On its own this stylishly minimalist iHome iA5 ($99.99) clock acts more or less as a standard bedside alarm. However, pair it up with an iPhone (or an iPod Touch running iOS 3.0 or later) and it turns into something much more.
A free app called iHome+Sleep turns Apple's device, which sit elegantly on a dock extending from the front of the clock, into a control console, allowing users to set alarms via touch screen dials and sliders rather than tapping clunky physical buttons.
But iHome+Sleep's real draw is something iHome calls "sleep cards." Each card lets users select the times they want to wake up and go to sleep, the specific music they want to listen to when waking or falling asleep, the days of the week to which the card applies, reminder messages to be displayed upon waking or bedding down, and even Twitter and Facebook messages that can be posted automatically.
You can make several sleep cards and pop them in and out of the app's virtual slot at will. Students might have one for their Monday, Wednesday, Friday classes, another for their Tuesday Thursday schedule, and one for that damned Saturday morning philosophy class they just couldn't avoid.
Everything set, iHome+Sleep then begins tracking the amount of sleep you get each day. It provides weekly, monthly, and yearly averages, and offers stats on when you tend to get up and go to bed. Feeling drowsy all the time? Maybe it's because your average bedtime is 2:37 a.m.
The clock doubles as a decent little bedroom stereo in a pinch.
The only bummer? $100 clocks aren't in most students' budgets. Mom and dad had best pick up the bill for this one. Cheer up, folks: Research has proven time and again that well rested students get better grades.