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How-To: Add USB power to your alarm clock

engadget.com — Modding an innocent alarm clock to provide five fine volts of USB juice right on the nightstand. Perfect for a bed-side USB fan on those steamy summer nights, a cheeky USB lava lamp, or, erm, a USB massager. Check it out.

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zepequeno 2 years 41 days ago, made popular 2 years 41 days ago

562 diggs
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svidrod, on 10/12/2007, -17/+3maybe its just me, but this seems like a pointless modification.
- bobonot, on 10/12/2007, -15/+2Yup...
  
  Favorite Quote:
  
  "If you're thinking of putting a USB port in your clock to charge up your portable brain, we'd suggest installing a small power adapter..."
  
  And why else would I do it?
- Fabozz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Not pointless at all for those of us who have cellphones that recharge via USB.
- Wisgary, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3How about mp3 players?
bsoric, on 10/12/2007, -0/+17"or, erm, a USB massager."

Now *that* would be a great way to wake up.
- livestradamus, on 10/12/2007, -4/+1Well if you can get it to massage you in certain places will certainly get the morning to a 'hard' start
- gabtgurl, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0Ya mean U can ACTUALLY get USB powered umm massagers?
JackHallows, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Yeah, this adds a lot of possibilities for an alarm.....
Embrace, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Actually this would be cool. I like my usb PSP charger simply because I dont have that many outlets and dont like buying power strips... overloading isnt cool :).
fastfood15, on 10/12/2007, -13/+1Not only is this a completely pointless mod, but it makes digg look bad to link directly to engadget! Just take the extra step and link to the page engadget links to. Sure digg is supposed to combine all the online stories, but it just makes the digg userbase lazy to just link to other blogs
- KAMI_no_kodomo, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5the story itself is AT engedget (yust look befor bashing)
  
  and this is realy usefull... I need an iPod charger and that one apple sels is to expensife. I was searching for something like this.
  
  Thanks Digg!
  Thanks Engadget!
duke_nate, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3That Kicks Ass!
deserted, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3To those of you who are saying this is useless:

iPod nanos do not come with wall chargers. You can either charge it through USB on your PC, or buy a wall adapter. I would rather do this, so I can charge in my bedroom and not have to keep my laptop on just to charge a bloody iPod.
- welshie, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I think you'll find that the iPods that charge over USB will attempt to negotiate with the USB host a large amount of current according to the USB specs. This cheap mod to an alarm clock will not have the intelligence to tell the iPod "Go on, draw up to x00 milliamps", and it probably will not charge it.
  
  It will happily power "dumb" USB devices.
tocksin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2This article could also be "add a USB port to anything that plugs into the wall". Find the internal voltage, add DC-DC converter or AC-DC converter, then connect USB port.
darkmule, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Kind of a neat story. All I need now is an Alarm Clock.. :
neko, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1My computer is my alarm clock, and it has... one, two,.... ten USB ports already. Cool mod though, I'd like to see more USB knicknacks in my house =)
deepsub, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1If someone has the know-how to do this, it's unlikely they would need to do it.
smithco, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1What I'd really like to have is a power bar with a few USB outputs. That would be a nice, simple, elegant solution.
floam, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2This is dangerous, these devices that just spit out the five volts without a host can cause damage to some accessories. The amperage is /negotiated/ between the device and the usb host. Things that break the specification such as this are dangerous and not the most useful.
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How-To: Add USB power to your alarm clock

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