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Bonjour is an alarm clock that factors in traffic before letting you snooze

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Anyone whose internal clock doesn’t run like a Swiss timepiece needs an alarm to wake them up. Digital home assistants like Google Home and Alexa are also becoming important for every other part of the day, so it was only a matter of time before the two came together in one device. Bonjour is just such a device and is set to launch next week.

The Bonjour smart alarm clock features everything a good alarm clock should: the ability to coax you out of a deep sleep, a nice design, and a clock face that you can read even in the darkest time of night. But it takes that age-old functionality and adds some smart features, like substantial speakers capable of cranking your favorite Spotify playlist, the ability to integrate with your calendar for automatic alarm setting, and an integrated artificial intelligence assistant that can make some smart choices in your favor.

Other cool alarm clocks: Cooler than the other side of the pillow: 7 awesome alarm clocks

Anyone that relies on public or personal transportation for work has probably experienced it: waking up at the normal time just to find that traffic has piled up along your route, or that the bus is delayed just long enough to make you miss that first meeting. If you have Bonjour, such a problem would be a thing of the past, according to the company. Every morning, Bonjour takes a look at the traffic conditions shortly before your alarm goes off. If the roads are looking a little backed up, then Bonjour will push your alarm ahead of the scheduled time to build in a little extra buffer in your routine. With voice recognition, you can talk to Bonjour and ask it to let you sleep in a little longer, at which point she’ll let you know whether the conditions allow for such luxuries. Or, if you plan for a run in the morning and Bonjour notices that it’s raining, it will push the alarm back and let you sleep in.

The Bonjour clock can also tie into your existing smart home devices, allowing it to turn your lights on when the alarm goes off, raise or lower temperature on your Nest thermostat, or turn on your coffee maker through a WeMo switch. It will also talk with your existing Alexa device, so you can expand your Alexa’s capabilities. Loved ones can even send video messages to your Bonjour, so you can wake up to or fall asleep to a message from someone special.

There are some very nice design touches, as well, like a USB charging port on the back of the clock, so you can plug your phone right into Bonjour without taking up an additional outlet space.

No pricing has been announced yet but the clock launches next week.

Tom Cassady
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