If you're unfamiliar with the Ambilight technology, it's a backlight system in some Phillips televisions where the color of the screen is transmitted to LEDs behind the television set, so that the background lighting matches the color on the screen. Fans of the technology claim it reduces eyes strain and enhances the theater experience.

DIYer Fun3 wanted to recreate the effect on his television. His solution was to wire an Arduino to a series of LED strips and and control the color by a USB cable hooked up to his HTPC. Check out the video below to see it in action.

Check out his site for schematics, code, and a ton of tips and tricks for calibrating your LEDs to your home theater. If you've experimented with back lighting your home theater—color changing or otherwise—let's hear about it in the comments.

The Siemens SuperStar, which will stay spinning outside Munich through January 6th, was conceived as a project to celebrate sustainable energy and green innovation.

The SuperStar's 9000 OSRAM LEDs emit the equivalent of 22,000 candles, shining in a variety of colors and an array of spectacular patterns. Long exposure photography was used to capture the SuperStar as a vibrant spinning disk as seen above, not altogether unlike the one recently created by aliens over Norway. The video below details the process of constructing the SuperStar and shows some shots of the wheel in action.

Munich's Mayor, Christian Ude, has been an enthusiastic proponent of the energy-efficient spectacle from the start and hopes his city will be the first of its size to meet all energy requirements from renewable sources. [Siemens via Inhabitat]

The only problem is that, at 13-foot in diameter and 5.25-feet high, I doubt it will fit anywhere in our apartment. The XXXLamp uses three white light sources, but you can order it with RGB LED sources to achieve any color you want at any time with a remote controller, like the much smaller Philips Livingcolors Lamp. Oh prettiness. [Eden Design via Dezeen]

The Cubeme is made of sponge, aluminum, acrylic beads, pierogi, and lots of Polish love. [Garniec via Definitive Touch via Unplggd]

Best use of a LED in a very long time. [Thanks David Keyes]

Create Your Own Sun Jar: Lifehacker Edition

Inspired by a tutorial we posted last year, we decided to make our own DIY sun jars. The trendy summer time lighting accessory retails for $30+ but we were able to make ours for around $10 each. The sun jars proved to be our most popular non-computer DIY of the entire year and readers shared their own creations with us.

The First-Timer's Guide to Building a Computer from Scratch

Building your own computer is a great way to get exactly what you want, the way you want it, without being constrained by the limits and high-prices of mass produced computers. We showed you how to build a computer from start to finish and have fun doing it.

Turn a Sharpie into a Liquid Fueled Rocket

What's standing between you and some office mayhem? Certainly not a lack of Sharpie markers and keyboard dusting spray. Combine the two with this fun DIY project and you've got one of the most awesome pieces of office-machinery we've ever featured.

Properly Erase Your Physical Media

You need to be properly erasing your physical media: all the time, every time. Our guide will show you how to get the job done and done right whether you use software to scrub your disks or you send them to the great data mine in the sky with a 21-gun salute.

Turn an Old Laptop into a Wall-Mounted Computer

Why settle for a digital picture frame when, in the same wall space, you could mount an entirely functional computer/slideshow player/TV tuner? One Lifehacker reader turned an old laptop into a super-charged digital frame.

$8 DIY Aluminum Laptop Stand

We've always been keen on DIY laptop stands, but reader Aaron Kravitz—inspired by an attractive $50 stand—went above and beyond, creating one of the most attractive DIY laptop stands we've featured to date.

Build an IKEA NAS On the Cheap

If the Hive Five on best home server software got you excited about setting up a home server but you're not keen on another unsightly PC in your home, check out this DIY IKEA NAS.

Build a DIY Portable Air Conditioner

We've shown you how to make an air conditioner (even for as low as $30), but what if you wanted something you can put in your car and take with you? While it's no substitute for a fully-charged and factory-fresh AC system, it'll keep you cool.

Turn a Bookshelf into a Secret Passage

Who hasn't dreamed of having a mystery-story-style secret passageway? While a trick bookshelf is pretty awesome in itself, this secret passage hides a home office with clever style. One industrious Lifehacker reader and his girlfriend had grown tired of seeing their office from their living space, so they hid it behind a wall of books.

