Here's a lovely hack — hooking up an "antique" (repro) weather-clock to a web-based weather service:
I used a fake antique (replica) that I picked up for cheep on ebay. I took out the clock work, and replaced it with a servo and used a phidgets USB – servo controller so I could control the servo from my computer. I had to use some gears so that the needle shaft would turn 360 degrees, since the servo only turns about 180. I also re-designed the face of the clock keeping a similar look to the original time piece. Once that was all set I created a little flash application that would connect to yahoo! weather service, and update the servo. I made it so it could toggle between current condition and the local forecast, and also made it so I could enter another zip code to see what the weather is in other places. Their weather service reports something like 40 different conditions, so I had to condense some of them, I combined some things, and ended up with 14 'conditions'
(via Gizmodo)
