We at Online Clock love to keep our eyes and ears open for new trends in alarm clocks…this just happens to go along with the territory of running the world’s most popular online alarm clock website.

This is why we were recently surprised to learn that there are so many Talking Animal Clocks available out there.

There is certainly something primitive in us that makes us love animals. From the time when we’re small children, up until we become adults and obtain our own menageries of house pets, human beings just love animals. (Well, actually not enough, right? Because if we truly loved animals we wouldn’t push them into extinction or hunt them and eat them…but that’s a separate topic.)

Human beings love buying objects and clothes and anything at all with an animal motif or animals printed on them. This holds true whether we’re talking about t-shirts, pajamas, bed linens, wallets, porcelain keepsakes or even…you guessed it…alarm clocks.

Recently, we discovered an entire zoo’s worth of Talking Animal Clocks and we wanted to present the most interesting of these animal-themed clocks to you here in our alarm clock blog.

So, without any further yabber, yabber, yabber, here is Online Clock’s official list of the very best Talking Animal Clocks:

Hambone Animated Talking Pig Clock
This clock has an animated pig who talks with a Texan cowboy accent. This idea for a clock sounds ridiculous but the clock is actually pretty neat. The Hambone Animated Talking Clock spouts off wake-up messages when the alarm goes off such as: “Does any one feel like a Texas two step?” and “Heeeere, piggy, piggy, piggy!”.

Kimba Animated Talking Chimpanzee Clock
Kimba is apparently the name of the chattering chimp in this Talking Chimpanzee Alarm Clock. Kimba wakes you up by shrieking around a lot like a chimp and spouting a few not-so-notable sayings such as, “Get up!” and “Hi there”. Although Kimba’s wake-up messages are pretty lame, the somewhat hideous shrieking sounds made by this chimp are enough to wake the dead.

Beaks Animated Talking Parrot Clock
The talking parrot in the Beaks Alarm Clock here has a decidedly maritime theme, and it wakes you up with seagoing-related messages such as, “All hands on deck!” and “Wake up or you’ll be shark bait!”. All in all, the Beaks clock is one of the funniest here: it’s kind of like a bird version of Captain Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean who has the job of waking you up each morning.

Bossy Bessie Animated Talking Cow Clock
Bessie is a cow who’s really a bit bossy when she wakes you up with words of wisdom such as, “Oh dear, is it morning already?”. She seems to be a bit vain and is always batting her eyelashes and probably fishing for compliments regarding how good she looks (or so she probably thinks).  Reminiscent of Miss Piggy from Sesame Street.

Talking Pink Cat Clock
This talking pink cat really has nerves. She wakes you up with sayings such as, “Milk time…be a dear and go get me some” and “it’s not easy, being this pretty, you know”. As with Bessy the cow (see the previous alarm clock), this is one vain, stuck-up alarm clock: she probably thinks she’s just purrfect.

Boss Frog Animated Talking Clock
Finally, we present to you the Boss Frog Alarm Clock. This is a big robotic frog who wakes you up froggy-style with such pearls of wisdom as, “It’s move it or lose it time!” and “Froggy to the beat, baby!” and “You snooze, you lose, pal!”. There’s something likable about this robotic frog, so if your kids are frog fans, they just might get a big kick out of this clock.

These clocks are all similar in that they present to us some idealized form of an animal that’s used to wake us up, and they all attempt to come up with witty sayings that are used as alarm messages. Some of the clocks we’ve presented to you succeed more than others in this, and it’s of course up to you to decide whether any of these clocks is good enough to grace your bedside night table.

As you can tell by looking at our collection of Talking Animal Clocks, there is no end to human beings’ imagination when it comes to thinking up ideas for tacky, kitschy, but sometimes wonderful animated clocks with animal themes.

We think this is a good thing, and certainly, if you have a young son or daughter, they will share our opinion.

So, if you’re currently seeking ideas for Christmas gifts for the upcoming holidays and have an animal fan of some kind in your family, keep in mind the possibility of purchasing for them an alarm clock which bleats or barks or otherwise wakes them up with an agreeable animal noise of some kind: a Talking Animal Alarm Clock.

We look forward to our next excursion into the realm of weird alarm clocks with you and say, until then, good night.

Translation: meow, oink, ribbit, etc…

Tags: alarm clock blog, alarm clocks, animal alarm clocks, animal clocks, Crazy Alarm Clocks, Crazy Clocks, talking animal alarm clocks, talking animal clocks

• The Killer Cuckoo Clocks of Stefan Strumbel
• Rolling Robotic Alarm Clock
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• Halloween Clock Radio
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Vadim Ryazanov from Baku, Azerbaijan has created Mr. Wake, a robotic rolling alarm clock.

Mr. Wake was created as part of the Mr. Basic V2.0 contest going on at the incredibly fabulous Let’s Make Robots website.

As you can see by taking a look at the photos of Mr. Wake, it’s a rolling robotic car with an alarm clock on its back.

