you’re manipulating the settings or press a button. It also comes on when the alarm goes off. Otherwise, this clock does not have any illumination. That’s a feature that I know a lot of people prefer as it does not light up a room or disturb your sleep.

The clock as 6 different alarm sounds that you can chose from. Happily, they are not annoying variations of buzzers or beeps. They are actually pleasant sounding alarms such as birds chirping, big band drums tune, electronic music, etc. The only time you will hear a beeping alarm is if you forget to put on the wrist band. The clock will then wake you at the exact alarm time with beeps. Even then, it’s not a completely horrendous sound.

There is also a sleep feature that you can use to help you fall asleep. The clock can play different sounds until it detects that you’re asleep, and then it will turn off. These sounds include crickets, ocean sounds, birds, etc.

The wrist sensor

The Sleepphase alarm clock comes with two terry cloth sports style wrist bands that are used to hold the motion sensors.

The plastic sensor slides into a pocket inside the wrist band and is held there securely. The sensor has a built in battery that is rated for up to 4 years of life. The instructions do not mention anything about replacing the batteries in the sensors.

You wear the band so that the sensor is positioned on top of your wrist while you are sleeping. It’s not uncomfortable to wear and after a couple of days, you won’t even notice it.

How it works

You set the alarm time for the time you want to wake up. The wrist sensor detects your movements throughout the night and reports them back to the clock, so it can figure out what sleep phase you are in. Then within 30 minute window before your set wake up time, the alarm will sound when you are in the phase 1 (falling asleep/dream/wake-up) state. When you hear the alarm, you should get up immediately. This clock does not have a snooze feature as that would pretty much negate the whole idea of it helping you wake up at the optimal time for your body.

Did it work for me?

I wish I could report that this product completely solved my problem of getting up in the morning. Unfortunately, that is not the case. At least it wasn’t consistently the case for me… My previous wake up routine consisted of the Verilux Rise and Shine alarm clock turning on at 5:35am. Then a clock radio is set to come on at 5:35am. Then a beeping alarm on another clock would come on at 6am and go off on its own at 6:01am. Next (no, I’m not done yet), another alarm would go off at 6:15am and would require a button press to turn it off. I’ve actually been known to sleep through all of these alarms. Yes, I know it’s crazy…

The very first night I tried the Sleepphase, I set the alarm for 6am and shut off all my other alarms and wake up devices. At 5:45am, the Sleepphase alarm woke me up and I did feel surprisingly awake. I laid in bed for another 5-10 minutes and got up. I was significantly excited that this product might be a success. But then the subsequent week to two weeks of testing yielded mixed results. From then on, almost every night except for 2-3 nights, the alarm would either go off right at the wake up time, or I would already be awake and waiting for it to go off. Regardless, I was always too tired to drag myself out of the bed and would end up falling back to sleep. It’s almost as if my body knew I was doing a test and was trying to sabotage it.

Bottom line

I like the Sleepphase clock and the fact that two people can use it. Of course, those two people would need to have a pretty big gap in their wake up times for it to be useful. The first person’s alarm would most likely wake the second person and would require them to start their sleep cycle all over again.

I also like the fact that it will work even if the power goes out (if you have it plugged into an AC outlet) and even if you are not wearing the wrist sensor.

My biggest complaint about this device though is the price. Converting the 199 euros to US dollars comes out to just over $300. OUCH. That’s pretty spendy for an alarm clock… especially if doesn’t seem to work for you. I envy those people that are aided by devices like these. As for myself, I’ve come to the conclusion that my body / sleep patterns are not compatible with these types of alarm systems and that I am doomed to be a blurry eyed morning person for the rest of my days.

Filed in categories: Home Tech, Watches and Clocks

Tagged: Clock

aXbo Sleepphase Alarm Clock originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on March 24, 2008 at 3:05 pm.

I work with Julie, and one afternoon we were talking about various iPod accessories. She’s never used anything
from the iLuv line of iPod accessories, so I volunteered to write a review. This is a review of the iLuv i177BLK.
This clock is also available in white.

I’ve had my 60GB iPod Photo for around five years. The battery is showing a little wear, and the built-in alarm clock
feature doesn’t work at all (mystery!), but it’s going strong. I like to refer to my iPod as my “$500 alarm clock” – for
the last two years, it has almost exclusively lived in my iLuv i177. I got my iLuv as a Christmas
present in 2006 from my ex, who had an iHome H5. Mike liked his iHome all right, but it didn’t come with a remote and
it wasn’t all that aesthetically pleasing to look at. He saw the iLuv at Fry’s for $89.99 and decided it would make
a good present for his awesome girlfriend. Luckily for him, iLuv my iLuv.

