Thing 3: Utilities

For Thing 3, we are to try out a new app to help make our devices more useful. I went for iHome Sleep. From the 23 Things website:
"iHome Sleep is a feature rich alarm clock app allowing users to set fully customized bedtime and wakeup routines. Sleep to calm sounds, wake to your music, and read Overnight News, a summary of what happened on your social feeds while you were sleeping. iHome Sleep also provides users with a useful sleep log, and sleep stats so you can begin monitoring and improving your sleep."

That sounds fun to explore, right? I was interested to hear what alarm sounds they have. Honestly, I wake up to the music on my Hello Kitty clock/radio and my husband's overlapping church bell alarm on his iPhone. So I was up for something new. It also sounded useful to be able to track the hours that you sleep. Mine tend to be too much = never enough.

Downloading iHome Sleep was simple. Customizing it was too:

 

Alas, the alarm sounds are sadly disappointing.  Your choices are:

 

• Bells (mournful, for whom the bell tolls types)
• Buzzer (abrasive!)
• Disco
• Fire Alarm (Are they kidding?)
• Groove 
• Old Phone (ring! ring!)
• Xylophone

 

These are ick. When you get the iHome Sleep app, they let you know that there is an iHome Zen app with additional noises, for 99 cents. That sounded more like it. I imagined being awakened by singing bowls. So, I sprung for it and was again disappointed to find that there are no more alarm noises, but only gentle noises for falling asleep. I usually fall asleep to no noise, but there are nights when the attic squirrels that are sharing my house sound like they are holding a little party and bowling on the ceiling. Assuming that I can hear it over our dogs' agitated barking, some relaxing sound would be welcome. With iHome Zen you get:

 

• Box fan
• Brown Noise
• Car (?)
• Light Rain
• Marsh (sounds like peepers or crickets)
• Meditation (sounds like background soundtrack in relaxation portion of yoga videos)
• Pink Noise
• White Noise
• Zen (subtle)

I didn't know that noise came in several colors. Whether brown, pink or white, it all sounds like TV fizz to me. I think that the rain would make me get up to go to the bathroom too much to be useful. I might listen to Meditation though.

 

I set this up a few days ago, but I still haven't used it. iHome Sleep seems like a good idea, but honestly, most nights I'm barely able to take off my mascara and put on wrinkle cream before I crawl into bed, so I haven't taken the teensy bit of time required to enter what time I retired. Necessity has not forced me to use it, because I have Hello Kitty. I will probably only use this app when I travel.