Dumb relying on just one mechanism when it’s critical.

But yes, it is unreliable. Thus, my wife, a school TEACHER, uses a battery operated portable radio, by my daughter a school STUDENT uses a plug in, hoping against hope that a power failure during the night ruins here best efforts to get to school in the morning!

If you really want a reliable alarm clock, get a small travel alarm clock and keep it next to the place where you sleep. That’s what I use, whether I am at home or on the road.

Why not use an electric alarm clock radio, I hear you ask. Because I live in, and have occasionally traveled to, places where the electricity grid is less than 100% reliable. Power lines where I live are above ground, so every now and then a lightning strike or fallen tree branch will produce a glitch in the power system which resets digital clocks and from which my alarm clock is immune. Also, in some countries you need to put your hotel room key card in a slot in a panel just inside the door to activate the electrical circuits in your room (if you’re in a really good hotel, pulling out the key will start a timer which gives you a few minutes to make sure you have everything you need before leaving the room; in ordinary hotels pulling the card immediately turns out the lights), and obviously electrical clocks will not work properly in such a hotel. Yes, the battery runs out eventually–I think I’ve replaced the battery exactly once in my alarm clock, which I have had for at least 15 years.

@Lyle: I’m waiting for the next generation iPad – I expect to see people holding it to their heads and using ’em as phones. Or maybe they’ll be wearing bluetooth headsets – but that’s still one whopper of a phone.