Wake Up!

By Laura Heller

Much has changed since wind-up and plug-in clocks. Few of today's timepieces need winding, and even the most retro models have sophisticated LED lighting and do more than issue a screeching "brrrrring." With today's systems, you choose what wakes you--from your favorite playlist to a recording of your mother's cheery good morning.

Photograph: Gordon Beall

Tocky ($69)
If you linger in bed too long, Tocky rolls off your nightstand, refusing to hush until you stabilize it. Download music or record a greeting. Colorful silicone "skins" allow you to change Tocky's look (nandahome.com).

Bose Wave ($600)
Wake up to great sound from this CD player and radio that comes with a connect kit to access music from an iPod or other device. Connect kit ($100) also sold separately (bose.com).

Photograph: Peter Krumhardt

Bose SoundDock 10 ($600)
Dock-and-play simplicity and high-quality audio combine in this digital system that accommodates iPhones and other mobile electronic devices (bose.com).

Photograph: Peter Krumhardt

Pioneer Duo Dock ($449)
Two devices park in this system, which also plays Internet radio and streams content from any Bluetooth-enabled device like a Blackberry or computer (pioneerelectronics.com).

Photograph: Peter Krumhardt

Sony Dash ($200)
Stream music and video, check e-mail, and see local weather reports with this pint-size wireless, personal Internet viewer. When you're not playing with it, display family photos (sonystyle.com).

Chumby One ($120)
This adorable bedside assistant is always connected to the Internet via a wireless network, so you can play Internet radio, read the morning paper, and get mail before you crawl out from under the covers (chumby.com).

Alarming apps
Having trouble waking up? There is, of course, an app for that. Actually, at last count there were nearly 200 for the iPhone alone. Chumby Industries, the makers of Chumby One (see previous slide), have more than 1,500, and two-thirds of those work with the Sony Dash (above, and slide 6).

Here are some of our favorite apps to wake up to.

Flip Clock Plus ($.99)
This app turns your iPhone or iPad display into an old-fashioned clock. Click here.

Sleep Cycle Tuner ($.99)
This app analyzes sleep patterns to awaken you during the lightest phase of sleep. Click here.

Best Alarm Clock + Weather and Temperature ($.99)
Wake up with a local weather report. Click here.

Radio Mexico Alarm Clock ($.99)
This app streams music from around the globe. Click here.

White Noise app ($1.99)
Drift off to chirping birds or the soothing sounds of a vacuum cleaner. Click here.

The Radio Alarm-MP3/Radio/Nature Alarm + Sleep Timer ($1.99) is the Swiss Army knife of alarms. Click here.

Absalt EasyWakeup Classic ($9.99) Click here.

and

Sleep Cycle Alarm Clock ($.99) monitor your sleep patterns and wake you at the best times, when your sleep is lightest. Click here.

Wake-up Pro ($.99) simulates natural light, gradually waking you. Click here.

Sleep Blaster ($2.99) screams you awake, and lets you scream right back to turn it off. And if you're prone to falling asleep on public transportation, create a geographical boundary, and the app will wake you with an alarm when you've crossed it. Click here.

Air Horn LOUD! (free) is for that person in your household who is impossible to wake. It's not an alarm in the traditional sense; you just hold the phone near the sleeper and activate the horn. Then run. Click here.

Fluent News Reader (free) aggregates headlines from several news sources including the New York Times and CNN. Click here.

The Onion (free) is for you if you need a light-hearted look at the morning news. Click here.-