The Darth Maul Lightsaber Room Light works by means of LEDs, and makes Jedi quake in its presence. FEAR ME AND MY PHOTONS, JEDI. Plus, if you leave it on for a really really really long time, you might just be able to use it like a real lightsaber! You also might be able to accidentally burn down your house while playing with a collector’s lamp. Whoops.

It sells for $40 (USD), and is available from Barnes and Noble, that place that sells books (and Nooks.) “Why do they have a giant Star Wars lamp?” They probably figured out that nobody likes reading anymore. Let’s be honest – if you’re reading this sentence, you’re one of the few. Everybody else just looks at the pictures, clicks the Tweet button, and moves on to the next post with pretty lights in it.

If you’re looking for more geeky Star Wars light sources, you should hop on over to the Star Wars Lightsaber Lighted Sneakers and the Light Up Star Wars Poker Set.

Contributor Jack Kieffer owns Cool Gizmo Toys, a blog that rants about random geeky products.

The base of each of these 26 inch-tall lamps is a perfect replica of either the lightsaber donned by Anakin Skywalker, or the one Darth Vader later carried. The Anakin design features the symbol of the Jedi Knights on it, while the Vader one has the Empire’s seal. Both project the pattern onto the wall surrounding the shade, which makes for a cool effect too. Of course, you’ll want to go with a blue bulb for the Jedi, and a red bulb for the Empire.

You can find both the Anakin and Darth Vader lightsaber lamps from Firebox, where they’re available for pre-order now for about $110(USD) . They expect to ship in “8+” weeks, which could mean you’ll have one by April, or it could mean 100 years from now. Also, since they’re being sold in the UK, you’ll probably need to swap out the power cord or go with a power-converter to use them outside of England.

With Luminarie De Cagna’s cathedral however, it’s not so much on the culture or intricacies. Instead, it’s all about the light. And not the light streaming in from the stained glass windows as you’d expect from other cathedrals, either. What I mean is the light that’s emanating from the 55,000 LED lights that make up this massively beautiful structure.

Luminarie De Cagna built this structure that was unveiled and put on display in the recent 2012 Light Festival that was held in Ghent, Belgium. The cathedral of lights stood at an impressive 28 meters and was truly a sight to behold.

[via Colossal]

(Image credits: Stijn Coppens, Sacha Vanhecke, Sector271)

The project is aimed at making a roof for a car that would allow the people inside to see out at during the day and capture solar energy as well. Then at night, the roof turns into a glowing OLED light. I think the windows of homes could someday use this technology too. They could capture solar power during the day to power the house and then turn into room lighting at night.

The OLED light is only 1.8mm thick and provides a uniform and soft glow across the entire surface. By combining this with an invisible solar panel, you get power and light in one device without blocking your view. Apparently, the technology is being developed for the sunroof of Daimler’s unusual Smart Forvision concept EV, shown below:

[via TG Daily and OLED-Info]

These lamp designs were created using i.materialize’s 3D printed table lamp kit, which provides everything you need to design and output your own 3D printed lighting fixture. The 3D table lamp kit includes a lamp base, dimmer, halogen bulb, a metal base and fittings to hold the shade in place. Using a provided design template for popular 3D modeling software (including free apps like Google SketchUp and Blender) you design your shade and upload your 3D file it for printing.

You can check out a number of example designs over on flickr, and read up on the design guide (PDF) before deciding to make the investment in one for yourself. And if it’s feeling like it’s a little over your head, you can always choose one of their nifty already designed lamps.

The 3D printed lamp kit sells for €199 (~$260 USD) over at i.materialize. Be sure to specify whether you need a U.S. or European plug when you order.

The SEQINETIC reverse sunglasses were designed and created by a gang of mechanical engineers from Copenhagen. Compared to coffee and sugar, the reverse sunglasses offer a calorie-free way to beat the winter blues. They offer bright, white daylight in a portable form factor. The glasses feature 6 powerful LEDs and a reflector, which pushes diffuse, simulated sunlight towards your eyeballs. The reflector is said to be brighter at the top than at the bottom, much like the way you might view the Sun, and you can still view items underneath the reflector if you need to.

In order get the glasses, you’ll need to pledge $55 (USD). Once the project is funded to its $8,000 goal, the glasses will sell for $80.

[via core77]

First up is the Optimus Popularis, a compact keyboard with everything but numeric keys. The Popularis is one awesome looking keyboard, with each key offering full programmability, and a tiny, full color screen.

Each key is made up of a 64×64 pixel grid, which can support 262,144 unique colors, and a frame rate of 10fps. That’s right, you can display animation on these keys!  Each one can be set up with custom images for different languages, or special keys to launch specific applications or functions when switching applications. Lebedev says it’s “A million keyboards in one,” and he’s totally spot on. Here are just a few sample configurations:

One thing to note is that the keys this time are made using a backlit LCD screen instead of individual OLED screens, which seems like a better approach these days. Though it’s not clear if each key has it’s own individual LCD panel or if there’s just one large LCD behind the keyboard, and the area between the keys acts as a mask. Either way, it still looks awesome. I also love how the new keys are more like those rounded keys found on a Mac keyboard, which is more what I’m used to these days anyhow.

