Philips Wake-up Light, originally uploaded by :Duncan.

We just got a new alarm clock. It has a lamp that starts dim half an hour before the time you want to wake up and slowly gets brighter. This allows the body to wake up a little before the actual alarm time. For the sound, you can choose bird tweets, a soft alarm tone, some drumming, wind chimes, or radio. We have used the birds so far, and this morning, it took a few minutes until I realized they weren’t outside the window. The clock shines through the white of the lamp base.