The Wake smart light rouses you from blissful slumber with focussed blasts of light and sound

Standard alarm clocks jolt you awake, but even sunrise clocks irritate if whoever you share a bed with doesn’t appreciate a floodlight in the bedroom when you need to get up early and they don’t. Wake ($179) is different. Installed behind your headboard, it resembles a reading light, and has backlight and sound machine capabilities. But the magic happens when it’s time to get up. Having entered your details in an app, Wake senses and tracks your body heat; at a pre-set time, it gently rouses you with a beam of light and focussed audio from a parametric speaker. Wake gets brighter and louder until you get the hint, but whoever else is in your bed should be able to carry on snoozing. Well, assuming you don’t ‘accidentally’ elbow the lazy sod in the ribs as you get up.

Craig Grannell Contributor

About

I’m a regular contributor to Stuff magazine and Stuff.tv, covering apps, games, Apple kit, Android, Lego, retro gaming and other interesting oddities. I also pen opinion pieces when the editor lets me, getting all serious about accessibility and predicting when sentient AI smart cookware will take over the world, in a terrifying mix of Bake Off and Terminator.

Areas of expertise

Mobile apps and games, Macs, iOS and tvOS devices, Android, retro games, crowdfunding, design, how to fight off an enraged smart saucepan with a massive stick.