It is probably a mistake of him to let the beautiful nixie tubes and the elegant wooden finish pull so much weight in the promo video and then reveal that the final product will feature very bland LED numbers and an equally non-attractive plywood finish. He should sell the product, not the one of a kind and too expensive to manufacture prototype.
Yup, I'm selling the Nixie Ramos also. The thing is I really want to make the Ramos alarm clock available to people, and the nixie clock costs a lot to make. That's why I'm also offering the cheaper LED model, so that more people can benefit from the Ramos alarm clock functionality.
EDIT* Oh and by the way, the wood in the prototype is the same as what will be used in $160 LED Ramos, it just has a darker stain. I'm glad you like it :)
Buy cheap alarm clock from Amazon $5 - $10.
Put it far from your bed so you have to walk over to it to turn it off.
I love the look of the Ramos, especially the nixie tubes but I just don't see much of an improvement over placing the alarm clock on the other side of the room.
Pro tip: Get a outlet timer and put a bright lamp on it. The lights in my bedroom click on at the same time each morning and make it much nicer to wake up.
If you really want to get crazy, buy 3 or more cheap alarm clocks. Place each one in a different room and freak yourself out when you wake up each morning as your rush to each room to turn off the alarms. ;-)
Full disclosure - I helped with the project but I'm also one of those people who on some days CANT get out of bed.
You can put the panel pretty far. If your bathroom is a hallway away, this might make the difference. You cant put a regular alarm that far, you wouldnt hear it. For me, physically getting up isn't enough because you can do that half asleep. Thats where having to punch in the date helps, I think this part fires a few more synapses and gets the engine running. It certainly solved it for me.
"the acoustic chime bar is struck just once … 3-1/2 minutes later it strikes again … chime strikes become more frequent over 10 minutes … eventually striking every 5 seconds until shut off"
I've had a low rent, versatile version of this for my alarm for nearly a decade now. The Beastie Boys' album Paul's Boutique has a very light and soothing intro song that is about 1:30. Slowly gets louder and louder. It is a very pleasing way to get up, when it works. And if it doesn't, track 2 has a loud drum intro that is guaranteed to wake you up. Over the years, I've trained myself to get up in time to stop the alarm before the annoying drums. Much better than any loud buzzing or doing math problems to make sure you are aware. Took 5 minutes in Audacity to stitch the tracks and works with any alarm that lets you pick an .mp3.
I've been using a Now & Zen timepiece for about 5 years now. It is far more pleasant to wake up to a gentle gong than electric buzzers that shock you awake. You can adjust the strike force to control for loudness. I keep it set fairly soft. When I first got it, it would take a several gongs before it gradually woke me. Still no need for snooze though. These days I usually become aware of it on the first or second gong.
Interesting. I don't like the triangle shape and I would prefer digits instead of dials but this alarm clock could be better than waking up to a buzzer.
I'm not sure what to think about the fact that it use the same frequencies as "music therapist" do.
It looks very nice in theory, but for me, this is a terrible idea. It looks like a great way to wake up stressed and upset. Adjusting your sleep schedule is better for your body and sanity than any complicated alarm clock systems.
A much more elegant way (I believe) is to have it in software as an Android / iOS app. There are quite a few apps that force you to solve a simple math question / puzzle. You could always put your phone somewhere away from your bed.
At one point, I was working on an alarm app that had some game mechanics built into it (points for waking up on time, waking up on time for 5 days in a row, waking up before 6am etc.) and had various types of puzzles to turn off the alarm. I gave up on it because I decided it was more of a sleeping habit issue than an inability to wake up. You can't consistently sleep at 2 in the night and expect to wake up by 6 in the morning ..
At one point, as an alarm clock, I had a headless box under my bed that would play loud music. To turn it off, I had to ssh into it from my laptop - and the password was extremely long.
Ultimately, the long password wasn't enough to "wake me up," and by then I had a smartphone, so I got an Android app that made me solve math puzzles to turn off the alarm.
Ultimately ultimately, I realized that it was really a behavioral problem. Now I just get up when my alarm goes off. :)
(That makes it sound like the "behavioral" solution was simple, but believe me, it was extremely far from simple. And I still think the product being advertised here is an extremely cool idea and potentially very useful.)
