Book Reading #1: Good Design #3

Good Design #3: Alarm Clock

This is my alarm clock.  There are quite a few buttons and switches on top and the sides of it.  There is a lot of functionality to it that requires many different inputs in order to keep them all straight, but they are relatively intuitive.  There are two settable alarms that can be set by holding down one of the top buttons and pushing the up or down arrows on the right.  That is the only counter intuitive part of the whole clock.  On the left side are switches that turn off and on the two alarms.  It is clearly labeled and a light on the front goes on when an alarm is active. Currently, the second alarm is on signified by the bottom right LED.  The speakers are very loud and you can choose between turning on the radio or a very annoying alarm when it is time to wake up.  There is a battery backup in case of a power outage. It is also satellite linked, so the time never needs to be set and synchronizes the time and date in seconds after turning on.  The LED screen has a variable brightness on the left side.  All the radio settings are on the right side.  It has a few problems, but it is by far the best alarm clock that I have ever had and does not need to be turned off on weekends and turned back on for the week. It knows what day it is and can be set to only go off on week days.      

The one problem is that it does not take into account day light savings, so I have to change the time zone to get the right time, which I usually take a minute to figure out how to do, twice a year.