Hasty Briefsbeta

Bilingual

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

3 hours ago
  • Weekday mornings are chaotic with coordinating breakfast, backpacks, weather, and school timing.
  • The author sought an alarm clock upgrade for their middle schooler that was not a smartphone or a basic buzzer.
  • Existing options fall into either heart-attack-inducing buzzers or smart displays with ads and microphones.
  • The author built a custom clock using an ESP32-S3 microcontroller, a 16x2 LCD display, and a rotary knob.
  • Key features: gentle sunrise wake-up, school calendar awareness, Spotify playback without voice surveillance, and a parent dashboard.
  • The clock displays weather, daily agenda, and bus countdown, giving the child autonomy over their morning routine.
  • A physical mute on an old Echo speaker prevents voice data collection while allowing Spotify music control.
  • The parent dashboard includes automatic school calendar integration, avoiding accidental alarms on holidays or breaks.
  • Mornings transformed from frantic yelling to an autonomous, calm rhythm with the child managing her own schedule.
  • The author considered open-sourcing the design or creating a DIY guide due to interest from other parents.