With the walls constructed of dark, solar protected glass, the abundant plant life of this Villamoda Galleries design is clearly visible at the right angles and the neatly kept vertical gardens appear as if they're part of the hotel's very structure and are a stunning blend of nature and architecture. I just wish there were some vines to swing around from. [WAN]

Locals use hollowed-out trunks of the betel tree to prop up the roots of the Ficus elastica (basically a rubber tree), pointing them across whatever body of water they want to cross, until the roots reach the other side and dig in. After awhile (a long while—think 10-15 years), the bridge becomes strong and sturdy enough for people to comfortable walk across. Some of these such bridges are hundreds of years old, since they just get stronger over time, being alive and all. Pretty amazing stuff. [Living Root Bridges via Reddit]

The units, demo versions of which already exist (this is assuredly not a concept), take CO2 in from the air and turn it into liquid, which is easier to store and manage. Professor Klaus Lackner, lead developer, notes that the synthetic trees are not designed to replace, say, coal plants that reduce emissions from the inside, but this could be one very useful plastic plant if it sees mass production. [CNN]

The girl who made them was peering inside the boots, which were covered with bark she said she collected over a semester in all the parks in NYC. Sensors inside the boots trigger a slow hum, as if the earth were purring, when a user simply stands in them. If the user picks feet up to move, the speakers inside make the disharmonious sound of roots ripping from the earth. The point is to encourage people to stop and connect with the mother gaia. Or something like that. The girl who made this project was super nice! At one point, she broke her project, and had to run and hot glue it back together. And later, she made sure to spray down the moss so it wasn't thirsty. Ah hippies. I got homesick for California for a bit, there. [root boots at ITP]

Furthermore, the trees inside the structure would be nourished using a windmill-powered pump system, so it would not significantly contribute to our energy consumption. Would something like this actually work? Maybe—that is until the wind kicks up and we have trees falling all over the streets of L.A. [Core77]

Regular Christmas trees have a string of lights. High-tech trees have 30,000 LEDs, 43 LCD televisions and lasers. Get the picture? Good—because the following trees definitely fall into the latter category.

Sharp's Aquos LCD Tree: This year Sharp unveiled a 26-foot tall Christmas tree in New York's Grand Central Station constructed out of 43 televisions ranging from 19 to 52 inches. As part of the promotion, Sharp is giving away televisions from the tree to those who register. They will also donate $1 per entry to the Green Collar Project—a program that trains people to work in environmental jobs. [Sharp via Link Image via NYClovesNYC]

3-D Laser Tree: This laser tree belongs in Vegas, but it was made in Japan. [Link]

Gadget Tree: Decking out trees with gadgets is a time-honored holiday tradition in certain geeky circles. This particular version includes everything from video cards to USB vacuums to floppy disks. [blogpcnews]

Pac-Man Tree: Like retro games? Well, apparently someone in Madrid does too because last year a Pac-Man tree popped up there complete with power pellets and ghosts. [Link]

USB Fiber Optic Tree: Plugging this mini-tree into your USB port will light up your cubicle in a festive fiber optic glow. [ThinkGeek]

Wireless Christmas Tree: The war against wires has moved on to the holiday battlefield with this wireless tree from Frontgate. It uses radio frequencies to transmit energy from a power source to the LEDs that decorate the tree. [Frontgate / sold out]

Motherboard Christmas Tree: All you need is a 9V battery to power up the flashing LEDs on this tree made from recycled motherboards. [UrbanOutfitters]

Rockefeller Center Tree: The Rockefeller tree is always a high-tech undertaking simply because of its massive scale. This year is no different. The tree stands at 72 feet and features 30,000 energy-efficient LED lights on five miles of wire. The star includes 25,000 Swarovski crystals and weighs 750 pounds. [AP]

Tree-hugging telco makes carbon neutral bid [TheRegister]

The MP3 LED Xmas Tree [Red Ferret]

See more Gadgets in the Gizmodo Gift Guide