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Show HN: I made an alarm clock
- JshWright 6y ago> I’m too obsessive to not check all my messages instead of falling asleep when I see the notifications on the screen. So this new clock is why you've stopped responding to my messages at all hours of the night? I see how it is...
- StavrosK 6y agoOh no, your messages I see.
- hanniabu 6y agoLol do you guys actually know each other?
- StavrosK 6y agoHaha, yep! For a looong time now.
- JshWright 6y agoIt's how I keep track of how old my daughter is...
- StavrosK 6y agoWe've known each other for highschool-age years.
- WD-42 6y agoMiss you guys! -Austin
- fckthisguy 6y agoI see! You two know one another romantically.
- harkal 6y agoDo you keep the screen constantly on (with dimming but still on)? I had the same for a thermostat I made and the pixel burn on those screens are terrible. I would add offsetting to mitigate it. (Periodically render stuff with small random offsets) kudos!
- StavrosK 6y agoYep, I do. I used this kind of screen in another project, but it took years to burn in (and that one was completely static). The screen only costs $3-4 or so, so I can just replace it if it becomes an issue, but you are quite correct that it's going to be a problem.
- amelius 6y agoAn alarm clock without a radio?
- StavrosK 6y agoThen put your little hand in mine There ain't no hill or mountain we can't climb
- mbg721 6y agoIt's interesting how that song in particular instantly zones-out the listener. Even though I've heard it hundreds of times, I had to look up the second line to make sure I had the right one.
- benbruscella 6y agoThat’s the song that plays on the alarm clock radio in the movie Groundhog Day.
- selimthegrim 6y agoThe equivalent song for me personally is "Joy to the World" by Three Dog Night after a traumatic experience on an eighth grade trip
- mbg721 6y agoThat is frighteningly easy to picture mentally.
- mbg721 6y agoExactly, but I had a hard time recognizing Sonny and Cher just from the lyrics.
- war1025 6y agoNot nearly as nifty as this, but it reminded me that in college my alarm clock was cron job on my desktop that would launch a program every day at 8am which beeped the system bell once a second until I leapt out of bed and hit Enter. Making that sound stop was a great motivator for getting out of bed.
- gus_massa 6y agoFor a long time I had a similar setup, but I was just playing Thunderstruck by AC/DC. It stars quietly, the volume of the song increase slowly, and you have like a minute to get up and turn it off before they guy start to cry and wake up all your family.
- TeMPOraL 6y agoMy high-school alarm clock was a power amp on a hardware switch that would activate roughly around 0630, plus a Windows timer on the desktop that would wake the computer from sleep and proceed to blast an mp3 through the (now powered) speaker columns. The motivator for getting up was as much to stop the mp3 as it was to prevent the rest of my family from killing me. I eventually retired the system, after my half-awake brain developed an acrobatic routine, where in one smooth movement, I would raise, hit the power button on the power amp, and fall back to bed.
- yetihehe 6y agoI've heard a story about one guy who tried everything to wake up to go for college on time. He even got to surround clocks with some pans and cutlery, so that when clock started ringing and he got to turn it off, he would be awake enough to not fall asleep again. One morning he was found by roommate snoozing on sofa, but already half-clothed for exit.
- sgt 6y ago>This symbolizes the futility of human existence and its incessant search for meaning in a cold and unfeeling universe that’s ultimately profoundly devoid of such, and then you die. >Not having to wake up to a buzzer is cool, though. Hilarious!
- larrik 6y ago> Octagonal shape so I can lay it down on its side instead of having to crane my neck up to check the time when lying down (I really did think of everything). I actually didn't understand this part. Why an octagon? How does it help this?
- pb7 6y agoYou can rotate an octagon in 45° increments.
- StavrosK 6y agoYep! That really is its killer feature, and it's very interesting how, when I'm lying with my head perfectly horizontal, it's easier to read the clock when it's at 45° rather than entirely on its side...
