Tag Archives: alarm clock

Nintendo’s attractive little smart alarm clock gamifies your waking up routine

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Nintendo has just dropped a surprise product for fans and it has nothing to do with the anticipated Switch successor. Meet the Alarmo desk clock which is initially going to be available to Switch Online customers in the US and Canada later this week, and from Nintendo Store, you can buy it right now for $100. If you ever imagined what an alarm clock from Mario’s nightstand would look like, this would be it.

The in-house project is a result of collaborative work between hardware developer Tetsuya Akama and games developer Yosuke Tamori. This special alarm clock is not a result of random design iteration, but rather a product of numerous trials and errors after building many prototypes.

Designer: Nintendo

Dubbed Nintendo Sound Clock: Alarmo, the desk alarm clock is built with a major focus on motion sensor technology courtesy of a camera. Keeping privacy at the forefront, the sensor tracks user movement during sleep to wake them up smoothly out of the slumber in the morning. The clock will not simply beep or ring bells like a regular alarm clock, as it’ll smartly wake you up (with adaptable snoozes) depending on whether you have been turning and tossing in bed or slept like a dog. If you do sleep with a partner or a pet, the thing won’t work, so the accessory is intended mainly for loners.

The red-themed clock uses classic game sound to wake you up with the option to set the display theme to one of the 35 options including scenes from popular titles like Super Mario Odyssey, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Splatoon 3, Pikmin 4 and Ring Fit Adventure. Linking your existing Nintendo account expands that library to scenes from the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Animal Crossing: New Horizons games. The $100 is justifiable with other features including hourly chimes during the day for focus sessions, playing chill music to doze off during nighttime, and recorded data of your sleep patterns over time.

According to Nintendo, the smart clock rewards you for getting up with a “victory fanfare” for your efforts. This is more like gamifying your getting up routine to feel a sense of achievement first thing in the morning. They are going to add more titles to the library in the coming days with Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Animal Crossing: New Horizons already in the works. Nintendo has promised availability to a greater audience in the future, so gamers can look forward to adding another gaming-themed accessory to their den.

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Minimalist alarm clock offers a simple yet delightful way to control it

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Everyone knows that stereotype of sleepyheads reaching for their bedside alarm clocks and simply pushing a button to turn them off. Even with smartphones, people approach alarm clock apps with that same detached and mechanical behavior. Of course, these clocks are just tools, but the way we interact with them in a way reflects our subconscious attitude toward time and waking up each day. Rather than simply letting time pass us by without our involvement, this minimalist and fun design turns the passive tool into something interactive, turning a routine action into something almost like a game.

Designers: Adrian Wright, Jeremy Wright (DesignWright)

We can sometimes feel like slaves to our clocks, moving according to pre-set schedules and called by the beeping or ringing of alarms. Smartphone apps made that situation simpler but also made us feel less in control. It’s only too easy to set up an alarm, sometimes even without our explicit action, and it’s just as easy to get lost in dozens of alarms and notifications. Having a physical alarm clock, especially by your bedside, helps us distance ourselves from the complexity of apps and digital experiences, and the Flip alarm clock adds a joyful twist to the way you interact with the object.

As its name suggests, you flip the alarm clock to determine how it behaves. One side is labeled “on” and it means what it says, that the alarm is enabled and active. Flip it over, however, and you’re greeted with the word “off” to indicate that the alarm is now disabled. Whichever way you turn it, the LCD display flips to show the time right side up, making it a reversible design as well.

This design that eschews physical buttons for kinetic controls adds an element of direct interaction with the object. You’re no longer dragged around by the alarms you set and become a willing actor in the scenario that plays before you. It can become an addictive action, one that kids will love, and it could even get you up and out of bed with less begrudging effort. Best of all, the Flip alarm clock looks just as fun and attractive on your desk or bedside table, adding a pinch of joy to your life.

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Dieter Rams-inspired iPhone Standby Mode Dock comes from an alternate timeline

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Have you ever wondered what would happen if two people from different time periods or locations met and worked together? Short of breaking the laws of time and space, we can only take a guess based on the works and ideas they left behind, though some “what if” collaborations feel more natural than others. The legendary industrial designer Dieter Rams, for example, has influenced generations of designers, some of whom became legends themselves and even carried on the spirit of his design philosophy. Perhaps nowhere is this association more pronounced than in the Ive-era Apple designs, particularly those that embraced minimalism to their very core. We might not need to imagine what a Rams-Ive collab would look like based on this rather simple yet intriguing iPhone dock that utilizes Standby Mode to become a modern version of the Braun DN 40 alarm clock that Rams designed.

