LED

The promise of OLED technology is that, unlike its inorganic counterpart, it can be used to create flexible and nearly transparent ultra-thin screens, opening up myriad possibilities for what we can do with displays and lighting.

As far as urban bike concepts go, the Pulse from Teague (the designers behind the original Xbox among other things) looks exciting both from a fashion standpoint and a practical one. Sleek, functional and with a frame that glows with an ethereal blue light -- what more could you want?

Rejoice, all ye haters of a fluorescent future. The same legislation that sparked widespread adoption of CFL lighting in favor of the comparatively inefficient incandescent bulb may have had an unexpected result: the first significant efficiency improvements in century-old incandescents in decades.

Many predicted extinction for Edison's light bulb after Congress passed an energy law two years ago which set a 2012 deadline for increased lighting efficiency standards. But a number of companies are rushing to bring the turn-of-the-century technology up to the tougher regulations.

Ambient technology is the current rage for presenting information in a unobtrusive and, sometimes, sublime manner. Information suited for an ambient format ranges from complex number-laden data streams to simple one- or two-digit numbers. The idea here is that you can glean the same information by simply looking at the color of a cube, rather than consulting a sensor's text output.

Bye-bye, NoDoz.

Ah, the alluring glow of the LED light. Whether you're looking to create a bit of romantic (albeit extremely geeky) ambiance, or you just want to have some extra emergency lighting around the house, a set of mini LED candles is a great thing to have. They also happen to be quick, easy, and cheap to make yourself. In this video, executive editor Mike Haney demonstrates how to do it.

Cost: $5,000
Time: 1 Week
Easy | | | | |
Hard

If you need to temporarily blind someone, consider the DEF3. It's the latest flashlight dreamed up by the U.S. government's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)-and designed by optics experts Science Applications International Corporation with flashlight maker SureFire-for use as an Army-issue non-lethal weapon.