clock

During a recent spring cleaning, my wife and I wondered aloud why either of us needed an alarm clock on our nightstands.

After all, my iPhone and her iPod Touch both have a perfectly good alarm feature. What's more, the App Store is home to hundreds of alarm-clock apps--many of which are pretty slick.

With that in mind, here are four "alarming" apps that aim to make your mornings a little nicer:

1. Alarm Clock Free Just the basics. Alarm Clock Free lets you choose from an assortment of alarm sounds, any of which can "fade … Read more

The Windows system tray clock used to be the most primitive and least accurate timekeeper since a caveman stuck a stick in the ground on a sunny day. What Microsoft left undone was an opportunity to developers who rushed in with much-needed improvements such as atomic clock updates and, best of all, colorful, customizable, feature-packed skins and utilities that let you put useful, accurate clocks on your Windows desktop. Unisoft's 3D Tray Clock Ex. is just such a utility, updated with more looks, more features, and more improvements to stay ahead of the much-improved clock on recent editions of … Read more

It's one world, but keeping track of the time on the other side of the planet requires a little help and a better timepiece than the Windows system clock. One of the best is Sharp World Clock, as clean and accurate a handle as the international timekeepers it displays. You can easily set it to display any number of configurable digital or analog clocks at once in a row or grid; change their sizes, colors, backgrounds, and other aspects; and display national flags for quick visual identification. You can also show day or night indicators, sunrise and sunset times, … Read more

Before we get to the apps today, I have a couple of news items to tell you about. First, there is a sale right now for the game I wrote about in last week's post, Space Miner: Space Ore Bust (was $4.99; now $1.99). I really can't recommend this game enough (I'm still playing whenever I get a chance), so if you were waiting for the price to come down, now is the time to pull the trigger.

Also, a new Apple patent application, reported by AppleInsider, suggests that a future handheld device will have … Read more

Congratulations, people of Earth. We've pushed back our mutual destruction by one metaphorical minute. On Thursday morning, members of the board of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists turned the minute hand on their Doomsday Clock back one minute to 11:54, or six minutes to midnight.

This is a good thing, as we discussed Tuesday, since the clock is supposed to be a metaphor for human devastation. Ostensibly, the closer the hand gets to midnight the closer we are to total annihilation. Gaining a minute indicates that we as a people have collectively acted to delay our inevitable … Read more

Now I don't want anyone to panic, but on Thursday, for the first time in two years, famous scienticians from the board of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists will move the minute hand of the Doomsday Clock, which is perhaps the most bad-ass-named fake clock in the world after the "Timex of Space and Time" (which I just made up).

Nobody knows if the hand will move closer to the figurative midnight (which, apparently, causes all-out nuclear war or something equally destructive) or farther away (which I believe causes extinct species to come back to life). … Read more

Last year, iHome came out with a higher-end iPod/iPhone audio system called the iP1 as part of its new Studio Series line. That compact system had an arresting design and good sound. Now the company is expanding the line with the more affordable iP2 ($199) as well as a portable unit, the iP49 Rechargeable Audio System with Alarm Clock & FM Radio for iPhone/iPod.

Like the iP1 and iP2, the iP49 is equipped with the patented Bongiovi Acoustics DPS technology that the company describes as a "complex, chip-based algorithm, custom-tuned to each and every product to maximize … Read more

LionClock is an attractive, easy-to-use virtual time clock. Employees will find it simple and intuitive to use, while managers will enjoy its robust administrative features.

LionClock's interface is sleek and well designed, and the built-in Help file is thorough and well written. Virtually everything about the program can be mastered in minutes. It's easy to add and edit employee information, for instance, and it has some helpful extras, such as automatically calculating base pay, gross pay, and overtime for each employee. You can assign employees personal identification numbers, ensuring that they're clocking in and out securely and … Read more

The idea behind novelty alarm clocks is pretty simple--make it tough to turn off so the user doesn't go back to sleep. We've written about one that requires you to aim and shoot at a target, another that rises toward the ceiling so you are forced to stand up, and a puzzler that makes you solve a jigsaw.

Here's one that's actually good for your body, the Dumbbell Alarm Clock. Upon activation, this 1.5-pound device requires you to perform 30 upward swings before it will shut up. Rotate between your biceps and triceps each … Read more