Enso Pearl clock helps you start off the new year right » Reviews

Enso Pearl clock helps you start off the new year right

“Don’t be a clock watcher,” said the boss in my first job. Needless to say, the pretense of my presence in the office means more to him than my productivity, so I left shortly after that to a far more rewarding and fulfilling vocation. I am quite sure if he had the £79.99 Enso Pearl in the office all those years ago, things might have been a little different, and I might have stayed – just for a little while longer, actually. Enso, meaning ‘circle’ in Japanese, is so slim and is a beauty to look at, and it counts down slowly by forming a complete circle around the LCD face.

Perfect for those moments when your mind does not want to look at numbers as those could very well be too distracting, including moments when you are meditating, holding a yoga pose, or making sure you are burning those calories with a few spinning exercises on an exercise bike. The Enso Pearl delivers a precise and clear idea of how much time has passed, including the remaining time without having to work those brains of yours. You can set up to 50 sequential times, and if you opt to exercise with your eyes closed, fret not – the Enso will deliver audio cues to help you out, relying on the gentle chimes of Tibetan or Japanese singing bowls.

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Review » Edifier’s Tick Tock Bluetooth Alarm Clock/Speaker

Considering that most of us are using our mobile devices for alarm clocks, Edifier decided to maximize the alarm clock feature with their Tick Tock series.

We have discussed the Tick Tock series before, and I got a chance to try out the Tick Tock Bluetooth. Yes, it looks like an old-fashioned alarm clock, and yes, it has those two bell shaped things on top, but they don’t ring. No, they are two 360 degree omni-directional tweeters, and there is also a front-facing speaker for some “multi-directional rich sound”.

I found that it was very simple to sync the Tick Tock to my Android smartphone, and it is very handy to have an external speaker designed to sit on a nightstand.

If you don’t want to use Bluetooth technology, you can always use the auxiliary input jack and included AV cable for a wired stereo speaker. After all, you will probably be keeping your phone by this Tick Tock clock anyway. By the way, you can also access an FM radio in case you only want to hear the radio just before you go to sleep.

All in all, I would have to say that Edifier’s Tick Tock Bluetooth is an excellent modern-day compliment to the traditional nightstand. You can get it on the Edifier site for about $79.99 in White, Black, and 60′s White. While you are there, you should check out some other models in their Tick Tock collection.

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Review » Phosphor World Time Sport Watch

This is the World Time Sport from Phosphor watches, and it has an E INK display. I am assuming that this makes it unique, but one of the things that I think make it unique is that there are no buttons.

In the place of buttons are finger swipes that I found quite difficult to work. Seriously, I finally figured out that one is for switching of modes and another is for actually switching the numbers of date, time, and time zone. Seriously, it took me a while to figure it out, which is the only bad thing I have to say about the product.

The World Time Sport offers the ability to select from 24 time zones for one display mode, while optionally displaying the second time zone simultaneously. The dual time zone display can also be made to display the time of day, or both the date and time in either big or little numbers.

As for the watch itself, it is a pretty thin 9.3 mm. It also has a curved shape that looks ergonomically created for a wrist unlike other flat-back watches.

You should be able to get the World Time Sport Watch on the Phosphor watch site for about $99.95 in black, white, and orange.

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Review » Lumie Bodyclock Active 250

Want to wake up naturally, and by that, I do not mean having Rover lick your face till it is all wet before you finally roll out of bed? The £89.99 Lumie Bodyclock Active 250 might be able to help you out here, as there is no irritating clattering bell that jolts you out of your sleep, but rather, wakes your body up the way nature wanted it to. The Lumie Bodyclock Active 250 will work in a way where it simulates a sunrise right there and then in your bedroom, never mind if it is freezing cold on the outside. It gently nudges and prompts your body to slow the production of sleep-inducing hormone melatonin, while flooding your system with cortisol instead. You can set it to wake yourself up over the course of 15, 20, 30, 45, 60 or 90 minutes.

Of course, if you love being awakened with a blast from the local radio jock, there is still a built-in radio function, although those who prefer something from nature can always set it to a dawn chorus of birds, or a single cock-crow. Definitely beats the rude awakening of the classic metal clattering of the old school alarm clock, don’t you think so? At least with this, you need not drive to the office all sour faced.

