ALARMclock might look like a simple wooden alarm clock, but its meek exterior hides its true raison d'etre, which is to energize each morning by shocking users awake with facts and figures highlighting the harsh realities of life.

Using an accompanying app for desktop, phones, and tablets, users can select what information to wake up to each morning. Options include current bank balance, the performance of a selected stock, the number of friends on social networking sites, or even projected life expectancy based on age, lifestyle, and other factors.

All of this information is sourced from the internet and displayed on the Raspberry Pi-powered ALARMclock's 8x32 2-bit LED display, providing a sobering reminder of the constant worries we've just enjoyed a brief respite from.

The idea is to reconnect us with the "powerful motivating forces such as financial instability, social insecurity and fear of death." While Fig, the company behind ALARMclock, hopes this will motivate users to jump out of bed and get to work changing their circumstances, we suspect some people will react by pulling the bedsheets over their head and staying ensconced in the safety of their bedroom for the rest of the day.

ALARMclock is currently being funded via Kickstarter, with a pledge of US$85 or more ($105 for international orders) securing a single unit. The campaign has reached its goal and deliveries are scheduled to begin from January 2014.

The video below shows ALARMclock in action.

Source: Kickstarter