…come on. You have to have seen that horrible, horrible pun coming from five miles away. Anyhow.

Action Shots

Package contents:

• The radio itself
• Standard brick-style power transformer
• Small IR remote control
• AM antenna and accompanying stand
• A/V cable
• Dock adapters for different sizes of iPods

When my iLuv was
shipped, the new, thinner 30GB iPod Videos had just been released, so a dock adapter was not included. Instead, the
friendly iLuv people included a set of rubber pads to convert the 20GB 4G/Photo adapter for a 30GB iPod Video. The
adapters are extremely easy to swap, if you happen to use multiple iPods with one of these clocks.

The iLuv with the 40GB/60GB 4G iPod adapter and the compact remote control.

The rear of the iLuv has four ports and a built-in FM antenna. To the left of the FM antenna is a 3.5mm input jack
to connect non-iPod audio players. To the far left of this, you’ll find the male plug for the power adapter, and a
3.5mm jack for the included A/V cable. Unfortunately, as my iLuv is a little more than a year old, I have no idea
where my own A/V cable currently is hiding. I can, however, tell you that it has three male RCA plugs on one end
and a male 3.5mm plug on the other. If you have a TV near your iLuv, you can also use it as a dock with an iPod Photo
or Video. Yay! At the bottom center of the back is the two-prong plug for the included external AM antenna.

The iLuv’s buttons are well-organized and easy to hit. I’ve found them easier to press than the slightly recessed
rectangular buttons of the iHome H5. The buttons glow orange when the iLuv is turned on. The gianormous
Snooze/Dimmer button is positioned directly below the main button set and is large enough that it’s impossible to miss
on those mornings when you really, really feel like calling in “sick” to work.

Speaking of dimmers…the iLuv has the same backlight-dimming feature of the iHome H5. You can select between three
levels of backlight brightness for both the LCD and the buttons, or turn off the LCD and button backlights entirely.
The display has some helpful information at your fingertips:

• What alarm(s) are set, if any…as well as what audio option you’ve selected (iPod, radio, or buzzer).
• What’s turned on at the moment.
• The time! (along with a PM indicator)
• The date. You can also set the year when you set the date and time, although it doesn’t display.

I was fortunate enough to catch an iLuv in the wild. This one was found peacefully contemplating the finer points
of the Katamari Damacy soundtracks.

Enough! What does this thing DO?

The iLuv is equipped with some handy features:

• First generation iPod Shuffle support. There’s a USB port behind the dock connector on the top surface of the iLuv.
  Unfortunately, I don’t own a 1G shuffle – mine is a second generation clip style one, and I can confirm that it
  doesn’t work with the iLuv, either as an alarm or just to play music.
• Two alarms. I find this extremely handy. Since I’m not interested in waking up at 6:45 on the weekend, I can
  leave Alarm 1 set to that time and set Alarm 2 to whatever suits me at the moment. You know, like…noon.
• Sleep. This acts like the sleep feature on any alarm clock, allowing you to fall asleep to music. My theory is
  that I should be able to set my iPod’s built-in alarm to start a playlist when the iLuv’s alarm goes off, but since my
  own iPod’s alarm clock doesn’t work, I can’t test this. Theoretically, though, it should work – which would allow you
  to fall asleep to Mozart and awaken to Motörhead.

• Set the time, date, and alarms very easily. Unlike the iHome, the iLuv’s clock set button is very easy to access.
  Setting the time and date (or an alarm) is very easy, as you just spin the righthand dial until you hit the time or date
  you want.