The idea is that, when the alarm on Mr. Wake’s back goes off, he begins rolling around your apartment, forcing you to get out of bed to find him first, in order to be able to turn its alarm off. Of course, by the time you’ve done this, you’re pretty much guaranteed to be fully awake. There is no snooze button on Mr. Wake either (something that we approve of) so this further reinforces the fact that Mr. Wake will indeed wake you up!

Mr. Wake is kind of an alpha geek’s version of Clocky, which we’ve already written about.

Now, we don’t know if you noticed it in the video or not, but one of the things that makes Mr.Wake so cool is that it actually has an infra-red sensor on its back that, when the alarm goes off, propels the vehicle away from you whenever you attempt to grab it. This makes the process of turning off the alarm on Mr. Wake’s back much more difficult, further reinforcing the fact that, when you finally do succeed in turning this alarm clock off, it’ll be extremely likely that you’ll be 100% awake.

Another fascinating thing about Mr. Wake is that the frame of its vehicle has been created from the plastic tubes of about 20 different common pens. You know, the kind of pens that you use to jot down notes or do some drawing with! The pen tubes have been “welded” together and formed into place using a common household lighter. Now that’s ingenuity using common objects!

We think that Mr. Wake, the Rolling Robotic Alarm Clock is a great example of human inventiveness and congratulate Vadim on a job well done.

We hope to see more dazzling designs for offbeat alarm clocks in the future from you, Vadim – keep up the great work!

If you like robots, be sure and take a look at the Let’s Make Robots website for all kinds of wild and wacky robotic devices.

Tags: alarm clock, alarm clocks, Crazy Alarm Clocks, Crazy Clocks, mr. wake, robot, robotic alarm clock, robots, rolling robotic alarm clock, Vadim Ryazanov

• Talking Animal Clocks
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Before I get into today’s post about a subject near and dear to me, Simpsons Alarm Clocks, first a quick word about the upcoming switch to daylight savings time in 2009.

If you live in Europe, you’ve already switched over to Daylight Savings Time, but if you live in the United States, don’t forget to fall back one hour this Sunday, November 1st at 2:00 a.m.

Most modern PCs automatically update their time settings to Daylight Savings Time online, and this is what enables you to watch the time switch live on Online Clock if you happen to be awake at this hour…just fire up Online Clock in your web browser, and the second that your computer updates its time settings to Daylight Savings Time, you’ll also see the new, correct time being listed on our online alarm clock.

But now to the real reason we’re here today: to showcase some of the killer Simpsons Alarm Clocks available out there!

While trying to find cool clocks to mention on our Facebook Fan Page, we began to notice that there are apparently tons of different Simpsons Alarm Clocks out there, and many of them are actually really neat.

For you, Dear Clock Fans, we’ve assembled a list of our favorites, in order from best to worst!

Simpsons Dome Alarm Clock
Bart and Homer find themselves entrapped within a curious glass dome housing an alarm clock in this hilarious scene right out of the Simpsons. Check it out as Marge attempts to break through the dome with a hammer and Lisa attempts to saw through the glass to free Homer and Bart.

Moe’s Tavern Cuckoo Clock
Moe’s Tavern is the place and Homer is the cuckoo. Homer pops out every hour on the hour to shout out the party cry ‘Woo Hoo’ and wave his fist in the air, as if to annouce that the party has commenced. Check out the dangling pendulums at the bottom which are actually tiny beer glasses.

Animated Homer Talking Clock
These are some of the things that the animated Homer Simpson figure in this cool alarm clock says to wake you up: “Only two things can get me out of bed, donuts and the possibility of donuts to come,” “Wake up – your breakfast is getting all cold and eaten,” and my favorite: “I discovered a meal between breakfast and lunch!” Notice how Homer’s left hand holds a hamburger and his right hand holds a glazed donut. Even the numerals on the clock dial have been replaced with images of food!

Donut Time
Not technically an alarm clock, this clock is still simple and very effective in its design: the revolving second hand has a donut affixed to it, which Homer’s eyes follows in 360 degrees! I think this clock just about sums up Homer’s motivation in life and it has a surprisingly hypnotizing effect on me…Mmmmm donuts!

The 12 Sounds of Homer Clock
In this clock Homer speaks twelve different witty sayings, and some of them are really good, such as “I gave my love a chicken…it had no bones (Mmmm, chicken)” and “English who needs that…I never go to England!” and “Marge, it takes two to lie: one to lie, and one to listen” and my favorite, “Donuts: is there anything they can’t do?” Please pay no attention to the man narrating this video. Despite a striking resemblance, it is not Homer Simpson.

Well, there you go, Simpsons fans. Which Simpsons Alarm Clock is your favorite?

As you can see, you don’t have to live in Springfield to possess a really groovy Simpson Alarm Clock. You just need to go to Amazon or eBay, buy one, and bring it home to you where you live.

We hope you’ve enjoyed this excursion into Homerland and wish you all pleasant dreams…of donuts.

Mmmm, donuts…

Tags: alarm clocks, Crazy Alarm Clocks, Crazy Clocks, donuts, homer simpson, homer simpson alarm clocks, simpsons, simpsons alarm clock, simpsons alarm clocks

• Talking Animal Clocks
• The Killer Cuckoo Clocks of Stefan Strumbel
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• Spidey Alarm
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My Spider Sense is tingling telling me it's time to...get up out of bed!

