Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

If someone wants to make a "smart" alarm clock, I'd really like to see one that actually has a ten-digit keyboard with dedicated function buttons, instead of trying to cram all time and alarm functions onto three buttons and a switch.

It can't possibly be expensive. Pocket calculators cost $5.



I have the most awesome alarm clock. It has an LED display, a radio, and it plugs into the wall for power. It has a knob for tuning the radio and a small slide switch for adjusting its band. It has assorted other affordances on its outside that I will skip over.

The best features are the following: It has a battery-backed time-keeping chip which means it has never needed to have the time reset due to any loss of power to its main power supply. It has a piezo alarm that will sound if the main power is out and the alarm is on and triggered.

It also has a slide switch labeled "DST -on DST -off" so in theory I would never have to +/- the time EVER once it was on the right time zone.

I found it in a outlet-style store when I was looking for a WWV clock and this clock answers all my clock needs without needing WiFi, Bluetooth, any other antenna (for AM/FM radio it might be using the power cord, but I don't need that). It doesn't need to be told a password and I don't need to set up an account.

I think it was marked down to $10 when I bought it.


> I have the most awesome alarm clock.

It's cruel to describe such a thing without providing a link or at least a brand name/model number.


> piezo alarm

Yeah, that's why I don't own one. Since I'm not ready to invest in one with a bell/gong, at least my smartphone has a proper speaker. Piezos are good for smoke alarms and such, but waking up to one is awful.


To be fair that piezo alarm seems to be the fallback for an power outage only. I think it's acceptable to be waken by a piezo instead of having no alarm at all.


Fair enough!


I have one from around 2005 that sounds basically the same, except with an additional feature that shows its age: It can play a music CD as an alarm.

Also bought at a physical store, though I don't remember how much it cost. I think I last used it around 2011, though I do still have it. Wonder if it still works...


But you can connect to it via NFC to change what kind of tune the piezo buzzer makes on an alarm, right?

/s


You purchase the tunes in a store /s


I saw an alarm clock like that in a hotel once -- it had a cheap 10 digit keyboard and poorly debounced keys, setting the time was harder than using the backward/forward button style, because typing "12:00" ended up as "11:11" more often than not, it took many tries and a firm press to get the time set correctly.


How about a dst toggle switch too so you can just flip the hour with a binary switch.


My bedside table clock has that.


I've got one that does WWVA/WWVB (useless, as they don't reach Montreal), a DST on/off slider, and a sequence of buttons to set the time, both with +/- buttons and a numpad. It cost me $20, I think.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: