Turn Your Laptop Into an Alarm Clock
While on a business trip about 20 years ago, I overslept and missed a meeting. Why? I hadn't hung the phone up properly, so my wakeup call never came through. Ever since then, I've neurotically relied on redundant systems whenever I stay in a hotel, including a wakeup call and setting the bedside alarm. Now I can add a third: Sleep.FM is a Web site that wakes you with the time and weather.
Sleep.FM is in beta and currently only available on the PC, but there are versions coming for your mobile phone as well. For now, you can set as many as three alarms at once, specify a male or female voice, and choose to be woken to the time, current weather, or a forecast, while achingly smooth jazz plays in the background. The site promises additional wake reports soon, including flight status. I can't wait: Knowing if your flight is on schedule the moment you wake sounds great to me.
The service is free and it continues to work even if you lose your Internet connection (without the real-time news, of course). The next time you find yourself sentenced to a stint in Detroit, give it a spin. [Via The How-To Geek]
