Turn your alarm clock into an accelerometer

Want to do more than simply hit the snooze button when your alarm clock starts buzzing?

Want to hit the clock itself, perhaps? (Or slap it? Or smash it? Or throw it against the far wall?)

Then check out how the people at Dimension Engineering converted a regular ol’ alarm clock into a nifty accelerometer.

(An accelerometer, as you probably already know, is a devise that measures acceleration. Accelerometers are often found in media players, hand-held gaming devices, and smartphones.)

The Dimension Engineering site offers instructions (”aimed at intermediate electronics enthusiasts”) on how to bypass the mechanical snooze switch on your alarm clock so that you can then turn off your alarm in other creative ways.

For instance, the “Greatest Hits” demonstration video (which you can find at the bottom of their page) shows an alarm shutting off when a modded clock is punched, flicked, hammered, getting hit with a thrown screwdriver, and being jolted by a fist slammed down on a desk. (Fun!)

Power it up, and adjust the pot to make the alarm deactivate at whatever threshold of pain you wish your alarm clock to endure.

Very cool. So if you’ve ever dreamed about getting even with your evil alarm clock, get your soldering kit ready — this might just be the way…

[Found via Hack A Day, via Make, via Engadget]

The Sofa Hanger

This isn’t anything electronic, but I’m sure that anyone who’s been using a laptop in any room of his/her house, for instance, would find it convenient to place the mandatory cup of coffee or, why not, a mouse. (Personally, my touchpad is sometimes a nuisance, and moving a mouse on the arm of a sofa isn’t very convenient.) This is clearly not the primary use of that sofa hanger created by German manufacturer VANPEY, allright; I’m just being my over-creative self again, which is my opinion part of the fun in toying with new things.

Nevertheless, whether this item is a good idea, an incentive to snack too much, or an accident waiting to happen (ten-thumbed people like me know that a tea cup can be a dangerous involuntary weapon), it will be what we make of it, and it may be pretty convenient to have that mug of coffee under the hand all the same, or, why not, leave a book on it. It doesn’t necessarily have to do with food at any cost, does it?