You see, it's that mirror sheen. And those four red rings signifying the four marques of Auto Union...it's enough to get a guy to park it in front of a mirror for hours on end.

Good thing this is just an artist's concept, as you can see above. That said, if artist Poling Huang ever gets it done, I'd love to give it a quick review. Send it over in an R8 or something. [Coroflot via Born Rich]

Voelker, a German designer, says the robot is still in the prototype phase, but from the look of things it already has the Christmas tree and house routines down pat.

The prevailing "lightdrawing" technique for humans—waving a LED key chain around in the air like a madman—is not the easiest to master; at best you get a nice halo over your head, at worst you get a big ugly mess of light. But Voelker's Lightdrawer putters along, cool as a cucumber:

Robot Drawing with Light from Nils Völker on Vimeo.

Using a robot might not be the most fun way to paint a long exposure Christmas tree, but at least this way people will be able to tell it's a Christmas tree when you show them the picture. [Nils Voelker via Designboom]

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]

Dynamic Ground is a kinetic floor developed by Adam Lassy and Adi Marom for NYU's ITP Winter Show. Each interconnected hexagon is operated by a central motor connected to a light censor. When someone walks on the platform and covers the sensor, the design underneath either expands or contracts, depending on its resting state. It's not walking on sunshine so much as stepping on snowflakes. [ITP Winter Show]

Just head on over to the live stream and use the virtual keyboard to play a song, something resembling a song or a random and hideous mashup of notes that ruins the holidays for everyone. The installation will be on display at the Brick Lane Studio in London through January. [Theopane via Switched via TechEBlog]

Perhaps what makes these illustrations work is that they trust their young audience with difficult questions: Are our brains simply computers? Are our bodies mere machines? What is work, without agency? What is pleasure, without feeling? These are not things I was thinking about in 1989.

Or, you know, it could be the fact that they're utterly stunning, and look like something you'd find in an art gallery, not a rotting children's book. More at [AJourneyAroundMySkull via BoingBoing]

Human Wind Chime is a light and sound sculpture by Mindy Tchieu, Patricia Adler and Saul Kessler that comprises 25 four-inch polypropylene balls, each of which is outfitted with an LED and arranged in a descending spiral. When touched, each ball lights up and emits a sound, with each ball's pitch corresponding to its height. The result, as you can see in the video above, is an ethereal blend of art, instrument, and toy. Now if only someone could figure out how to play "Chopsticks" on it. [ITP Winter Show]

Stunning, isn't it? Apparently every single of the itty-bitty windows in the model can be lit up and there are effects to simulate day and night time. I guess that it's not surprising that the electricity costs alone are making mini-Moscow enough of an expense to get pushed onto the auction block.

Oh, if only I had the space and money to spare. I could be a Russian Godzilla. [Atlas Obscura]

It is safe to assume that as the speed of the game goes up, you're required to switch your listening from rock ballad to punk. [Like it Cool]

"Standard Time" is the work of artist Mark Formanek, who filmed the whole thing as a documentary. I'm sure there's some deeper point about the indefatigable march of time and mankind's role in a digital age, but I mostly like it for the time-lapse footage.

[Standard Time via Infosthetics]

The dinghy was made by Michael Johansson for an exhibition in Malmö, Sweden. Unfortunately, it's not a real plastic model: "Everything is painted in a unifying plastic layer to resemble the surface of a model kit. The real boat is transformed into a model of itself, and its original purpose has given way to something else."

Oh, Michael, you trickster. You totally got me there. Still, I want one for xmas. [Michael Johansson via Neatorama]

[Infinitecontinues via Etsi via Kotaku]

The paper walker is inspired by Theo Jansen's "Strandbeest" series, which comprises several giant wind-powered sculptures. It's given a helping hand in this video, but apparently can also walk without an actuator. But not too far or too fast or in a threatening manner, or it's headed straight for the shredder. [MAKE via BoingBoing]

Measuring 8 x 8 foot, three words are always lit up on the board, symbolizing the hour, minute and second. I've still got no idea how it works exactly, but it's like a big, arty version of a Tokyo Flash watch, isn't it. [Miss Moun via Moco Loco]

The Philco PC is pretty much a reimagined Philco Predicta—a short-lived but ridiculously iconic television. Then there are other fantastic touches as well, like a typewriter keyboard and a mouse that looks like some sort of repurposed handheld sander from an era when men in gray flannel suits didn't shave, but straight-up ground stubble into submission.

While the Philco PC may just be a concept, some faceless PC manufacturer should really hire designer Dave Schultze and acquire this design alongside him. Tame it a bit for the masses if you insist, but add the typewriter keyboard to some limited edition release. And if you don't make any money, you can return this free idea, no questions asked. [Yanko via Ubergizmo]

The artist explains that "humans were supposedly made from dust, so it is interesting to create other things with it," and he certainly takes to that task well. Or, if nothing, he must have some superpower that allows him to keep from sneezing long enough to make these statues:

Ashes to ashes, funk to funky. Am I the only one who somehow started thinking of Bowie after looking at Hazelton's art? [Saatchi Gallery via Metro]

The Artform No. 1 figurine was built by Mark Ho out of over 500 parts and the 17-inch, 16-pound fellow is fully articulated, which means that he can be posed in any of the shapes the human form can take and then some:

Only 25 of these sculptures have been made and, while their prices aren't listed, I can't help but want one to lounge on my desk, giving me those sultry bedroom eyes as I write silly posts. [Zoho Artforms via Automata/Autamaton via Make]

These pieces by Miguel Rivera, a systems administrator, require weekends of man hours and a massive amounts of old gear to complete (each layer of each wheel you see requires cracking the case on another hard drive, and the sculptures lack plastic or any "gluing [of] things together"). [Wired]