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WakeUp posts

Filed under: Fun, Productivity, Social Software

Sleep.fm: building a better alarm clock?

Sleep.fm is a personalized alarm service for your computer, phone, or Internet-enabled alarm clock that lets you and your friends leave each other personalized wake-up messages. While I agree that waking up to the radio, the standard alarm clock beep, or some obnoxious fake birds is less than ideal, I'm not sure I'm 100% sold on the utility of Sleep.fm.

I started to get the picture a little more clearly after checking out a video on the Sleep.fm FAQ page. In this little demo, a woman who had missed her Japanese studies the day before wakes up to a teasing message from a friend, in Japanese. I think that says a lot about what Sleep.fm is trying to do: turn the wake-up alarm into another useful way to communicate. I wouldn't object to waking up to a message that all of my meetings for the day were cancelled, for example, or finding out about a change of lunch plans with a friend.

Isn't that what we have voicemail, email, text messages and Twitter for, though? I agree with the Sleep.fm theory that waking up is personal, but for me that means just wanting to be left alone. If you're the kind of person who likes to jump right into the day with new information, someone who checks email and rss feeds before even getting out of bed, this might be a good new tool in your arsenal. The site is taking signups now for its upcoming relaunch.

Filed under: Audio, Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Productivity, Freeware

Download coffee (or at least its effect)

Sound WavesOkay, there's no doubt this is a quirky download. I'll tell you right now that it's not a software download; this one is a simple sound file. If you're not interested, I suggest you move right on... but if you're interested, check it out.

Stefanos Karagos posted about a 20 MB MP3 sound file he created that exploits the brain's Frequency Following Response to give the listener a boost of energy, similar to what you'd experience from drinking a coffee. The instructions for use are quite simple; use stereo headphones, only play it once in a session (don't let it loop), and adjust the volume to a comfortable level.

The sound file sounds like a nature tape (birds chirping, etc) mixed with what seems like random noise at a very slowly escalating pitch. I was surprised how much it affected me; a couple of times I found myself actually becoming anxious, before realizing that I was simply being manipulated (by my own doing) by a sound file. Crazy, eh?

If you're skeptical or simply want to learn more about what this is all about, the site contains a very nice description of the theories involved. Also, there is a warning that explains who shouldn't attempt to use this sound file due to the techniques it uses.

Filed under: Fun, Internet, Utilities

OnlineClock, your digital wake-up call

OnlineClock.netOnlineClock.net is pretty simple, but pretty cool. Online clock lets you choose the color, and size of the clock, along with what time you want it to ring, and presto, many minutes later you are buzzed awake. The sound is annoying enough that it actually might work to wake me up, and my wife too. It sounds like an easy way to "get rid" of hardware, so I can get a new PC. She trashes the bleeping beeping thing (my laptop), feels sorry, and I walk away with a new PC, right? Unfortunately it doesn't work that way. Dang! Anyway, like I said, the site is very simple, and serves as an excuse to serve up some Google ads.

[Via LifeHacker]

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With Halloween fast approaching, it's a great time to get in some practice defending your territory against zombies. In Graveyard Shift, you take aim at zombies and other creepy-crawlies, blasting them into splatters of cartoony green guts. It's a casual first-person shooter, and it's very easy to get the hang of - use the mouse to aim, click to fire. Graveyard Shift has at least 15 levels, and it might even have some secret stages I haven't unlocked yet. They key to getting good at Graveyard Shift is learning to use ...

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