Not-An-Alarm – Part 1/5 – So I’m building a thing during the holidays

Is there any better way to spend the holidays than coding from the moment you open your eyes to the moment you fall asleep in front of the screen? In hindsight, quite many ways actually, but my misguided self didn’t think of any. So here we are.

Waking Up to a More Exciting Tomorrow

For too long, waking up to alarms has been a miserable experience. The familiar sound, a quick weather update, or a routine message—none of it sparks excitement for the day ahead. But what if our alarms could transform into something more meaningful?

I’ve long pondered the dissatisfaction of waking up to traditional alarms. The monotony, the lack of personalization—I yearn for an alarm that delivers more than just the time or weather.

Vision for a better Alarm content

Imagine if my alarm could provide information tailored to my day: events from my calendar, pending tasks, local news, and of course the good old weather updates. But this isn’t just about aggregating data—it’s about transforming it and giving it an engaging style, a narrative. Don’t give me a list of tasks, give me a story. The vision is to achieve the impossible: I want to look forward to waking up, being excited about what the alarm is going to say tomorrow.

This isn’t your ordinary to-do list turned alarm. It’s about personalization—the ability to softly convey your needs to the system. No more fiddling with settings; just a simple request for an extra boost on a tough day. Or maybe you feel the sudden need to be woken up in rhyme tomorrow? It should just work, out of the box.

And let’s make one thing clear, this is not about a new alarm app. Whatever “this” ends up being, it is going to provide the content for the alarm, not the alarm itself. There are thousands of existing apps for triggering an alarm, and this solution will need to just work with them out-of-the-box.

Towards the Automagic Alarm

The future alarm (hell, every future app for that matter) isn’t about clicking buttons or sliders. We’re moving towards intelligent systems that “just get it” without requiring constant user input.

The content of my alarm shouldn’t be a mere regurgitation of tasks. A dry, boring list of things to do. It should be transformed—imperfect yet captivating, intriguing, funny, occasionally teasing. It’s about waking up in an interesting, thought-provoking way.

I picture a system that, with minimal effort, converts my preferences and day’s details into tomorrow’s alarm. No need for any manual intervention—it simply works.

Is it possible?

I’ve been thinking about this idea on and off for a decade, made some attempts here and there in the past and then always ended up shelving the idea for “another time”. Looking back, the technology was just not there. So I guess the real question is: is it finally possible now?

No clue, but I think someone should try. And that someone can as well be me.

Not-An-Alarm – Part 2/5 – Solution and feasibility