Hey, Clock Fans…

Our spider sense is tingling, and you know why? It’s because, while researching new material to share with our Facebook Fans on our Online Alarm Clock Facebook Page, we discovered that there are a heap ‘o different Spiderman Alarm Clocks out there.

In the past, while doing research for our Alarm Clock Blog and for our Facebook Page, we’ve discovered alarm clocks on just about any kind of subject or theme: Sonic the Hedgehog Alarm Clocks, Coca Cola Alarm Clocks, Mr. Peanut Alarm Clocks, Pirates of the Caribbean Alarm Clocks – you name it, if it exists or existed as a popular TV show, comic or film character, you can certainly purchase it as an Alarm Clock.

But why in the heck are there so many Spiderman Alarm Clocks out there?

Don’t get us wrong – we love Spiderman and especially Marvel Comics (though the recent purchase of Marvel Comics by Disney has us a little worried that the more adult comics will perhaps be made a little too clean-cut and sanitized in the future). But why is it that we’ve found up to a dozen different alarm clocks with a Spiderman theme?! That’s a whole lot of clocks, even for a popular web slinger who’s set out to save the planet!

Because there are so many Spiderman Alarm Clocks, and because several of them are really quite cool, we decided to collect some of the more interesting models here and present them all together to you, Clock Fans, in one blog post, making it easy for you to check them all out.

So, without much further ado, let us commence with attempting to create the most definitive Spider Man Alarm Clock post ever published on the world wide web!

Its Web swingin’ time!…I’m just your friendly neighborhood Spiderman…With great power comes great responsibility.

Those are some of the words of wisdom this Spiderman Alarm Clock says, when the alarm is activated. He has some cool web-slinging sound effects, too. This Spiderman figure stands atop a square pedestal with a neat spider motive on it, and the figure is nicely animated. Cool clock!

He couldn’t do anything with his eyes webbed shut, Ha, Ha, Ha, the Green Goblin thought he had it. His time is running out (referring to the Green Goblin).

This Spiderman Alarm Clock has a personal grudge to settle with the Green Goblin. He stands atop a rotating triangle-like city scene and it appears as if the alarm consists of various Spiderman sayings that are rotated randomly, each time the alarm goes off. Unlike the Spiderman figure in the previous clock, this figure isn’t really animated. Instead, it’s the round base on which Spidey stands that moves around. Bonus points for the cool web-slinging, whip-like sound effects in this clock!

Spiderman, Help!…My Spiderman senses are tingling…Then come and get me, if you can, Spiderman…It’s Web-swing time…You’ll never catch me, Web-head, Ha, ha, ha, ha.

A little more unique than the other two, this Spiderman Alarm Clock takes place in a Clock Tower. The Green Goblin goads Spiderman into climbing up the building’s face and going after him, and there is dialog back and forth between Spiderman and the Green Goblin. The fact that there’s a dialog back and forth between Spidey and his arch nemesis, combined with the fact that there is an actual chase scene here, makes this clock a little special: it’s kind of like a mini scene out of a Spiderman comic or film. So far, this one’s our favorite!

Spiderman, Spiderman, does whatever a spider can…Spins a web, any size, catches thieves just like flies. Look out! Here comes the Spiderman!

This Spiderman Alarm Clock looks nice but unfortunately isn’t animated in any way. No matter:  it redeems itself by playing the groovy Spiderman theme song (remember this song from the animated Spiderman Saturday morning cartoon series?). Still, we like the Ramones’ cover version of this song much better. And points off for the total lack of animation in this clock.

And our collection of Spiderman Alarm Clocks wouldn’t be complete without mentioning…the Lexibook Spiderman Alarm Clock Radio.

Besides being a fully functioning alarm clock radio, this cool clock projects the Spiderman symbol onto your ceiling in the dark, together with the current time.  That’s pretty neat. Looking like a giant Spiderman head, this is one killer clock radio!

You can find a video about the Spiderman Alarm Clock radio, together with information on all the other clocks mentioned here, in our Spiderman Alarm Clock Video Playlist which we’ve created on YouTube. If you’re a true Clock Fan, or a Spiderman Fan, or both, you’ll want to check it out.

So there you have it, Clock Fans: several different Spiderman Alarm Clocks, and each of them very different and unique.

Personally, we like them all and that’s why we wrote this blog post…if it’s not fun for us to write about, it’s probably not a whole lot of fun for you to read…so we’re keeping it real.

Several of these alarm clocks are surely no longer manufactured.

For this reason, your best bet on buying them might be on eBay, if you no longer find them on Amazon.

We wish all of you happy hunting, either for yourselves or for the aspiring young web slingers in your families!

Now, where did that Green Goblin run off to?!

Tags: alarm clock blog, Crazy Alarm Clocks, Crazy Clocks, green goblin, marvel, marvel comics, spiderman, spiderman alarm clocks, spiderman alarms, spiderman clocks

• Talking Animal Clocks
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Hello, Boys and Ghouls and welcome to our favorite time of year…the Countdown to Halloween!

