Hello,
there must be something in the air... I live close to where the Arduino is designed and I can't think of projects without including an Arduino! 
In my latest project I made a step further and adopted the Arduino-based Spark Core, which mainly includes Wi-Fi and a connection to the "cloud".
It's called the E-mail Watch, it's a very little box (3D printed) which indicates you the presence of new email messages in your mailbox. The interesting aspect is that it differentiates the notifications based on the message category (or "label", in Gmail).
So a very quick glance is sufficient to understand if you have urgent or less important new messages waiting to be read.
Also, you don't need your phone to be around, the box is fully stand-alone, just a Wi-Fi internet connection is required!
The project is all open-source, so you can customize it as much as you like, to be notified for any event you prefer.
Please take a look at the Indiegogo campaign page and make this project become a real product!
Thanks for your support and for any comments you may have! 
Ciao,
Andrea