What is great about this product? If used properly, once you turn it off you have no excuse not to start your day. (brush your teeth or hop in the shower) Very cool.
What sucks about it? I don't have any desire to buy it. I just don't need another alarm clock yelling at me in the morning. Plus it will only be a matter of time before I learn how to ignore it, like I have done with every alarm clock before it.
What is my pain that I would like a new alarm clock to solve? I want an alarm clock that wakes me up in a natural way. I want it to pull me out of my REM cycles gradually so I am ready to get out of bed, not jarred out of bed.
If you told me that you had done research on REM cycles and that it takes x amount of time to move from one level of sleep to the next. And that your product plays music softly, then increases in volume in natural increments for the human mind. If this was the problem you were solving, accompanied with the wireless kill switch, then I would be very excited about this product and would consider shelling out my hard earned money for it.
I would even be okay if you couldn't solve this problem, so long as I knew that this is the problem that your alarm clock will eventually solve. I would expect the alarm clock's software to be updatable, so as you get closer and closer to perfecting waking up, my $135 alarm clock will get better at it as well.
I hope this feed back is useful to you. Good luck to you. It looks cool, and it is a neat idea.
Thanks for the feedback! I thought about this, and I wanted to do it.
A really effective way to measure REMs cycles is to have an accelerometer on your bed, just how the Sleep Cycle Iphone app does it. I designed a system that would involve having a small wired puck that you put on your bed, under your pillow, that links to the Ramos. The coding and interfacing with the micro-controller is straight-forward, and it would work.
The issue I had with it is that it was extra "baggage" i'm adding to the clock. I felt like to implement the puck system, it would take away from the simple straight forward, 0 installation solution that I really wanted to achieve. That wire really just like, irked me. And to make it wireless means another radio which leads to more cost to the user. And with a wireless puck you need to power it, which is again more cost to the user. I actually also made this earlier alarm clock that used a heat sensor to detect if you're still in bed. Hehe it didn't work real well though. https://s3.amazonaws.com/ramos_alarm/Paulsammut_BHS_alarm.pd...
But still, i agree, it would be really really cool if it had that feature, but it got to the point where I started trying to add all these little things, and the whole Ramos idea started shifting. I didn't like it. And the remote panel really does the job at getting you out of bed and away from it, which is key.
PS. from what I've noticed from using Ramos for a year, is that I've developed a fear to it. Like, deep down in my head i know i'm gonna have to wake up, and I usually will naturally wake up with the alarm time.
Agree with all of this. On top of it, passed the it not really increasing the quality of my waking up..Just increasing the chances I will. Even if it solved a problem that I really needed to solve, which it really doesn't. The price is wayyy too high, just in a whole other league. I could never justify over $100 on just an alarm clock. It doesn't have awesome speakers, or an ipod dock etc. I could buy a dozen alarm clocks for this price, and literally just put them everywhere.
There's no two ways around being able to get up in the morning. Go to bed 7-9 hours before you wish to wake up, that's it. I'm not sure what the obsession is with over engineering alarm clocks, but the problem isn't the little gizmo on your night stand that goes beep and bloop, it's a lack of a solid sleep routine. Sure, every now and then you can will yourself out of bed if you're unrested and need to get up, but you should really be getting good sleep most nights of the week. Go to sleep earlier: the hard way is usually the easier way.
Not all of us wake up easily. My body loves to get 9+ hours of sleep, and I need something to kick it out of bed in the morning. At the moment, that's whacking the snoozer a lot, but I need a better solution.
And I think, ideally, most people follow this pattern. Problem is, my 4-month old daughter (and, I suspect, many, many other 4-month old daughters) haven't heard of this.
This looks very cool. However, I'm looking to go a different direction: an alarm that automatically opens the room-darkening drapes and lets in sunlight, for a natural and gradual waking process. Imagine my surprise that no such product exists outside the expensive and complex home automation market. I have no experience in hardware hacking, but I might have to see what I can do with an Arduino.
Still, this looks like a very cool alarm clock, especially the top-of-the-line nixie model. Good luck!
Indeed, I wish I had the spare cash to drop on the custom model, just because those nixie tubes and wood choices are so awesome.