Wire Your House with Ethernet Cable

You've ripped a movie on your laptop, and now want it on that fancy new home theater PC next to your TV. If you've got the time, wiring your house with Cat-5e cable could make transfer times a distant memory.

Rain Gutters as Cable Management Tools

We're all about creative cable management here at Lifehacker, so we were instantly drawn to reader Seandavid010's rain-gutter cable management setup. He was awesome enough to send detailed photos and step by step instructions to help other readers recreate his setup.

Build Your Own DTV Antenna

The lights went out on analog television this year and we were there with a guide to help you build a great DIY antenna for boosting your reception and getting that crisp digital picture you crave.

DIY Laptop Rack Hack Turns Your Monitor into an iMac

Lifehacker reader Matt Lumpkin saw our monitor stand from door stoppers post and thought we might like his laptop rack hack as another space-saving desktop solution for laptop-lovers. He was right.

Build Your Own Pizza Oven

Suppose you were inspired by the cheap DIY home pizza oven—but weren't so sure your home insurance would cover oven modifications. It's time to build a safer, more eye-pleasing oven, and we've got a thorough guide.

Crack a Master Combination Padlock Redux

Two years ago we highlighted how to crack a Master combination padlock for those of you who may have lost the combination to your bulletproof lock; now designer Mark Campos has turned the tried-and-true instructions into an easier-to-follow visual guide.

DIY Invisible Floating Bookshelves

We've covered the invisible floating bookshelf once or twice before, but if you liked the idea but weren't keen on ruining a book in the process, weblog May December Home's got you covered.

DIY Inverted Bookshelf

Instead of storing your books upright on top of the shelf, the inverted bookshelf holds all of your books in place using elastic webbing so you can hang them below the shelf—all the while allowing you to still take them out and put them back on as needed.

Build an Under-the-Cabinet Kitchen PC from an Old Laptop

Inspired by our guide to giving an old laptop new life with cheap or free projects, Lifehacker reader Brian turned his aging Dell laptop into an incredible under-the-cabinet kitchen PC.

Turn Storage Containers into Self Watering Tomato Planters

If you'd like to have delicious home-grown tomatoes but lack a garden to grow them in, you'll definitely want to check out this ingenious and inexpensive self-watering system.

Deter Thieves by Uglifying Your Camera

A few years ago, blogger Jimmie Rodgers's camera was stolen while volunteering in an impoverished Brazilian community, so he did what any sane person would do: He bought a new camera and made it ugly. With his uglified camera, Rodgers was able to snap pictures freely during the rest of his trip without worrying too much that his ostensibly crappy camera would end up stolen.

DIY TV or Monitor Stand from Door Stoppers

Nothing adds space to a desk or home theater setup like a simple monitor or TV stand, and weblog IKEA Hacker details how to build your own stand on-the-cheap with a few inexpensive items from IKEA.

Repurpose Your Analog Television

You don't need to run out and buy a new TV because of the DTV switchover. If you did anyways, Make Magazine has put together quite a guide to giving old TVs new life.

Use Ping-Pong Balls to Create Diffused Party Lights

If you need some cheap and novel ambient lighting for your next party, you're only a box of ping-pong balls and a string of lights away from solving your lighting worries.

Build a Custom-Made BoxeeBox

DeviceGuru blogger Rick Lehrbaum, inspired by the cheaper set-top boxes, made his own higher-powered "BoxeeBox" for the free, open-source media center. He posted all the parts, the how-to details, and lots of pictures.

Build a Sturdy Cardboard Laptop Stand

You already shelled out your hard earned cash for a swanky laptop, why drop more cash on an overpriced laptop stand? Cardboard alone can do the trick, as detailed in this step-by-step tutorial.

Install Snow Leopard on Your Hackintosh PC, No Hacking Required

Earlier this year we put together a wildly popular guide to building a Hackintosh with Snow Leopard, start to finish, and then followed it up with an even easier guide to install Snow Leopard on your Hackintosh PC, no hacking required. Computers + DIY is all sorts of geeky fun waiting to happen.

Have a favorite DIY from 2009 that wasn't highlighted here? Sound off in the comments with a link to your favorite project. Want to see more popular DIY guides courtesy of the ghost of Lifehacker past? Check out our huge DIY guide roundup from 2008.

