Giz: How did you come up with this idea?
For several years, Kyle has done an automated Christmas light display using hardware that he has worked on at National Instruments. When he started playing Guitar Hero this fall, it sort of just seemed like a natural fit...couple that with the fact that Guitar Hero is more popular than ever right now, and it seemed like the perfect idea and timing.

Giz: How long did the whole thing take you guys?
Probably about 30 hours...most of which was spent the weekend before it's debut modding the Frets on Fire program extensively. The basic cubicle light design had been done years past, so I was tasked with wiring and setting most of that while Kyle investigated the ins and outs of programming with Python, a language neither of us had used before this project.

Giz: Can you explain the process? How did each piece hook up?
First, I'll hit the hardware side: Kyle's Dell Athlon 64 x2 XPS (running XP SP2) was hooked up to 2 NI 9172 USB CompactDAQ (Data Acquisition) chassis, one in the front corner and one in the back. Each of these chassis held 4 NI 9481 quad-channel relay modules, resulting in 16 channels per chassis and a total 32 independently controllable channels. The 32 strings of lights hung around the cube were wired individually (by me) into the relays. Using hardware timed generation, all 32 channels were updated every millisecond. Add on the USB XBOX 360 Guitar Hero 2 controller, and the system was ready for some code.

Alright, on to the software side of things: The Frets on Fire game was written entirely in Python but the API for controlling the cDAQ modules was written in C. Thus, a colleague (thanks Joe!) used SWIG(Simplified Wrapper and Interface Generator, seen here) to make the API available from the game code. Once this was available, Kyle and I teamed up to "pair program" the modded code (Kyle at the keyboard, and me behind him questioning things and generating ideas). Since we had very little knowledge of the language or the game's structure, the biggest challenge was understanding the game's composition, learning how all of the variables we needed were captured, and deciding exactly how to insert our light-controlling code. Oh...and keeping it from crashing...

Giz: What was the hardest part (besides actually playing Fire and Flames on expert)?
Well...besides the fact that autoplay could not handle Fire and Flames on expert (it's just too hard!) I guess we'd have to go with maintaining overall stability. That, and finding a way to counteract the delays our code imposed so that the lights were actually in sync with the sound.

Giz: Are you guys going to do a fireworks version for NYE?
You know, if a box from Gizmodo arrived with the right equipment, it would be tough to ignore.

Giz: And anything else you guys feel like the world should know (like which one of you is the better player)
Well, neither of us are superstars, but I think I have a slight edge in the competition. Also, I am actually a full-time student at Texas A&M and don't work at National Instruments...but maybe someday soon! Thanks for your interest and time, and we hope everyone enjoyed the display!

Thanks Colin and Kyle!

I just look at most of these gift guides, and I think how terrible I'd feel if anyone bought me any of this stuff. First, because it's pretty expensive. But second, most gadget freaks end up begging, borrowing and stealing to get the main stuff they want, or are very opinionated about the exact gear they're hoping to get. I suppose it serves some purpose to clueless parents grasping for ideas. But maybe it's time for the retailers to start making Xmas gift registries, as disgusting as that sounds.

Despite all that, the smartest gift guide this year is Men's Health's Tech Guide, filled with a lot of gadgets, electronic and outdoors, but also plenty of amazingly well researched sections of timeless advice. Like "When to buy anything," a section that charts out the seasonal price drops for all gadget categories, and "How to test anything," a quick and dirty guide to picking gadgets made from advice from CNet editors. There's even a page dedicated to the economics of happiness vs splurging. It's brilliantly put together, and the online version doesn't do the print version justice. [Men's Health]

Essentially, whenever he does something in the game, the lights go of to correspond. When he hits a fret, one of the five colored lights light up; when he misses a note, the trash can lights up; and when he hits a note, the entire office lights up. It's all very cool until you discover that you're trying to work and your coworker's having a seizure from all the lights. [VI Roadshow]

