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P2P Alarm Clock Service
bs0d3 writes "Instead of waking up to a regular alarm clock, TalkO'Clock will let others help you get out of bed. The service allows you to choose whether you want to be called by a male or a female stranger, and it has a robot – CallO'Bot – lined up in case no one is available at the time you have to wake up. All completely anonymous of course." Not sure why this is better than your phone alarm, but if you're starving for human contact this might not be a bad option.
I can finally have a woman wake me up in the morning, other than my mom shouting down the basement stairs!
start by registering on facebook... WTF?!?
Do I have the option of a custom phrase to wake me up?
I'm thinking something along the lines of Moan My IP.
This isn't so much 'too good to be true' as it is 'too weird to be true'.
Remember the 4853th rule of the internet: find out where they get their money.
At first blush I'm guessing they're scamming for access to people's facebook data. What other angle they have, I don't see.
The English word fart is one of the oldest words in the English vocabulary.
What? Why? What am I missing? I don't even... Who would even want this?
Oh good you're supposed to agree to be 18 or older when using this service from their ToS.
I didn't want some sassy 14 year old kid waking me up in the morning.
I think it's a great idea - I can be a nagging bitch in the morning to an exponentially-growing number of peers!
Sarcasm aside, I think it's a great idea - it allows those who would like to reach out and help others in some small way to do so with (very little) risk to them, and it helps those who may feel "Why should I bother? No-one cares whether I get up anyway!" to feel better about themselves.
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Hmm, you mean there is a service that will let you troll random strangers in the morning via telephone! I'm sure that will work out wonderfully!
Color me skeptical, but to get a call or make a call, you have to give them your phone number. If I'm reading the site right, you have to confirm a text message sent to you to be the alarm clock. What I'm a bit concerned about is that they will sell this information to third parties, and I'll start getting texts from advertisers on my phone.
Maybe I'm wrong; I hope I am. Maybe these really are just nice folks who want to create an interesting service. They are in Russia (the "heart of Siberia," according to their web site), though, so although I really want to believe this is completely honest and above-board... Enh. I think I'll pass and let other people be the guinea pigs and see how it works out for them.
I have a sunrise clock that gets brighter at 30 minutes and starts playing birdsongs at 15 minutes before the alarm goes off. Usually by the time the beeping starts, I'm pretty wide awake. It also has a white noise function for overnight sounds to drown out the snorer down the hall, and a wind-down function that doubles as a night life. It was pricey, but worth every penny.
Occasionally living proof of the Ballmer peak.
Knowing my luck, I'd get an old Jewish woman screaming at me every morning. "Who's there?! Are you a sex criminal?!"
...And there it is. Pulled out of the site's Privacy Policy (emphasis mine):
"Personally Identifiable Information" means any information that may be used to identify an individual, such as, without limitation, a first and last name, home or other physical address, an email address, phone number or other contact information, whether at work or at home.
...
We may use your Personally Identifiable Information to complete transactions, respond to your requests, answer your questions, and notify you of promotions, updates, or special offers that we think may interest you.
Is it a clever idea? Yes, it is, and it really sounds like a fun thing to participate in. But if it means that I might start getting advertising texts--or worse, phone calls--then hell no. Count me out. I sympathize with them needing money to keep the service up and running, but that's just way over the line for what I'm willing to give people just for a few minutes here and there of amusement.
actually I'm more currious, what enforces the stranger to call you, I know there is a robot for backup to them if they aren't available, but what happens if they let it ring once and hang up imidiately? I mean wouldn't the service be a bit risky to count on.
"You do not want your head to leave the pillow... Your eyelids are growing heavier.... ZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz" I can't imagine how many people will be late to work because of this.
It would make a great prank to pull on one of my homophobic friends, being awoken to a man saying something along the lines of "hey there sexy"
If that's all you want to do... just post his number here, we'll be happy to help!
They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it's not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance. - Terry Pratchett
The service allows you to choose whether you want to be called by a male or a female stranger, and it has a robot – CallO'Bot – lined up in case no one is available at the time you have to wake up.
So, in other words, your choice is a male or a bot?
"Tell me doctor, with all of your defenses, are there any provisions for an attack by killer bees?"
I dial 252 (ALArm) from the device I want to be called at, and enter a time at the prompt. At the appointed time, the lovely voice of Allison Smith tells me it's my wake up call and presents me with a random 3-digit number to enter. If I don't answer, hang up, or get the number wrong, I'm called back every two minutes until I get it right. The random number business is necessary because sometimes, if I don't have to do a slightly complex task, I'll just hang up and go back to sleep.
actually I'm more currious, what enforces the stranger to call you, I know there is a robot for backup to them if they aren't available, but what happens if they let it ring once and hang up imidiately? I mean wouldn't the service be a bit risky to count on.
The robot is involved in every call. First it calls the party that will say "Good Morning". Once they are on the line, then it dials the one who needs to be woken.
If the first party just stays silent, at least the person who scheduled the call will be woken by the ring. At least, that's what I understand from the FAQ.
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Okay, seriously, what does this have to do with P2P?
From the headline I figured it was a service to wake me up when my torrents finish in the middle of the night.
next person I got my 4 year old son to say "I'm going to kill you" in his 4 year old yet creepy as fuck voice :P
and last I rickrolled them, person on phone said "Ah Shit, and hung up"
this is just too funny
especially the first one I got real good they thought it was real, they forgot about the wakeup call it seemed.
Strange, interesting idea to get in touch with total strangers. Except that waking up is the exact time I don't want to talk to strange people.
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
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Not sure why this is better than your phone alarm
Depends, are we talking about an iPhone?
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
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