A quick glance reveals a fully customizable display bar between the function keys and the main keyboard, which can be used to display pertinent info like what track you’re listening to, or how many emails you have waiting.

Programming is accomplished with a sophisticated configuration app included with the keyboards – and it’s compatible with Windows XP, Vista, 8 and Mac OS 10.5.1 or higher too.

So now that you’ve wiped the drool off of your current keyboard… the pricetag. The Optimus Popularis isn’t cheap. The pre-order price is 31,500 rubles, which works out to be about $1086 (USD) or 747 (EUR) at today’s exchange rates. Pricey, but sexy as all get out. If that’s too rich for your blood, and you still love the concept, check out the Optimus Mini Six add-on keyboard instead:

The Mini Six is exactly what it sounds like – a small external keyboard with six programmable LCD keys on it. It supports the same programmability,  and animation capabilities of the full-size keyboard – though it only can handle 65,536 colors. The Mini Six is selling for for 10,900 Rubles, or about $376(USD) or $258 (EUR). Both the Popularis and Mini Six are built from aluminum and plastic components, and have a nice slim profile.

Art Lebedev Studio started to take pre-orders for both the Optimus Popularis and Optimus Mini Six today, with the Popularis shipping June 1, 2012, and the Mini Six not shipping until November 1, 2012. But there is an advantage to that long pre-order wait, as the retail prices will be more than 30% higher once released. Yeouch! Lebedev, does plan on showing off the prototypes at the 2012 CES show next month. I definitely plan on stopping by their booth to see these awesome looking things up close and personal.

Lexon designer Fellina Sok-Cham came up with the idea for this nifty Bag Light. It just hangs from the strap of your bag, clipped into place securely with a magnetic carabiner, and providing handy illumination inside your bag with the push of a button. It’s made of soft silicone rubber, so it won’t scratch up the contents of your bag, and offers bright, diffuse LED illumination.

The Bag Light is available over at the MoMA Store for just $9 (USD).

There’s even a handy spare power outlet on the back if you need to plug in another device. The light it emits is diffused, making it a nice ambient light source.

The lamp is definitely unusual, but it’s not just made for fun. It was also meant as a critique of the homogenized nature of construction materials in the U.S. It’s true that most light switches and outlets do look similar, especially in older homes. Hopefully, it will inspire people to use less ordinary materials and light switches when designing their homes.

[via core77]

Instead of putting up just the usual tree this year, the Holburne Museum in Bath, England decided that they wanted to do something different and called in an artist to do their lights for them. And boy, did Bruce Munro get creative with the lights.

He painstakingly connected and set up over 5,000 glass spheres to come up with the Field of Lights on the grounds of the museum. The bulbs are planted on the ground, with the spheres supported by acrylic stems. Each of the spheres is threaded with fiber optic cables and are lit by a color projector.

Of his work, Munro says, “I think it is a piece with universal appeal and I’ll be happy if it makes people smile at Christmas time.”

I definitely think there will be a lot who will be smiling because of the Field of Lights this Christmas. I know I would, if I had a chance to visit the museum.

[via Daily Mail and Flickr]

I wish these Bright Blinds were available for sale then, because I would’ve gotten one in the blink of an eye. My old room at my parents’ house was fitted with blinds, you see, so I was already sort of having another source of light other than the light on the ceiling.

First spotted back in 2007, and finally available for purchase, these blinds were designed by Makoto Hirahara. To give the illusion that the blinds are blocking light off from the outside, electroluminescent (EL) sheets have been fitted under each of the slats that light up with a twist of the plastic stick (that supposedly controls the angles on real blinds.)

The price is available upon request, if you’re interested.

[via Oh Gizmo!]

A quick, albeit disposable solution? The LighTissue. It’s basically a tissue that’s a light, and while it’s a pretty fun idea if you think about it, designer Oh-Se Won didn’t provide enough details or come with a feasible way to actually make this concept a probable one.

As one Yanko commenter noted (or rather, questioned): “how can the tissue light up? Is it by electrical means, or via a chemical reagent, or is it coated in some sort of photoluminescent chemical?”

Nuh-uh, I still don’t see the practicality (or possibility of this thing being made) even with this image of the many different ways you can use the Light Tissue. But it would be pretty cool if they can ever figure out a way to make these.

[via Yanko Design]

The XCM Kinect X-Light kit replaces the case of your Kinect with a clear shell, and includes 1.5 meters of electroluminescent wire. You can use this wire to add custom illumination of your design inside your now see-through Kinect, and it’s available in a color of your choice.

I’m not sure if the clear case or the EL light will have any negative impact on the Kinect’s camera or infrared capabilities, but assuming it doesn’t, the X-Light looks like a pretty cool mod. If you want one, keep your eyes peeled over at Divineo, who should start taking pre-orders any day now.

