Among all the gadgets, gizmos, and electronic items I've had over the years, there's one thing I've always kept: my Timeband digital alarm clock (made by the legendary Fairchild Semiconductor). My mom bought it sometime between 1976 and 1977-during the dawn of LEDs and digital readouts-and I somehow ended up with it.

The clock had been in service more or less continually since it was purchased over 30 years ago. I had recently put the clock in my son's room so he'd have a clock he could see from his bed. I went in this morning to wake him up and I noticed my clock was on 12:00. Guessing the power went out, I tried to set the time. No dice, it wasn't doing anything but emitting a low buzzing. It's dead.

This clock told time, had an alarm that could wake the dead and a snooze bar. An on/off switch for the alarm and buttons to set the clock time and alarm time were all it had. It's not all that different from digital clocks today, except that this was one of the first ones ever made.