You may want to get in electronics hacking ... Look at some of this stuff for inspiration : http://www.ladyada.net/make/ http://www.ladyada.net/make/ I prefer

You may want to get in electronics hacking ... Look at some of this stuff for inspiration : http://www.ladyada.net/make/ http://www.ladyada.net/make/ I prefer not to hack just for hacking's sake, but to build something I need. For example, ATM I'm looking into building a bedside alarm light - an alarm clock that wakes you up with light. I would love one. The commercial models are stupidly expensive (169$ for a nice Philips model [1]). The electronics are pretty easy to replicate, I'm having difficulty with the case. Philips did an awesome job with theirs - great design and build. Actually, most DIY electronics suffer from the same problem : cases suck, because we just do not have the means of extruding plastic and the such. Maybe 3D printers will help. [1] http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002CGSYPS http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002CGSYPS