In addition, Mary and Joseph were equipped with GPS and the entire family was encased in plexiglass to avoid future theft by godless heathens. Now Ricky Bobby can rest easy knowing that little baby Jesus is safe in his manger watchin' the Baby Einstein videos, learnin' 'bout shapes and colors. [AP via Chicago Tribune]

• You don't know what 5,195 pieces mean until you sort them out.
• There are some weird looking pieces I've never seen in my life (but maybe that's because I haven't done LEGO in a few years.)
• I hate you all for suggesting this.
• Nah, I actually enjoyed it.
• Yes, I'm a dork with probably has a latent obsessive compulsive disorder.
• I have a big back pain.
• Apart from being able tear apart Imperial Stormtroopers and reindeers, LEGO Chewbacca can be cute (and he growls in the vid.)
• I like stupid video endings.
• But this is still the best LEGO set ever and the best Xmas (or birthday or anniversary or just-because-I-love-you) present you can get to anyone who likes to build things.

The only thing I wonder know is if spending 4 hours in sorting the pieces is going to pay later. You will discover it very soon. [LEGO]

Answering questions about the causes of this assault and Santa Claus' detention, Mr. Kwazansky pointed out that Imperial Intelligence had undeniable proof of Santa's production of WMDs at his factory located near the North Pole. "He is also a perv, you know," he added, "a guy who goes around his house clad in red velvet and has underaged boys assisting him all day long. Illegal sex? Forced labor? You gotta be kidding. We have the patent on forced labor too. Ask the wookies."

Later in the press conference, Mr. Kwazansky, 48 years old and still living with his parents, revealed that Santa may have been stealing industrial secrets from Imperial-exclusive defense contractor Sienar Fleet Systems. "And what's with the bloody flying reindeers anyway?" he said, "how the Force do they fly? I bet they have Twin Ion Engines up their butts. That's classified technology, people. Fatso is finishing his days in the Great Pit of Carkoon, I tell you." The spokesperson left the stage laughing maniacally, muttering something about how Santa was going to suffer for all those years of coal back at the Imperial Orphanage.

Commenting on the strike, UN's North Pole representative Kalle Jugercømmandersson said that "we don't understand this act of unprovoked agression. The North Pole has been weapons-free since 1959, when Timmy the Polar Bear was killed by a drunk seal using a 38." Then, he started sobbing, crying "and we are not little boys! We are little grown men!" out loud.

Lord Darth Vader was unavailable to comment at the time of this report.

(Photo of Santa being taken to an Imperial Shuttle—or something like that—courtesy of Michael Sibbernsen)

• A new sofa cover
• A cute, copper-colored snakeskin clutch—that's a handbag, not something found on a car—by Luella
• A pile of new books (or just an Amazon gift certificate, actually)
• Some fabulously sexy piece of art to hang on the wall

Well, I typed, at a push I'd like an iPod classic, because my old 60GB, video-free version is a bit rickety, but it does still work, so I think I'll wait until the sad, dead-iPod face appears on the screen. And my other half, Jesus, has been tempting me with the iPhone (like any of you are surprised). He is right; I do need a new phone as my horrible Motorola currently has a battery life of around 10 minutes and I HATE IT, I REALLY HATE IT, but since the iPhone hasn't got 3G, I thought I'd wait until Mk 2 comes out. But apart from that? Nope, nothing.

My gadgets are as follows: one sickly iPod; one MacBook; one shitty original Motorola RAZR that I will feed to the gadget-eating unicorns once I can be bothered to get a new phone. We've also got a TomTom for the car, but I lost the charger for it, so that's that, and, truth be told, we don't need it because I'm pretty damn good at map-reading.

Gadgets are my job. I write about this stuff from morning to night, so when it comes to going-home time, I'm pretty happy to close my laptop and start on a book. And no, before you suggest a Kindle, I love books. I like them stacked up dustily in my house, I like making them dog-eared and sticky-paged and taking them places. And another confession: I am the clumsiest git in the world, so an iPhone/Kindle/Thanko USB Trouserpress will probably suffer a bathwater-electronics interface in the first week.