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Review » Click Dip-Switch Watch

Here is a way for you to roll back the years if you were born in the 1980s – and I do not mean playing Pac-Man over and over again, or making sure there are Mario Bros. decals all over your room. No sir, I’m referring to the $149.99 Click Dip-Switch Watch which works just as the name suggests – it will feature dip switches that will activate different functions on the watch, and to have it come packaged in a circuit board makes it all the more attractive.

Each dip switch will activate a different function of the watch, ranging from its bar graph metered time display, to 12 hour and 24 hour digital time display, month, date, day of week, and backlight. Heck, even the strap resembles an electronic ribbon where it comes packaged in an actual circuit board. The battery used will be of the CR2032 variety, where you are recommended to have them replaced whenever the lights turn dim.

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Review » Cadence Ecomatic Sport Watch

The ladies have their handbags and shoes to drool over, but we men have watches. Well, for the majority of us, to own a watch from one of the high end branded names remains a pipe dream simply because we’d much rather drive around a car than to have the same amount of money being exchanged for a shining timepiece on our wrists. Good thing there are different levels of brands, and Cadence offers a glimpse of the opulent at a rather reasonable price point – in the form of the Cadence Ecomatic Sport Watch.

What makes this watch be part of the “green” revolution? Well, we are talking about a battery-free watch – yes, that’s right, you need not worry about dead batteries (although I admit, that happens only once in a while, and you always have your phone to tell the time), as Cadence’s Ecomatic watches will wind themselves as long as it experiences motion, thanks to the wonders of kinetic energy.

These watches will be able to stash away energy for 36 days even without a single movement, and so if you happen to leave it at home and head off for a week-long holiday, there is always the simple task of manually winding the watch once you have returned. It will be a formal watch for formal settings, but by no means is it fragile, thanks to Miyota 8215 movement that is made in Japan, with automatic movement enabling the auto-winding mechanism, a genuine leather wristband, being water resistant up to 100 meters, while coming in a 42mm stainless steel case for that added touch of class.

The super luminescent dial and watch hands will definitely add a level of sophistication to your look, where it pits itself against the black or orange face of the watch. While the Ecomatic Sport Watch goes for $225 a pop, you can always pick it up earlier in a pre-order promotion, receiving a 40% discount in the process. I wonder what the profit margin is like…

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Review » Captain Rex LEGO Minifigure Alarm Clock

It was painful seeing Order 66 being executed in the movies – somehow, most of the Jedi Knights as Jedi Masters leading the cohort of Clone Troopers got stabbed in the back – or should I say, got shot at the back. How many of them went down in a glorious manner, taking down at least one Clone Trooper? None that I could recall – it seems that they were not as attuned to the Force as Master Yoda was, hence failing to escape. I would say a nice jump away from the hot zone might have helped some survive.

Ah well, enough rambling – here is the £26.49 Captain Rex LEGO Minifigure Alarm Clock that is pretty much self-explanatory. Coming all decked out in a Clone Trooper uniform, this LCD alarm clock is an officially licensed product, featuring snooze and backlight functions that are obviously activated via the pushing down of his head. If you want, you can even position his arms and legs accordingly, although be warned, just like many other LEGO minifigs, this one has an extremely limited degree of movement.

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Review » Boba Fett LEGO Minifigure Alarm Clock

We looked at Captain Rex making his debut as an alarm clock in the form of a LEGO minifigure, and here we have someone from the baddies group – Boba Fett, all decked out in LEGO minifigure glory as well. This £26.49 purchase will feature the galaxy’s most feared bounty hunter (during the time of Episode V, of course), where this LCD alarm clock is an officially licensed product for you to contribute your hard earned money to George Lucas’ moneybags.

Heck, this tie up with LEGO has resulted in a cute looking alarm clock that boasts of a no-nonsense performance to help you get out of bed during those nice and cool mornings where you just want to pull the sheets over your head and get slightly more than forty winks. Nice to know that the all important snooze function has been thrown into the mix alongside a backlight to help you tell the time in the dark – both of which are activated simply by pushing his helmeted head down.

Heck, you can also adjust Boba’s hands and legs to strike the perfect wake up pose.

