Total blackness.

Your sleep patterns require it.

Which makes the unquenchable digital glow of your regular alarm clock a nemesis of sorts. One that will take some effort to thwart (without physically destroying it like the others).

How about a block of wood that listens to you.

Stay with us here.

Meet the Gingko Wood Alarm Clock, a handsomely designed piece of wood that displays the time only when your alarm goes off (or if you’re humming a tune nearby), available online now.

Look, sometimes you have trouble sleeping. You misplace your sleep mask, and the too-bright night-light starts to annoy you, and suddenly you’re watching Magnum, P.I. reruns until morning (the only silver lining to insomnia).

Enter this. When left alone, it’s a charmingly simple block of fiberboard that looks like a big black Jenga piece. Harmless. But after you’ve plugged it in and set it up, the display is activated only by sound. So when the alarm blares, it lights up. Tap on the table it’s perched upon, it lights up. Snap a finger or say, “Hey, tell me the time, Woody,” it lights up.

Basically, any nearby noise in the bedroom keeps it aglow.

Hmm. Maybe this should be for the guest room.