I understand that the design standard for the Harmony and Bell is to be offline and not generate any additional EMF. This does not prevent the clock from being able to set itself.
Adding a GPS receiver to the Harmony would allow the clock to determine what time zone it is in and adjust the time accordingly when DST shifts happen. Also since GPS signal is a time stamp, this will allow the clock to set the time automatically and periodically re-sync to ensure that asynchronous drift doesn’t get too bad.
This feature could of course be turned off for people who want to set the clock themself or conserve battery.
This feature would not be appropriate for the bell, only the harmony.
Hi @joelponder!
It’s and interesting thought. I’ll share it with the Harmony team and let you know if an answer comes up
PS. congrats on your first post!
I believe adding a timezone option + summer time (un)check to the current software is more realistic than adding a piece of hardware that may increase the costs, affect battery consumption and bring privacy issues.
I must admit that @roberto does raise a valid point regarding the potential increase in costs and battery consumption. However, I am considering whether it would genuinely have such a significant impact on privacy.
Let me explain: although a GPS module has the capability to pinpoint a specific location, the alarm clock lacks any personal data association, in contrast to mobile phones, which are frequently linked to user specific data (name, date of birth and even card details).
Also, the alarm clock would be probably kept in the same location (room) all the time, therefore even tracking would not be a concern.
(“Aha! He took his alarm clock to the bathroom!” ;))
Not sure if you agree @roberto ? Perhaps I’m missing something, as I don’t consider myself an expert on GPS systems
Yes, I agree with your perspective. As you rightly pointed out, “Although a GPS module has the capability to pinpoint a specific location, the alarm clock lacks any personal data association.” This implies that the GPS-enabled device can potentially link an individual to a particular property or location.
I want to emphasize that my intention is not to promote an extreme stance on privacy but rather to assert my personal choice of surrounding myself with essential-only technology, particularly those accessible to third parties.
Adding GPS should not add any privacy concern. The Harmony would remain an offline device and would have no way of transmitting any information. Using GPS does not reveal your location to anyone, GPS is a passive receiver like a radio.
While GPS would certainly add another part which would add some cost, cheap GPS receivers should be less than 10 dollars.
Likely the biggest contribution to any increase in price would be the development of the hardware and firmware, but to object to this expense it to object to any new features.
Impact to battery life could be kept to a minimum by increasing the time between time synchronizations.
The problem with this is that there are hundreds of time zones, and different timezones have different DST shifts. Selecting these through the clock’s menu would be a nightmare. If you have to connect to a computer to manually set these, it’s a barrier for those who frequently travel with their clock and need it to just work reliably, no matter where they are.
We checked different options to make automatic time changes. Briefly (if I remember correctly as it was more than a year ago) here are the conclusions:
Old school radio frequency signal (as some clocks uses today). Problems with reliability indoors + hard to find truly global solution → there may be problems in some specific locations, causing unacceptable situations. Conclusion: it is not bullet proof, therefore unaceptable.
GPS signal - this, I remember less, but I think it was also problem with guaranteed signal indoor. But maybe, as you suggest, it is worth to check it again.
We also look on the possibility of checking time from Mobile Networks (you can do that without logging to network / having valid SIM card) . It look sexy and reliable, but cost of the hardware (modem/antenna) was way beyond what we can allow in product like alarm clocks (which are not designed around mobile network compatibility).
I hope one day we will be able to find a solution for that. Truly global and bullet proof. But it is happening anytime soon.
