The new NPR Tocky alarm clocks have me terribly torn.
On the one hand, Tockys have earned a place in the Annoying Gadgets Hall of Fame for jumping off nightstands and rolling around noisily till sleepers shut them up.
On the other, this special NPR version of the Tocky wakes you to the preloaded voices of two of my secret public radio crushes NPR hosts Peter Sagal and Carl Kasell. Arising every morning to the stars of the hilarious "Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!" might just make all that clock chasing worthwhile. Not all of us can be lucky enough to win Carl Kasell's voice on our home answering machine, now, can we?
The NPR Tocky also comes in an orange "All Songs Considered" version preloaded with wakeup messages from hosts Bob Boilen and Robin Hilton.
The spherical MP3 clocks measure 3.25 inches in diameter and sell for $69. That's a lot for a basic little doodad, but proceeds do go to National Public Radio.
The idea behind Nanda Home's Tocky, and its equally grating older sibling Clocky (also designed to jump off the nightstand to force you out of bed) is that many people "abuse the snooze" (guilty as charged), and typical alarm clocks make it too easy to keep snooze surfing.
As long as they don't try to wake you with prerecorded pledge drive messages, the NPR Tockys could infuse a bit of fun and intellect into the rousing ritual. Now, give me a Tocky voiced by Robert Siegel or Marco Werman and I'll never, ever oversleep again.