The frustrating 80s puzzle we all grew up on makes for a cool light source. The Rubik’s Cube Light lamp by Eric Pautz is yet another variation on the popular cube. What’s cool about this one is that the light shines through and creates many colorful patterns.

If you already have the Rubiks cube alarm clock, you’d be remiss if this lamp doesn’t turn your eye. The gadget is available in two versions, color and transparent. The colored version reflects the colors that make the puzzle so popular and can display it scrambled and unscrambled. For a minimalist approach, there’s a transparent cube, which gives off a clear white light.

What if, every time we bought something, that item’s packaging could be re-used as another product? That way, we give the landfills a bit of a break. That’s the idea behind this Cava wine bottle packaging by Spanish design firm Ciclus.

Just drink up all of your wine from the bottle contained inside, and the outer layer of the packaging turns into this cool looking lamp. It’s a win win. In the package, you also get the fixture and bulb that you’ll need to complete your new cool lamp.

It’s as if a mild mannered tiny person accidentally sat in a vat of uranium, became a superhero with a glowing butt and burrowed into your wall socket defending you against the darkness. Pinch on. Squeeze off. It’s the cheekiest night light ever. The only way it gets better is if it released an array of scents and made fart jokes. It’s a concept by designer Ashish Chaudhary.

What can you say about a Noose shaped hanging lamp. It’s mood lighting for sure. And that mood is depression. I suppose the noose lamp is a creative way to kill oneself, while making some comment about light and darkness in society. Or maybe the light and darkness of your soul. Designer Marie Thurnauer must be a super cheerful person with a sunny disposition. Somehow I don’t think so. I think the idea is that if you buy this 135-centimeter tall fixture for $6,395, you’ll definitely want to use it on yourself. It’s a great gift to send to your banker friends too.

“Two Lamps” is a simple and genius solution for joining a rechargeable flashlight with your lamp. At least it looks like it doesn’t completely suck. The flashlight is probably not that powerful, but just knowing where your flashlight is and having it at the ready is what’s awesome here. Plus, it saves space. Sadly, it’s just a concept right now, but it’s one that can easily find a place in the home. We’re thinking it will be available in a year.

The Good Nite Lite is designed to get your kid on the straight and narrow, because right now he or she is used to staying up late with their DS, hanging on facebook and even scrolling through our very pages to get their gadget fix. Something has to change and the Good Nite Lite is just creepy enough to work, in a teletubby sort of way. It’s designed for children ages 3 to 5 who are learning the difference between day and night and when they should be sleeping. Ok, so maybe a little young to be on the internet at night, but who knows what they get up to.

The device changes colors from warm yellow sunshine to nighttime moonlight according to the times you select. Now your kids will have a visual way of knowing when they should still be sleeping and when to wake up. The Good Nite Lite will be available in a few months for $34.99. You know, when one of these changes to daylight in the factory. Then it will be time for tubby custard and world domination.

Here’s the latest in extortionist lamps. This clever lighting appliance forces you to save money if you want light. It’s the Coin Lamp from designer Jethro Macey, who is apparently very thrifty. It’s turned on by a coin-operated switch, with the lamp set to a predetermined time by an internal mechanism. The final version of coin lamp will be available soon.

It’s like having the mafia in charge of your electricity. Imagine if you will that you are sitting by the lamp, maybe working on an important paper and suddenly the light goes out. You have your pile of change sitting by the lamp. It’s not the first time you’ve been shook down after all. But you’ve had enough. You’re not going to take it anymore. You’re sick of giving in to criminals. So, you light a candle. That will teach your rich mafioso lamp a thing or two. But sadly there is an internal mechanism that detects light, so the lamp knows what you are doing. Next thing you know you’re dodging bullets as your house becomes swiss cheese. After the bullets fly and tires squeal away, you crawl to your lamp and put a full ten bucks worth of change in it. You’ve learned your lesson, no more messing with the lamp.

