Gizmodo: led lights

Ikea's Summer Solar Lights Are Pleasant Looking

Jason Chen — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 16:00:00 EST

It's not the solar panels we were looking at before, but these solar lights from Ikea look pretty darn nice. Plus, they're good for impressing men and women who don't shave regularly.

Both the stick and dome lights work on the same principle—they're LEDs and store solar power in replaceable/rechargeable batteries. No external wiring is required, just place them on the ground and let them soak up the energy.

They're listed on the Ikea site quite cheaply (5 for $15, 5 for $20) as you'd expect from Ikea, but you can't buy them just yet. [Ikea via Inhabitat]

Beautiful LED Kinetic Sculpture Is Powered by Solar

Mark Wilson — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 08:56:00 EST

These simple Mobile Lights by Kyouei Design hang from the ceiling from fishing line to create a glowing kinetic sculpture with the size and shape of your choosing. Each piece is equipped with an LED, solar panel and AA battery backup, absorbing light during the day and emitting it at night. But what's more impressive is that the Mobile Lights can actually be purchased.

Pick up three for about $200....pricing that easily puts that first demo installation into the heavy thousands. That's by no means cheap, but you thought they were just an art piece or concept, didn't you? [Kyouei Design via technabob]

DIY Pumpkin Guaranteed To Make You Hollow Out Your Bowels

Andi Wang — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 21:15:13 EDT

It's almost Halloween again, and for those of you who have yet to try your hand at carving a badass pumpkin, check out Make Zine's video of a self-proclaimed "scariest pumpkin ever"—a simple looking pumpkin with not-so-simple insides. Looking at the project, it's apparent that aesthetics are not what is shocking about this pumpkin. In fact, its happy eyes and goofy grin may be enough to lure you to come over and give his nose a squeeze, until you hear the sound this squash can make!

The pumpkin is based around an Arduino board, with a few LED lights and a super loud truck horn, which definitely makes it the most annoying—or loudest, or even most obnoxious—pumpkin ever, but definitely not the scariest. Make sure you're wearing earplugs and a diaper as you head over to MakeZine to see step-by-step instructions on how its made. [MakeZine]

Joyrider, Possibly the Most Expensive LED Spoke Lights in the World

AddyDugdale — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 04:32:25 EST

Moritz Waldemeyer, London-based shiny, spangly design person, has designed what must be the most expensive pair of spoke lights evah. Auctioned off at the ICA Gala Fundraiser in London last week, the Joyrider LEDs, which put a smile on the wheels of your bike, went for almost $4,000. Perhaps that's because they came attached to a couple of vintage-style bikes that Waldemeyer has designed.

The design evokes new rave couture, with its iconic smiley face and the strobe effect, bringing kitsch glamour to the cycling experience. The minimalist components are attached to the spokes of the wheel, emitting a fixed image of a smiley face using LED lights. This effect is achieved through inbuilt microchips that are able to calculate the speed of the wheel in such a way that the smiley face remains stationary while the wheel spins.

New rave couture? Oh, man, that's just spokally old skool. [Dezeen]

Waterproof, Anatomically Correct Feeling Eggs Light Up

AddyDugdale — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 06:13:43 EDT

From Japan, Feeling Egg is a waterproof LED light in the shape of, yes, an egg. You can put them anywhere you want, lighting up places where no egg has gone before, and they sell two pairs in each eggbox.

Each egg runs on 3 LR44 button batteries and the set of red, green, blue and yellow, will set you back $59. And I hope you're impressed by the fact that I refrained from making any egg-cellent puns during the writing of this post. Oh, and no chickens were harmed during the making of these eggs or in the writing of this post.

Ah well, at least I tried.

Product Page [C Scout Japan via PopGadget]

Spin Camping Light, Your Porto-Disco

Charlie White — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 08:22:24 EDT

We're not entirely sure what you do on your camping trips, but we do know that this Spin Camping Light will get your disco jones into funky town no matter where you are. Tack this $15 sucka up in your tent and boogie the night away to its 60 LEDs. But be careful with that music selection—the bears may not have the Night Fever as badly as you do. – Charlie White

Product Page [Brando]