Just because I don't want a gadget for Christmas doesn't necessarily mean that I begrudge everyone else their bundles of bytes and pixels. My husband is of course crazy about stuff like this, hence the iPhone, the brand new iMac that we don't really have room for, the Nintendo DS—all three of them, actually—and the remote-controlled Mario Kart that drives the mutt nuts when we play with it. Both my father-in-law and my brother have gone crazy over the iPhone, my bro changing his service provider in order to get his hands on one, the f-i-l sending someone over to NY to pick one up for him to use in Spain.

Nevertheless, Blam's question bugged me for several days, until I remembered one stand-out Christmas present from my childhood, when I was eight or so.

My parents weren't quite altruistic enough to buy me a drum kit I'd asked for, but they did buy me a cheapo cassette player. Not some fabulous ghetto blaster that I could strut around the bad-ass farm track at home with, like Radio Rakeem, but a tiny little mono version, and three tapes: The Jungle Book; and The Young Person's Guide(s) to Mozart and Beethoven which, when I think about it, must have honed my obsession with '70s disco, funk, Chicago House and the Sugarhill Gang.

Crap tapes aside, I hearted my tape player. I hearted it with everything I had. I took it to school to show off in the playground, duly getting it confiscated for a week—no more Baloo for you, you wicked girl—and it remained the closest thing to heaven. I can't even remember what brand it was, probably something uber-shonk, like Alba, or Crown. But I loved it. I customized it with my sister's carmine nail polish, stuck cute Japanese stickers on it, and graffiti'd the sides in gold pen that made me high when I got too close to the nib. Until one fateful day three years later, when I snapped off the red record button while singing à la Siouxie Sioux into the mic.

So, I'm sorry, dear Gizmodo readers, who imagine their perky AM gadget reporter to be as plugged in as the Borg Queen herself. The truth is, a quarter-century on, I can't think of anything made of metal, plastic and silicon which lights up, bleeps, or goes "Pew Pew," which will bring me anywhere near to the joy of Christmas back then, and that dear, beautiful ultra-cheap cassette deck.

Happy Holidays!

World Records Academy officially deemed Eckersons stunt as "Longest time spent in an inflatable snowglobe." Snowglobe Boy was allowed to take up to an hour a day to shower, use the bathroom, etc. But aside from that, he was confined to his snowglobe, where he spent his time using his laptop, playing video games and generally acting like a tard. [Snowglobe Boy via eFlux Media

The Price: $19.95

The Verdict: The idea of using LEDs for Christmas lights sounds great, since they are brighter, save money, and last longer, but there is nothing about the LED Christmas Lights with Decorative Rain light that are actually appreciable. As soon as we unpacked the lights, we couldn't help but feel that the "Rainy" effect was hideous. We are tired of seeing Christmas lights that are supposed to imitate natural weather occurrences like icicles and now rain. So before we put these lights to use, we stripped every LED of it's ugly-cap, and in doing so, we found the next problem. It appears that every strand of LEDs are tied to the main cord by small tie-wraps that have had their excess straps cut off. Because the tie-wraps have been cut, it has left small sharp pieces of plastic along the main cord, which almost cut our fingers, like a million times.

Once we got the lights up and plugged in, we tested out the various lighting effects. With settings that range from waves to combination (or as we like to call it, going ape-shit), it was apparent the only setting that would do, would be normal. Since the lights are equipped with a control box featuring eight different effect settings, we figured there would be a simple "off" mode. But no, to turn off we had to unplug them from the wall, and in doing so, it reset our effect preference, leading to a random effect the next time they were plugged in.

In the end, we took down the LED lights and put up some big glass bulbed lights from the 70's, which actually give us the feeling of Christmas, and not a rave... (Cool LED Light)

Yes, starting at 5pm MST every afternoon, Alek's entire setup becomes controllable via his website. You can turn specific sets of lights on and off, and you can inflate or deflate giant characters, such as Christmas classics Santa, Homer Simpson and Elmo. You can also type text messages in to be displayed on a monitor in "Santa's Workshop," which has its own cam.

