Here is a project that you can build to show you some instant stats on almost anything you may want, emails, number of Diggs an article has, CPU usage of your computer, etc. There is a great build log for the project and the creator has released the entire project so you can build your own. You will find source code, schematic diagrams and even the PCB file on his site.

Build Log
Project Site

“Ever wanted to know how many diggs your latest digg submission is getting? Or how many unread mails you got? Or the current load of your server? How many hits your homepage is getting? The exchange rate, gold price or your portfolio value?

And you you want this on a display that’s easy to read across the room and can be chained to several display for showing multiple values without scrolling or changing?

Then U-Disp is something for you.

U-Disp is a eight character seven-segment display that you connect to your computer by USB. The display is controlled by a Windows Service (background) that are pulling information from a multitude of sources and can be configured to display in on one or several displays.”