A random project idea for the record: Universal displays.
I thought I should take a controller and attach a moving coil meter to its PWM output that will show anything given to it (by UART probably, or I2C) as a value. A few other things would be easy to add even if I start with something like a tiny AVR or msp430.
Another similar thing would be a 7-segment LED (and/or LCD) display with a tiny2313 or such.
Just a few general purpose modules instead of a complete self-contained device.