Ok ok, I'm being a bit harsh. The lights are actually pretty nifty if you've already got a good atmosphere going on, but they're not going to magically make hot chicks show up at your late night Guitar Hero tournament.

The lights range from $30 to $120 and are available now. [Rock Gear Shop via Engadget]

The Yas Hotel in Dubai's sister Emirate, Abu Dhabi, has earned the impressive (though weirdly categorized) title of the world's largest LED project, which, given that it's comprised of about 5,300 steel panels adorned with over 5000 lighting fixtures, I don't doubt it for a second. The lighting grid can change colors and display patterns, and, though it's a stretch, play low-res video.

Underneath this curvilinear shell is a typically extravagant 500-room hotel, which, bizarrely, is divided by a Formula 1 race track, meaning that this egregious phallic symbol is regularly entered and exited by other compensatory phallic symbols, raced in competition to win yet more phallic symbols, which is a bit too much for me to process, now or ever. [Inhabitat via Flavorwire]

Kind of creepy, but still amazing. [Yanko Design]

The Zero is available in several different configurations, ranging from a wall sconce to ceiling lamps to floor and table models. The lamps also come with color filters and perforations that create an other worldly ambiance with LED lighting effects. It's worth checking out Punto's other products as well—their self-titled and Linea lines are equally as impressive. [Punto via Trendir]

The company is testing the implementation of their lighting technology alongside their medical technology in Ambient Experience suites across the world.

And luckily, the other 9 modes appear far more serene than the "Australia" theme in our lead shot. Patients, in fact, are allowed to choose their own color palette, along with accompanying sounds and video that will surround them during procedures. In fact, this media environment can be so relaxing (or simply distracting) that it was said to reduce sedation needs by 28% in one Chicago-based study.

Actually, on second thought, that pink freaks me out even more than the red. [Philips via CNET]

As Unplgged noted, it's kind of like "an audio version of a lava lamp," which seems like a good way to describe a speaker that utilizes light and water. It's only a concept at the moment, but I like the visual approach to music. [Yuki Yamamoto via Designboom via MocoLoco via Unplgged]

The only problem is that Robolamps have not gone commercial, but if they did, I have no doubt that they would sell. Well, maybe not the robot that looks like it's admiring its own giant wang, but other than that...[Robolamp on Facebook via Pocket-Lint]

At first sight, the Fiat Lux Lamp is just a lamp: One plain orb with a smaller sphere attached to its side. It's just a lamp until you turn it on, by grabbing the smaller sphere and making if float under the sphere, where it will stay until you decide to turn it off. No wires. Just thin air between the lamp orb and the sphere, and the forces of magnetism. [Constance Guisset via Unplggd]

They are not just light sources, however. These LED towers also collect rainwater and funnel sunlight to the multiple levels of the 1-kilometer long Expo Boulevard. [World Architecture News via Inhabitat]

In other words, you could use duct tape to actually pimp something out as opposed to simply keeping it together. That must be what designer Keywon had in mind when he came up with a prototype called Sculpt-a-Light. By rolling the tape and connecting the ends, you complete the circuit. Of course, you would need a smaller and more effective power source before anything like this could actually be considered for the mass market, but it is an interesting idea nonetheless. [Keywon via Architectradure via OhGizmo]

The reissued design originally debuted in 1972, and consists of a simple wire frame topped with a plastic dome (available in four colors!!). And if it weren't for the $1200 price tag, we might consider making one ours. (Ha! You thought this thing would be cheap? Since when is mass-producible metal and plastic cheap?) [The Lollipop Shoppe via Unplggd]

Somebody license this, please. Time to start churning them out of the factory. [Behance via Unplggd]

I love the worn metal, but at $2,400 I would need a much better reason than liking the look to justify filling my house with inadequate lighting. Plus, it looks like it's staring at me... [Product Page via LikeCool]

The appropriately titled "Sketch Lamp" is the brainchild of Ninna Kapadia and Hung-Ming Chen and, for the moment, it is still in the concept stage. Hopefully, that will change soon because light boxes are annoying, cumbersome beasts. [Ninna Kapadaia via DVICE]

Unfortunately for people named Quincy, Quinton or Quagmire, the Turn On lamp is only a concept at the moment. [Lana-savettiere via The Design Blog]

