Peter “Tesladownunder” Terren first experimented with the idea of making a Christmas tree out of a Tesla coil and some fancy photography back in 2007. He decided to go bigger and more colorful this year, and the results are pretty impressive.

From Mr. Tesladownunder:

This year I did another Xmas tree based on the success of the one I did in 2007. I made it bigger (9m = 30 ft) and more spectacular by using a different technique. It still uses a long exposure and a rotating colored filter but the tree shape is outlined by sparks from a rotating rod on top of the Tesla coil. This gives the “Eye of Sauron” effect. Imagine then if that rotating rod is able to be raised from horizontal to vertical while still rotating.

See how the 2009 Tesla coil Christmas tree came to be in the gallery below, and check out his website for a detailed account of how he did it.

TeslaDownUnder, via Neatorama

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[Editor's Note: This is part two of an ongoing expose that Karen Pease started last month. She has developed many personal relationships with people inside and out of Aptera over the years and has been able to get the best picture we've seen so far of the quirky EV manufacturer's troubles from her inside sources. In most cases names and identifying specifics have been withheld at the source's request to protect their livelihood.]

After my expose of the scandal over at Aptera Motors, Aptera quickly put out a new monthly newsletter — the third one for the year. This was revised from an earlier version, and is now subtitled the “new Constant Contact Aptera Newsletter” and no longer contains phrases like, “So strap on your cowboy boots ladies and gents… we’re goin’ ta’ Texas!!”.

The newsletter mentions an appearance of the 2e at a Texas football game and that the company is working on reapplying for DOE loans — in contradiction to earlier reports that they were already submitted. Most importantly, they took the time to address our expose’s core claim.

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Lately, iconic Swedish automaker, Saab, has been the hottest potato in the world of nearly-doomed-but-possibly-still-alive auto brands. On the heels of a collapsed deal with Swedish luxury car maker, Koenigsegg, GM looked set to sell the Saab brand to little-known Dutch-run but Russian-backed luxury car maker, Spyker.

In fact, everything about the Spyker-GM deal started looking pretty rosy as early as last week when Saab announced a major deal with battery maker, Boston-Power, to build an all-electric version of the 9-3. The ZE 9-3, as it would be called (ZE=zero emissions), seemed to have some nice stats: twin electric motors with 335 horsepower, 0-62 mph in 6.5 seconds, and a range of 93 miles with a 26kWh battery pack.

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UPDATE: Giveaway is closed! Thanks for fighting playing! Once again, I’m going to be giving away some ornament patches to decorate your profile page. If you want a patch, post a new comment with a picture of a snowball and your attack phrase.  Check out my first comment below for an example. N…
By: fungus amungus

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How to create a garden inside a plastic trasparent Christmas tree
ball what you need what you need: – soil – a
small plant  of slow growth (fittonia, Adiantum capillus-veneris
etc.) – moss – an electric screwdriver – a plastic trasparent
Christmas tree ball (15 cm ø)…
By: florablog

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I’ll admit upfront, I’m a Ford fanboy. I bleed Ford blue. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a car fanboy in general, but Ford is numero uno in my book… and now I have another reason to love the Blue Oval.

According to a report by the Environmental Protection Agency, Ford has improved its average fleet fuel economy by 20% over the last five years, twice the improvement of any of its competitors.

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Delegates at the climate summit at Copenhagen concluded two weeks of debate and negotiations Saturday,  deciding to "take note" of an agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but the outcome left some environmentalists disappointed. Other leaders said the accord, which commits to keeping the average global temperature rise below 2 degrees Celsius, is an important first step in finally stimulating action among developing nations, especially the United States.

Learn more about the behind-the-scenes drama at Copenhagen in these videos, ranging from registered delegates being literally left out in the cold to interviews with renowned climatologist Stephen Schneider, author Tom Friedman and Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke.

[More]

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Benji is the ideal family dog – he is an active boy who loves a walk where there is lots to sniff and he gets on well with everyone, including cats and other dogs. Every family needs a Benji, so if you don’t have one, now’s your chance!

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Ace is a gorgeous German Shepherd boy with a fantastic personality and temperament. He will fit perfectly into a family and just hopes he can be someone’s new companion very soon…

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COPENHAGEN–Pleasure yachts and tall ships line the wharves and quays of Nyhavn here in the Danish capital. Shipping in Denmark goes back to the Vikings and their long ships that made perilous sea crossings even beyond Greenland. Now what may be the future of shipping is docked around the corner from Nyhavn at Kvaesthusmolen pier, a bright orange and yellow North Sea supply ship from Norway dubbed " Viking Lady "–the first ship to employ a fuel cell in history. [More]

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Guitar heroes can’t always turn their amps up to 11. When you need to turn it down, way down, you need the amPlug from Vox. The amPlug plugs into the output of any electric guitar pickup. Plug your headphones into the headphone jack on the other side, and rock out to your heart’s content.

It comes in six varieties: Lead, Bass, VOX AC30, Classic Rock, Metal and Acoustic. There’s an AUX in jack so you can mix in the sound from your MP3 player. They’ll play on two AA batteries from 15 to 27 hours, depending on the variety. The prices are around $60 each. This sure beats the crappy sound of an un-amplified guitar.

Vox via CrunchGear

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New half-hour interview with James Cameron about the making of Avatar. From Popular Mechanics:

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Oldies Club Winter Walkies
After the success of last year’s walk we decided that we should make our Winter Walkies an annual event. Again we met at Westonbirt Arboretum and were once again blessed with sunny skies and only a small breeze. Perfect walking weather!!

Last year we were thrilled by the turn out but this year’s [...]

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If I were a product manager, the most orgasm-inducing fantasy ever would be a product with instant obsolescence — just buy it and throw it away. Were I a product manager with such an immediately disposable commodity, ah, be still my P.T. Barnum heart!

Unfortunately, instant obsolescence may not be such a fantasy. I peruse more and more press releases these days about some wondrous new product or technology obviating a recent product or technology I just wrote about. Maybe these aren’t exactly simultaneous buy-it-and-throw-it-away deals, but it’s uncomfortably close, and getting closer.

Read on for some of the more egregious examples. Afterward, I’m sure you’ll fill the comments with a lot more.

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To promote the All Japan Robot Tournament, Fuji Soft recently took the wraps off a new robot. The unnamed biped uses a Linux-based operating system, and displays emotion via an LED display on its face plate.

While the company has no immediate commercial plans or pricing for the robot, its speech recognition functions will probably make it a hot item when it does go on sale. You can see the Fuji Soft robot in action here.

Via Impress Watch

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This is, I guess, what you come up with when you’ve overdosed on moules and frites in Belgium. And you’re Belgian. It’s called the XXXLamp which, I presume means that it needs a hell of a lot of amps to work. Sorry, my bad.

Bert Lens is the guy behind this gigantic jellyfish-slash-old skool hairdryer-slash-hat for a very large man indeed: the lamp is 12 feet wide and 63 inches deep. You can put any color bulb in there, but my favourite version is the first one in the gallery, with the spanky paint job — unless, of course, it’s a portal into a greener, more beautiful world.

Via MocoLoco and Dezeen

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