An alternative timer for those who have difficulty "seeing" time -- Windows Desktop Gadget flavour.
Time Sense is a tool that represents time as a finite resource. Instead of a simple "count down", you can see a progress indicator that reduces over time until the target date is reached. For added clarity and (potentially) to convey a sense of urgency, the indicator also changes color as time passes.
I needed a digital "hour glass" that could adapt to counting down events that span minutes, hours, weeks, even years. The key element here is the hour-glass(yness?) of the tool.
When the sand passes from one half of an hour glass to the other, it visualizes time as a limited resource that is running out. I find this to be way more informative and stimulating than a simple countdown of say "10 days to Trade show".
The goal of Time Sense is to convey concise information about the progress towards a future event without being overwhelming.