One of the reasons I started my home automation startup was to make myself a decent alarm clock. The first thing I did with my automation controller was program my lights to ramp up smoothly in the morning.
Blinds and ramping audio cues are perpetually on the TODO list, but motorized blinds are expensive and aren't all that useful during the winter, when the cloud-obscured sun doesn't come up until late and the extra light is needed most. Of course, leaving the blinds open all night isn't an option for most of us because of light pollution and possible loss of privacy.
Anyway, good luck with your Arduino blinds project, and good luck to the creators of the Ramos!
With all this power and smarts built into this alarm clock, couldn't they just put in an automatic adjustment for Daylight Savings Time?
I would love to have one less clock that I need to adjust two times a year.
Edit: It knows the day of week. All it would need is to know what political zone you are in, and be able to predict the whims of the politicians. How hard can that be? :-)
It's amazing how fast such tiny projects* can raise. I just watched the video, and then refreshed the page and the funding jumped from $1,055 to $1,700.
* I mean here the actual size, and the idea (clock, ipad cover, watch...). Execution and build of the product can take a lot of time and experience.
Yeah. My wife will just love listening to my alarm going off for a few minutes as I stumble out into who-knows-where to find the defuse panel and remember the code.
I have this habit of walking all the way up to both of my alarm clocks, resetting the alarm to 20 minutes later, and then walking back to bed for a bit more sleep.
Nice idea, if a little unpractical. I thought (or read somewhere) about doing something similar using a bathroom scale (you have to put your weight on it for some seconds for it to turn off.
[+] [-] martinkallstrom|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] paulsammut|14 years ago|reply
EDIT* Oh and by the way, the wood in the prototype is the same as what will be used in $160 LED Ramos, it just has a darker stain. I'm glad you like it :)
[+] [-] dzlobin|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] coldarchon|14 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] todd3834|14 years ago|reply
I love the look of the Ramos, especially the nixie tubes but I just don't see much of an improvement over placing the alarm clock on the other side of the room.
[+] [-] gallamine|14 years ago|reply
Edit: I use this one: http://amzn.com/B000NBCEM8
[+] [-] todd3834|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jasontsui|14 years ago|reply
You can put the panel pretty far. If your bathroom is a hallway away, this might make the difference. You cant put a regular alarm that far, you wouldnt hear it. For me, physically getting up isn't enough because you can do that half asleep. Thats where having to punch in the date helps, I think this part fires a few more synapses and gets the engine running. It certainly solved it for me.
[+] [-] gsa|14 years ago|reply
Seriously, it helps. For years now, my alarm has been this simple function in my zshrc:
It's much harder to snooze this way (unlock screen, switch to terminal, exit mplayer, enter new duration).[+] [-] radley|14 years ago|reply
http://www.now-zen.com/
"the acoustic chime bar is struck just once … 3-1/2 minutes later it strikes again … chime strikes become more frequent over 10 minutes … eventually striking every 5 seconds until shut off"
[+] [-] Kylekramer|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] zargon|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] brunoqc|14 years ago|reply
I'm not sure what to think about the fact that it use the same frequencies as "music therapist" do.
[+] [-] klenwell|14 years ago|reply
I recently set the alarm on my Android to Grieg's Morning Mood. (Thanks Looney Tunes for the inspiration.) I find it apt and effective.
[+] [-] jmonegro|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tejaswiy|14 years ago|reply
At one point, I was working on an alarm app that had some game mechanics built into it (points for waking up on time, waking up on time for 5 days in a row, waking up before 6am etc.) and had various types of puzzles to turn off the alarm. I gave up on it because I decided it was more of a sleeping habit issue than an inability to wake up. You can't consistently sleep at 2 in the night and expect to wake up by 6 in the morning ..
[+] [-] javert|14 years ago|reply
Ultimately, the long password wasn't enough to "wake me up," and by then I had a smartphone, so I got an Android app that made me solve math puzzles to turn off the alarm.
Ultimately ultimately, I realized that it was really a behavioral problem. Now I just get up when my alarm goes off. :)
(That makes it sound like the "behavioral" solution was simple, but believe me, it was extremely far from simple. And I still think the product being advertised here is an extremely cool idea and potentially very useful.)