Designer: Scott Yu-Jan x OVERWERK

Although probably best known for his Ten Principles of Good Design, Dieter Rams’ industrial designs not only became Braun products but also served as the inspiration for the likes of the original Apple iPod or the first Sony Walkman. His designs espoused a “less but better” philosophy, a foundation of modern minimalism, and among them was the DN 40 electronic, a funnel-shaped alarm clock that, as you might have guessed, did that and only that. There are dozens of alarm clocks today, of course, including an iPhone if you charge it horizontally to activate Standby Mode.

Inspired by this concept, musician OVERWERK created an initial prototype that simply housed a circular iPhone MagSafe charger to hold the phone at a specific angle similar to Rams’ design. It was basic, functional, and a bit cumbersome and wasteful. To take out the iPhone that sits flush inside the body, you have to press on one end of the phone to raise the opposite end and then pry it out. The rest of the clock’s chassis also held no purpose since there were no electronics to put in there as well.

Working together with designer and YouTuber Scott Yu-Jan, the design took an interesting turn and, thus, the iPhone DN 40 Dock was born. Two simple yet crucial changes were made to the original design, including adding an ejection button at the top that pushes the iPhone forward, detaching it from the MagSafe charger. Yu-Jan also added a space for the small Apple Watch MagSafe charger underneath the top cover at the back, allowing you to charge your AirPods on top. As a bonus, charging the AirPods case has a satisfying feeling when you simply put it down on top of the clock and it slides into place thanks to the power of magnets.

The result of this collaboration between two modern-day designers is a design object that feels like a collaboration between Rams and Ive, two designers with great respect for one another but never got the chance to work together. It has the minimalism of the original DN 40 clock but is made even simpler because you only need an iPhone and MagSafe chargers. You do need a 3D printer to make your own, though, and you might need to modify the design since this was made specifically for an iPhone 15 Pro. Fortunately, the design files are freely available so anyone can now have their own Rams-inspired iPhone Alarm Clock by their bed or desk.

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Sunrise alarm clock coffee maker sits on the bedside to wake you up with refreshing coffee aroma everyday

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In a typical coffee lover’s home, such as mine, the first interaction in the morning is with the alarm clock followed by the coffee machine. Of course, we have been living and functioning this way for most of our lives, and if you would ask, frankly, there wouldn’t be another way we’d want. But a designer duo believes there is a way to integrate the two and perhaps deliver an alarm clock that is also a coffee machine.

Designed to simplify our wakeup process from the loud sound of the alarm to a refreshing aroma of coffee without the extra effort or toiling, the new Sunrise alarm clock coffee maker is not a typical alarm clock or a coffee machine. For the love of waking up more refreshed – in an aroma mimicking that of a café – this is what we would want by the bedside. To know more about how it functions and how the designers have perceived it, read on!

Designers: Marko Filipic and Mati Papalini

For as long as we know it, never before has someone tried to put the coffee machine on our bedside disguised as an alarm clock. The mere idea is commendable let alone the execution, which involves the assurance that you wake up to the smell of fresh coffee every morning. So, with Sunrise, you are saved the effort of setting up an alarm on the bedside clock before hitting the bed and then waking up to the loud and annoying alarm every other day.

With the Sunrise alarm clock coffee machine, you get a coffee maker ready on your bedside. At the time you have set – like in a typical clock – the Sunrise would start making the coffee. There is no loud alarm, instead, as the coffee is being brewed by the bedside, your room is filled with a smell of good coffee that would set a refreshed tone to your day.

At the bedside, the Sunrise appears as a usual coffee maker but with a distinguished color theme and design language. A sublime combination of black, pink, and blue, the coffee machine with no edges has a digital clock at the base. Compact enough to settle on the bedside table or stylish enough to grab the centerstage on the countertop, the Sunrise is worth the time and comfort of every coffee buff. It definitely puts one to think, there could be one less step to waking up and getting a fresh brew first up.

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Lottery-inspired Alarm Clock gives you rewards for taking the effort to seize the day

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Most of us generally use smartphones to set alarms without realizing that these little radiation mongers by the bedside are messing up our sleep patterns. It is better to leave the phones at a comfortable distance from the bed. But how do you wake up the lazy sleeper then? Well, invest in an alarm clock that can become your best pal to start off the day with a purpose.

If you have an agenda, a schedule, or a defined routine after the alarm goes off, you’re set and probably doing well for yourself. For the others – who are aimless waking up every morning, with no set routine to follow – the snooze button on the phone or clock is the favorite choice. The Fortune Clock arrives without the snooze option, rather a purpose-defined wakeup activity that goes a long way beyond just waking you up with something to do.

Designer: Ho Hyun LIM

When out in the market for an alarm clock, you look for the nightlight option, volume levels, and of course the snooze button. For the Fortune Clock, you might have to have a different mindset: An outlook to look at your fortune based on how you get up in the morning.

