Nothing is more annoying than waking up to the sound of someone else’s alarm, especially if that someone else is still sleeping and drooling all over their pillow. I’ve thrown the occasional pillow or two at the said someone before going back to sleep in a grumpier mood.

If you find yourself in a similar dilemma, then you might want to consider gifting them with the Chirp Alarm Clock. Not only is it a pretty simplistic and attractive alarm clock, but it also makes sure to wake only the person who set the alarm, and not anyone else.

How? Well, the Chirp Alarm Clock comes with a vibrating clip that you can clip onto your pillow, shirt, hair, or wherever you want it to. It vibrates at the set alarm time for a certain period of time, so once you’re up, just insert the clip back onto the base to make it stop vibrating. If you don’t do so though, then an audible alarm (the annoying one) will ring out to make sure that you get out of bed, pronto.

The Chirp Alarm Clock is in pre-production, and garnering pricing feedback over at Quirky, so if you’re interested in one be sure to drop by and provide your thoughts. Currently, the estimated market price for the Chirp is about $18 (USD).

[via Oh Gizmo!]

Just tie it to your bedding and activate it with a timer to make it run away when the alarm is activated, pulling the covers off. It wakes you every morning and then poops. Then, I assume you change the filter. So basically you just had a baby.

[via Greenmuze]

As you can see, the clock has four wires. Only one of them stops the countdown when cut. The other two are decoys and do nothing while one wire will immediately “detonate” the alarm. Obviously the thrill will wear off if the wires had fixed purposes, which is why Krumpus made it so the the role of each wire is randomized each time the sequence is activated.

By the way the countdown sequence isn’t just for the alarm. It can also be activated at any time by pressing the big red button, perfect for Counter-Strike LARPing. Here’s the clock in action:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Yes, you’ll have to replace any wires you cut, but Krumpus says that replacing them will be easy because they’re attached with screw terminals. Krumpus also made a mock C4 version of the clock, just for kicks:

The “bomb” is powered by an ATMega328 microcontroller with an Arduino bootloader. If you didn’t understand a word from that previous sentence either, fret not! Krumpus will be selling a kit this fall so you can have your own Defusable Clock. The kit will only include the electronics, but I’m sure you can cobble together a bomb-looking device. The kit will also be “fully hackable” so Arduino nuts and tinkerers will get more than their money’s worth with this thing.

[Project Lab via Laughing Squid]

The Sonic Bomb also has three red LEDs that can be made to flash and comes with a vibrating pad you can place under your pillow to shake you awake.

Again, not terribly creative, and also unnecessary in the face of its ear-splitting sonic blast. If you think you need something this strong, hit up Hammacher Schlemmer and pay $35 (USD). Or go see a specialist.

[via Gear Patrol]

For braver souls, all you have to do to participate in TalkO’Clock is register your number. TalkO’Clock promises that they won’t give it away, not even to other users of the service. You then specify the time you want to be woken up as well as your preferred gender, if any, of your human alarm clock. If you want to exact revenge extend the same courtesy to another stranger, simply browse the list and volunteer to be a caller. Users are encouraged to be “original” with their wake up calls. Frightening.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

iOS and Android app versions are also forthcoming:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

This still doesn’t pass my ultimate alarm clock test. Also, the service is useless if you mute or turn off your phone (or destroy it after getting too many creepy wake-up calls from strangers.) It could make for a lot of interesting mornings though. I’m just not sure if that’s good interesting or bad interesting. TalkO’Clock is currently in beta and is available only in the USA and Canada. Check out the official website for more info.

[via TorrentFreak via Dvice]

The time is shown on an LED display underneath a translucent capacitive touchscreen. Simply flick your wrist to see the time, and swipe the screen to cycle through its functions, which include the alarms and a timer. It includes a motion sensor which registers movement and will automatically adjust the strength of its vibration alarm. So, for instance, if you are sleeping, it increases the intensity of the vibrations. You can also customize the length of the vibrations, allowing you to use them as a reminder.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

The watches were designed in Sweden and made in Taipei. The white version has sold out for now, but it’s still available in grey and red for $259 (USD). You can get one over at Mutewatch.

[via Uncrate]

But of course this clock can’t set up the financial side of things on its own. For its threat to actually motivate you to wake up early, you’ll have to connect it to the Internet and use its software to tie your bank account to a charity or non-proft organization, as well as specify the amount per snooze that you’ll lose.

The SnūzNLūz alarm clock sells is listed for $40 (USD) at ThinkGeek, who by the way has a nightmarish suggestion: set up the clock to donate to a cause that you hate. (And yes, I know this was an April Fools joke, but it’s still a great idea.)

