The digital hourglass
Excellent project – “The digital hourglass is a German design project, developed by Susann Hamann and Fabian Hemmert from Germany. The project was created for two classes in the “Interface Design” course of study at Potsdam University of Applied Sciences, supervised by Prof. Reto Wettach. Aiming to create a new alarm clock, Susann and Fabian focused on the amount of sleep, not on the time of waking up. Also, the interaction should be intuitive and close to what would be done with a real hourglass.” [via] Link. More here (German).
Here are two great how-tos from the Sony mini disc forums “How to build a high quality stereo / binaural miniature microphone Required parts: – 2 omnidirectional miniature electret microphone capsules (get the best ones you can find / afford – your selection will have a major influence on the sound quality) – 3.5 mm stereo connector with cable, preferrably shielded – a few inches of heat shrinkable tubing, slightly larger diameter than the capsules” 