• Specific alarm volumes. The iLuv allows you to set a volume for an alarm, in single increments from 1 to 40. I
  tend to keep it turned all the way to 40, but I’m going deaf from all that rock and roll I listen to on my iPod. I do,
  however, find this to be a nice touch, since waking up at a set time on the weekend isn’t that important (and
  therefore doesn’t require full-blast music to convince me to get out of bed).
• Backup alarm. If you fall into bed at 2:00 in the morning and forget to dock your iPod, never fear – the iLuv
  is here to save the day! An extremely annoying buzzer will go off in place of the iPod. I personally prefer to wake up
  to the melodical sounds of Dragonforce or Quarashi or something, but that’s just me.
• Backup battery. Like the H5, the iLuv has a 9-volt backup battery to retain the date and time information in
  the event that you lose power – or you just want to unplug and move it. Unlike the iHome, however, the alarm will not
  go off if power is cut to the iLuv.
• Aux input. While you can’t use the aux audio input as an alarm clock, it’s a nice feature, especially if the
  iLuv is the only stereo in your bedroom.
• Remote control. As previously mentioned, my ex’s iHome H5 didn’t come with a remote, so that was a welcome
  addition with the iLuv. I’m really partial to turning off the alarm clock from under the covers. There is one caveat
  about the remote, though – it uses IR (as opposed to RF) technology, and its field of vision appears to be pretty small.
  I’ve found that I have to point the remote almost directly at the thing to get it to register. My iLuv sits on a chest of
  drawers in my bedroom, and angling the remote up toward the iLuv (from, say, in bed) doesn’t really work – I have to hold
  it up in the air. It’s not a dealbreaker, but it was a little annoying to get used to.

Sound quality on the iLuv is surprisingly good. I listen to a wide range of music, from girlpop to really bass-heavy music,
like The Beastie Boys and Quarashi. The iLuv handles most music quite well, although extremely low-frequencey bass lines tend
to get fuzzed out by the small speakers. However, for a system with no separate subwoofer, the iLuv performs admirably.
Having been able to compare it directly to the iHome H2, I personally find the iLuv’s sound quality to be superior.

Unlike the H5, the dock adapters for the iLuv have a fairly high support extension along the back, making it impossible to
knock an iPod backwards off the dock connector – my cat accidentally did this to Mike’s H5, and it did something to the dock
connector. We started hearing slightly distorted sound unless the iPod was positioned just so…this isn’t a risk with the iLuv,
which is good for a $90 alarm clock. I do wish that the remote control had a wider field of vision, but that’s really my only
complaint.

Overall, I am extremely happy with my iLuv i177. It sounds great, and it looks great – I was never partial to the iHome H5′s
hard-edged boxy design. The smooth curves and circles of the iLuv are just much more visually attractive. I use my iLuv every
morning, and I have yet to regret getting it.

Filed in categories: Audio, Video, TV Gear, Watches and Clocks

Tagged: Clock, Speakers

iLuv i177 iPod Clock Radio originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on February 29, 2008 at 11:58 am.

The folks at American Innovative have a new product that combines a travel alarm clock with a presentation / public speaking timer. I’ve been impressed with their other products that I’ve reviewed in the past (Neverlate 7-day Alarm Clock and Chef’s Quad-Timer Professional) that I was happy to take a look at their new Roadshow Travel Alarm.

The Roadshow is a compact clock that is handy to have whenever you are traveling. You know how it is when you are in a hotel and have to figure out how to program their clock radio. It can be a pain. I tend to which ever smartphone I happen to be using for my alarm clock, but for those folks that don’t carry a PDA or phone with an alarm clock feature, this little gadget is a worthy replacement for that task.

When closed, the Roadshow is 3.75 x 2.75 x 0.50 inches. The main case is made of plastic and the cover is brushed aluminum.

The cover has a window to allow the time to show through even when closed.

The battery compartment is located on the back of the clock. Powered by three 2032 coin cell batteries, the Left battery powers just the clock and the display. The other two batteries power the backlight and lamps. There is an onscreen status indicator that shows up when the lamp batteries are low. There isn’t an indicator for the clock / LCD battery status though. There is a power save mode that allows you to disable the backlight. By pressing and holding the Red button for 2 seconds, it toggles this power save feature.

Flipping open the cover allows you to stand the clock on a flat surface. The large backlit LCD is revealed along with six function buttons.

Pressing the Mode button switches between the various modes. There’s the Time mode, Alarm mode, Auto Presentation mode and Manual Presentation mode.

Time mode is pretty obvious; it displays the current time of day in your choice of 12 or 24hr format. You can’t adjust the individual hour and minute settings for time or alarm. You have to hold down the + or – buttons to cycle to correct time. Setting the time of day can take awhile the first time you have to set it.

As this is an alarm clock, you can switch into Alarm mode to see the set and modify the alarm time. This time can only be set in 5 minute increments (example: 7:00am, 7:05am). Like setting the time of day, you can not adjust the hours and minutes individually. But setting the alarm is relatively quick as it goes in 5 minute increments.

The alarm can be toggled on and off by pressing the button labeled Amber. When the alarm is enabled, a small bell icon appears over the time display.