Talk about paranoia. The Ila Portable Door Alarm Wedge probably wasn’t meant for me, but it’s definitely something I can use the next time I go traveling. (I also plan to get my parents several of these. I’m sure that will get me back on their Daughter of the Month list pretty quickly.)

The Door Alarm Wedge is teeny tiny, which makes it easy to stuff into your luggage. Once an intruder tries to force himself into your room, the alarm is triggered and a high-pitched 130dB alarm will sound off, waking everyone who’s on the same floor and terrifying your would-be assailant (or some hotel maid who should probably learn to knock.)

These babies are available from Firebox for appx. $24 (USD).

[via Coolest Gadgets]

As its name implies, the Tripwire Bang Alarm is designed to warn you if someone crosses the wire, which in this case is the fishing line. When the line is tripped, it will cause the mousetrap to hit two gunpowder-filled caps. It won’t harm the invader, but it should give him quite a surprise and alert you to his location.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

The only thing I don’t like about this trap is that you have to refill it with new caps after every use, but it is quite cheap to make. If you’d like to booby-trap your suitcase instead, check out Kipkay’s other hack.

[via TechEBlog]

The trick of course is simply to feed it with something else. Place your bills inside and you’ll have another reason to stay in bed. Unless this clock can detect whether the paper inside it is actually money. Now that would be one effective clock. I wish I had more details about this concept; in fact I don’t even know who came up with it. Hit us up in the comments if you do.

[via TechEBlog]

The clock will count down to your target times using days, hours, and minutes. You can even snooze events – in case you don’t want to deal with the reality of whatever milestone has arrived. It’s made out of stainless steel, so it doesn’t look bad either, although the face is a bit retro, so you have to like that style. It measures about 2½ inches on each side, and is powered by 2 “AAA” batteries.

The Event Countdown Clock is available from Sharper Image for $29.99 (USD).

[via GeekAlerts]

The Burglar Blaster keeps its infrared eye watching over a location of your choice. If someone enters the room without properly disarming the system, they’ll be rudely greeted with four ounces of nasty OC pepper spray – enough to tear up and nauseate a 2,000 square foot area full of crooks. And since it’s powered by batteries, you don’t worry about it failing in a power outage.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

While this thing will definitely irritate intruders, you’ll want to be careful if you do buy mount on of these things on your wall. The entry delay disarm timer can only be set from 0 to 40 seconds, so if you screw up and don’t deactivate it quickly enough, you’ll be the one crying and vomiting. The Burglar Bunker sells for $600 (USD) over at Bed Bunker.

[via Geek Alerts]

The dock can be set to sleep or wake with your iPad, iPhone or iPod, and of course you can listen to music through its stereo speakers too. It’s also got Bluetooth so you can play your music wirelessly from across the room. The dock lets you use the screen of your iPad for custom alarms, and alerts for weather, news, stocks, etc. There’s also a handy (and free) iHome+Sleep app which lets you view social network updates, and track your sleep patterns.

I suppose that’s all fine and good – until the display turns on and wakes up everyone in the room. After all, turning on the screen of the iPad is like turning on a lightbulb in a fully-darkened room. But I suppose as long as it’s used as an alarm, that’s probably okay. But if you get email updates or meeting reminders in the middle of the night, that could suck.

If you’re into the idea of a bedside iPad dock, you can find out more about the iA100ZE over at iHome.

[via Chip Chick]

Each 8-inch tall maxi/minifig sits on your bedside table, and includes an oversize LCD alarm clock in its squared-off chest. I can’t decide if I’d want the Stormtrooper or Anakin to wake me up every morning. I love the hand detail on Anakin/Darth. Very clever. The only thing it’s missing is a LEGO lightsaber. I guess you could try and stick one of these in his hand.

No word on when or where these will turn up, but I’m sure you’ll be able to find them in a galaxy far, far away sometime later this year.

The Ice Tube clock ($70 USD) gets its brilliant blue display thanks to an old-school Russian-issued VFD (vacuum fluorescent display) tube. It’s set inside of a spiffy clear acrylic shell, which lets you see its internal circuitry whenever you want. Each tube has 8 glowy blue digits, as well as a dot indicator for PM and an alarm on/off indicator.

While the Ice Cube kit includes everything you need to build a standard alarm clock with day/date functionality, both hardware and software are open source, so you can mod this to do something else if you want – say display text messages or run the time backwards.

Keep in mind that the circuit generates very high voltages (up to 70 VDC), so you’ll need significant electronics, soldering and kit-building experience if you want one of these sitting on your bookshelf (and not catching your house on fire). If you’re up to the build challenge, head on over to Adafruit and place your order.

