ShareBrained Technology offers this wonderful and ridiculous open-source clock…thingie. You can buy it fully assembled, as a kit, or as a raw circuit board. If you’re really brave and/or have too much time on your hands, they even offer the circuit board layout so you can print your own.

The Chronulator starts life as a clock, showing the hours and minutes on two old-school analog panel meters. Dress it up to look like old test equipment, audio VU meters, or motorcycle gauges. Mount it in a picture frame, shadow box, computer case, plush toy, pumpkin… Customize the code and hardware to make the meters indicate something other than time — network traffic/lag, outside temperature, freeway congestion, terror threat level, stress level, whatever! Let your imagination run free.

The image shown here is a sort of steampunky design, but users are encouraged to share their own models on the site’s forum.

Man, I can’t wait until Shadowboy is old enough to learn to solder. I’d love to build this with him.

Link (via BoingBoing)