That is to say, he made a 3D printing of a dead firefly and crammed three LEDs inside. As bizarre as this is, a whole swarm of these would make for an interesting chandelier. [Design News Now via No Smarties via Boing Boing]

One press of this oversized key will illuminate your workspace, giving you an unprecedented tactile experience and level of control over your environment. If you happen to be a food addict that spends most of their day eating and crying in the dark, I suggest going with a lighting solution that is more your speed. [CTRL Light and Shift Light]

The Diamond Light is made of mirrors and a 20 watt LED. [Takada Design via Mocoloco]

While borrowing a friend's car for the day, I decided to have it washed to show my gratitude. I pulled into an automated carwash, and while inside, I couldn't help but notice how the carwash brushes completely alter their shape from flimsy drooping hair covered rods to massive powerful beams. Could this quality of transformation be applied to the home sector? Where would a transforming apparatus find use in the home?

The carwash brushes go from limp, to cones, to beams. A lamp could use this whimsical feature to direct light, from a tube of light to a cone, to an open light source. The contraption, with its spinning, would produce a rather considerable amount of wind. Ceiling fans have not changed in the slightest ever since their introduction. Apart from finishes and rotation speed, they have always remained rather dull.

I have to agree with that last point—anyone who has shopped for a ceiling fan probably knows that it takes a lot of searching to find something that's stylish and unique. However, I have to wonder whether or not Dervish would really be functional as a fan. [Phillipe Malouin via dornob]

His concept Blood Lamp calls for users to break off the top of the bulb-shaped glass, cut their finger on the jagged edge and then mix a tablet in with their own blood. Some sort of mysterious, unexplained chemistry ensues and the bulb glows. Not exactly the most practical device ever—plus the lesson about reducing your carbon footprint might backfire in the long run. Consider how many of these bulbs you would need, how many you would throw away and how many Band-Aids it would take to dress your wounds. It seems that it would end up doing more harm to harm the environment than good. [Mike Thompson via The Design Blog]

Fortunately for my already morning confused brain, the lamp post is an outdoor ad for McDonald's coffee in downtown Vancouver, not New York. One that would have made René Magritte proud. I still need a coffee, though. And a bagel. [Direct Daily]

As much as I'm sure that some people will find penises quite decorative, I think I'll definitely pick the second one. [Rock and Royal via Mysexprofessor]

In fact, the canons are so powerful that the image can be seen during the day, even from that distance.

The photographs of the project—put in place by Studio Orta in 1995—are now being shown in the Uninhabitable? Art of Extreme Environments exhibit in Paris. [Studio Orta via BldgBlog]

The Die Nachteule also features 40 hours of battery life and a weight of only 8 grams (as you know, the Germans always make good stuff). No word on when or if this reading light will ever make its way to the States, but I'm not in any rush. The last thing we need over here is a guy wearing a Bluetooth headset, glasses and one of these things simultaneously. [Meineeule]

As you can see from the video, the switch functions wirelessly and can be placed anywhere that's convenient. It can be turned on and off with a single breath and it also features a handy night light mode. Plus, when you are feeling strong enough to lift a single finger, it can be turned on and off the old fashioned way. Sigh...if only you were still with us Billy Mays. [Amazon via zedomax]

The Gorillatorch has a big dial to adjust its lighting power—which shines at a maximum 65 lumens/1 watt on three AA bateries—and it's water resistant. The magnetic feet allows it to attach to almost any metallic surface, while the flexible legs take care of the rest. At $30, there's little bad to say about this little fella, other than it's damn cute and I want one. Make that a dozen. [Gorillatorch]

Despite what the aesthetics might suggest, something like this could be invaluable for commuters, people with poor eyesight, and fans of Tron. [Toxel via Designlaunches via Boing Boing Gadgets]

A lot of designers these days are looking at ways we can harness wasted energy in the home to supplement our energy needs, but the tp roll might be going a little too far. The idea is to harness the spinning motion of the toilet paper roll to generate electricity that powers the unit's secondary function as a portable lamp. Needless to say, the practicality of such a device is questionable. I mean, keeping this thing powered up would require more chili and cheese than I am willing to eat. [Miguel Melgarejo via The Design Blog]