The clock and alarm clock features are fine, but the main use for the Roadshow is the presentation timer feature. Public speakers will appreciate the Roadshow as it will give you a visual (and audible if you like) indication of how much time you have left in your presentation. There are two modes for using this feature. Auto Presentation and Manual Presentation modes. Auto mode is the easiest to use. You just set the time for the length of your speech and then press Blue the Play/Pause/Snooze button on the front to start the timer.

Manual Presentation mode gives you control over the way the visual timer indicator LEDs work. You can choose when you want the different colored LEDs to change. Along one edge of the clock, there is a bar of LEDs. There are three LED colors, Green, Amber and Red. In Auto Presentation mode, the first LED on the Left will light up in Green after 1/6th of the total time for your presentation has elapsed.

Let’s say that you plan to give a 6 minute speech and want to keep yourself on track so that you won’t go under or over your time limit. You go to Auto mode and set the timer for 6 minutes and then press the Play/Pause/Snooze (Blue oval button on the front of the clock) button to start the timer. The first LED segment will light up in Green.

After 1 minute (1/6th of the total time), the first segment will turn off and then the next segment will light up in Green.

One minute later the next segment will turn on and the previous segment will turn off.

When another minute goes by the 3rd segment will light up…

When more than half of the total time has elapsed, the 4th segment will light up. This time in Amber instead of Green.

Another Amber LED will light up when there are only 2 minutes left of your 6 minute speech (or a third of the total time)…

Finally, when there is just 1/6th (or 1 minute in a 6 minute speech) of the time left, the last LED will flash and you will hear a beep (if you have audible indicators turned on). The LED will stop flashing after a few seconds and will glow Red. When the time has completely elapsed, the beep will sound again and the timer will zero out and start counting up to let you know how much time you’re running over.

I can conceive of some other uses for the Roadshow beyond just the speaker / presentation aspect. You could use it for such things as Podcasts, long distance phone calls, time limit for your kid’s video game playing. It would be helpful for any timed task that would benefit from visual cues that let you easily see how much time you have left for a task.

The Roadshow is easy to use and is compact, making it a comfortable travel companion. The only complaint that I have about this device is the fact that it uses coin cell batteries. I would rather it used AAAs or something that people typically have on hand all the time. That said, the Roadshow Travel Alarm is a nice tool for public speakers and people that need visual cues for elapsed time.

Filed in categories: Watches and Clocks

Tagged: Clock

American Innovative Roadshow Travel Alarm originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on February 1, 2008 at 10:25 am.

My never ending quest to find the world’s coolest and most feature loaded clock recently led me to the chumby. What the heck is a chumby you ask? It’s a small touch screen device that functions as a clock and also displays information from the web such as news, stocks, photos and more by connecting to the internet via WiFi. At the time of this writing, the chumby is not yet selling to the public. I was lucky enough to get on a list to buy one of the first 50 units that were available. That means that it is possible that some features and hardware details may change in the production version of this product that should be available before the end of the year. With that said, let’s take a look at this cool little device.

Hardware Specs

350 MHz ARM controller (MX21 by Freescale)
32-bit 64 MB SDR SDRAM running at 117 MHz bus speed
64 MB NAND FLASH ROM
320×240 3.5″ TFT LCD with 3-state LED backlighting
Touchscreen input
Stereo 2W speakers with hardware mute
Headphone output with headphone presence detection
Microphone input with programmable AGC
Squeeze sensor
3-axis Accelerometer (+/-2g range @ 12 bits resolution)
Three USB 2.0 full-speed (12 mbps) ports (2 external, 1 internal)
802.11g connectivity

Package Contents

chumby device
AC Adapter
Get connected guide
chumby charms

The charms are rubber eraser-like medallions that you can hang off the stud on the side of the chumby. I’m not really clear on why you would actually want to do that, but as my Mom used to say “whatever floats your boat”.

The chumby is a very tactile device. The casing is comprised of flexible rubber and soft smooth leather. Available in Black, Latte and Pearl, I opted for Pearl, which sort of causes the chumby to resemble a softball. The soft sides of this device allow you to scrunch it into spaces where other clocks might not fit.

The 3.5 inch touch screen color display is your main interface for this device. It’s bright and easy to read. There aren’t any physical buttons on the face and sides, but there is one button on the top that is concealed by the leather covering. This easy to press button has excellent tactile and audible feedback when you press it. Its main use is to bring up the control panel, which I will discuss in a bit.