Yes, the Countdown to Halloween has begun and before we begin presenting to you our special OnlineClock.net collection of Scary Halloween Clocks perhaps we should explain to you why Halloween holds a special place in the hearts of the creators of the world’s original Online Alarm Clock.

Back when we were kids, Halloween was the non-”goody goody” answer to Christmas.

Sure, we love Christmas too, but it sure rocks to have a holiday that’s not all about sweetness and light…and as a perfect anecdote to all of the bland over-sentimentality so often associated with Christmas.

Halloween is “bad”, dark, evil (in a fun and non-serious way) and just plain cool. If ever there was a punk rock holiday, it’d be Halloween. In a word, Halloween just..rocks.

Our best memories of Halloween include watching horror movie marathons, dressing up in our own home-made costumes, visiting a “haunted house” or two (spook house attractions set up to scare the wits out of you around the Halloween holiday) and, of course, eating tons of the kinds of food you loved the most but were always told to eat in moderation, if at all.

When we went out trick or treating, we used pillowcases for treat bags, because we found that they simply carried tons more candy and sweets than any other kind of bag you could take with you…and, being made out of cloth, they simply didn’t break. It was a yearly ritual for us, during and after trick or treating, to eat so much of the free candy we’d received that we’d inevitably get stomach aches and spend half of the evening in the bathroom as a result.

Halloween is indeed our favorite holiday, and, to get all of you into that Halloween Spirit, we’ve scoured the web to present you a collection of the Scariest Halloween Clocks.

So, without further ado, here’s the official Online Clock Collection of Scary Halloween Clocks, presented for your fright and enjoyment. To find out more information on any of these clocks, just go to Amazon.com and search for the title of each clock! All clocks were found on Amazon and were actually available to purchase at the time that we wrote this.

Scary Clock Number One:  The Evil Skull Pendulum Clock

This attractively spooky pendulum clock runs on one AA battery and is 16 inches long. The coolest thing about this clock is the demon skull on the pendulum that swings back and forth with the time. Also, check out those killer demon horns at the top of the clock. Ghoulish!

Scary Clock Number Two:  The Haunted Clock

Scare your friends and make new enemies with The Haunted Clock, a genuine wood clock which also has a skull pendulum (sorry, no demon skull this time) but which has a slick bat-shaped window where the pendulum appears beneath the clock face. This clock requires a bit of assembly on your part. For trendy vampires of all ages!

Scary Clock Number Three:  The Rob Zombie Halloween Movie Michael Myers Wall Clock

For us, nothing says “scary” like serial killers.  For this reason, if you really want to raise a fright on Halloween, consider decorating your home with the Rob Zombie Halloween Movie Michael Myers wall clock. As you can see, it picures a prominent photo of everyone’s favorite mad slasher, Michael Myers. From what we’ve heard, this clock is actually scarier than the film itself (sorry, Rob!).

Scary Clock Number Four:  The Grim Reaper Clock

Who knows how to party better on Halloween than the Angel of Death himself?! For that reason, we’ve included this clock in our collection. The Grim Reaper Clock displays a hideously skeletal grim reaper figure holding a clock…perhaps just to remind you that your time on earth is running out?! The Grim Reaper clock is a polyresin quartz clock six inches in height.

Scary Clock Number Five: The Misfits Wall Clock

“Twenty Eyes in my head…Twenty eyes in my hhhhead…they’re all the same!” If Halloween had an official band, it would undoubtedly be The Misfits (and please, from the time back when Glenn was the lead singer). You can show off your love of creepy music and Halloween with this Misfits Wall Clock, which displays the official “Crimson Ghost” Misfits logo character in black and white.

Scary Clock Number Six: The 13 Hour Tubular Grandfather Clock

What will you do when the clock strikes the 13th hour – die of fright? Well, this clock and the last one below it are more movie and set props than commercial clocks, apparently, but they’re so cool that we had to include them in our list of Scary Clocks. And, if you definitely are interested in obtaining one of these prop clocks, simply visit the website addresses that appear in the videos for more information.

You can’t deny it: ever since “Tubular Bells” became popular as the theme song from the classic fright film “The Exorcist”, there is simply something spooky and uncanny about the sound of tubular bells, as used for the chimes in this Halloween clock.

Please remind me not to purchase this clock for my living room.

Scary Clock Number Seven: The Haunted Props Halloween Grandfather Clock:

Yes finally, we have the Haunted Halloween Grandfather Clock, which again is actually a kind of movie or show business prop. I think you’ll agree with me when I say that this Halloween Clock is ghastly indeed. So ghastly that we cannot imagine having such a clock in our own house – this would scare the heck out of us, in the middle of the night!

But if you’re planning on turning your own home into a “haunted house” to scare the neighbors on Halloween, then this scary clock might just be de rigeur.

(In the process of writing this blog post we must’ve heard the background music from this last clock video about five times and all we can say is, “Stop it! Stop it!”, because it really is strangely gruesome. Try listening to it alone in the dark in the middle of the night, and I think you’ll see what we mean.)

