There is a very distinct difference between a digital sound coming from your computer, and another that is being produced from an actual instrument. Sure you can have a �bell tone� to give you a heads up if a message pops up, but what if you could actually have a bell go off every time you got a message?
Instructables has once again given us a project that will make sure we’re aware when any new notifications come up. Using a �front desk bell�, and a handmade electromagnet, the user would be informed any time a message showed up in the desktop email client. The electromagnet would receive an impulse from a microcontroller via USB that would sound the bell. This definitely seems to be an easy fix, and it has a sort of old-timey appeal that makes getting messages more interesting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flgRRSD1ycI