Some of you have probably heard of Tocky and Clocky (http://www.nandahome.com/products/index.php). I've never used either but my guess is the concept is better than the execution. I've never felt a need to do anything but put my phone on the opposite side of my bedroom. Also, by doing this I have no way of checking my phone while in bed - either in the morning after waking up or at night before falling asleep.
The solution, for me, has been getting into a routine where I can consistently fall asleep earlier. Much easier to do now that I'm not pulling late nights all the time.
Dang thing would go off, start getting louder (scripted for "gentle" wake-up), and I had to crawl out and onto the deck, log into my computer, and shut it off. ... And it was set to lock itself and start again in 10 minutes.
TL;DR: sleep inertia sucks.
It works via wifi signal strength; I have to walk right up to my router in another room in order to shut it off (or you can reverse the trigger if you sleep near your router).
Across the room was never enough for me but walking to another room of the house wakes me up every time.
Joking apart, having children does force you into a strict daily rhythm. They respond so well to doing the same thing, at the same time, and in the same order.
I always used to have poor sleep habits. Those habits have now been beaten out of me!
My point is that having a fastidious approach to sleep, and a strict sleep pattern means that you pretty much don't need an alarm clock. My children can't tell the time yet, but their internal body clocks are pretty accurate. Slowly I'm starting to trust my own internal clock as well.
Point of interest: To anyone who thinks that they can distract their wife's biological clock with a cat or dog, just don't. You end up with a pet and a child! Or in my case, after the first cat wasn't working, I got a second. Still didn't bloody work! :-)
[1] http://www.trendhunter.com/slideshow/annoying-laborious-alar...
Is there any evidence (other than anecdotal) that having a laborious alarm clock actually helps people get up? I feel like making it harder to hit the snooze button might only accomplish that, and either way people just go back to bed.
Solving 5 relatively simple problems like "17 * 12 - 34" gets my brain going like no other alarm - I am fully alert by the end of it. My mental arithmetic has gotten better too :)
There are also tons of other configuration options in the app.
