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Action figures immortalized in artsy lamps

Take a look at this eccentric array of action figure lamps by U.K. firm Evil Robot Designs. They feature painted pint-size superstars from geeky films, video games, and comic books.

Each of the six lamps in the collection has an ear-catching name like Alien Nation and Forbidden Planet. It would take paragraphs to list all the characters integrated into the 2-foot fixtures, but some notables (not mentioned in the photo captions) include Mysterio; Green Goblin; evil xenomorphs from the "Alien" movie series; He-Man; Bunnygirl "Suzumiya Haruhi"; and many more. … Read more

Fluorescent tube replacement has apps, LED, Wi-Fi

Conventional fluorescent tube light fixtures officially need to die now that a Japanese company has announced a Wi-Fi-equipped LED fluorescent tube lamp replacement worthy of being on a spaceship.

The 40W LED light panel from NetLED is networkable to the cloud, allowing users to dim the lights to various intervals of brightness (and wattage) from a computer, smartphone, RFID-enabled device, or motion/light sensors. An iOS app for NetLED is already available, and according to AV Watch, an Android version is in the pipeline as well.

As with any other technology way ahead of its time, there's a rather large cost involved with NetLED's fixtures. Each individual main tube costs 19,800 yen ($257), but the main tube can drive up to three secondary lights, which cost 14,000 yen ($182). Then you need the primary NetLED server, which sets you back another 60,000 yen ($781) and supports up to 100 lights.

Using LED lights in an office is a wise power-saving solution that currently presents a rather large initial cost, but NetLED offers some compelling control schemes. … Read more

Burn a torch for your music

Another European design to swoon over. We like the look of this Portuguese-made music system so much that we'd be tempted to get it for the design alone. The "Audio Torch" (great name) is a wireless system with a built-in CD player and speakers that's designed to fit snugly in any corner, which makes great for space-challenged dwellings. Even more interesting, it projects a menu on the wall in colors that can be changed with its remote--which, in its silver disc form, is something of an objet d'art in and of itself. And the torch … Read more