For most normal people a simple lamp with a shade on top will do. While others require something a bit more…creepy. The Nymph lamp is definitely creepy and weird, looking like some sun collecting bug on an alien planet that comes out at night hunting with it’s searchlight. It’s from Site Specific Design: an interior and furniture design company based in Brooklyn, New York.

I can only imagine that they have really bizarre dreams that they then make real. The body comprised of a two-part fiberglass mold with a white lacquer finish. The legs are 5/8” hollow steel tubes. It looks big, but it only measures 19″ tall x 15″ wide x 31″ long and costs $2,600. It’s a great design, so long as it doesn’t grow or start making insect clicking noises.

I never expected that the Space Invaders would go all Politically Correct, but hell everyone else has. Probably the head Invader realized that for like almost forty years now, the invasion hasn’t exactly been working,(Merchandise aside) so they needed a new image. Invaders sounds so cold, no one likes an invasion. Intruderz is pretty much the same, but less formal, not as cold and ruthless. But the truth is I don’t think Taito knows about it. shhhhh.

I’m not telling them either, because I love these little guys. They retail for about $48 or so, and they are the perfect gift for any gamer who grew up watching these guys when they still invaded.

Some of us still read actual paper books at night in bed. If you are not alone in bed, that can be a problem. An overhead light just won’t work. Even a typical small lamp will keep your significant other awake.

So if you’re going to invest in a quality lamp to read by, consider something like this odd little lamp. It has the quirky design of a miniature man reading a book, and the book functions as a lampshade. He’s made from polished zinc, and could actually be considered a small piece of art as well. He’s only £28.50.

Here’s a trio of nice lamps with a sort of retro-modern look, from Senslux. They are eco-friendly and energy saving. The company’s goal is to “contribute to make human-being and the world happier and healthier”.

They come in three different models including a full spectrum LED desk lamp ‘SF-1500’, a lamp that will treat your acne and another LED desk lamp, the ‘SG-1500’. That’s about it for details right now. You’ll want to check out the acne fighting lamp if you have some skin issues and also happen to need new lighting.

The little Mr P lamp has a bulb inside which lights up his head enough to illuminate your desk. It also comes with a directional lampshade to cut down on the glare which should immediately bring your attention to a small but noticeable protrusion on the front of Mr P. Regardless of what you might think this is for, it is actually the light switch and by flicking it you turn Mr P on, or the light inside him anyway. You might find Mr P and his winky cute but to get this setup you’ll need to shell out just under $100 for this 14-inch tall guy.

Lazybone

If you need to unwind, the RelaxStyle Room Palette Effect lamp might be just your thing. It will transport you to a peaceful undersea world at the push of a button. The lamp projects light onto your walls or ceiling that looks like waves. This gives users the feeling of being submerged in water, looking up into the sunlight.

It has a timer that will automatically shut the light show down after 120 minutes. You will know you use this too much when your mind is altered enough for you to start singing about living in a yellow submarine. Or about how you would love to live in an Octopus’ gaden in the shade.

This lamp from Andromeda has an awesome look. Andromeda is the company name, but this one could have just as easily come from the Andromeda galaxy. The Drop Lamp combines Murano glass mastery and engineering in a suspended lamp that looks like a droplet of water frozen in space. It has an organic, futuristic look that is simple and elegant.

The natural characteristics of Murano glass means no two lamps are identical. They are all unique works of art. Well, as they point out, if you drop them the result is always the same, a million shards of broken glass and a huge chunk of money out of your pocket to replace it. These have a really cool design and they actually do look like they are about to drop, which might make you a bit nervous.

I haven’t seen anything this cool since the Pac-Man Christmas tree in Madrid. Unlike the Pac-Man tree, this Pac-Man-inspired modular block lighting system can stay up year round.

This wall mural is on display at the Maison & Objet 2008 show in Paris. One thing you’ll notice right away is how outnumbered our yellow friend is. That’s a ton of ghosts for an 8-bit hero to gobble. They could have put some fruit in or more dots. The second thing you’ll notice is that the woman’s rear has been blocked from our view. Oh well, you can’t have it all right? We’ll always have Paris my secretive Pac-Man loving geek goddess.