So, we hope you’ve enjoyed our little presentation of Scary Halloween Clocks.

As you can tell, we intentionally did not include the cutesy and cuddly Martha Stewart Halloween clocks containing pumpkin heads that your mom would probably like.

We’re serious about Halloween, so we instead just cut right to the real deal, and attempted to show you a collection of clocks that are all actually scary in one way or another.

We look forward to counting down the time until Halloween on October 31st with all of you.

Until then we say: stay cool, Clock Ghouls!

P.S. – Does anyone recognize the clock that appears in the background of our logo at the top of this blog post? It’s a drawing representing the clock from Disney’s classic “Haunted Mansion” attraction. Just a little Halloween Clock trivia for all of you…

Tags: countdown to halloween, Crazy Clocks, grim reaper clock, halloween clock, halloween clocks, haunted clock, haunted grandfather clock, misfits clock, scary clocks, scary halloween clocks, skull pendulum clock

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Hello, Clock Fans across the world.

Here on the Alarm Clock Blog we like to bring you all the latest news about new alarm clocks, just as fast as we discover them. New alarm clock gadgets are being released onto the global marketplace on a daily basis and researching and reporting on the subject of alarm clocks never bores us – there are simply way too many interesting and absurd gadgets being created!

The newest trend in Alarm Clocks that we’ve discovered is: Photo Frame Alarm Clocks.

These are strange hybrid devices originally designed as digital photo frames which have mutated into being an alarm clock and/or clock radio.

Here we’re talking about either devices whose main purpose is to be used as a digital photo frame which also has an alarm clock function; or the other way around: there are some devices designed to function primarily as alarm clocks, which also just happen to have a digital photo frame feature. The latter category are kind of boring, since these tend to be, more or less, basic alarm clocks which also display one of your digital images…so these will be discussed less in this post than the gadgets of the former type.

So, what are the features of Photo Frame Alarm Clocks? What do these new gadgets do exactly, and how well do they do it?

Well, you just hang on to your hat, there, Junior…because we’re getting ready to answer all those questions and more.

First of all, we learned about the entire world of Photo Frame Alarm Clocks in this post on TechCrunch, in which they reviewed the HP DreamScreen:

To be fair to HP, they didn’t really market it as much more than a glorified digital picture frame, the press just got out of hand. But even that’s too much. The device costs $250. It lacks a touchscreen. It lacks a browser. It lacks a battery. And it has the annoying habit of running a very loud demo video every few minutes – the only way to make it stop is to unplug it. Which is very effective, since it lacks a battery (not a good idea when you market yourself as a digital clock). And HP did nothing to stop rabid bloggers and journalists from heralding the device as some sort of Apple killer. I can’t help but wonder if any of these guys actually tried the device.

But before you share TechCrunch’s negative review, take a look at the HP DreamScreen in the form of a demo video:

Did anyone notice the amazing similarity to OnlineClock in the digital numerals at the beginning of the video?!

Hmmmm…looks like those folks might need a stern talking to

But HP is not the only manufacturer offering this strange combination of Digital Photo Frame and Alarm Clock, there are many other brands and models as well, including:

1. The Sunpak 13-Inch Digital Photo Frame with Calendar and Alarm Clock (check it out here)
2. The Polaroid XSA-00660S Widescreen Digital Photo Frame and Alarm Clock Radio (check it out here)
3. The Pandigital Touch Screen Digital Photo Frame (check it out here)
4. The Philips Color Photo Viewer With Radio, Clock And Alarm (check it out here)

All of these Photo Frame Alarm Clocks enable you, of course, to display your digital photos in an electronic picture frame and also offer you the option of using the device as an alarm clock.

The HP DreamScreen seems to have developed the furthest, by adding the most wireless internet-enabled widgets to their photo frame.

The widgets available in the HP DreamScreen include: Facebook (Social Network), Pandora (Radio), Snapfish (Photo Sharing) and what they call HP SmartRadio.

But let’s just take a look at HP’s own promotional video on the incorporation of Internet Services Widgets into the DreamScreen:

So, what’s your reaction to this kind of an alarm clock gadget?

Frankly, we find it to be a bit stupid, especially when you consider the price.

The DreamScreen retails at about $250 for the 10 inch version and $300 for the 13 inch version, which is in the same price territory as a lot of NetBooks.

With a NetBook you can of course use all web-browser based internet services without restriction by a third party. If you pay careful attention to the promo video from HP above, the DreamScreen gives you read-only access to Facebook, for example. What good is being hooked up to Facebook if you can’t even create a new status update?! Social Networks are designed for interactivity…for discussions back and forth. And if this is not easily possible using an intelligent Photo Frame device, then these widgets seem to be largely useless.

But, more than this, who would want to be restricted to the small number of widgets and internet services that they’ve selected to support for the DreamScreen? Internet Services are trendy: new ones come every day, become popular, become less popular. Why would you want to pay about $300 for a device that restricts your usage to its own selection of such services? We can imagine that it would be very easy to become quickly frustrated with limited services offered by this gadget.

