Mechanical Hit Counter rings 'em up the old fashioned way

If you're curious about just how many hits your blossoming website is receiving on a moment to moment basis, but don't feel like fiddling with those questionably accurate electronic types, the Mechanical Hit Counter could be just the project you've been yearning for. As the name implies, the kit combines a vintage counter, lots of cabling, a few relays and transistors, an Ethernet interface board, a Basic Express BX-24, power supply, and an eagle-eyed webcam for spreading the excitement all over. This geeky (albeit beautiful) display of "overengineering" accomplishes a useful task by going around the proverbial elbow to reach the thumb, but even more shifty than the creation itself is its connection to the internet. The networked webcam snaps a photo of the counter every five or so seconds, giving bored surfers quite a bit of novel entertainment to pass the time. You know the drill, tap the read link for a detailed description and a killer time waster.

[Via MAKE]

[Todd @ Mar 20th 2007 2:38PM]

This reminds me of the WiFi Digg counter Kevin Rose had at SXSW. It counted the number of diggs your submitted story got in real time. Heres a pic:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/176/419848125_cba54ab57c_o.jpg

[J @ Mar 20th 2007 3:03PM]

Wasn't a WiFi counter, was just a counter that increases when you hit the button on the side. Not even close...

[JoshLowry @ Mar 20th 2007 2:44PM]

That counter has been working overtime this week. Pretty clever idea.



- Josh

Where's your head at? - http://www.StateOfBrain.com

[TVGenius @ Mar 20th 2007 3:13PM]

What? No Nixie tube? Forget it!

[genjo @ Mar 20th 2007 3:26PM]

Don't try to take this on a plane with you... ;)

[Philster @ Mar 20th 2007 4:11PM]

Awesoooommme!


That thing is getting over 100 clicks every time the picture updates. The aritcle says 5 seconds. More like 10 on my connection.

What a glorious waste of time. I totally love it.

[Luke @ Mar 20th 2007 4:16PM]

ping -l 1 -w 1000 -n 99999999 salem.dyndns.org

Do it! See how fast we can make it go!