- FriendlyNormie 6y agoJesus, how fucking retarded are these people that you even had to explain this. Any random Japanese person for example would have understood immediately upon looking at it. Americans are a fucking embarrassment
- dmje 6y agoI'm really pissed off that I didn't think of an octagonal clock, dammit
- StavrosK 6y agoWell it's too late now, the patent is MINE
- bigiain 6y agoA Method and System for telling the time and waking up using a clock embedded in a higher order regular polygon - using a computer. SUMMARY OF INVENTION One embodiment of the present invention provides a clock embedded in a regular polygon of order 8. The method includes the steps of: (a) orienting and affixing the clock display with respect to the polygon (b) weighting the polygon such that it can be balanced on any edge (c) rotating the polygon to orient the display at the desired angle; and (d) reading the time on the display. PRIOR ART Traditionally, alarm clocks have been embedded in circular enclosures (polygons of order infinity) or rectangular enclosure (polygons of order four). The innovation of clocks embedded in polygons of order 5 and higher (excluding infinity) is new and non obvious.
- jordan801 6y agoI enjoy the nihilistic morbid humor here. I too question the futility of my work as I waste away in this cold expanse.
- Teknoman117 6y agoSometimes I wonder if playing with old obviously obsolete computers is a waste of time. Been working on replacing the BIOS on a 386EX single board computer with a custom monitor / "hypervisor" I'm writing in Rust as kind of a demonstration of how low level you can get with Rust. I want to post a Show HN after cleaning it up a bit.
- StavrosK 6y agoEnjoying yourself is never a waste of time.
- russh 6y agoTrue, and you often learn something new while doing it.
- Teknoman117 6y agoTo be honest, the main reason I went for something so old is that 1) I had them in my collection of random electronics and 2) the newest computer that full documentation for every component in the system is available for is not a new machine. Current computers tend to be massive black boxes. I've learned so much about random hardware by reading Linux kernel drivers when the documentation is under NDA.
- e12e 6y agoNice write-up. No (ed: full) source code? I was somewhat qurious to see how much of it there ended up being. In high-school I did the almost opposite of this - I taped down the play button on my hi-fi CD remote, and wired the battery through the switch for the alarm of an old alarm clock (and cut the wires to the actual alarm). Allowed me to wake up to whichever CD was in the player, rather than an alarm. Most cd players would wake up from power off playing, but mine didn't - so I couldn't just make do with a timer on the mains. Plus, the analog alarm clock was easier to set for a time, than my timer-plug.
- StavrosK 6y agoThe code is here: https://gitlab.com/stavros/do-not-be-alarmed https://gitlab.com/stavros/do-not-be-alarmed It's just pretty specific to me and I don't know if I committed any keys or anything, so I didn't really publicize it. It should be perfectly usable, though, you can build it with PlatformIO after specifying a few #defines.
- crazypython 6y agoNice to see it's under AGPLv3. Putting end-user code under AGPLv3 protects the rights of users to run, modify, contribute to, and share the software.
- StavrosK 6y agoYeah, I decided to switch to that from MIT/BSD as I don't like people taking the software and closing it up.
- e12e 6y agoThank you :)
- shimonabi 6y agoIt's not that difficult. I made one for myself too with an ESP8266, a RTC clock module, a temperature sensor and a hd44780 screen. It displays the time and date, outside/inside temperature, humidity, barometric pressure. I have the modules mounted on a breadboard, currently in vertical position with wires hangihg out. :)
- StavrosK 6y agoYeah, it's a pretty simple build, which makes it much better because the payoff is large compared to the work. I didn't need an internal temperature sensor because I have a hypothalamus, but the rest sounds great!
- bigiain 6y agoI built this a while back (checks photo date. Shgit, a decade back): https://flic.kr/p/8Sdfju https://flic.kr/p/8Sdfju Inspired by a board I found in a local jun/recycling shop and impulse-bought. It's been upgraded since then to a "Time From Space!!! Clock" since I got bored of needing to reset it because the Arduino doesn't keep very good time, so I added a spare GPS module from my junk drawer (probably one from an old drone that got upgraded to a GPS with faster than 1Hz updates). It still has breadboard and wires hanging out...
- roadbeats 6y agoHow did you get the case built ? 3D printer ?
- StavrosK 6y agoYes! I love my 3D printer, it has the highest ROI of anything I've ever bought, and I've bought a bidet.
