I’m thinking about making an alarm clock as none of models I see in stores have all the features I want. I was thinking some of the features could be upgrades that you connect while the clock is off.
Here are some features I’ve thought of so far in no particular order.
- Auto-snooze (If you don’t hit the snooze button in x seconds it will assume you want it to snooze.)
- Color selection for display. (Could also include fine level brightness controls. RGB LEDs or LCD screen. I have a friend that wants his alarm clock to have a purple display.)
- Multiple alarm sounds (Also allow custom alarm sounds.)
- Battery powered (Some features might need to be disabled on battery power.)
- Auto time set (Either through the Internet or at least in the lower 48 states use the Colorado nuclear time clock.)
- Web interface to program alarms, & upload alarm sounds & make changes to device settings. (Password protected)
- Version for hotels when guest requests a wake-up call to have a recording play to wake them up. (The alarm clock could call the worker to remind them that the room X wanted a wake-up call.)
- For hotels in the lower 48 a device that will pickup the time from the Denver Colorado Nuclear time clock to broadcast over hotels network. (Some buildings construction could block the signal from the individual alarm clocks.)
- Line in for speakers to play from any audio device.
- Multiple USB ports for charging devices with a 5 volt & 2 Amps per port & configured to work with devices like the iPhone.
- HD radio.
- Internet radio apps, Pandora, Last.fm, etc…
- Day of the week & date on display. (Could be just a button to display it.)
- Can tell the temperature. (With a local & a remote sensor.)
- Ability to tell time verbally.
- Option to have display dot matrix or the more traditional digital display format.
- Ability to have a custom enclosure made.
- When powered on upgrade door(s) are auto closed until power is lost.
Some questions about options to do a feature.
- For time zone should it be set by a switch or stored on SD card & also if DST is used. Which way should it be done?
- Would you want a solar panel on a battery only version?
- Should the web interface WordPress with a plugin be used for the interface or something else?
Are there any ideas you want to add?
I’m also thinking about making the hardware open source & using as much open source hardware as possible, unless a closed source chip is cheaper I might use that instead.