Everyone has a smartphone nowadays but one of its biggest problems is information overload. The phones and apps we rely on every day demand our attention constantly. Smartwatches were supposed to save us from notification overload, but declining sales show they’re not really the answer.
One of the biggest problems with smartwatches is that they just mirror notifications from our phone instead of giving us the notifications we actually need at the right time. Smartwatches are also deeply personal, meaning your experience is only tailored to you.
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But what happens if you want to share that experience with your family or roommates? There hasn’t been an easy solution until Glance Clock. Instead of throwing every notification at you, you get to select which ones are most important and when they should show up.
This connected clock lets up to five family members or friends share a central notification hub for things like calendar events, fitness goals and much more. Glance Clock talks to your Android or iPhone to send relevant data to the clock. For example, you can set Glance Clock to give you weather updates when you’re making breakfast so you’re never caught in the rain.
The best part? Glance Clock works with other Internet of Things devices in your house and supports IFTTT to set up automation. If you have Amazon Echo, it can act as voice control for your Glance Clock so you can ask it to pull up your agenda or to display what song is currently playing. Glace Clock can currently show you notifications and play notification sounds, but does not read things like text messages back to you.
“I was inspired by a book called Enchanted Objects by David Rose,” said Glance Tech CEO Anton Zriashchev. “He wrote about how the future of connected devices, the Internet of Things, where ordinary objects could do something more. I can I make data valuable? So we decided to make this interface for a familiar object.”
Glance Clock features an aluminum frame, cloth face, and an array of white and RGB LED lights it uses for its display. You have a choice of three colors: Silver, Graphite and Copper. Glance Clock also features a battery that lasts from up to six months on a single charge, depending on how many notifications you get. If you don’t want to worry about charging the clock, you can plug it in via the included cable.
Glance Tech, the makers of Glance Clock, smashed their original $50,000 Indiegogo goal with over 2,219 backers pledging $288,014 to bring the project to life at the time of this writing. The clock will cost $200 when it goes on sale Q2 2017 but backers on Indiegogo can snap one up for $129. You still have 11 days to back the project so you’d better hurry!
The $99 intro price has already sold out as you can imagine, but you can still get two clocks for 50% off the retail price. There’s even a Family Pack of 3 clocks for $297. If you’re working in an office, you can pick up a package of 11 clocks for $999.
For those wary about purchasing from an unknown company, Glance Tech will offer a 1 year warranty on the Glance Clock. The company also promises to continue supporting its app with more features after launch.
