Case-Mate, the people who used to make zipper booklets for CDs, built the $80 Enlighten case that lights up the Kindle at night by way of an LED-illuminated acrylic overlay. So basically they pulled a Sony: Taking what's right about e-ink, and screwing it up. You don't put anything on e-ink, for the same reason you don't read paper through a film of plastic. We typically don't write up cases, but despite its unique gimmick (okay, because of it) this one looks exceptionally pass-worthy. [CNet]

It's bad enough when pompous over-the-hill watchmakers think they can get into the cellphone business, like Tag Heuer did when it introduced the luxury-for-luxury's-sake $6000 Merediist. It's worse when they team up with an extreme car company to release a still more ridiculously irrelevant phone, like Tag Heuer did when it called up its friend Lamborghini and cooked up the, yep, special edition Merediist Automobili Lamborghini. For $8000, you get the same crappy phone as before, but with the signature angry cow shield on the keypad, and a plaque in place of the crocodile skin. Yes they'll sell a handful to bald Italian billionaires over 60, but how many of those can there be? [Tag Heuer via Gadgetell]

I love when the age-old bicycle gets a redesign, and points go to Joey Ruiter for thinking through the needs of the urban bicyclist, trading speed for agility, and stripping the bike to its simplest parts. But I never thought bike seats could look any more uncomfortable than the borderline rectal probes out there now, until lo, I spotted this rectangular sucka. Joey, you're clearly talented, but I gotta ask, how can that seat be copacetic to the culo? [Core77 via The Awesomer]

As much as I want alternative energy ASAP, I am worried about wind farms. First, they're killing off flocks of birds or at least scaring them the hell away, and now they're making air traffic control jumpy too. Because of their flailing metal blades, radar waves get super screwy around them, and sometimes cause airplanes to disappear from radar. (Cue gulp of fear.) For this problem, a firm called Qinetiq built a seemingly decent solution, layering blades with sheets of radar-slurping glass-reinforced epoxy and plastic foam. It's nice, especially because you can pretty much replace the blade and leave everything else as is. But it's just coming out of the trial phase, and will take some time before it's ready for turbines that are now in place or being built. While we wait, let's talk about them birds... [MIT Tech Review via PopSci]

Indeed, several residents of the village of Conisholme, in Lincolnshire claim that they saw bright streaks in the sky "like an octopus' tentacles" right around the time that the blades were damaged. Others claim that the damage was the result of a "cow-sized ice chunk" and even a "robot stealth bomber."

The Guardian is reporting that these mysterious lights were most likely from fireworks being shot off for one of their 80 year old residents—but that explanation is far too boring and believable. We are worried about are economy but angry (possibly drunk) aliens in robot stealth bombers are flying over England people! Everybody freak out! [NYT via DVICE]

What happens is the bats' internal echolocation, which tracks movement, attracts them to the blades of wind turbines, which presents another fairly obvious problem. But a University of Calgary researcher, puzzled by bats dying off in large numbers around wind farms in southern Alberta has found that those that don't get cut down by the blades (surprisingly only 50%) are actually dying from exploded lungs, or barotrauma; the low pressure areas around the spinning rotors, as explained by our friend Bernoulli, cause the bats' tiny air sacs to burst. Even those that do get knocked out of the sky by the blades have their lungs popped beforehand—of the 188 dead bats in the study, 90% had barotrauma as the cause of death.

I'm thinking this is going to have to remain one of those problems without an immediate solution. Hopefully the bats will evolve to realize that the massive spinning turbine blades do not equal a tasty insectoid meal. [New Scientist, Photo: Zeusandhera]

For starters, Rock Port only has 1300 residents, which is much easier to power using renewable energy than most places. Wind power currently accounts for 1% of total power consumption, and the US government only sees it providing around 20% of the power needed to run the country in the future. And even for that to happen, turbines need to become dramatically more efficient. But I'm not trying to rain on Rock Port's parade (which I'm sure every eco-freak would have gathered for, had it not added to their carbon footprint). [Science Daily via Popular Science]

I do jump off of my bed sometimes though, that counts for something, right? [Groovy Green via Huffington Post]

Wind machines were used way back in 200 B.C. by the Persians, who managed to put the wind crunchers to use for grain grinding purposes. Skip a few years ahead, and you have the first Megawatt wind turbine (pictured), which was set up on a hilltop in Rutland, Vermont, and provided power to the local grid during WWII. The turbine was affectionately known as "Grandpa's Knob." Charming. Thanks for attending Wind Turbine Retromodo 101; there'll be a test next week, so get revising. [Live Leak; Wiki]

4,000 homes?! That's seriously impressive. I know that people don't want to look out their windows and see a bunch of gigantic windmills, but it seems better than looking out your window and not being able to see very far because of the smog caused by coal-powered plants. Why aren't we seeing more use of wind power here in the States? –Adam Frucci

Product Page [via Treehugger]

There's an optional canopy you can mount on the top of the unit as well as the grid you see here that keeps birds out of trouble. Best of all, it only needs a 7mph wind to start cranking out the kilowatts, and it's capable of generating 55kWh per month of clean, effortless energy. – Charlie White

New Wind Turbine Harnesses Aerodynamics of Buildings [treehugger]