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Review » Shoot the clock first thing in the morning

We’ve seen our fair share of different and zany alarm clocks in the past, but here is something else that might interest you – an alarm clock which requires you to actually “shoot” it using the included gun remote. Yes sir, this £22.95 alarm clock allows you to literally shoot the time – whenever it rings, of course. How does it work? Well, the alarm clock itself is constructed from an amalgamation of metal and plastic, where the accompanying plastic toy gun will stop the car alarm noise whenever you point the toy gun at the taxi on the alarm clock.

The whole idea behind this? To make sure you are awake enough to be able to turn off an alarm clock, whereby in the process you won’t go back to sleep, of course. Would be nicer if you could replace the image of the car with a photo of your nemesis, no? This particular purchase might cost you a bit more than usual in the long run, especially when you need a trio of AA batteries for the alarm clock and a couple of AA batteries for the toy gun. I would highly recommend rechargeables to go along with this though.

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Review » Moon Clock illuminates your room

There is nothing quite as romantic as being with your loved one under the light of a full moon – just make sure he’s not a vampire or werewolf and you’re good to go. For those who miss the soft glow of the moon, how about bringing the moon right into your bedroom? That’s now possible with the Moon Clock which retails for $32 a pop – allowing you to sleep under the stars (actually, just the moon since you will need to provide your own glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling) right in the comfort of your own bed.

Specially designed using 65 different actual photographs of the moon, this glowing clock will not only remain close to you always, it also lets you know just what time it is. Made out of a combination of paper, plastic and glass, the Moon Clock will be powered by a single AA battery. Definitely one of the cooler looking devices to have in the bedroom, and it sure as heck beats the ordinary plastic clock from IKEA.

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Review » Omnipotent Alarm Clock

An alarm clock is an alarm clock, right? Apparently not – and to call something the Omnipotent Alarm Clock might be a little bit pretentious, don’t you think so? Let us see whether this device is capable of living up to its name. For starters, the basic function would be to wake you up no matter the cost, so it had better be armed well enough to deliver as promised.

If you think that your smartphone’s alarm clock gets the job done, the Omnipotent Alarm Clock does many times better. It has 21 alarms (beat that!) with 20 radio preset stations just in case you need some variety during your everyday morning wake up call. Apart from that, you can even adjust the snooze interval – perfect, as there is a little bit of something for everybody else.

The clock itself boasts 14 alarms that can be set to go off at two different times each day, making it a ‘one size fits all’ solution – that is, so that folks with different morning schedules can rely on a single device. If you choose, you can always link your alarm to a preset AM/FM radio station or a buzzer, so that the person will be able to wake up to his/her preferred sound. As for the snooze button, it offers anywhere from one to 30 minutes of extended sleep, where the snooze duration can even be set to automatically reduce by 50% each time the button is pressed – so that stubborn sleepers will rise. Touted to ship from August 18th onwards, the Omnipotent Alarm Clock can be yours for $59.95.

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Review » Flip Clock Wristwatch

Most of us do not really need a watch these days, as chances are our phones will be the primary means of telling the time. Having said that, the watch industry isn’t exactly down in the doldrums, as it still makes anyone look really smart wearing one, and the really expensive ones tend to appreciate in value as time passes by like a precious family heirloom.

The $199.95 Flip Clock Wristwatch, unfortunately, isn’t decked out in jewels, but it does work in a rather clever manner. For starters, this timepiece will employ the mechanical rotation of 23 tiny two-sided rotors in order to give you the illusion of a digital display. Inspired by the classic flip-disc displays that are seen in buses and trains of yore, there will be one side of each rotor which holds a number of Swarovski crystals to match the watchface.

When activated by an electromagnetic field, the rotors will flip 180º, taking less than 10 milliseconds to do so, helping contrast the crystals so that they can form easily recognizable digital numerals for you to tell the time with a quick glance. Nice to know the Flip Clock Wristwatch comes with a lifetime warranty.