[+] [-] hk_kh|14 years ago|reply
However, if I am too sleepy, I just open the phone and throw the battery to the other side of the room.
[+] [-] Sakes|14 years ago|reply
What sucks about it? I don't have any desire to buy it. I just don't need another alarm clock yelling at me in the morning. Plus it will only be a matter of time before I learn how to ignore it, like I have done with every alarm clock before it.
What is my pain that I would like a new alarm clock to solve? I want an alarm clock that wakes me up in a natural way. I want it to pull me out of my REM cycles gradually so I am ready to get out of bed, not jarred out of bed.
If you told me that you had done research on REM cycles and that it takes x amount of time to move from one level of sleep to the next. And that your product plays music softly, then increases in volume in natural increments for the human mind. If this was the problem you were solving, accompanied with the wireless kill switch, then I would be very excited about this product and would consider shelling out my hard earned money for it.
I would even be okay if you couldn't solve this problem, so long as I knew that this is the problem that your alarm clock will eventually solve. I would expect the alarm clock's software to be updatable, so as you get closer and closer to perfecting waking up, my $135 alarm clock will get better at it as well.
I hope this feed back is useful to you. Good luck to you. It looks cool, and it is a neat idea.
[+] [-] paulsammut|14 years ago|reply
A really effective way to measure REMs cycles is to have an accelerometer on your bed, just how the Sleep Cycle Iphone app does it. I designed a system that would involve having a small wired puck that you put on your bed, under your pillow, that links to the Ramos. The coding and interfacing with the micro-controller is straight-forward, and it would work.
The issue I had with it is that it was extra "baggage" i'm adding to the clock. I felt like to implement the puck system, it would take away from the simple straight forward, 0 installation solution that I really wanted to achieve. That wire really just like, irked me. And to make it wireless means another radio which leads to more cost to the user. And with a wireless puck you need to power it, which is again more cost to the user. I actually also made this earlier alarm clock that used a heat sensor to detect if you're still in bed. Hehe it didn't work real well though. https://s3.amazonaws.com/ramos_alarm/Paulsammut_BHS_alarm.pd...
But still, i agree, it would be really really cool if it had that feature, but it got to the point where I started trying to add all these little things, and the whole Ramos idea started shifting. I didn't like it. And the remote panel really does the job at getting you out of bed and away from it, which is key.
PS. from what I've noticed from using Ramos for a year, is that I've developed a fear to it. Like, deep down in my head i know i'm gonna have to wake up, and I usually will naturally wake up with the alarm time.
again, THanks for your interest!!
-paul
[+] [-] mstefanko|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bitsoda|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] PotatoEngineer|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] yock|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] lukifer|14 years ago|reply
Still, this looks like a very cool alarm clock, especially the top-of-the-line nixie model. Good luck!
[+] [-] nitrogen|14 years ago|reply
One of the reasons I started my home automation startup was to make myself a decent alarm clock. The first thing I did with my automation controller was program my lights to ramp up smoothly in the morning.
Blinds and ramping audio cues are perpetually on the TODO list, but motorized blinds are expensive and aren't all that useful during the winter, when the cloud-obscured sun doesn't come up until late and the extra light is needed most. Of course, leaving the blinds open all night isn't an option for most of us because of light pollution and possible loss of privacy.
Anyway, good luck with your Arduino blinds project, and good luck to the creators of the Ramos!
[+] [-] jeromegn|14 years ago|reply
At least that's what works for me.
[+] [-] codesuela|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jerfelix|14 years ago|reply
I would love to have one less clock that I need to adjust two times a year.
Edit: It knows the day of week. All it would need is to know what political zone you are in, and be able to predict the whims of the politicians. How hard can that be? :-)
[+] [-] edwardy20|14 years ago|reply
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.mobitobi.android.g...
[+] [-] csomar|14 years ago|reply
* I mean here the actual size, and the idea (clock, ipad cover, watch...). Execution and build of the product can take a lot of time and experience.
[+] [-] blhack|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] DanBC|14 years ago|reply
You'd be surprised at how much tools and equipment costs.
[+] [-] jcromartie|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ebiester|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] vishaldpatel|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] brunoqc|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] swah|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] joelbm24|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dan_orange|14 years ago|reply