An *EASY* "alarm clock" program?

On 9/30/05 09:44, "James M. Ray" <jraycryptorights.org> wrote:

> I know that there are various hacks out there to wake the Mac
> and turn-on some music to awaken the human, but is there
> anything with an interface that looks and works like an alarm
> clock? (It's strange to me that this doesn't exist as a part of
> the calendar program or something). Their new "Dashboard"
> thing even animates a clockish-looking thing, but this clock
> doesn't actually DO anything...
>
> Anyway, my fantasy is an easy to install, easy to use program
> that makes my very-complex iBook perform what seems to be
> a simple, obvious task.

Oddly enough, I talked about doing this the somewhat complex way with cron
once the Mac's awake in my book. But if it's awake *and* you're logged in,
the rest can be done with any number of utilities.

The simplest way, is to use Energy Saver to wake your Mac at the appropriate
time, then pick the scheduling utility you like the most from Versiontracker
and use that to run iTunes

--
John C. Welch Writer/Analyst
Bynkii.com Mac and other opinions
jwelchbynkii.com

On 9/30/05, James M. Ray <jraycryptorights.org> wrote:
> Anyway, my fantasy is an easy to install, easy to use program
> that makes my very-complex iBook perform what seems to be
> a simple, obvious task.
> --
> Regards, James M. Ray


Not sure if this will work for you but there is a shareware program
for $8.95 US called Awaken from Embraceware:
http://embraceware.com/

I use an elegant little program called Pester for all kinds of timing functions -- everything from cooking an egg to waking up from a nap. Pester has a very clean one dialog-box interface, and meets every requirement for an alarm clock with no excess fat. <http://web.sabi.net/nriley/software/#pester>

Just do a versiontracker.com search with the search terms "alarm
clock itunes", and you will get about 10 hits, mostly freeware.

I have used iAlarm myself on a number of occasions, and find it
pretty easy to use. It has an odd issue with sleep (you actually have
to initiate sleep from iAlarms itself, otherwise it doesn't work).
And it has many non-itunes features that quite frankly I don't use.
It was the one I tried first, and since it worked well enough, I
haven't bothered to explore the rest.

Tn

In Mac OS X 10.4 I used Automator, iTunes and iCal:

[1] In Automator create a workflow with these steps:

1. Set Computer Volume -- set it high
2. Set iTunes Volume -- set this high too
3. Get Specified iTunes Items -- select a playlist
4. Play iTunes Playlist

[2] Workflow -> Run -- test to make sure the volume is
what you want it to be.

[3] File -> Save As Plug-in... -- give it a name and in "Plug-in
for" choose iCal Alarm.

[4] Automator helpfully creates an iCal event with the name of the
plug-in and the alarm already set up.

[5] At this point you can use your iCal Alarm event and just change
the time to when you want it to run. I keep reusing the same Alarm
event and move it around on the iCal calendar. When the alarm goes
off it will automatically start iTunes if it is not running.

----
Kevin C. Wong
jahncsua.berkeley.edu

Just bought and tested Awaken from Embraceware. Quite nice - BUT... does not allow iPod playlists to be selected. And snooze needs to be activated by a specific button, enter or return turns alarm off.