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Turn Your Laptop Into an Alarm Clock

February 24th, 2009 @ 9:13 pm

4 Comments

Categories: Travel Tips, Web Tools

Tags: Phone, Alarm, Weather, Laptop Computer, Sleep.FM, Internet, Telecom & Utilities, Dave Johnson

While on a business trip about 20 years ago, I overslept and missed a meeting. Why? I hadn’t hung the phone up properly, so my wakeup call never came through. Ever since then, I’ve neurotically relied on redundant systems whenever I stay in a hotel, including a wakeup call and setting the bedside alarm. Now I can add a third: Sleep.FM is a Web site that wakes you with the time and weather.

Sleep.FM is in beta and currently only available on the PC, but there are versions coming for your mobile phone as well. For now, you can set as many as three alarms at once, specify a male or female voice, and choose to be woken to the time, current weather, or a forecast, while achingly smooth jazz plays in the background. The site promises additional wake reports soon, including flight status. I can’t wait: Knowing if your flight is on schedule the moment you wake sounds great to me.  

The service is free and it continues to work even if you lose your Internet connection (without the real-time news, of course). The next time you find yourself sentenced to a stint in Detroit, give it a spin. [Via The How-To Geek]

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  •  
    1

    joey_P

    02/24/09 | Report as spam

    RE: Turn Your Laptop Into an Alarm Clock

    Oh cool it's like Iron Man's alarm clock - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXH2K2ZlrjQ .

    Well almost as the voices differ from Iron Man's alarm clock. They should get Jeeves to be the voice!

  •  
    2

    BizHacksRick

    02/25/09 | Report as spam

    RE: Turn Your Laptop Into an Alarm Clock

    So, what, I have to leave my PC running all night? Or rely on Windows to "wake up" properly? Thanks, but no thanks. I'm blessed with the ability to hang up a phone without error.

  •  
    3

    BizHacks Dave

    02/25/09 | Report as spam

    RE: Turn Your Laptop Into an Alarm Clock

    Oh, sure, and I bet you don't walk into doors by accident, either. Look, not everyone can be blessed with being "coordinated" and for people like me, there's sleep.fm.

  •  
    4

    RyanSpahn

    02/25/09 | Report as spam

    RE: Turn Your Laptop Into an Alarm Clock

    Hi Dave

    Thank you so much for the write up & opportunity!

    @Rick we are working on a solution now and with our next update we'll become more accessible.

    @joey thnx for the feedback; were listening!

    cheers & again thank you!

    Ryan

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