"Just five more minutes" is a lie that many of us tell ourselves every morning. As the unpleasant sounds of an alarm blare us into consciousness, it's hard to not roll over and try to squeeze out whatever fleeting time we have left for extra snoozing. But what about an alarm that jarred us in a fun way, doing its part to ensure we wake up not begrudgingly, but refreshed and ready to take on the day? The designers at Habitco are hoping that their alarm clock with a toaster's aesthetic and functionality, named the Day Maker, will do just that.
Though it resembles a toaster, the Day Maker is a device that has one or two ("single slice" vs. "double slice") charging docks for Apple devices, a clock on the front face and a speaker system. After setting your alarm on your iPhone, you can push it down it into the slot, where it will charge and rest until it's ready to wake you up. Like a piece of toast, your phone will spring up from the Day Maker and play the playlist of your choice to wake you up. Not ready for the morning just yet? Instead of flailing your arms to hit the snooze button on a traditional phone or alarm clock, you can simply push the iPhone back into the Day Maker where it will initiate a snooze period.
Day Maker also offers the Day Maker app so you can customize playlists and see the weather and schedule from your very first alarm. The app also offers the ability create your own wake sequence, which you can share with other Day Maker owners, and compare the average sleep cycles -- or snooze hits -- from around the world.
"The way we see it, waking with a standard alarm is pretty sadistic," Michael Kritzer, a designer at Habitco, told Fastco. "The loud, disembodied sounds they engender create an environment of chaos and panic, driving us from a state of tranquility and rest into one of fright and confusion. Though we must admit that they're functionally effective, sadly they're also very traumatic -- and any form of trauma has a way of negatively affecting our mood."
The group is currently fundraising on Kickstarter to try and make the Day Maker a reality, with an ambitious goal of $275,000. The high cost for this particular project is due to the fact that it requires an intricate system of moving parts and molds on the inside. $140,000 of the $275,000 raised would go toward "part tooling and electronics -- mold creation of Day Maker's inner moving pieces, motherboard tooling, and high fit and finish outer casing." The company has currently raised around $32,000 with 40 days to go.
Backers of $100 to $125 will receive the Day Maker, available in four different colors, at a discount of the $180 retail price.
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