Sounds interesting? It well is! The clock with a digital display on the front quarter – featuring time and day – has an interesting wheel of fortune just below. The idea is to fill the clock from the top with balls. When you wake up in the morning to turn off the alarm (by pressing the button on top) a ball with a number is released (this happens every day) and appears in the groves cut out on the front.

While the idea of the clock is to get the user into the habit of making an effort to get up to stop the alarm and put the ball rolling (not literally); the designer believes, the numbered balls are fortune tellers as well. User can, Ho believes, combine the numbers on the balls obtained from this effort of getting up, to purchase lottery tickets, to seize their luck. How much numerology magic the clock does is for you to understand, but these hard-earned numbers will definitely make a difference to your sleep cycle and waking-up routine.

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Antiquated tools reinterpreted as delightful everyday products

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Humanity has produced no small number of tools and objects over the course of history. Some have evolved to become the tools we use today, while others have almost faded into the background, remembered and illustrated only in history books. While these items of the past may no longer serve a practical purpose today, they could still serve as a stepping stone to inspire the designs of tomorrow. This collection of three everyday products, for example, takes a few pages from the form and even the function of these old objects, creating an atmosphere of wonder and curiosity, while also giving a few visual clues that connect us to our distant past.

Designers: Dami Seo, Dohui Kim, Dong Kyun Kim

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Fire-lit lamps may have once been the only way that people could see in the dark of night, but these are not only impractical today, they’re also fire hazards. That said, there’s a certain romantic charm to the shapes and curves of these kerosene lamps, an emotion that the DIDIM_Stand Light tries to replicate with modern technology. The tall floor lamp imitates the style of a lamp dangling from a metal bar, but here the lamp is a battery-powered LED lamp that you can remove and use independently of the rest of the structure. The lamp’s two-piece stand and the wavy cantilever are meant to resemble a person holding such a lantern in olden times.

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A bucket-drawn well is almost an iconic image in many historical or fictional settings that depict periods before an industrial age, and this old contraption has come to symbolize not only life that comes from water but also the routines of life in those ages. Today, we use clocks to mark those routines, and the DIDIM_Alarm Clock combines these two concepts into a miniature well that will hopefully make you feel less annoyed when it wakes you up in the morning. Instead of a basket, the “well” has a bell that rises from within when it’s time to sound the alarm. It isn’t a real bell, however, and has a speaker inside to do the work. Amusingly, you have to hit the bell in order to silence it.

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A little bit more obscure is the DIDIM_Tray, inspired by old grinding stones that people used to prepare grains and beans for cooking. Instead of grinding things, however, turning the “pestle” handle deploys the fan-shaped trays that have compartments for your phone, your pens, and your earbuds. When you’re done using it and don’t want the circular tray to take up space, simply turn the handle in the opposite direction to transform it into a decorative for your desk or table.

These might be mundane objects you can find in anyone’s home, but giving them a bit of a flavor not only enhances their appearance but also changes the atmosphere around them. And you don’t even have to think hard of designs that will capture your visitors’ attention. By simply looking at our past and appreciating the designs that have come before us, we can already bring a unique visual and tactile experience to these everyday products, while also helping us make a connection with the past.

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Apple-inspired alarm clock concept helps you snooze a bit longer

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People buy and use alarm clocks to wake them up at the right time, but let’s face it, almost everyone ends up extending their sleep by five or ten more minutes or at least want to. With the advent of smartphones, that has become even easier with the built-in snooze functionality in apps. But just as reaching for your phone before bedtime can be bad for your health, doing the same when you just want to snooze your alarm could also end up keeping you from going back to sleep instantly. What you probably need is an alarm clock whose only purpose, ironically, is to get you to sleep longer, which is what this device concept offers in addition to looking like one of Apple’s stylishly minimalist products.

Designer: Antoine Brieux

Useful as they are, our smartphones are notorious for also being sources of distractions. At night, those incessant notifications and the screen’s blue light keep us awake, but our phones also prevent us from snoozing properly again in the morning. Few of us dare to slide the screen blindly for fear of pushing the phone over the edge and breaking it, so we’re forced to open our eyes, get blinded by the screen, and be tempted by the number of unread notifications. There goes your plan to continue that sweet dream!

You know those shows or cartoons where people simply push or smash a button on their bedside clock to silence their alarms, all without even looking at the thing? Well, that’s what this alarm clock concept design also lets you do, except it doesn’t stop the alarm from sounding. The big, though flat, button on top of the small box has one and only one purpose: to snooze the alarm and let you extend your sleep, all without pulling you out of your slumbering state completely. No fumbling over which button to push. You can even hit it with your eyes closed, which is the point entirely.