- dceddia 6y agoCool! What sorts of things have you 3D printed that give it such a high ROI? I've got one too and it's fun to tinker with and I've printed a couple useful things, but not a lot of useful things. I'm always curious what people do with theirs, especially when they say they use it all the time!
- StavrosK 6y agoOnce you learn to design (which is pretty easy), it changes your life. You can get custom-built components tailored exactly to your problem in minutes. Computer cables being rowdy? Design a hook in five minutes, done. The other day I designed and printed a custom mobile phone holder for my laptop so I can use my phone as an HD webcam with DroidCam. Cat opens the door at night? Print a small doorstop and that problem is solved. A lot of problems just go away when you realize you can make custom components for them.
- dceddia 6y agoI love this mindset. I definitely think this way about software, and more recently, about things I can make out of wood. Plastic or machined parts have always felt out of reach so I'm not in the habit of believing I can fix things that way yet. I think it'll take some practice to get that idea to sink in. Thanks!
- StavrosK 6y ago> I definitely think this way about software, and more recently, about things I can make out of wood. Yes, exactly. Though, I have to say, going from software to hardware was quite magical: You can suddenly affect the physical world, which is amazing. Plus, if you already know software, adding hardware to the mix rounds you out very well, and opens up a large array of things you can make. > Plastic or machined parts have always felt out of reach so I'm not in the habit of believing I can fix things that way yet. I very strongly recommend designing a few things in OnShape or FreeCAD or SoveSpace and getting a 3D printer once you get the hang of that (it shouldn't take you very long at all, maybe a few evenings). Machined parts I find pretty hard, but then again I also found plastic things impossible before getting a printer and they turned out to be quite easy.
- brian_herman 6y agoCool are you going to sell it?
- StavrosK 6y agoNah, I can't be bothered with sales and stuff. I estimate the effort left to make it an actual product someone can use to be about ten to thirty times as much effort as I put into this prototype, and I don't think many people will want it.
- hnburnsy 6y agoThat's really cool, but a projection clock really saves from having to strain to read the time on the bedside table.
- StavrosK 6y agoI wasn't aware of projection clocks, thanks! I sleep on my side or in a prone position, so a projection clock wouldn't help me, unfortunately.
- linsomniac 6y agoAgreed. Reading the time off the ceiling when it's dark is the way to go. I bought one years ago, and it comes with a normal clock and the projector added to the side, and it reads the time via the WWVB time signal. I 95% like it, but: the normal clock part I never use, and the WWVB syncing sometimes goes out (happening more after 7 years of use), and it reads a time 1-3 hours wrong. I LOVE the projector part, it's basically all I use. I've been tempted recently to pull it apart and hook it up to some microcontroller that NTP synced and just ran the projector.
- fernandopj 6y agoThat was hilarious! And it's such a cool project. Just copy & paste this entire post in a Kickstart page and watch the money pile up. Seriously. (but omit the "liar" part)
- StavrosK 6y agoHaha, but then I'd have to do so much work :( I was actually contacted by the CEO of Pimoroni a while back, you can give them the product and they'll handle sales and manufacturing and give you a percentage, which is a great deal for a lazy guy like me. Unfortunately, he hasn't replied to my last 3-4 emails, so I haven't pursued it further.
- LibertyBeta 6y agoThey're likely a little swamped with the Pico launch.
- nip180 6y agoOne small design suggestion. You should include a battery so that if the electricity were to go out you could still see the time or be alerted at the time of the alarm.
- StavrosK 6y agoYep, I mention that in the post. I have an LoLin ESP32 board that includes a charger and battery connector, I might just use that.
- smichel17 6y agoAdditional small design suggestion: fade in the beeper too instead of starting full blast. I'd suggest checking out the Android app Talalarmo, which gets most things right (no snooze, same time every day). Specifically my fork, which adds press-and-hold-to-dismiss. I can build you an apk if you don't have an Android environment set up https://github.com/smichel17/talalarmo https://github.com/smichel17/talalarmo
- StavrosK 6y agoThat's interesting, I'll try it out (I have Android Studio installed so I should be good to build), thanks!