Instead, we simply recommend purchasing a NetBook or a Subnotebook computer, bookmarking your favorite internet services and websites, and using it as an alarm clock and radio, using OnlineClock’s clock radio application.

The nice thing is: there are no restrictions to the web services you use on a Laptop, Subnotebook or Netbook computer.

You can change them according to whim. Whenever new ones come along, you can begin using them immediately, and not just with “read only” access.

And, if you ever decide to no longer use your computer as an alarm clock or a clock radio, you can even use it as…a computer.

What’s that for a crazy idea, you say: using a computer…as a computer?

Nah, that’ll never work!

Tags: alarm clock gadgets, Crazy Alarm Clocks, Crazy Clocks, digital photo frame alarm clock, hp dreamscreen, photo frame alarm clock, photo frame alarm clocks, photo frame clock radio, picture frame alarm clock, picture frame alarm clocks

• Talking Animal Clocks
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• Rolling Robotic Alarm Clock
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No, we don't want to die. And yes, we sometimes have fear of flying. But still: please excuse our little excursion into black humor, as we discuss Clocks Not Right For Airports.

As everyone should know, there’s still a War on Terror going on and this makes it a bit tougher on alarm clocks.

Do you ever consider, before you step on a plane, whether you’re bringing something with you in either your luggage or carry-on bags that the airport security people might misinterpret?

That’s right…as you might have guessed what we’re attempting to get at here…this particular blog post is about the  Top 5 Clocks Not Right For Airports.

And, although we’re enjoying a bit of black humor in this blog article, there is a serious aspect to all this: we seriously urge you to not bring any of these clocks with you on your next flight. The same goes for any alarm clocks which might even be a bit similar to what we’re presenting here. You’ll be glad later on that you avoided all the trouble, and your fellow passengers will be even more glad that they avoided some long delays before take off.

So, without further ado, let’s take a closer look at these seemingly Evil Alarm Clocks!

Clock Number One: The Dynamite Alarm Clock

It looks like a bunch of dynamite, straight out of your worst terrorist nightmare. If you get caught having this in your luggage, you can expect to spend several days’ time explaining why you should be left free to ever walk the streets again! And please – try to avoid the urge to strap this alarm clock to your chest with baling wire. That would be really hard to explain to the security dudes.

Clock Number Two: The Danger Bomb Alarm Clock

This baby is like something from one of those old James Bond movies from the 1960s. You, know: it probably looked real high-tech back in the day but now it just looks laughably quaint. Still, don’t expect to win any friends with the airport personnel if you try to take this clock on board with you! Now, is it the green wire or the red wire – which one do I cut in order to save the planet? And even more important: do I feel lucky?!

Clock Number Three: The Round Black Bomb Alarm Clock

This is a clock having a round black bomb format, looking just like something from one of those old Spy vs. Spy cartoons in an old issue of Mad Magazine. This is the kind of bomb that wild Rasputin types with waxy mustaches and crazy rolling eyes like to throw back and forth at each other, as they’re chasing each other on the tops of running train wagons in some old movie. Even in this day and age, round black bombs continue to instill terror in us all.

Clock Number Four: The Fire Bell Alarm Clock

OK, so maybe people won’t think you’re a terrorist when they hear this alarm on a crowded plane…but if they hear the alarm, and think that it’s a fire bell going off, they’re certainly not going to remain calm and reassured! Perhaps there’s someone attempting to smoke something funny in one of those airplane toilets again?! Will an emergency landing be necessary? Oh the horror!

Clock Number Five: The Police Siren Alarm Clock

“This is the police, you have until the count of 3 or we’re coming in!” That’s what you hear when the alarm goes off on the Police Siren Alarm Clock. And I’d say, let them in: maybe they can help in the fight against the terrorists. Although alarming, this clock doesn’t seem to have the huge fear potential of the other clocks in this list. But it will certainly instill fear and loathing in the hearts of any felons who might be your fellow passengers on a plane.

So there you have it folks – you’ve been warned: do not bring any of these alarm clocks with you, the next time you plan on travelling by air.

And please don’t forget: alarm clocks don’t kill people. People kill people!

It’s not an easy job, being an alarm clock…everyone tends to hate you and blame you for the end of their peaceful slumber and the start of another gruelling day.

Online Clock recommends that you leave all of these Clocks Not Safe For Airports, and any other clocks like them, safe in the confines of your bedrooms instead of attempting to take them with you on your next flight.

We’ve created this post purely as a public service

And, as everyone should know by now, if you travel with a laptop or netbook computer, you always have a simple and free alarm clock you can use, simply by visiting our main clock site.

Tags: airport clocks, alarm clocks, bomb alarm clock, clocks airport, Crazy Alarm Clocks, Crazy Clocks, danger bomb alarm clock, dynamite alarm clock, evil alarm clocks, firebell alarm clock, police siren alarm clock

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Wake yourself up with light, by using the Phillips Wake Up Light alarm clock. Pictured here is a Phillips promotional image, together with a photo of the alarm clock device showing how it actually looks.

Well, we’re slowly moving into the Fall season and with it, the amount of light we receive daily begins to dwindle, depending on where you live.

