Dearest Consumer Electronics Manufacturers,
I know you, collectively, have a hard time playing in the same sandbox, but I beg of you, please, please solve this problem soon. You can’t blame it on the bully anymore, Microsoft is being nice now (but whatever happened to SPOT?)
Today’s wish: A better alarm clock. I know its a fairly simple piece of technology, and I don’t think i’m asking for much. I’m certainly not asking for a magical pill here (although that is a fine aesthetic).
First of all, make an alarm clock that wakes me up consistently without me having to check if the stupid RED LED is lit every time I go to bed (ok I realize this is probably a user issue.. so let’s move on).
1) I typically wake up later on the weekends. If I am able to understand what the pumping lemma is, you better be able to program an alarm clock that is contextually aware and can wake me up later on the weekends (or even better, on the days that I don’t have class).
2) Maybe its just me or Chicago, but lately, the weather seems to be fluctuating uncontrollably between sub-arctic conditions and ridiculously tropical highs. You know, it’d be nice to know automatically on my alarm clock what the weather’s going to be outside the next day with a small icon indicator. and NO I dont want some barely audible "weatherband" station with some yokel walking outside with a thermometer to tell me the weather. Why can’t it just be the "accu-weather"?
3) I listen to a lot of podcasts. and I read a lot of RSS feeds. Many of them are updated daily, like the NPR ones. It’d be nice to plug my iPod in and have it charge and update these podcasts daily.
4) Show me my day from Google Calendar or my iCal. Again, not hard to do. They both serve XMLs.
I could go on, but I want to keep the bar pretty low for you. Fix these simple problems, and I will buy your alarm clock.
For the love of Pete, PLEASE DO NOT RESPOND to this post with this abomination: http://www.chumby.com
I don’t want a furry teddy bear. I dont want to buy consumer electronic product from a site that has a preteen girl talking on her pre-paid cell phone. I just want a danged alarm clock that updates my podcasts and charges my iPod. Is that too much to ask?!?!?
p.s. This business model kicks major tail. only tangentially related.
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