If the prospect of waking up to a GLaDOS-esque-yet-cheerful voice speaking over catchy piano music sounds intriguing to you, then I’ve got an app to recommend. UNIQLO Wake-Up claims to provide a more peaceful rousing from bed by using calming vocals and music influenced by the weather.
When your alarm goes off, the UNIQLO Wake-Up app queues some light piano music. The actual tracks played depend on a number of factors, though, as the app accounts for day of the week, time of day, and current weather conditions in generating its tunes. This all sets the stage for a computerized voice to greet you with a “good morning” and read out the time and weather.
The music here is worth touching on a bit further, as there is a secret to its catchiness: Uniqlo (a Japanese clothing company using this app for brand marketing) brought in famous anime composer Yoko Kanno to lay down the tracks. If you are a fan of the genre, like me, you may recognize Kanno as the composer for such shows as Cowboy Bebop, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, and Macross.
Check out this YouTube video to get a preview of what the morning actually holds:
http://youtu.be/9kQCeAxe_aI
