Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
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Outside the bag the box came in.

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USB bell-ringing minature steeple

For when you're bored
  (+13)(+13)
(+13)
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Simple really - a small model steeple with bells and bell ropes. The ropes are pulled by small electromagnets at the bottom, driven by a USB connection. Each bell rope is then mapped onto one of those numeric keypad keys you never use and to various system events like "new mail".

You can practice peals of bells by trying out patterns on your keypad or just use it for dramatic cascades of bells when you get new mail.

If you don't like the rather tinny sound of the little bells in the steeple, the bells will have MIDI outputs so you can drive something capable of making real bell noises.
hippo, May 07 2003

[link]






       Damn you and your chimes!
phoenix, May 07 2003
  

       Ahh, worthless but priceless at the same time.
Aristotle, May 07 2003
  

       My thoughts exactly. Beautiful.
k_sra, May 07 2003
  

       ++ Good.
thumbwax, May 08 2003
  

       A truly appealing idea. +
Don Quixote, May 08 2003
  

       + Croissant with bells on
silverstormer, May 08 2003
  

       Esmerelda! Esmerelda!
po, May 08 2003
  

       no, he just walks funny.
po, May 08 2003
  

       Could start an office war though, couldn't it? You know the guy - always has the newest mobile phone or the latest PDA. Now he'd have the biggest steeple...
kmlabs, May 08 2003
  

       Obligatory, is that a steeple or are you......
silverstormer, May 08 2003
  

       I don't know about chiming bells when I'm bored but I love the idea of analog system sounds! Croissant'd!!
Joolin, Nov 08 2009
  

       fantastic!
calculust, Nov 09 2009
  

       This is an interesting idea. Unfortunately, with shrinking the bells also comes speeding up their swing, unless you cheat and have the bells and clappers artificially actuated by hidden motors and gears.   

       //analog system sounds// - how about building this full size on the roof of your house? Then the whole street would know when a new email arrives, or when you click on an un-clickable thing.
pocmloc, Nov 09 2009
  
      
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