It is a romantic object, or at least it beckons that romanticism of a lost age.   A portable alarm device, or better known as the travelling alarm clock, seems of course archaic to us now because of our cell phones, but to those that can picture life (or remember it) as it was when computerized devices were merely a drive to the town library away, these were a pretty fancy commodity.  In actuality, these devices predate computers by several decades, but this particular one is only about 40 years old.   It is a sleek-rounded design, with genuine leather wrapping and a velvet liner.   But I think my favorite part, or what I appreciated most as a child (and still do) is how manageably well it folds in on itself.  I find it strangely beautiful to watch it collapse and re-open, and it it so easily stored away.   Nothing about it is very technical or savvy, but it certainly begs the definition of user-friendly.  Of all these things though, the romanticism plays hardest at the simple fact that there once was a time when our production and manufacturing in America went so far as to dress up even the most novelty of items with quality rather than an ulitmate single-minded focus of how to make the casing cheaper and faster, while looking more expensive.   Oh, and if your cell phone has lost its charge, this thing still works, though the bell sounds like crap.