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Review » Star Wars: 3D Darth Vader Helmet Wall Clock

Darth Vader strikes fear in to most people in the galaxy – after all, he is the Dark Lord of the Sith who has blown up planets to bits using the Death Star without shedding a tear. Having said that, what kind of devices that bears his namesake do you think will be able to sell? Plenty, actually. The Star Wars: 3D Darth Vader Helmet Wall Clock that you see here? For just £27.99, you will be able to mount a visage of his Lordship on the wall, and at the turn of each hour, his eyes will start to glow red in a menacing manner. Not only that, your ears will be treated to Darth’s famous signature mechanical breathing sound. Powered by a trio of AAA batteries, we think that this is one of the cooler wall clocks we’ve ever seen – even more so if you are a Star Wars fan.

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Review » Mirror Universe LED Digital Watch

Most of us wear a watch for a two-fold reason – it not only helps you keep track of the current time, but it will also make you look a whole lot better by accessorizing with the rest of your outfit. Well, what happens when you get the Mirror Universe LED Digital Watch? The name itself is pretty self-explanatory – this mirrored face of a timepiece will hide the current time, while the chrome front adds a dash of class.

To know what time it is, just press the button and the watch will light up, coupled with a programmable short message that is displayed as well. There are 93 LEDs in total to help get the time (and message) across, where you can choose from 12 or 24 hour choices. A couple of CR2032 batteries are used, and you can tell when it is time to replace the batteries – whenever the lights get dim, of course!

The Mirror Universe LED Digital Watch will cost you $34.99 – pretty affordable for something so nifty and stylish!

Featureless Mirrored Landscape Conceals the Time

Watches used to be all about functionality. But now, since we have all the function of watches on our smartphones, watches have moved into the category of fashion accessory rather than just a timepiece. We at ThinkGeek know that you don't need to wear a watch; but with watches like ours, you may well want to wear one.
The Mirror Universe LED Digital Watch appears at first glance to be a shiny, chunky metallic bracelet. But press the button and the 93 bright red LEDs will jump into motion, first displaying the time and then scrolling through a short message of your choice. It can be an affirmation: "U R GREAT," a warning: "NOKILLBOSS," or a simple reminder for later: "BUY MILK." Change the message whenever you like.

Product Features

• Shiny, chunky, metallic watch hides the time under a featureless chrome front
• 93 bright red LEDs display the time and your message
• Press the button to see the time and a 10-character message
• Shiny chrome-plated face with stainless steel band and clasp
• Time and date display, automatically shuts off to save batteries
• 12 or 24 hour display options
• Face dimensions: 1.5" wide x 2" tall
• Band dimensions: 9" long x 7/8" wide
• Batteries: Uses 2 CR2032 batteries (included), replace when lights get dim

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Review » Sprout Biodegradable Watch

Sorry to cover news about timepieces today, but I surely could not let the $34 Sprout Biodegradable Watch pass by on my watch! Why so, you ask? Well, if you are the type who has taken all the efforts to go green, why not do the same with a watch? Most of us would think that watches are made out mostly of metal and plastic, and the more expensive ones are meant to be passed on from one generation to another, so why bother getting something biodegradable?

Let’s face it – kids can’t appreciate a Rolex, and chances are they’ll thrash an expensive watch like that before they know just how valuable it is. The Sprout Biodegradable Watch plays a cool role here – it has an organic cotton band, is made out of biodegradable corn resin case, while a sustainable bamboo dial and mineral crystal lens makes sure the whole thing will return to dust eventually when you bury it after it gives up the ghost.

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Review » GroClock sleep trainer helps kid hit the sack on time

Getting your kids to establish a healthy sleeping pattern can be quite challenging in this day and age, especially with so many distractions around to keep them awake such as modern toys, the iPod, handheld consoles and TV programs. You as an adult too might play a role here in influencing your child to sleep late because you have a similar pattern, but enter the GroClock to help you train your kids when it comes to sleeping.

Once you have made sure that there are no more monsters hiding around in the closet or under the bed, set the GroClock and let it work its magic. All you need to do is let your child know that when the sun shines on the GroClock, that is the time he/she is supposed to get up. And when they are about to go to bed and knock off, that is when the stars come out to play. Sort of like a Pavlovian response, don’t you think so?

Your $44.99 investment doesn’t end there when they grow up though, as they can always switch on the digital clock option when that happens, giving them a better idea by connecting the time with the appearances of the stars and sun. Neat!

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