The remote also has three buttons – left, right and turbo – but it seems like using the light alone is fine, especially since the car is dual-sided and is totally fine with being flipped over. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t designed with accuracy and fine control in mind. Part of the fun of playing with a Lazer Stunt Chaser would be wondering just how far it can follow the light. Watch it zip around in the demo video below:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Quite the suicidal toy eh? Here’s another video, this time with bigger ramps and other Lazer Stunt Chaserz in the mix:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

A flying version of this would be awesome, although I guess it would be a lot more dangerous too. You can order the Lazer Stunt Chaser from Amazon for about $54 (USD). It comes with a charger and a stunt ramp. Next time your cat is being a dick, just point the Lazer’s remote at it. Just kidding. Don’t do that. Don’t point it at animals or humans. Especially at human crotches. But feel free point your browser to the official website for more info.

[via Gizmag via Oh Gizmo!]

These light-up jellyfish from Swim Ways have LEDs inside and glow as they float across the surface of your swimming pool with their legs dangling beneath the water. I suppose you could also put them in your bathtub or whirlpool if you so desire. Keep in mind that they’re not going to throw off a huge amount of light, but they still look cool. They sell for about $43 (USD) each over at Amazon.

While distance swimmer Diana Nyad probably wouldn’t want these light-up jellyfish in her lap pool, I rather like the way they look. And it’s certainly way better than having actual jellies in your pool, right?

[via Fancy]

This wrench set has LED lights built into the wrenches. This means that you will always have light where and when you need it. They even have high and low beam settings. The set of seven open-ended wrenches will cost you $99.95 (USD) from Hammacher Schlemmer. Sure, it’s pricey, but it will make your job a lot easier. Darkness will never come between you and your nuts again.

Kent Frankovich, Adam Pettler and Jim Houk designed Revolights to actually replace that crummy little headlight and red taillight you might have on your bicycle with something much more sexy and useful. A normal headlight projects light out from the front of the bike and then down to the ground, but the Revolight actually casts light directly from the rim of your front wheel forward and onto the ground beneath the tire.

Similarly, the top-rear segment of the rear tire illuminates in red, providing a bright and functional taillight.

Revolights use a series of thin LED rings that mount to each wheel rim, and then use a small magnet to provide information about speed and position of the wheel to the system’s controller so it can illuminate the correct bank of LEDs at the right time.

At this point, the Revolight is in the later stages of prototyping and they’re ready to move onto the next stage of development before offering them to the public. That said, the Revolight team has a Kickstarter project going on for the next few days to raise funds for the final prototypes leading up to a product release.

A pledge of $200 or more will get you a set of Revolights once produced, and they’ve already blown through their initial goal of $43,500 by almost $100,000 – so you know there’s a market for these things.

An outfit in the UK going by the name of iPatch (nice name) plans on offering an upgrade to your iPhone 4, which ads a lovely glowing LED behind the Apple logo. It’s designed to light up whenever your screen is on, and turns off when the screen is off. They say they’ve experienced no meaningful drop in battery life when it’s turned on, and they may offer them with colored filters too if white isn’t your thing.

The guys at iPatch say that the mod is way too involved for users to perform themselves, but will be offering the mod for between £50 and £100 (~$79 to $159 USD) once they’ve worked out all the details. Since they are located in the UK, they plan on releasing a kit for other repair shops around the globe, so they can perform the installation locally. That said, they will accept international orders, but shipping and handling may make the cost unreasonable.

They haven’t started accepting phones yet, but say they’ve got the mod design finalized and hope to release it to the public in mid-October. For more info, hit up the iPatch website. Or maybe we’ll just get lucky and Apple will finally build in a light-up logo of their own on the iPhone 5. I can dream, can’t I?

[via Cult of Mac via Wired]

The die-cast keychain measures about 3″ x 1.25″ and is modeled after the Batarangs that the Christian Bale Batman uses. The keychain button activates the bat signal, although kids, I hate to be the one to break it to you – you’ll have a higher chance of using the keychain as a boomerang than actually summoning the Dark Knight. That’s because he doesn’t – AAAAAaackkkkkk I’m sorry AAA YES YES YES I SWEAR TO YOU.

You can order the Batman Bat Signal Keychain from Thinkgeek for $25 (USD). Results not guaranteed.

[via Gadget Review]

BMW says that the laser is the next logical step in vehicle lighting. When you say “laser,” I think of the lasers like Wicked Lasers sells that can blind you and destroy orbiting satellites. That is not what BMW has in mind though. The light created by BMW’s laser headlights would not be harmful to people or animals and would not blind oncoming drivers.

The light would be converted first so that it is suitable for road use. BMW says that an LED can create 100 lumens of light per watt while a laser could produce 170 lumens per watt. However, since lasers can produce nearly parallel beams of light, they could be as much as a thousand times brighter than the LEDs used today.

The first car to showcase the technology will be the BMW i8 concept. However, BMW is working on commercializing laser diode technology now, and it could see production in a few years time.