The most effective way to tell your co-workers you don’t want to be bothered is to close your office door. But if you’re stuck in cubicle purgatory, that’s not an option. Instead, try this Scrabble tile rack desk lamp that lets you spell out seven-letter warnings like ‘GO AWAY’, ‘NOT NOW’, or other, blunter messages…
Any room with a disco ball hanging from the ceiling is a non-stop party, and now any space can easily get a dance floor upgrade with this fun DIY project that shows you how to build a disco ball—using some brilliantly clever building techniques—inside a standard-sized lightbulb.
If you’re the type of person who gets caught up in decorating competitions around the holidays, be thankful you don’t live near Colby Powell and his family. Instead of inflatable Santas or a towering tree, they built a light-up Millennium Falcon on the roof of their house that measures almost 29 feet long.
How many times have you stumbled in the dark, trying to locate a flashlight, only to discover the batteries inside it are dead? It’s an inconvenience in the middle of the night, but a genuine problem in an emergency, which is why this roll-up paper flashlight from Nendo seems like a brilliant idea for when the power…
There’s an entire standup routine waiting to be written about how smart home accessories can be incredibly dumb and complicated. But one of the easiest smart home upgrades, smart lighting, has just gotten easy enough for even your parents to install without calling you—if they’re living in Apple’s ecosystem.
Welcome back to Toy Aisle, io9's weekly roundup of the best toys in this galaxy (and any other). This week, a bizarro Godzilla figurine, a very slick Star-Lord figure, a fancy Star Trek lamp, and maybe more than a few new Star Wars toys, thanks to Celebration Orlando. Gird your wallets and check them out below!
‘Tis the season for Christmas parties, leaving many homes empty and prime targets for burglars while revelers are away visiting family and friends. But there’s nothing to worry about if you’ve decorated your home with these festive, motion-activated Christmas lights that crank to 12,000 lumens of brightness to scare…
Wicked Lasers is known for its handheld lasers and flashlights that redefine what it means to be bright. A few years ago it released a flashlight that was intense enough to start a fire, and now the company has managed to dramatically shrink its design so you can easily bring it the next time you go camping and leave…
If you head on over to Deercreek Drive in Riverside, California, and find the house near Orange Terrace Park, you’ll be treated to what has become one of the best Halloween traditions anywhere in the country. There you’ll find one of the most spectacular Halloween light shows imaginable—making you thankful you’re not…
A stellar view of the night sky, including all of our celestial neighbors, is dependent on countless factors like light pollution, the weather, and even the time of year. But you can guarantee that all of the planets in our solar system are visible when you go stargazing with this planetary string light set created by…
The Philips Hue system is one of the few smart home solutions that work as well as you need them to, having been around for quite a few years now. But if you don’t want to spend hundreds of dollars on the requisite wireless hub and color-changing bulbs, Philips now has a cheaper alternative with its new SceneSwitch…
Just because you’ve completely shunned ebooks and e-readers for classic paper tomes, that doesn’t mean you can’t let a little technology improve your reading experience. Kyouei Design’s Bookmark Light will not only save your page, it will also save your eyes, turning into an ultra-compact reading light.
Staring at a lava lamp is a mesmerizing experience, even for those who haven’t taken anything to free their minds. But this Star Wars-themed lava lamp replaces those floating blobs of goo with glitter shaped like tiny X-wings and TIE Fighters, creating a never-ending space battle you can stare at forever.
Much to the chagrin of the person you sleep next to every night, this wonderful Super Mario Bros.-inspired Question Block lamp makes that classic video game ‘ping’ sound every time you tap it on and off. No actual coins are ejected, but we’re waiting for confirmation on whether or not the occasional mushroom pops out.
The world mostly knows IKEA for its flatpack furniture and mediocre meatballs. In the past year, however, the company’s doubled down on a new category: gadgets. And you know what? They’re kind of awesome.
Poking at your smartphone before bed makes it harder to fall asleep because the cool, bluish glow of its screen tricks your body think it’s daytime. Warmer tones are the key to drifting off, so Philips is introducing a new white bulb to its Hue line that can be adjusted from cool to warm color temperatures to help…
Now that almost everyone on the planet has seen Star Wars: The Force Awakens, it’s officially time for BB-8 to finally take the merchandising torch from R2-D2. We’ll definitely miss Artoo, but how could we ever say no to products like this life-size BB-8 floor lamp?
Say what you will about how comfortable a hammock is for sleeping, Eagles Nest Outfitters is working to make them just a bit more hospitable with its new DoubleNest LED that incorporates a string of glowing lights so you can read, adjust your sleeping bag, or easily find your way back after a bathroom break.
When you’re heading out for a night run, or hiking through the woods after dark, a working headlamp is almost as important as the shoes on your feet. So Petzl is upgrading its hands-free headlamps with Bluetooth and smartphone connectivity to intelligently manage brightness and battery life.
