Digital clocks are notoriously hard to read in the wee hours of the morning when my eyes are bleary or I'm not quite awake. For those people requiring glasses, the situation is even worse, as the glasses are sitting on the night stand instead of one's nose. The similarity of certain numerals (e.g. 5 and 6) makes one uncertain whether the time is nearly 5:30 (allowing another hour of sleep) or nearly 6:30 (making further attempts at sleep pointless as the alarm is about to sound).

I propose that bi-color LED's be used in numeric displays on digital clocks. When the hour is even, the digits show red. When the hour is odd, the digits show green.

Alternatively, the digits show green all the time except for the 30 minutes prior to the alarm time. When the alarm time is less than 30 minutes into the future, the digits show red.

Some models could use blue and amber instead of red and green to help out those who are red-green color blind.
-- BigBrother, Nov 14 2001

Tactile alarm clock http://niad.disinhe...m?ID=492&SubID=4011
Designed for the blind. A tactile clock where one feels the clock hands. [bristolz, Nov 14 2001, last modified Oct 05 2004]

Whassa Nixie? http://www.netcomuk...wl/mikesclocks.html
All will be explained here, and shows you clocks too. [StarChaser, Nov 14 2001, last modified Oct 05 2004]

<aside for [StarChaser]> http://entries.the5k.org/365/t.htm
Have you seen this one? [angel, Nov 14 2001, last modified Oct 05 2004]

Changes brightness at pre-set time http://www.amug.org...omas/clockpage.html
Could program it to be dull display until time to get up, then bright. [oldvan, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004]

Gah. My web browser died in the middle of posting this. Sorry for the fragmented original.

[PeterSealy], I spent quite a long time searching Google and have not found it yet. I'm still trying to find a search phrase that eliminates the 135,000 or so hits for applets that allow you to customize the color of the clock numerals on your computer screen.
-- BigBrother, Nov 14 2001


What we need are 5's that don't look like 6's - even if you're severely nearsighted.

We should do away with the current LED bar style display and replace it with something easier to read.
-- phoenix, Nov 14 2001


talking clock - baked ?

get one of those clocks that shadows big numbers onto the wall.

By the time I had worked out if red was even or odd or what, I would be well awake and back to sleep concept a thing of the past.
-- po, Nov 14 2001


How about a tactile clock that you can hang on the side of the bed and just reach down and "feel" what time it is?
-- bristolz, Nov 14 2001


I always assume that it's the earlier of the possible times and go back to sleep anyway. Alarm? What alarm?
-- DrBob, Nov 14 2001


bristolz - you are a genius - post it
-- po, Nov 14 2001


[po], TY. I did a search and the tactile clock is baked. For the blind, naturally. See link if interested.
-- bristolz, Nov 15 2001


How about a bargraph of LEDs instead of numbers? Start with all LEDs on (say 20 LEDs for 8hrs sleep time) and when you're down to only one LED...you're gonna have to start ironing your shirt soon.
-- goodie, Nov 15 2001


Use Nixies. They show actual numbers, looking just like ->5 and 6, rather than bunging a bunch of straight lines into something that almost, but not quite, is correct.

But I like clocks and anything that makes them cooler is good with me. Bread for you.
-- StarChaser, Nov 16 2001


Angel, re link: Yes, is cool. Just wish it'd stay in the middle instead of sliding back and forth...Oddball clocks are one of my favorite things.
-- StarChaser, Nov 17 2001


(Angel's link) I could watch that for hours - hypnotic but try working that out in the middle of the night - whoops got to get up, its half past Tuesday
-- po, Nov 17 2001


FONTS!!! All you need is fonts! A large display area with user definable fonts, colors for text and backgrounds, and automatic backlight for low light conditions. Then allow the user to select the amount of information displayed (hours, minutes, seconds, date, alarm time, and so on) scale and placement of info. Windows based watch?
-- edzspace, Dec 03 2002



random, halfbakery