Drama, lights, action!! Ricardo Garza Marco’s Cube Lamp or Lámpara Cubo sets the stage for dramatic lighting. Imagine your next party with these lamps aligned on the walls of your living space. The lamps themselves are starkly simple but they let out light from slits on all the sides. When arranged as a set, the emitted light casts wonderful geometric rays around the lamps.

Users can choose whatever patter they want by moving the lamp inside. The cube lamp is available in different wood finishes and color. For those who hanker for pure contemporary looks, there is also an aluminum composite or alucobond. Check out the designer’s website for more information.

Remember those kaleidoscopes you had as a child? The lovely patterns formed in sections when you turned the end cap. Mirrors just multiply the coloured pieces. So it is with the Kaleidoscope Lamp by Italian based designer, Dodo Arslan. This table lamp only needs three light bulbs and the clever pyramidal shape makes it seem like a whole cluster of lights. Think of the energy you will save!

The lamp uses mirrored and semi-reflecting glass with gold accented metal finishings. It is designed for table tops but as you can see, it looks just as good on the floor. The Kaleidoscope Lamp is available from Axo Light.

Ever wonder what potential your roof has for solar power generation ? To answer this question now there is a website ( Roofray ) that is looking to help answer all of those queries using satellite data and a hands-on web site. Basically it’s a solar clearinghouse that uses Google satellite data and info from the National Renewable Energy Labs to help users make good decisions about what sort of system to buy.

Here’s how it works: enter an address, pull up the satellite image of the chosen building’s rooftop and then using the RoofRay tool based on Google maps, draw your solar arrays ( YouTube video attached). Data on square footage of the system, slope of the roof, power per square foot and total peak power all show up in a chart, and the info displayed depends on how big you’ve drawn your system.

After drawing the panels you can dive into metrics based on the size and location of your solar system, including projected performance, financial analysis, average monthly utility bill after solar is added, total cost summary and, our favorite, time until the system pays for itself. The biggest potential of the site for the user could be the ability to test out how good a home’s solar potential is before buying it. - Via

The “Always Wanted to be a Chandelier” is what you might called a “failed” lighting design. An inanimate object so dejected and depressed with its lot in life that it has become suicidal! Perhaps we should be more thoughtful and considerate to our furniture for who knew they had feelings?

This quirky design is the work of Tel Aviv based designer, Itay Ohaly. The hanged light is actually a regular floor light with a bend in the stand near the lampshade and hung from the ceiling with a thick rope knotted as the classic hangman’s noose. - Via

There is something to commend about the bare light bulb. It could give you the extreme minimalism look you desire or be simply a poignant remember of impoverished student days. Either way, these great peel able light bulb covers should brighten up that naked light bulb in your home.

They’re called Bulbcaps and are made from heat-resistant silicon rubber. They come in all kinds of funky colors for you to mix and match. They are rated for no more than 40 watt lightbulbs but there is no restrictions for low energy ones. The luminescent pigments embeded in the bulbcaps allow the lampshade to glow a green-yellow color for a short while after the light has been turned off. They are available from Molla Space and cost $20 each.