What this means is that our alarm clocks might not work as well at waking us up as they did previously.

Worse yet, declining amounts of natural sunlight are linked to depression in many people, as we’ve already mentioned in a previous post about light alarm clocks.

That’s why that it’s so great that the Phillips Wake Up Light is here. Here’s Phillips’ own promotional video for the Alarm Clock Light:

The Phillips Wake Up Light is an invention designed to counteract the effects of having too little natural light in your environment, combined with an attempt to wake you up more naturally by using light as an alarm clock!

That’s right: the general idea of the Phillips Wake Up Light is that, instead of being awakened by sound, as with most normal alarm clocks, you’ll instead be awakened by gradually increasing amounts of light that should simulate dawn.

The first amounts of light are emitted from the Wake Up Light thirty minutes before your alarm is actually supposed to go off; in this way, the amount of light is gradually increased and increased until it reaches its peak at your chosen alarm time. This experience is supposed to wake you up in a far more natural fashion that should hopefully result in you feeling more refreshed after a good night’s sleep than being awakened by an alarm sound.

Here are some facts about the Phillips Wake Up Light:

• The Wake Up Light has a light intensity of up to 400 Lux (about 300 Lux is needed for night-time reading).
• The light emissions from the Wake Up Light begin 30 minutes before your actually scheduled wake-up time.
• the Wake Up light comes with several different alarm sounds that can also be used to wake you up (with or without the light alarm), including an FM radio, singing bird noises, ocean waves or 2 other “nature sounds”
• You can also use the Wake Up Light as a beside lamp.
• The Wake Up Light also has a “Dusk Simulator” with gradually decreasing amounts of light that are supposed to simulate sunset.
• There is a second version of the Wake Up Light available which also has an iPod Docking Station.
• According to Phillips, the Alarm Clock Light is certified as a medical device (which sure makes it sound like a serious product).

How does it work?

The Wake Up Light is supposed to use your body’s natural hormones to wake you up. The light produced by the Wake Up Light is supposed to gradually deactivate your body’s production of Melatonin. Melatonin is one of the hormones that makes you sleepy. When the light from the Wake Up Light begins being emitted, your body will create less and Melatonin, thus making you feel less and less sleepy…until you finally wake up. (Here’s a good introduction on the subject of Melatonin.)

Does it really work?

We don’t know. It certainly sounds like a good idea, and is meant well, but, since no device was sent to us for review, it is honestly quite difficult for us to judge if such an invention will noticeably improve the waking experience. But we have managed to find what we think is a pretty objective review of the device, which you can view in the video below. In this video, the people reviewing the Alarm Clock Light seem to think the light alarm function is pretty good. However, they do seem to be less satisfied with the “nature sounds” alarm functionality:

And with a hefty price tag of about $170 at Amazon, it’s a fact that most people will probably not spend the money necessary in order to find out if this is really a good alarm clock device or not. One valuable way of judging if this is a good product is to of course read all of the reputable product reviews you can find on it…which lead us to discover a review on Amazon that reveals that the light bulb in the Alarm Clock Light is not replaceable. Not only that, the light bulb has, apparently, a lifespan of just about seven years.

This means that, after the seven years are up, you’ll likely have to either buy a new alarm clock or,  at the very least, send it in to Phillips to be repaired. This is obviously good to know in advance, before purchasing this alarm clock!

Still, it could be that this product is helpful to a lot of people.

We encourage those of you suffering from sleep disorders to keep it in mind.

Tags: alarm clock light, Crazy Alarm Clocks, Crazy Clocks, light alarm, light alarm clock, light alarm clocks, phillips alarm clock light, phillips light alarm clock, phillips wake up light, wake up light

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Are you a total sleep geek who'd like to meticulously analyze many different facets of your sleep patterns each night? Then either get a life and stop that already...or go out and purchase the Zeo Sleep Trainer.

Yes, Clock Fans, we’re here today to tell you about a new kind of alarm clock called the Zeo Personal Sleep Trainer.

Here is a quote from the Zeo website in which they describe, in their own words, what the Zeo product is all about:

Developed with leading sleep scientists, Zeo is a new kind of educational tool and motivational program that helps you understand how you are sleeping, reveals habits and behaviors that may be helping or hindering your sleep, and teaches new ways that may help you get a better night’s rest.

Motivational program? Does this mean Tony Roberts will show up in my bedroom, because that would motivate me…to get the hell out of there in a hurry.

And what’s up with the dorky headband?!

Well, the idea behind Zeo seems to be that the sensors in the headband track electrical signals in your brain and send them wirelessly to the Zeo alarm clock device (E.T. phone home!).

Personally, I find the idea of having anything electronic strapped to my skull while I sleep simply abhorrent, but maybe I’m just funny that way.

The data from your brain is then collected on a removable SD memory card which should be inserted beforehand into the Zeo alarm clock. When you wake up the next day, you can see detailed statistics showing how long and how well you’ve slept the night before.

Zeo has even developed their own measurement for your personal sleep score (or measurement of how long you’ve slept) which they call your “ZQ”.

