Zzz....

pzizz

pzizz is a type of software I never thought I would have installed on my mac, but not that it’s there, it’s one of the applications I don't think I could do without.

Accourding to the pzizz homepage, it’s a “personal life coaching system”... It’s not. In fact, it’s hard to describe exactly what it is. The last time I tried, it went like so:

Him: What’s pzizz?
Me: Well, the short of it is it’s an advanced form of the good ol’ relaxation-tape (except for all the humbug..)
Him: But what do you hear? Crickets? Oceans?
Me: Well, yeah.. And something that sounds like a nuclear powerplant. And this creepy old guy telling you that “thoughts are just thoughts, not reality” and soforth...
Him: oooooooooooook

It’s a hard sell. But truth is, pzizz actually works. You choose if you want to go to sleep for the night, or just for a short nap (and if so, how long you want to sleep for) — generate the audio, and then it’s off to dreamland. Guaranteed.

Now, it seems to be the same with pzizz as with Macs: It’s hard to get people to make the swich (I was doubtful of both, myself) but 90% of all those who have tried it, will never be without it again.

And both come at a price. pzizz is about 50 USD, but it’s most definitely worth it...

Aurora

The only problem with pzizz, is that it makes sleep that much better, and you wind up hitting that snooze-button that many times more than you’re supposed to.

And that’s where Aurora comes in.

Aurora is the alarm-clock app that should have come with the computer. Now, what sets Aurora aside from other alarm-apps such as Awaken, is not only that it’s free(!), but that it lets you wake up to TV, via EyeTV. (Now, because Get, my cable provider, choose to have the decoder break down every couple of hours — I have to wake up to CNN instead of BBC. Argh!)

Another nice feature, is that Aurora will not only wake you, but your Mac as well. So you don’t have to keep it running all through the night. (And pzizz can put your mac to sleep once it has done the same to you, as well...)

Also, you can have it set the sound of both EyeTV (or iTunes) and the system volume. Which is good, if you tend to mute either one.

And the best part is: not only can you decide how long a period you want it to fade in for — but you can even choose how evenly you want to fade it in..!

Conclution

These two programs arn’t the ones that Cupertino forgot to implement into OS X. These are two functions that someone forgot to implement into Homo Sapiens Sapiens. And since they did, you should at least get it onto your hard disks.

I’m not the only one to write about these programs — the Apple Blog did a very good review of pzizz, that was the one that made me aware of it in the first place. And Paul Burd beat me to writing the Aurora review. Both well worth a read.