Great Site of the Day…

Instructables is the Biggest How To and DIY community where people make and share inspiring, entertaining, and useful projects, recipes, and hacks.

http://www.instructables.com

The concept of the Instructables website is inspired by a notion of creativity and innovation, as it is a place where individuals can “share what they do and how they do it, and learn from and collaborate with others.” Essentially, Instructables offers a forum where users can sign up for free and post instructions using words and pictures to describe the creation of just about anything. Instructable subjects range from art to cooking to technology to the well-named category “not liable.” Users can post comments or opinions regarding different Instructables, which creates a forum for discourse and creativity amongst individuals interested in particular how-to projects.

SOLAR MORPHING LANTERN

Solar morphing lantern is the perfect decorative accent for parties, patios, and gardens - create a fun outdoor atmosphere. Features LED light source that morphs from one color to the next, covering the entire color spectrum for perfect mood lighting and conversational pieces while entertaining guests.

Via: Link

Tulip Solar Lights

If you’re looking for cheerful landscape lights to brighten up your pathways at night, these tulips could be a fun choice.

The set of three tulip lights are solar powered, so there are no trenches to be dug for installing cables. You just stick them into the ground where the sun will hit the integrated solar panels during the day, and they’ll light the way at night.

The set comes with one red, one ivory, and one pink light. The flowers, stakes, and rechargeable batteries (which hold the solar charge) are included in the $40 price tag. Via: Luxury Housing Trends

Solar Power Sunglasses Can Charge Your Gadgets

With the snow coming down fast this time of year, we can’t help but dream of laying on the beach listening to our iPod and relaxing. But how to keep it charged? If we had this handy pair of designer sunglasses, we could keep our iPod or other iDevice fully charged while basking in the sun or walking around town. Designed by Hyun-Joong Kim and Kwang-Seok Jeong, these slick “Self-Energy Converting Sunglasses” feature dye solar cells that are integrated into their lenses. Although perhaps not as fun as using a yo-yo to charge your devices, this solar solution is probably a heck of a lot more practical and stylish to boot.

Jeong and Kim’s power-generating glasses are composed of a “cheap organic dye [that uses] nano technology [to provide] cheap but high energy efficiency.” The sunglass lenses can collect and convert enough energy from the sun to power small devices connected by a power jack at the back of the frame.

We expect to see solar panels integrated into more and more devices in the coming years. We’ve already seen photovoltaics used in bags, backpacks, lawnmowers, and cars, so these sunglasses are no surprise. As solar technology becomes more advanced and lightweight, sunglasses like these may even become the norm. It’s also a good thing that huge sunglasses are in style now, because that means there is more surface area for energy collection.