alarm clock

If you have a Droid, you might be familiar with the rooster alarm tone. And if you're not familiar with it, imagine the most annoying high-pitched rooster sound imaginable playing loudly over and over and over. It's just the latest chapter in the saga of his Droid vs. my iPhone, but this particular battle literally jolts me out of bed in the morning.

At first look, the Droid has some great alarm features. For one, its stand/charger keeps the phone at a nice angle for an alarm clock. The actual numbers on the clock are big enough to see at a distance. And my favorite feature: when you set the alarm, it displays the amount of time remaining until it'll go off, making it easy to see when you've accidentally set it to ring at 7 p.m. instead of 7 a.m.

What I don't like? The selection of alarms, especially the one my guy has chosen to use at 7 a.m. each morning. Find out how we've come to an alarm compromise when you read more

I have to admit, Urban Outfitters is doing a great job featuring fun, geeky gadgets! The latest are two awesome Lego-themed products: the Lego Stereo CD Boombox ($58) and the Lego Stereo Alarm Clock ($38).

The alarm clock features radio or buzzer alarm, AM/FM radio, and volume and tuning wheels on top. The boom box has a CD player and line in to connect your iPod. The cutest part? They're designed to stack — the alarm clock fits right on top of the CD player, just like real Legos.

To see more photos of the Lego Stereo Alarm Clock, just read more

Alarm clocks have sure come a long way over the years. Instead of being forced to wake-up by the shrill sound of an old school alarm clock, we now have the choice to be serenaded by nature sounds or gradual light exposure.

The Homedics SoundSpa Fusion Alarm Clock($60) could easily belong with the rest of my sleek alarm clocks selections with its large LCD display and five interchangeable face plates. It also gives you the option of waking up to six different nature sounds, or the radio, or your iPod. And how much do I love the fact that the auto-off sleep timer can be set to 15, 30, 45 or 60 minutes? Yay to sleeping in!

Although it would be totally satisfying to shoot your alarm clock with a laser gun to get it to turn off (like the one I featured a while back), I don't think it will actually get me out of bed. What will? Angry, angry friends, relatives and co-workers.

This Tyrant Clock from Alice Wang (still in a concept stage from the looks of it) isn't just an alarm clock that threatens you with another beep in nine minutes. No, this clock is smart — it will sync up with your phone and call a random person from your contact list every three minutes after your scheduled wake-up time has passed, ensuring a large number of angry emails and nasty voicemails if you don't get the heck outta bed. What's worse — getting up at the first sound of an alarm, or having your boss call you into his office and asking about why you prank called his house this morning? You be the judge.

I'm a fan of early morning workouts; they wake up the body and the mind. I always have way more energy the rest of the day, and feel good knowing I don't have to try and squeeze a workout in later. The problem is, motivating in the morning is not the easiest, and most of the time when my alarm clock goes off, I want to throw it out the window and sleep for another hour. That's where My Workout Wake Up Call Alarm Clock ($40) might come in handy.

Forget about waking up to Madonna blaring or the daily weather report. This clock wakes you up with motivational messages from a personal trainer. To hear an example of the message keep reading

I can't say I'm very creative when it comes to the sound my alarm clock makes (now my cell phone, that's a different story), so the idea of being able to upload some of my favorite songs to help me wake up on the right side of the bed is something I could get used to.

This MP3 Alarm Clock ($60) lets you easily upload around 32 songs via its built in USB port. What I like about it is that it's not only nice to look at if it does have a permanent spot beside your bed, but it's also nice and tiny so you can easily take it with you while traveling — alarm clock and mini stereo system in one!

Keep in mind this device is only compatible with PC computers.