- linsomniac 6y agoFading in the alarm is the only way to go, IMHO. I don't even use my alarm clock, I just set my phone. The stock Android clock now includes a fading in feature, and lots of aftermarket ones have it as well.
- rytis 6y agoIf the electricity goes out, so does the internet (usually). How is it going to keep track of time then?
- StavrosK 6y ago
- Sebb767 6y agoI've wanted to do this for myself for a long time, especially the dimmer wake up part. This might be Inspiration enough to finally go for it. Great write-up! I enjoyed the nihilist humour quite a lot.
- StavrosK 6y agoThanks! Go for it, I'm fairly sure the dimming will work for you, but I think the other similar screen I have doesn't work with that code entirely, it needed some small change that I don't remember now.
- paxys 6y agoA long time ago I had a Google-branded alarm clock which had wheels and ran away when it rang so you couldn't hit snooze. Fun times.
- StavrosK 6y agoHahah I remember that one! It jumped off the nightstand and ran around the room, didn't it? That was hilarious.
- paxys 6y agoYes! It somehow managed to hide deep under my dresser every morning.
- kirktrue 6y agoAre you referring to Clocky? - https://clocky.com/ https://clocky.com/
- paxys 6y agoMaybe. Or a precursor/knockoff. This was like 15 years ago..
- pbronez 6y ago> There’s an old Chinese saying: > To know the time, you must first connect to the internet. > – Sun Inc. amazing
- StavrosK 6y agoThanks! I wasn't sure if it would be obvious enough, I don't think many people got it.
- highpost 6y agoSun Inc. also said "The network is the computer." To which DEC Inc. replied "The network is the network and the computer is the computer. Sorry for all the confusion."
- LeifCarrotson 6y agoI enjoyed it, so there's at least two of us. You've turned microhumor [1] into something akin to a spoken accent that pervades the entire blog post. I'm unsure how to handle this. However, I was particularly amused by your closing sentence that mentioned how a LiPo could keep it running for "hours". That sounds about right for a 20 mA OLED and an 80 mA ESP8266, but it's remarkably shorter than an old-fashioned LCD alarm clock in which an alkaline battery could last for months. By the way, I'd recommend an 18650 LiIon instead. If you want, the charge circuit can be as simple as putting the LiIon and a silicon rectifier in parallel with your 3.3V regulator output (assuming the linear regulator has an internal PNP body diode and doesn't backfeed) and then just charge the cell outside the alarm clock in an off-the-shelf battery charger. You don't need the current density of a LiPo, you want low current but high capacity, and cheap LiPo pouches have an annoying tendency to puff up and go bad. Going bad may result in burning down your nightstand, which is never a good way to wake up. [1]: https://slatestarcodex.com/2016/02/20/writing-advice/ https://slatestarcodex.com/2016/02/20/writing-advice/
- StavrosK 6y ago> I'm unsure how to handle this. I also. I'm fairly sure it's a compliment, though, so thanks! > it's remarkably shorter than an old-fashioned LCD alarm clock in which an alkaline battery could last for months. It certainly is, but an LCD alarm clock is much less fabulous, since it has to be pressed or otherwise activated to produce light, and that's my main need here (a clock that I can read in the dark without moving). > it's remarkably shorter than an old-fashioned LCD alarm clock in which an alkaline battery could last for months That's a good suggestion, but it loses some of the "set it and forget it" factor, and I will very definitely forget it (especially when there's no low voltage warning). I have some ESP32 boards with a built-in charger, so that's more hands-off. Also, the length of the clock is shorter than a 18650, so I'd have to make the clock larger and the screen would look even smaller in comparison. I appreciate the suggestions, design is fun and getting feedback from others makes it even better! > cheap LiPo pouches have an annoying tendency to puff up and go bad Oh, don't worry about that, they're all already puffed up.
- Yhippa 6y agoStavrosK, you're my hero. Thanks for the delightful write-up.
- StavrosK 6y agoYou're my hero, Yhippa!
- baxtr 6y ago> Say I want to set the alarm for 9:30, just in time to be ten minutes late for tennis. Haha. What a ridiculous time to get up - from my perspective at least having young children that are up at 6:30 the latest. That’s the reason why I won’t need your clock. I wholeheartedly agree though that it’s “sexy”. Niiice!
