Nice to see gadgets being used to delegate teaching our kids stuff, including telling the time. Guess robot nannys aren’t really too far-fetched to consider, eh? Hammacher’s Talking Teaching Alarm Clock is another device that picked up the Product of the Year Award from Creative Child Magazine, where it will whip your little ones into shape verbally where telling the current time is concerned.

The clock displays a random analog time on a high-contrast LCD and asks, “What time is it?” in a clear female voice. Children can check their answers by pressing a button that prompts the clock to speak the correct time and display the digital equivalent. The clock is preprogrammed with five levels of difficulty, beginning with only round hours (three o’clock) and progressing to more difficult-to-learn times. Times can also be entered manually, allowing you to customize lessons. You can set the clock face to turn green at a specific time in the morning, signaling to a child that it is okay to get out of bed. The clock has a working alarm, 10-minute snooze function, and a night-light.

You can opt for it to be powered by either AC or a couple of AAA batteries. It retails for $49.95 a pop, and is a great way to introduce your kids to the wonderful world of the snooze alarm concept – something they might regret in the future as they snooze past their working time.

This is one of those gadgets that it’s most definitely debatable as to whether or not it’s useful or completely pointless.  I suppose it purely depends on your perspective and what you need out of a device like this one.  This USB hub will at the very least offer you a few more ports to make plugging in your gadgets a lot easier.  Plus it does tell the time, although so does your computer.

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It seems like every week at Coolest Gadgets we cover some sort of Lego-based gadget. Last week, it was the Lego Wind up Dynamo Torch. This week, it is this Lego Alarm Clock.

As you can see, there is very little Lego in the Lego Alarm Clock, but, in its defense, it does look like a 2 x 1 brick. I’ve seen other products that were an homage to the name of Lego, but most of them were not endorsed by the giant Danish toy company. The Lego Alarm Clock has Lego written all over it, on every single bumpy part, or “stud”.

Speaking of studs, those two on top don’t look like they would fit into any Legos that I have ever owned, and this includes the Duplo and Quatro collection. No, the purpose of those two knobs is to be knobs for adjusting the volume and tuning of the radio.

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Those who do plenty of traveling, crossing various time zones along the way will definitely find the Jetlag travel alarm clock to be heaven sent. After all, this Sam Hecht designed travel alarm is a snap to use, and you can always tote it with you wherever you go since it measures half the size of a passport. The left side is used to set the time, while the right will allow you to adjust the alarm accordingly. Nice to see a lock mechanism included that helps prevent time from moving whenever you’re traveling with it in tow. The Jetlag alarm clock will retail for $40 and comes in a trio of colors, namely black, white and red.

Source: Unplggd

This is one of those gadgets, were it more than a concept design, would definitely be making its way into college frat houses everywhere.  During your average day it’s nothing more than an oversized clock.  It’s not something I’d call stylish, but it can either be set on a table top or hung on the wall.  In addition to working as a clock, it calculates what type of party is going on in your house.

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Fire alarms and smoke detectors are more often than not overlooked in most homes, and some people who sleep like the dead through the night might want to take less chances with their lives by picking up the Lifetone Bedside Fire Alarm Clock. This unique alarm clock not only helps you wake up at the specified time in the morning, it will also be able to sniff up the screech of your home smoke alarm, pounding out a 90-decibel alarm into its immediate surroundings (which would normally be on your beside table) while working in tandem with a bed shaker located right under your pillow to make sure you can wake up in time to save your bacon from getting roasted. Surely $179.00 isn’t too much of an asking price?

Source: TRFJ

Here’s a kitchen gadget for those that enjoy retro designs and don’t have a whole lot of counter space.  It may not do any fancy tricks, but it keeps things simple and takes away the need to have an extra timer laying out on the counter.  This would be especially great for those that feel like they need multiple timers whenever they cook, which on occasion I have had to deal with that myself.  Having one timer on the oven just doesn’t always cut it.

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For those of you that don’t need those extremely loud alarm clocks, it might be nice to wake up in a much more calm manner.  With this Philips Wake-Up Light, you can wake up a little more gradually, instead of getting a very abrupt start to your day.  All the while it can charge and play your iPod or iPhone by utilizing the built-in dock.  It might not be something that would be ideal if you’re sharing the bed with someone though.  Especially since the light does get brighter over a slightly extended period of time.

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