The entire setup runs on 17 different circuits, has 17,100 lights, and uses 65 amps of power. Before you start ranting and raving about this hurting the environment, you should know that the whole shebang runs on wind power. In addition, Alek purchased a carbon offset to double the environmental friendliness of the setup. And as soon as they get cheaper (hopefully by next year), he plans to start using energy-efficient LED lights.

And it's all for a good cause! Both his sons have Celiac disease, which is an autoimmune disorder. So if you get some kicks out of playing with these lights, the least you could do would be to toss a few bucks to the U of Maryland in his name if you have the means. It's the season of giving, after all. [Alek's Controllable Christmas Lights for Celiac Disease]

Sure, it would have been cool for the tree to be fully animated, with characters moving freely around the tree. But for now, we'll just appreciate the time honored tradition of ghost chomping. Between the tree and his Christmas special that's on Cartoon Network every year, Pac-Man clearly loves the holidays. [Clipset via Technabob]

If you do insist on putting up one of these hideous, expensive (the three sizes are $60, $200 and $1,414 respectively) and fugly balsa wood Christmas trees, mark my words, you will wrestle with it for three hours, your father-in-law will tell you that it sucks donkey balls and it's just not Christmas, that nasty nephew with the personal hygiene problem will graffiti Death To Grandma She Smells of Wee on it. Then your wife will whine that Dec 25 just ain't the same without the smell of pine needles, and unbeknownst to you, the dog will start chewing the base. A half-hour later, the kids will knock it down, the toddler will get caught underneath it, your wife will then become hysterical and escape to hospital to have the baby's bruise checked out and, as the door slams behind her, everyone will throw you an accusatory glance as if to say, "Hey, IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT." [Buro North via MoCo Loco]

What do people who buy stuff like this put on the top of the tree, I wonder? [Nigel's Eco Store via Gadgets News]

The move is expected to reduce the display's electricity consumption from 3,510 to 1,297 kilowatt hours per day. And if that wasn't green enough for you, the tree will also be recycled into building materials to be used by Habitat for Humanity. And the branches will probably be used in a nutrient-rich mulch that will nourish mother Earth, hippies will dance and sing—and so on and so forth. The lighting ceremony takes place on November 28, and the tree will be illuminated daily through the first week of January. [CNN]

• Not surprisingly, LEDs womp all over incandescents for power saving, using ~3-33% less power, saving you up to $10 bucks every 300 hours.
• Not surprisingly, LEDs won the durability test, failing to burn out over 4,000 hours, with standards burning one or two out per strand before half that time.
• LEDs were not brighter, but ran cooler—Did you know 14 people a year are killed as a result of Christmas tree fires?
• Surprisingly, LEDs and incandescents tied for initial price, at about an average of 7 bulbs per buck.
No word on the pros and cons of candles vs LEDs in manorahs. What are your experiences? And know any sources for reliable LED tree lights? [Consumer Reports and christmaslights.com]

The Dalek-Human hybrid appeared in the British show's Daleks in Manhattan episode. This mask, however, is expected to be the holiday hit of the season on the toy front. The voice changer lets you sound like a dalek (oh, the joy of hearing your nephew say "More beans, please, Mum," in that, eh?) Costing $50 if you pre-order, and ten bucks more if you buy direct, the mask hasn't started shipping yet. Who fans should probably get their freak on and order one, because retailers will be out of supplies before you know it. [Time & Space Toys and Guardian Unlimited]

I bet it'll make a pretty good background for all those unboxing day photos, too.—Brian Lam

Christmas Tree Poster[Firebox]

They're selling a USB Christmas kit that comes with a strand of 16 red and green USB powered lights, a christmas hat, sign for the top of your monitor, mouse pad, and a few other holiday accessories to trick out your cubicle with all for $18.

Close ups after the jump.

USB-Powered X-Mas Decoration Kit [via UberGizmo]

Mouse not included

– Ben Longo