We can already hear the new pick-up lines in singles’ bar, “Hey, baby – what’y your ZQ? I have a 27.” (Well – probably not.)

The SD Memory card containing your sleep data can then be taken to your computer and uploaded to your own personal sleep database on the Zeo website.

Zeo claims to be able, with the data collected from your sleep patterns, to help train you to sleep better, so you’ll wake up more refreshed each morning. But let’s check out Zeo’s own promotional marketing video for more details:

At a proud price of $349.00, Zeo is apparently designed for a niche market – and this is even a “reduced” price! We’ve seen other blogs mentioning Zeo quoting a standard price of $399.00 for their sleep trainer device.

What does Online Clock think of the Zeo Sleep Trainer?

Well, we’d like to keep an open mind, especially since we haven’t actually tested the device yet (and at that high a price, we probably won’t be going out and buying one of these any time soon!).

But frankly, our first reaction is: what a bunch of weird scientific geekery when it comes to sleeping!

Would you really like to strap on a rubber or plastic headband before going to sleep, and would you really want this contraption sending some kind of electronic signals from your brain to another device in your house? For us, this would be just too damn weird.

And the fact that you can then remove the chip and upload your sleep data to the manufacturer’s website…seems to also be very strange…We wonder who actually has the time to do such a thing? Perhaps if you’re already retired…but then you surely have enough time to take naps during the day anyway, to compensate for a poor night’s sleep?!

Certainly, if you do suffer from chronic sleep disorders, you might be willing to do this in the hope of getting better. But for such cases, I think a scientific and professional sleep laboratory would be more highly recommended – as long as it’s covered by your health insurance plan.

We’ve read reports that the Zeo Sleep Trainer was developed with a budget of 14 million dollars over a period of five years, so excuse us if the tone of this review is skeptical – but for such a big budget and a long development period, the Zeo seems a tad underwhelming.

If the Zeo truly IS helping a lot of people better “train” their sleeping habits so that they sleep better and are healthier, then that’s obviously a very good thing.

And if you suffer from some kind of chronic sleep deprivation and have the bucks to shell out for it, perhaps you should give Zeo a try.

You can find out more about the Zeo Sleep Trainer on the Zeo website.

Tags: Crazy Alarm Clocks, Crazy Clocks, sleep coach, sleep program, sleep trainer, zeo, zeo alarm clock, zeo alarm clock review, zeo sleep coach, zeo sleep trainer, zeo sleep training

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As everyone knows, Japan has some of the most high-tech, high-speed passenger trains in existence.

They are truly fascinating.

One of the most well-known train lines is the Yamanote Train Line (山手線),, and it can be found in Tokyo, though it connects to a lot of other big cities in Japan.

Yamanote means something like “inland foothills” in Japanese, but don’t let that fool you:  the Yamanote Line runs throughout a lot of major urban centers in Tokyo and throughout Japan, as well as through the hillier part of western Tokyo.

The Yamanote Train Line is one of the most important and well-known train lines in all of Japan. It runs over a total of twenty-nine stations and connects most of the major parts of Tokyo with one another, as well as connecting to other important train lines at its stops.

The Yamanote Line runs actually in one very big loop, and is used by tons of commuters in Tokyo. During peak running times, the trains run every 2.5 minutes apart, so if you miss one train you have just a little more than two minutes to wait before the next train comes.

To anyone who’s ever been to Tokyo, the Yamanote Line is synonymous with the city and with life there. That’s why it’s so cool that someone has designed a novelty watch which lovingly reproduces the clocks and bulletin boards which can be found above the train tracks on the Yamanote, in miniature format.

Well, if you’re a huge fan of Japanese high-speed trains and the signboards and clocks that can be found there, you can now proudly display one on your wrist by wearing the Japanese Train Watch:

And here’s a second video which shows pretty much the Japanese Train Watch alone, without some scenes of the actual trains on the Yamanote Line in the background:

If you think, however, that the Japanese Train Watch also provides you with some kind of updates regarding train schedules or times – think again!

Here is an official Features List for this interestingly designed watch:

1. It shows you the time.
2. It shows you the date.
3. It looks, uhhh…., like a subway clock.

That’s it! Yes, unfortunately, though it looks real neat, this clock can only provide you with the current time of day and the date.

There is no further information such as some kind of digitally scrolling information about the trains on the Yamanote Line. Nothing.

For this reason, Online Clock will have to take a pass on buying this particular clock.

It’s clever – but not clever enough.

We’ll be waiting for version 2.0 which will hopefully add some more functionality reminiscent of the real Yamanote Train signs.

But if you happen to know someone who loves everything about Tokyo, or who might be nostalgic for anything related to the Yamanote Subway Line, you might still want to purchase one of these watches. You can find them for sale online here.

So now, if you’ll excuse us – Online Clock has a train to catch!

And we don’t want to have to wait around a full 2.5 minutes until the next one!

Tags: Crazy Clocks, Japanese Alarm Clocks, japanese novelty watch, japanese subway watch, japanese train watch, Yamanote Subway Watch, Yamanote Train Line, Yamanote Train Watch, 山手線

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