Have you ever heard of the app iAlarm from the early 2000s? There are a few Alarm Clock apps on the Garden from back in the day, but this app seems elusive anywhere I look for it online. There is no search term I believe I can use to uncover this anywhere, this seems to have been lost to time.
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I downloaded it sometime in the early 2010s. Perhaps some out there still have the app on their Mac, although mentions of it are few and far between. Made by Sam Gharabally who used to run xultrasoft.com, this multifunctional alarm clock app adds another option for PowerPC Macs.
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Setting it up

As far as I know, you need an unspecified version of Mac OS X. I tested this in Leopard, it should work in Tiger, and perhaps this could work on older versions Mac OS X.

• Be sure your Mac is set to the current date and time.
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• Be mindful that if you plan to rely on a PowerPC Mac for an alarm clock, make sure the PRAM battery is in good order and/or you keep the battery charged, or the Mac plugged in.
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• Keep in mind most PowerPC Macs are not power efficient. Adding more automations/utility functions to your vintage Mac could outweigh the costs of running it.
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On your Mac

• 1. Download the file and Unzip, then drag the app into your Applications folder.
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• Download: iAlarm.Zip (LEM Software Repository, 762 KB)

• 2. Launch the app to get started. You will be prompted with a registration screen, however, there seem to be no functional lockouts from not registering. Moreover, there isn’t a way to register anymore as the website no longer exists.
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• 3. Make sure under System Preferences > Energy Saver > Options, that your Mac is set to never go to sleep. The alarm will not go off if your Mac is in sleep mode.

Customize your alarm

There are a number of different ways you can get your PowerPC Mac to wake you up. This app must be left on and open in order to work. Your Mac cannot be in sleep mode or else the alarm won’t go off.

• Play your iTunes library from the start or a specific playlist
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• Custom in-app text-to-speech
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• Customize text file for text-to-speech
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• Change the directory of the iTunes library the alarm uses
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• Launch an AppleScript
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• Speak events from your system Calendar (iCal)
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• Change the amount of minutes the snooze button works for
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• Use the system default sound as the alarm clock, as well as changing how many times it “beeps” before stopping.

What doesn’t work anymore

Some functions such as calling out the weather or reading headline news no longer works, unfortunately. In addition, I cannot get the energy saver feature working from within the app. Highlighted In red are the nonfunctioning features.

How to get around this

You may go to System Preferences > Energy Saver > Options > Schedule… to set a custom time for when your Mac wakes up from sleep. This will ensure the Mac wakes up, and the alarm can go off.
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Get the re-skinned icon

I made a squircle version of the icon for the thumbnail, in Photoshop CS4. I didn’t think the original icon stuck out to me at all as an alarm clock app, so I made something which could resemble such a thing while also clearly retaining the quality of the original icon.

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If it piqued your interest, here it is. Left-click it and you’ll get a 900 x 900 image in a new page.
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Finding mentions of this app online

• This app was mentioned in Summer 2008 in the “Free iPod + iPhone Book 4“. by iLounge. The screenshot appears to be an earlier version of the app.

• Has a mention on Macuser.de as a post on January 9th, 2006.
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• A website called SourceForge has a PowerPC alarm clock app named “iAlarm” but this isn’t the same thing.
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• A MacRumors user named blueflame posted on April 23rd 2006: “A friend of mine made this widget, i just thought i would share with everyone. he also made the wonderful program called iAlarm.”

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The never-ending journey of restoring lost media

As websites and servers are taken down, files and hyperlinks associated with those are taken down as well. I’m sure I’m not the only one with a copy of this app, but it seems like the internet has all but lost this. Feeling thankful to have saved this little gem, returning it to where it belongs – in our community.

Here at Low End Mac, we believe in the long term value of Apple hardware. You should be able to use your Apple gear so long you see fit, and we want to help you maximize the life of your Apple gear. While our Software Repository is not the most expansive collection, it is a part of the continual effort, comprised mostly of bits/apps we found useful or have stumbled into on our own accord.