[via LadyAda]

Designed by Japan’s Takara Tomy, Clockman jars you awake each morning with a variety of chatty statements, along with some goofy animated facial expressions. But even after you hit the snooze bar, he seems to keep going, and going, and going. Clockman just doesn’t know when to shut up. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) for those of us who don’t speak Japanese, we have no idea what Clockman is actually saying. Here – watch the video below and let us know what you think Clockman is talking about.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

I like to think he’s saying something like “What the hell are you still doing in bed?”, “Don’t you have to get to your McJob so you can buy more cheap plastic gadgets from Japan? Loser!”

The other weird thing is that you’re supposed to choose a Clockman based on your blood type. There’s AB, B, O and A versions for you to pick from. Why? Why not? The guys over at CScout Japan seem to have an explanation – but it’s about as scientifically sound as biorhythms, horoscopes and tarot card readings.

I dare you to buy an O, even if you’re AB negative. Do you think it might reject you like a transplanted organ?

Clockman hits the streets of Japan this September, and it’s doubtful that we’ll see an English-language version anytime soon ever.

[photos: Kaden Watch and CScout Japan]

The Wooden Sound Box Clock features a bold design sensibility, peppered with just enough technology in make it seem at home in any geek’s bedroom. The current time, date and day of week all glow through the faux-wood face of this clock, courtesy of some retro-red 7-segment LEDs. In addition to telling time, the alarm clock can play digital music from your SD/MMC cards or USB thumb drives through a pair of full-range speakers mounted into the sides of the big black box.

If the watermarks on the images above didn’t clue you in already, you can grab the Wooden Sound Box Clock over at Brando’s Watch site for $95 (USD) – if you can believe it, the clock is just $55, and $40 of that is for shipping from China.

(FWIW, this alarm clock may look a whole lot like Karlsson’s Cube, but the built-in media player gives this one the advantage.)

The headband supposedly measures brainwave activity and sends the data it gathers to the display. The display saves it to an SD card so you can then upload your data to your Zeo account. In your Zeo account you’ll see your sleeping patterns and you’ll also be given tips on how to sleep better. Here’s a free tip: You know what else can help you sleep? Reading about how Zeo works.

WSJ‘s Melinda Beck tested the Zeo system and mentioned its scoring system, called ZQ. Basically it’s a numeric measurement of well you sleep per day. It sounds really stupid, I know, but if it’s really an accurate quantification of the quality and quantity of your sleep, then by doing something different and looking at how your ZQ scores vary, you’ll know which steps work, which habits you should really do something about, etc.

The downside? As I said, the Zeo Personal Sleep Coach is expensive: it costs $400 (USD) for the headband and the display, plus 6-months of personal sleep coaching with “experts” via email. Renewing the coaching will cost you another $100 per 6 months. You can order it at Zeo’s website; it has a 30-day money-back guarantee, so if it doesn’t work you can rest assured that you’ll get your money back.

[via Gadget Venue]

This cat-shaped alarm clock, and not only tells the time, but releases an unknown fragrance as it does its business. One can only hope it doesn’t smell like my cat’s litter box. In addition to stinkin’ up the place, the cat is a speaks the time in 14 “diverse languages” – not one of them my tabby understands. There’s also a digital thermometer mode which can display the current temperature in either Centigrade or Celsius. Last time I checked, those were both the same thing. Eh, what do you expect from a stinkin tetradeca-lingual talkin’ cat?

What I really love about this thing is that the guys who made it felt the need to patent it. So if you plan on making your own 1″ lcd fragrance releasing talking cat alarm clock with temperature display, you’d better watch your ass. The holders of patent number 200930164072.X will rain down on you with the wrath of God (and an army of fragranced talking cats).

While you’re mulling over whether or not you want to buy Fragrance Cat, here’s some informative Engrish from the package for your enjoyment…

Wow, it’s got high definition time. Even my Blu-ray player can’t do that. And what the heck do you think a hypnosis alarm is? Does it put you into a trance the minute you wake up? In my house, we call that the “snooze bar”. If you just absolutely have to have one of these ridiculous things by the side of your bed you need help, you can get your hands on one over at DealExtreme for $7.23 (USD).

Created by Swedish designers Humans Since 1982, the Clock Clock installation features 48 electronically-controlled analog clock hands which automatically rotate into the proper positions to form a giant digital display.

Here’s a video of Clock Clock in action to give you a better idea of how it works:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

If you happen to be in Sweden this summer, the Clock Clock will be on display at the Röhsska Design Museum June through mid-August 2009.

Brilliant idea. Maybe someday they’ll build a miniature version I can put up on my mantle.

[via dezeen]