With such an extremely focused purpose, the design of the device can’t be any more complex than it needs to be. It’s a perfect opportunity to apply some of Apple’s famous minimalist design language, leaving a small cube that’s bereft of any unnecessary feature other than a small LCD screen on the front, a USB-C charging port on the back, and Apple’s iconic logo on top. That said, the design is also so simple that it can actually be easily used by other brands, for example, a LEGO-inspired yellow block.

The alarm clock does have another hidden functionality. It can charge your iPhone, but only if you place it on the iPhone’s back. It makes for an awkward position where the iPhone has to lie face down on a flat surface, which risks scratching its screen. Of course, the bigger question is whether there’s a real need for such a device that does only one thing, especially if that one thing encourages and even rewards sleeping in when you really should be getting up.

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Minimalist alarm clock and speaker can help kids manage time without screens

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There are parents who would like to wean their children every once in a while from screens because they believe that it may be rotting their brain or something. But even these parents will sometimes have to admit that they still need technology to manage their children’s lives or to teach them things like productivity and time management. So product developers are coming up with non-screen devices to help parents and kids navigate life.

Designer: Pupupula

The Little House Alarm Clock is one such device that has a pretty basic display but still utilizes technology to help children manage their time and schedule properly. It’s basically a smart speaker with a built-in intelligent voice assistant to help the kids (and maybe adults) out. The display will only show the time, date, temperature, humidity, as well as the time of the next alarm set, which means the next upcoming schedule.

The design is that of a tiny house that should look at home whether in the kid’s room or in your living room. It has a light source but it is underneath the outer shell to give off a softer look to its orange nightlight. There are only two buttons to make it simple: a red chimney and a blue mute button. They complement the minimalist design with its white body color. You can also adjust the backlight for the screen by pressing the chimney or through the app.

The alarm clock has four different customized nature themed alarm sounds that match the animation that will show up on the display. There is also a Sleep Mode which will dim the lights and will turn off the mic so that everyone can really rest. The voice assistant when active can set reminders, play music, tell stories, and other tasks that don’t need a screen for your kids. It seems like an interesting device to have if you still want technology to help you out but not necessarily your smartphone or tablet.

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Analog digital hybrid clock presses the snooze button for you

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One of the biggest struggles I have every morning is the constant battle between me and my smartphone’s alarm clock. I set alarms every 30 minutes for a period of 2-3 hours but more often than not, I still hit the snooze button so all my alarms run into each other. I’ve tried putting my phone away from me so I am forced to get up if I want to snooze it but that only results in me being in a horrible mood. But if i want a more convenient way to snooze (and lose), then this new kind of alarm clock may be what I need.

Designer: Nico Tangara for BHH Innovation Lab

The Self-Snoozing Alarm Clock may become your best friend or your worst enemy, depending on how you actually look at the snooze button. Instead of having to snooze the device yourself, it actually comes with a hand to snooze itself. It’s a device that uses a fusion of analog and digital and is powered by the Raspberry Pi compact computer module to help you beat the snooze button or actually fall victim to it.

The alarm clock looks like your typical analog clock with its rectangular box but with a digital clock showing on the screen. It is connected to a servo or an actuator that is able to push parts of the device with precision. The mechanism enables this tiny hand to extend from the clock and manually press the snooze button which will then activate the system to keep snoozing until you actually stop it.

If you have an appointment that you need to get to, then this may not be the best alarm clock to have beside you as it will keep you snoozing indefinitely. But it does help you in a sense that you don’t have to be the one to push the snooze button on your phone, although that may not be the best thing if you really think about it.

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The Seiko Mai tabletop Alarm Clock looks like adorably enlarged versions of their iconic Dive Watch

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The only difference is the lack of a strap, and the fact that the crown now sits at the 12 o’clock position instead.

Meet the Seiko Mai, a scaled-up version of the Japanese watchmaker’s famed SKX dive-watch collection. Designed, instead, as a tabletop clock, the Mai has an aesthetic that isn’t easy to miss. It’s pretty impressively true to its inspiration, and comes with the numbered bezel sitting against the clock’s minimalist body. The bezel doesn’t rotate, but the clock DOES come with a night feature that mimics the original, and an alarm function that can be toggled from the back, and snoozed on days where you just want those 5 more minutes in bed.

Designer: Seiko

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The Mai Alarm Clock comes in as many as 7 different color variants, modeled on the color combos seen in Seiko’s own watches. The clocks are portable for travel, running on a single AA battery, with a quartz movement on the inside and a silent sweeping seconds hand that eschews the annoying ticking sound found on most table clocks.

The night-light allows you to see the time even in the dark, glowing with the familiar Superluminova-inspired green hue seen on the watches. Powered by an LED, the night light also flashes when your alarm goes off, along with a beeping sound that’s loud enough to wake up even the most sound sleepers.

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