Forget the hotel wake-up call

Those of us who travel for business can relate to this problem. You put in a hard day at work, jump through all the hoops at a couple of airports, reach your hotel at 10:35pm, and try to gather your thoughts (and hand-outs) for a meeting the next morning. The day will start early for you, so you go to the night table to set the alarm for 5:30am - only to be confronted with a machine with hundreds of buttons on the top, sides, and back. None of them actually say "alarm set" or anything that can be remotely construed in anyone's logic as a way to set a wake-up buzzer. You're left wondering where you could pick up a reliable rooster at midnight in New York City or San Francisco.

So, you give in, call the desk for a wake-up call, and pray it actually happens.

Well, my fellow travelers, according to this story on CNN, hotels have finally gotten the message that their alarm clock/radio/multi-disk player/bread slicers are just a little too complex to figure out at the end of a hard day. Simpler, user-friendly alarm clocks. Cock-a-doodle-doo!