- StavrosK 6y agoOh man, 9:30 is my "this is inhumanely early" time. I usually get up around noon. Having kids will either be terrible or super easy, as I can keep the kid until 6 am, while my wife sleeps, and then we can switch shifts.
- seanalltogether 6y agoOnce past the newborn phase, babies like to be asleep when its dark and awake when its light.
- StavrosK 6y agoSo you're suggesting some sort of servo-controlled horse blinders, interesting.
- tailspin2019 6y agoNot many HN comments are worthy of a literal “laugh out loud”. But this one is.
- robocat 6y ago> One thing I’d like to improve in the future is to add a battery, because right now it’s solely USB powered and will obviously die if there’s a power outage. Adding a small LiPo battery and a charger circuit will be pretty easy ¿Maybe just use a USB powerbank if you want a quick n dirty solution?
- StavrosK 6y agoThat works, it'd just be a bit clunky. I already have a board that supports a battery, so I'll probably use that instead.
- tyingq 6y agoNifty device, and great write-up. Seems like it might be simpler with an ESP32 though, since it does have an RTC.
- StavrosK 6y agoThat's what I get for not reading the datasheet more carefully, I guess. Thanks, I'll switch to that, I have a bunch of bare modules.
- tyingq 6y agoIt's +- 5% on accuracy, so not the best RTC, but it's fairly simple to give the internal RTC a better oscillator: https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/2858309/73125119-71fc6c80-3f60-11ea-879e-9a5b5f027982.JPG https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/2858309/73125119-7... Supposedly that makes it as good as typical cheap RTC modules. Or, maybe +-5% is fine with just a few NTP updates now and again. Edit: Apparently the built-in accuracy is substantially better if you avoid the deep sleep mode.
- StavrosK 6y agoYeah, since I need to be getting weather updates I'll definitely be using NTP. 5% is pretty bad, though, that's more than an hour off a day. I guess it's not bad for short durations, and I'm assuming it mainly uses it so it can wake from deep sleep states, which is extremely useful. Thanks for the schematic, that's great to know!
- el_benhameen 6y agoTangential, but do you have a favorite ESP32 project or documentation? I bought a bunch of them on a whim and I'm looking for interesting applications.
- tyingq 6y agoMy favorite is any variation of something that makes it like a 1980's home computer. This is one example: https://www.instructables.com/ESP32-Basic-PC-With-VGA-Output/ https://www.instructables.com/ESP32-Basic-PC-With-VGA-Output...
- WD-42 6y agoAlways look forward to reading about your latest projects! They just keep getting better.
- grifball 6y agoFor me, if I see the time, I'm awake. Something about seeing the time makes me go into work mode and I have to get up. I think I'd like something like a "color clock" so when I wake up early, it'll show a blue screen, meaning I should go back to sleep, but if it's close enough to when I should wake up, it shows a yellow screen or something.
- mattmar96 6y agoI like this idea
- wryun 6y agoPerhaps just having your room lights on a timer would solve this one... fake 'sun'.
- fassssst 6y agoThere are tons of “wake up lights” out there. I use this one and it does just that: https://www.usa.philips.com/c-p/HF3520_60.amp/wake-up-light https://www.usa.philips.com/c-p/HF3520_60.amp/wake-up-light
- DrSiemer 6y agoAn older version of this lamp didn't work for me. My brain got used to the increasing light within a week, so that I'd only wake up when the gradually amplified bird chirping got to the "screaming flock of ravens" part.
- Cthulhu_ 6y agoSame, I still have mine and the light itself is nice, but the light never woke me up, always the shrill / tinny sounds. I hope they've built a newer version with better speakers / sound. Still an improvement over the old clock radio though. Those things would already be improved with a gradually increasing volume over just startling you into waking up.
