[Anupam Pathak] knows how jarring it can be to wake up to a traditional alarm clock. He decided to hack an alarm clock so that it would open the shades in his room to allow in natural light. He found the pin that went high when the alarm was triggered and used that to signal an ATtiny45. The microcontroller activates a servo connected directly to the blinds. He has switches on the side of the clock to manually control the blinds and to cut power to the audible alarm. Video embedded after the break. Read the rest of this entry »

This is probably the most entertaining “application note” I’ve ever seen. These things are usually a bit dry, ok, they make your eyes turn to a previously unknown state of matter. This one involves making your alarm clock snooze when you beat it. The trick? Wire an accelerometer to the snooze button. It takes a bit of supporting circuitry, but looks do-able for anyone worth of their soldering iron. Thanks to [Andy] for sending it in.

Hey, we have a tips line. Send in your hacks!

[nicolas büchi] sent in his groups latest project at Zurich University. This innocent pillow interacts with the user based on current light conditions and proximity sensing(pressure). The project pages are in German, but the video demonstration explains it. I like the idea of a vibrating pillow alarm clock – as long as you don’t loose it during the night. It reminds me of Clocky – which is actually for sale now.