On the back of the chumby, you will find the power jack for the included AC adapter, a stereo earphone jack, power switch, speakers and two USB ports that immediately drew my attention. These ports allow connection to an iPod and also provide a method to transfer files to the chumby.

The chumby is a compact 5 inches wide, 4.5 inches tall and 3 inches deep. All those measurements are rough as this device is soft and smooshy.

The first time that you power on the chumby, it goes through a setup that allows you to set your time zone and choose an available WiFi connection. Once the initial setup is completed, subsequent reboots take around 45 seconds.

From that point forward, you can access the device settings by pressing the button on the top of the chumby. Doing so will launch the control panel. In this screen, you can cycle through the installed widgets, mute the speaker, toggle the screen off (night mode), launch the iPod interface, change the time / date settings and also bring up the secondary settings screen.

In the secondary settings screen, you can get information on your chumby’s software version and network addresses. You can also adjust the volume levels, change screen brightness, re-calibrate the touchscreen and reconnect to a WiFi access point. All of these settings are saved in memory, even if the chumby loses power.

Alarm Clock Features

Out of the box, the chumby comes with only one widget installed: a simple Black and White digital clock that includes a date display. In the clock settings screen (accessed through the control panel), you can set the time, date, time zone and two separate alarms.

I am disappointed that the clock application is so simple and void of advanced features. To start with, there are only two available alarms. I would like to see unlimited alarms and alarms for specific days of the week, weekends only, etc. Also, you only have three alarm sounds to choose from. However, you do have the ability to replace these three alarm sounds with an .MP3 file of your choice by using the USB port to copy the files into the chumby’s file system. The only other feature of the clock is customization of the snooze time. It can be set from 0 to 60 minutes.

When an alarm goes off, you have to touch the screen to turn off the alarm or snooze it. Instead of touching the screen, I think it would have been better to use the top button. It’s much easier to find / press when your eyes are closed, than the button on the touch screen. That said, you can just ignore the alarm as it will shut off after 60 seconds. Ignoring the alarm is like turning it off though. It will not sound again after the alloted snooze time has elapsed.

Widgets

Much to my own personal sadness, the built in alarm clock is not the main feature of the chumby. Widgets are what allows this device to become whatever you want it to be. Widgets can be installed three ways. You can send one to a friend’s chumby, you can create your own if you’re a programmer, or you can login to the chumby website and choose from over 200 currently available widgets. The widgets are completely free and there isn’t any monthly charge to have an account on the chumby website. Yay!

There are all kinds of interesting widgets to choose from. From news, games, horoscopes, videos, webcams, humor, stock quotes, to calendars that countdown the days to your birthday, Christmas, etc. Above you see the Google news widget and This Day in History. You will notice that both widgets have gadgets on the screen that you can touch to scroll the information. Other widgets allow you to touch the screen to play games or even to pick up and shake the chumby to activate its internal accelerometer (motion sensor).

There are several weather widgets and another that I like is the word of the day widget.

After you install additional widgets, they will start to rotate on the display, one after another. You can adjust the time that each individual widget is displayed by going to the chumby site and customizing each one via your account. It would be nice if this ability were available directly from the control panel instead of requiring your computer.

Don’t see an widgets that excite you? You can always create your own! Widgets for the chumby are developed for Adobe Flash Lite 3.0. Flash Lite 3.0 has a feature-set based on desktop Flash Player 8. Lots of good information regarding software and hardware can be found at the chumby wiki.

Earlier I mentioned that you can connect your iPod to the chumby via one of the USB ports on the back of the device. All you have to do is use your existing iPod charge / sync cable to connect the two. Then go into the control panel and press the Music button. The chumby will then scan the connect iPod for playlists. You can not choose an individual song to play, just a playlist. After you select the list, music will play through the chumby’s speakers. Your iPod will even charge while it’s connected to the chumby. I’ve found this feature to be a little buggy. Sometimes when I connect my iPod, the chumby doesn’t see it. And sometimes it shows that it is playing music, only no music actually plays through the speakers.

As an alarm clock, the chumby doesn’t really cut it for me. I would love to see the clock features beefed up considerably. However, as an internet device, the chumby is a lot of fun. Sure, you can access all the same information on your regular computer, but you would need to manually go to each site to get the info. With this device, the info comes to you. And due to its open environment for hardware and software modification, the chumby has the potential to turn into something more powerful than it already is.

Filed in categories: Home Tech, Watches and Clocks, Wireless

Tagged: Clock, WiFi

chumby Internet Appliance / Clock originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on October 12, 2007 at 11:15 pm.