The ToyBox

Ricardo Bilton & Gloria Sin

This alarm clock concept shreds your money if you oversleep

By | June 2, 2011, 9:39am PDT

Summary: Have a hard time waking up in the morning? Maybe the sound of your cash being shredded will get you out of bed.

If you are the kind of person who believes that time is money, then it’s likely you are a fairly annoying person to be around. But it’s also likely that you will see some potential in this alarm clock concept that takes that equation to the theoretical next level.

The Shredder Clock works like any other alarm clock with one main exception: the device shreds whatever document you place in it. Mostly for effect, the concept shot above features a one hundred dollar bill being destroyed, but you can in theory use any sort of paper, whether its a love letter, family photo, or a less significant bit of currency. (Important note: The whole currency destruction thing may be illegal.)

Unfortunately, the Shredder Clock doesn’t seem to actually exist outside of these concept shots. The idea is a novel one, certainly, a step beyond alarm clocks that donate money to some unsavory organization if you oversleep. Will a manufacturer step up and make this thing a reality? Let’s hope someone does soon. Time is money, after all.

[Via wetheurban]

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Ricardo Bilton writes for ZDNet's The ToyBox. His work has appeared in The Japan Times, The New York Observer, and The International Business Times, among other publications.

Disclosure

Ricardo Bilton

Ricardo Bilton has no investments that may conflict with his work with ZDNet. Similarly, he has not worked with any companies that he may write about in his technology coverage.

Biography

Ricardo Bilton

Ricardo Bilton writes for ZDNet's The ToyBox. His work has appeared in The Japan Times, The New York Observer, and The International Business Times, among other publications. He lives in New York, and is a graduate of Amherst College.

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Not a total loss...
tkeller@... 3rd Jun
@katelymt Restore it! There's an app for that! Not really, but there is a Bureau.
Badly damaged money can be redeemed by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing.
http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/consumerawareness/a/replacemoney.htm
Never tried it myself, but I saw something about this long ago, and they went to extremes to determine the value of the remains of some very badly damage bills. BTW, Zippo lighters have (or had?) a similar program - the company would repair or replace just about any damaged lighter sent to them.
It is likely you work at McDonalds or some other like minded job.
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So you're born because it's a miracle.

Then you're told to work for somebody else to live*...


* the vast majority of entrepreneurships tend to fail quickly, thanks to excessive amounts of competition and inadequate revenue. So, in most practical terms, we have to work for somebody else. Our work makes them wealthy, but we now do more for less and are told to get used to it. Usury and slavery, anyone? Let's welcome it with open shackled arms! grin
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I hope for the wallet's sake...
SonofaSailor 2nd Jun
this thing works better than the iPhone's alarm
Just one issue:

Sec. 333. Mutilation of national bank obligations

Whoever fraudulently alters, defaces, mutilates, impairs,
diminishes, falsifies, scales, or lightens any of the coins coined
at the mints of the United States, or any foreign coins which are
by law made current or are in actual use or circulation as money
within the United States;
Whoever fraudulently possesses, passes, utters, publishes, or
sells, or attempts to pass, utter, publish, or sell, or brings into
the United States, any such coin, knowing the same to be altered,
defaced, mutilated, impaired, diminished, falsified, scaled, or
lightened -
Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five
years, or both.

http://uscode.house.gov/download/pls/18C17.txt)

Fail.
@gnesterenko OK, whoopti frikkin do.

Plaster a big warning label on the product and move on. Maybe include some "Fake money" to drive the point home. Hell, you can even use Monopoly style money! It's not hard to reproduce something that looks like money but blatantly claims it's fake.

Something like regular pieces of paper printed like cash with the modification: "This is NOT LEGAL TENDER" printed in various places all over it.
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Big loophole there:
Zorched 2nd Jun
@gnesterenko
It only says that if you deface it, you can't then try to pass it off as legal tender. It's like those coin machines you see in museums; you can smash the penny and put a design on it, you just can't try to turn it in as a penny anymore. You can shred your own money, you just can't try to pass it off as money anymore. It's now useless confetti.
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Research Fail!
seaniepie Updated - 3rd Jun
@gnesterenko This only apples to Coins. Notes are refered to in a different section. Re-research
what is it - the "iClock"?
Awesome. If you oversleep you not only lose money, you also commit a crime.
I'd just end up with a pile of $2 bills shredded next to the bed.
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Not a total loss...
tkeller@... 3rd Jun
@katelymt Restore it! There's an app for that! Not really, but there is a Bureau.
Badly damaged money can be redeemed by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing.
http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/consumerawareness/a/replacemoney.htm
Never tried it myself, but I saw something about this long ago, and they went to extremes to determine the value of the remains of some very badly damage bills. BTW, Zippo lighters have (or had?) a similar program - the company would repair or replace just about any damaged lighter sent to them.
Actually, it may NOT be illegal to use or destory coins and currency provided that you are not FRAUDULENTLY misrepresenting the currency as something that it is not...
@j.wolfe@...
gnestorenko cited to the right statute, but quoted the wrong languge. 18 USC 333 actually says:

Whoever mutilates, cuts, defaces, disfigures, or perforates, or unites or cements together, or does any other thing to any bank bill, draft, note, or other evidence of debt issued by any national banking association, or Federal Reserve bank, or the Federal Reserve System, with intent to render such bank bill, draft, note, or other evidence of debt unfit to be reissued, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than six months, or both.

So a fraudulent misreprestation isn't required.
Must be a slow day in the IT world...
If you create money by counterfeiting, the extra supply causes the currency to lose value, so society as a whole loses. That's the reason why counterfeiting is illegal.

Conversely if you destroy money, you reduce supply and everyone else theoretically gains, so it is a selfless act for the benefit of the common good. So there's no logical reason for the destruction of money (as long as it's your own of course) to be illegal.
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The point is
seaniepie 3rd Jun
@anagara No money is your own. It is nearly borrowed from the state and tied to it's federal reserves (theoretically at least). So destruction of any note would be destruction of government property. Bank notes are merely IOUs sanctioned by the country of origin.

Pi
It would be more interesting if the clock had an Internet connection and can keep you banking information. The clock can print your last bank statement and then shred it! I also wonder if you can keep your ID badge from work in it? If you snooze, you lose!
On a TV show I watched last year they hooked a clock to a bed tilting machine. If you tried to sleep in to long past the initial alarm time it dumped you out of bed. This would be a better Idea than having a clock shred your money and see you possibly face prison time or large fines!
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Point is...
vferrarajr 3rd Jun
... who gives a rats a$$! This concept is a hoot!!! LOL!!!
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Who is more stupid
Dukhalion 3rd Jun
the one who invented this clock, or the one who uses it?
They should design it so your disposable spending money evaporates into your IRA when you snooze. Thus the lazier you are, the more money you're compelled to put aside so the state doesn't have to support you, sloth!

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