light

Lighted keyboards have become increasingly common, ranging from those that can fold away to ones that can withstand military conditions. But those might not be options if you have some kind of Tourette-like reaction to lights under your fingertips.

Enter this alternative from Korean inventor Spike Kwon (gotta love the name), which illuminates the keys with an LED bar situated just above the top row. Though still in the developmental stages, it seems to be farther along than most concept products because it's gotten approval from the World Intellectual Property Organization, according to Gizmowatch. The best part is … Read more

Regular readers of this space know that there's no shortage of lighted and roll-up keyboards. But one that combines both? Now there's a neat trick.

The "USB Illuminated Roll-Up Keyboard" from USB Geek does just that, made from flexible silicone with a "sapphire blue" electroluminescent coating. Resistant to water and dust, it even coming in a choice of two colors--white and pink--for a mere $27, according to Technabob.

We think this is pretty nifty as is, but someone is bound to ask this question (so we will first): When will there be … Read more

So you've popped new, corkscrew-shaped, compact fluorescent lightbulbs into every lamp at home. Fingers crossed, your next electrical bill will shrink now that those wasteful incandescent lights are gone.

Millions more people may soon follow in your footsteps. A California lawmaker wants the state to ban the sale of energy-wasting incandescents altogether, as Australia is doing. Meanwhile, campaigns such as Yahoo's 18 Seconds promote switching to CFL bulbs, which are getting more shelf space in Wal-Mart stores.

However, the funny-looking fluorescents pose a pollution problem. Their energy savings may be ecofriendly, but each bulb contains enough methylmercury to … Read more

Burglars in Japan are a stubborn lot. Undeterred by traditional alarms, they apparently need more incentive than just deafening sounds to drive them out of a victim's home--such as floodlights. That, at least, seems to be the reasoning behind a new intrusion alarm system from National Japan that, when triggered, turns into a flashing light display that would make any raver proud. It also sounds an eardrum-popping alarm too, according to Newlaunches, for $425. So much for a quiet morning with Jeeves.

I'm sure there are plenty of people out there who are hesitant to go camping these days because of their overwhelming dependence on gadgets: digital cameras, iPods, BlackBerrys, cell phones, and the like. Spending several days without the ability to charge said gadgets would be, well, torture on the level of being forced to listen to that Darwin audiobook. But now there's a solution: the Eureka N!ergy tent, which comes with a "power pack" to keep your electronic gizmos juiced up. It'll set you back $300. (Pocket change!)

The catch is that the Eureka … Read more

We know that stranger things have happened, but let's hope that headlamps don't become a fashion trend. We're a bit worried after having just seen a 24-LED version a few days ago, only to find another fetching piece of illuminated headgear pop up on in the gadget blogosphere. Shiny Shiny rightly notes that "you'll look an absolute twit" wearing one of these items from the U.K.'s Millets outdoor store but, if you do happen to get lost or fall into a ditch, its flashing mode would probably come in handy. Or you … Read more

We're not terribly fond of gadgets that change colors just for the sake of doing so--some Cravers are downright indignant, in fact--but this one may be an exception. If nothing else, Aigo's "Omnisphere" deserves at least some credit for its sheer number of colors: 4,096 of them in "high-illumination LED," according to Gadget Candy.

Like so much raver chic gear we've seen, this one has a brightness control that can be set to the beat and volume of the music. Not only that, but it will play the songs from an iPod … Read more

A group called "Switched On London" is trying out a cool new public art concept that's called "guerrilla lighting." Designed to raise "awareness of the power of lighting," guerrilla lighting involves a team creating "transient lighting designs" using various luminescent devices and color filters. They set it up, switch the lights on simultaneously when they hear the signal of an air horn, and photograph the lights. Then they turn 'em off and move on. The results, as this photo shows, are quite lovely. Why is all the cool stuff only in the U.K.? (… Read more

We've seen the light, and it's crushable.

The U.S. military will use a flexible, lightweight and, yes, crushable light panel made from an electroactive polymer-based material to light up tents and other "softwall" shelters. These SuperFlex panels can be folded, spindled and even stabbed and still kick out either visible or near-infrared light.

Produced by Crosslink of St. Louis, SuperFlex promises to turn almost any object into a light source thanks to a polythiophene-based, conductive polymer known as PEDOT. Virtually anything--textiles, composites, plastics or metals--can be coated with SuperFlex and then plugged into any AC … Read more