- 6y ago
- TeMPOraL 6y agoNice job! (For some reason, when I saw the submission title, I immediately guessed it's you, Stavros!) One question: since your design called for "A screen that wasn’t too bright and wouldn’t disturb sleep", have you considered colors like orange or (I guess old-school) red? They have a benefit of not messing up your night adaptation[0]. The octagonal shape is very clever. On a tangent, this reminds me of a cleverly designed clock my sister bought in IKEA [1] - it's a square device with bunch of functions, which are selected by turning the device to stand on an appropriate side. -- [0] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purkinje_effect#Use_of_red_lights https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purkinje_effect#Use_of_red_lig... [1] - https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/klockis-clock-thermometer-alarm-timer-white-80277004/ https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/klockis-clock-thermometer-alarm...
- StavrosK 6y agoThanks, Jacek! Yeah, I did think of adding a color that's less offensive, but blue/white is all I had available at the time. Since I ended up using this a lot, you make a good point, I should order a red one. > On a tangent, this reminds me of a cleverly designed clock my sister bought in IKEA Oh yeah, I have seen that! It's very interesting indeed, I think it has a mercury switch (not even an accelerometer), but it's been a while since I saw it and I only played with it for a minute.
- fckthisguy 6y agoYou could skip buying another display and just add a red filter to the existing screen.
- StavrosK 6y agoHmm good point, I think I have a red transparent plastic I can use, thanks!
- listic 6y agoKLOCKIS. Thanks for mentioning it! https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/klockis-clock-thermometer-alarm-timer-white-80277004/ https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/klockis-clock-thermometer-alarm...
- Ice_cream_suit 6y agoWhen Google Home wakes me up in the morning, it also turns on my Phillips Hue lights and slowly increases the color temperature and brightness. ( and does the usual things like telling me the time, weather report and traffic to work )
- StavrosK 6y agoOh that's a good idea, I do have a WiFi LED bulb in the room, I could use that! Why didn't I think of that...
- maroonmed 6y agoAwesome! The world needs more NTP-powered (alarm) clocks. If you want a self-setting clock traditionally that meant an atomic clock, but those are expensive. Google Home / Alexa based smart devices (like the Lenovo Smart Clock) are cool but are a bit overkill (and a bit questionable from a privacy aspect). It'd be nice to see more NTP clocks that do little more than show the time and have basic alarm functionality.
- StavrosK 6y agoAgreed, I guess people don't prefer them so much because they need WiFi. Another interesting suggestion from this thread was to use GPS to always have accurate time, but that would probably ~only work outdoors and be fairly battery-heavy.
- 2Gkashmiri 6y agoi have a thing, if i have the same alarm "audio" for more than one day, my brain ignores it and next day i hear nothing. i have tried "music" ones but they waste battery a lot more than resident apps
- bleuarff 6y agoShameless plug: I too made an alarm clock, although quite a different one, since it's for my kids: https://github.com/Bleuarff/teddy-clock https://github.com/Bleuarff/teddy-clock
- StavrosK 6y agoI really like yours too!
- tasuki 6y agoLooks very nice! I wonder why blue is "sleep" and orange is "wake up". That seems flipped from what it should be?
- bleuarff 6y agoWell, I think blue light less disturbing if the kid sees it in the middle of the night, and more likely to get back to sleep. Also, orange looks more energetic and more appropriate for when the kid can get up. But that kind of perception is culture-dependent. I'm from Europe and this scheme seems natural to me.
- tasuki 6y agoI'm from Europe too. Blue(ish) is daylight colour while red(ish) is night colour. Staring at blue light hinders melatonine production, affecting the sleep cycle. Hence the existence of products like Redshift [0] and Twighlight [1]. Increasingly, this is built into visual interfaces, both my Gnome and Android have things called "night light" or something similar. [0]: http://jonls.dk/redshift/ http://jonls.dk/redshift/ [1]: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.urbandroid.lux https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.urbandroid...
- bleuarff 6y agoI'm aware of that, but that was an afterthought. Anyway, it's not made to be stared at, and with light modulation it's quite faint when the room is dark. so I don't think it matters in the end.
- Fnoord 6y agoCable management and requirement of power are not my cup of tea. Nor is a 24/7 requirement of internet connectivity. I would instead only manually sync time (with a button), or once a day at (what it believes is) 3 AM. User replaceable battery is also a big plus. Thing is, we already got all these features in 'dumb' clocks.