Sometimes getting back to basics can be good in the world of design. This simple, yet effective Slabang alarm clock from Swedish home store Ikea has a special yellow rubber shell to protect it from falls, throws, and for when you use it as a bottle opener after 12 beers.
Slabang comes with all the basic alarm clock features plus the ability to record seven seconds of audio via a built-in microphone. Personally, I recorded the chorus of Hilary Duff’s smash hit “Wake up”. It makes me feel all warm inside. Visit an Ikea, plunk down $13, and it’s yours.
Ikea’s Slabang alarm clock [Boing Boing]
Or, for three bucks less you could wake up to your iTunes music collection with iRooster. It wakes you and your Mac up from sleep with any of your iTunes playlists.
Actually, you can have that for free with Alarm Clock 2 (;
I like the simple approach, though… I have a MacBook and don’t want to leave it sitting open next to my bed all the time (because when it gets woken up, the backlight of the screen gets activated, which is potentially unhealthy, methinks), plus the speakers are not that loud…