I built my daughter a custom alarm clock because everything on Amazon sucked

https://reclaimtheday.substack.com/p/i-built-my-daughter-a-custom-smart

Comments

pneedlemanSep 26, 2026, 6:59 PM
My daughter had an iPad and would listen to it at night. Eyes glued to a screen at bedtime drove my wife and me crazy. It would also just keep playing indefinitely unless I remembered to go in and turn it off, along with having to manually manage her Yoto alarm on holidays and school breaks. We wanted her to be more independent and listen to music WITHOUT a tablet in bed.

I ended up building my own because I couldn't find anything on the market without microphones that also had a Spotify controller. This has been going strong in her room for ~1 month now. Features include, alarm sync'd with her school district days off, weather (and alerts), Spotify, Hue, Sleep timer, parent dashboard, and much more.

rayladSep 26, 2026, 8:11 PM
Looks cool but you may want to rethink the blue LED for an alarm clock, because blue light interferes with sleep.

https://www.health.harvard.edu/healthy-aging-and-longevity/b...

pneedlemanSep 26, 2026, 8:44 PM
100% - the screen automatically turns off at night based on Sunset time, and turns back on at sunrise (unless alarm goes off before).

You can also get a classic green or color display with negative display and use custom backlight colors (https://www.adafruit.com/product/399)

bdangubicSep 26, 2026, 7:05 PM
fantastic. i would easily pay $150 for a product like this
pneedlemanSep 26, 2026, 7:13 PM
wow, means a ton. my daughter has actually been insisting that I sell them and had to get her approval to open-source the code this week.

Code and materials are on my github: https://github.com/pneedleman/reclaim-spotify-clock The off-the-shelf hardware runs around $60.

If enough folks would rather have a pre-assembled plug-and-play kit instead of soldering it themselves, I might seriously look into doing a small-batch run or Kickstarter.

sieveSep 26, 2026, 9:51 PM
Crowdfunding takes the guesswork out of these things, and is a throwback to the old days of patron/subscriber supported ventures. A Kickstarter will let you know exacty how much demand there is for this before you order a single piece of hardware.
GlemmlkoSep 26, 2026, 9:50 PM
You are adults, you can control what your kid gets and what not.

No kid needs an iPad.

Man are you kidding me?

pedalpeteSep 27, 2026, 12:23 AM
From what I could see in the blog, pneedleman asked AI about the perfect alarm clock, but didn't ask his daughter.

Did the daughter get involved in the design/build process at all?

It seems like a great opportunity to engage the daughter in some way. Better than buying off Amazon, better than just having AI do it.

Maybe I'm wrong or missed it in the blog, but I didn't see any reference to the daughters involvement at all.

pneedlemanSep 27, 2026, 1:31 AM
really good feedback. I made it for her for her 12th birthday as a surprise, and I can update the blog to make that more clear.

Since then, I have asked her for feedback and we made some tweaks. She is more excited to market/sell it, than build. I mentioned that at the end of the post and got her permission to open source it. She really wants to try to sell these which I am not as excited about due to being a full time parent & professional.

gabrielsrokaSep 26, 2026, 9:49 PM
Obligatory, related from Ben Eater https://youtu.be/3XDH-fZKnQk

"Let's build a digital clock", part 1, Aug 2026

gamblor956Sep 26, 2026, 10:30 PM
There are a dozen clocks that show up on Amazon with all the desired features from the AI-written blogspam post.
pneedlemanSep 26, 2026, 10:36 PM
I'd love to see them :)
duhhhhh1212Sep 26, 2026, 10:17 PM
https://www.pangram.com/history/bb207b47-52d0-41fe-bb60-e135...

Don't waste your time.

lumensolarSep 26, 2026, 10:18 PM
I assure you the clock is real :)

I used AI to help with writing but I it’s not 100%. Do with it what you will.

duhhhhh1212Sep 26, 2026, 10:22 PM
I believe that. I just don't like reading AI written blogs.
linuxkernalSep 26, 2026, 9:55 PM
[dead]
jendndjdjSep 27, 2026, 6:02 AM
[dead]