Who knew that lightbulb design could suddenly become so interesting? Since we're all well aware that regular old light bulbs are bad for the environment, we're seeing new designs for LED bulbs come in. And man, they're strange looking.

The weird designs, such as the one above, are the result of the LED being lit from the back. The design around the light is actually a heatsink that's meant to dissipate the heat generated by the LED. This design gives the LED much longer life by dissipating the heat quickly. Fortunately, bulbs like this are designed for recessed lighting, meaning you won't see them at all once you have them in place. You'll just reap the benefits on your electricity bill, which is something that no weird-looking bulb can make any less awesome. [NY Times]

What do you get for the Apple lover who has everything? This. You get them this. It's a personalized bobblehead iPhone holder. The subject sends in three different shots of their face, chooses the skin, hair and eye color, and through the magic of...well, we don't know exactly how they're built...a figure arrives that looks somewhat like someone, somewhere. But there's more!

While the base bobblehading service runs $89, you can add on all sorts of extras. $5 buys you a painted name, or $15 adds a voice recorder to the mix. Plus, for the extremely narcissistic, a second, identical bobblehead can be ordered for $50.

In case you're actually considering it as a gift, give yourself lots of lead time. Orders fulfilled within 15 days cost a premium, so procrastination will make you pay. After all, you just can't rush art. [Custom Bobble]

This is part 2 of an ongoing series by our latest guest editor, NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander, as it faces its final days.

Just over five months ago, on May 25, I was zooming along toward the Red Planet with nothing more than a dream and a lot of butterflies in my stomach.

At mission control at JPL, it was do or die time. It was a tough moment for the team, knowing that the whole world was watching and by the end of the day they’d be heroes or zeros. In a short window of seven minutes, the time it takes to go from atmospheric entry to touchdown, all their work of the previous years was put on the line. Around mission control, this phase of entry, descent and landing was affectionately known as the “seven minutes of terror.” And that was just for the guys on the ground—imagine what it was like for me!

And because it would take over 15 minutes for my signal, traveling at the speed of light, to make the trip from Mars to Earth, my landing would be over before my team knew if it had started.

At 4:46 p.m. (PDT), the first indication that I had entered the Martian atmosphere was received in mission control. For the next seven tense minutes, the team watched. There was nothing more they could do but hope that hundreds of pre-programmed commands would execute correctly.

In the end, my arrival to Mars went better than anyone had hoped. Not only did I do a perfect landing, but also my signal came through loud and clear from the start of atmospheric entry all the way to the ground.

One phase of my mission had ended and a new phase was beginning. It was time to open my eyes, look out across the Martian horizon, and pray I’d landed within reach of ice.

We've got some good deals on video games, video game accessories and movies today, as well as some other miscellaneous deals that might be up your alley. There's even a iPod nano for $1, although you've got to wait in line in front of a 99 cent store in California for it. But hey, if you're unemployed in California, that's a pretty sweet deal! Hit the jump for our full lineup of today's deals.

Gaming:

• Wiimote Dual Charging Station with 2 Rechargeable Batteries for $6.99-$12.99 plus free shipping (originally $59.99 - use coupon code "DUALWiiBATT").

• Steering wheel for Wiimotes for $2.99-$7.99 plus free shipping (originally $24.99 - use coupon code "WIIWHEEL").

• GTA4 for Xbox 360 for $37.99 plus free shipping (originally $59.99).

• Get a $100 gift card when you buy a PS3 from Walmart for $399. (Valid on 11/08, in stores only).

• Buy 2 DS games, get the 3rd free.

• Circuit City Game Discounts (from Kotaku).

Audio and video:

• Lite-On Bu-ray DVD-ROM for $89.99 (originally $169.99 - valid until 11/09. Use promo code "LITEONBLURAY10").

• Cables Unlimited Wireless Indoor/Outdoor speakers with remote for $79.99 plus free shipping (originally $169.99 - use coupon code "EMCBBAECG").

• Philips GoGear 2GB MP3 player for $24.99 plus free shipping (originally $49.99).

Memory cards:

• 16GB USB Flash Drive for $11.99 (originally $65.99 - use this rebate form).

• Transcend 8GB SDHC memory card for $9.99 (originally $32.99 - valid only on 11/05).

• 4GB Kingston MicroSDHC flash card with 2 adapters for $10.85 (originally $27.99).

Movies (Blu-ray):

• Kill Bill - Volumes 1 & 2 on Blu-ray for $27.95 (originally $69.98 - valid only on 11/05).

• 300 on Blu-ray for $17.95 (originally $34.99).

• Transformers (Two-Disc Special Edition + BD Live) on Blu-ray for $19.95 (originally $39.99).

• Speed Racer (Three-Disc Special Edition + BD Live) for $19.95 (originally $35.99).

Miscellaneous:

• Coby 7'' Widescreen Digital Photo frame for $39.99 (originally $99.99).

Conditional deal:

• 4GB iPod Nano for $0.99 (originally $149.99. However, you must be the first NINE people in line at 8AM at the Grand Opening of a 99

The world may be moving on to CFLs, but at least one designer is still thinking about how to improve the classic incandescent bulb. Joonhuyn Kim's concept is simple: flat bulbs take up less space and make them easier (and cheaper) to store and transport. A great idea, if not a little late. Perhaps makers of soft-serve style CFLs could take a page out of this book somewhere down the line. [Designboom]

You may be tempted to buy the Neon Scarface Rifle Lamp, and you may even notice that it has an affordable $67 price tag. But we don't recommend the purchase because somewhere, deep beneath the Earth's crust, there lives a little mole-like man who keeps a very large list, and people who buy things like this lamp, Elvis plaques and fart detectors go on that list. While no one knows the ramifications of having one's name written on the sacred paper, we're pretty certain that it has nothing to do with free ice cream and puppies, or spontaneous fornication with aspiring models. [Budk Catalog via Nerd Approved]

The US Army is ramping up the development of technology right out of the X-Files, "making science fiction into reality" as Dr. John Parmentola—Director of their Research and Laboratory Management—puts it. The list of things currently in the works is amazing: Regenerating body parts on "nano-scaffolding", telepathy through electronic impulses in the scalp, and self-aware virtual photorealistic soldiers that can be deployed in the battlefield through "quantum ghost imaging". To test these they want to use them into a massively multi-player online games like World of Warcraft or Eve online:

We want to use the massively multi-player online game as an experimental laboratory to see if they’re good enough to convince humans that they’re actually human, that can think on their own, have emotions and talk in local slang. I actually interact with virtual humans in terms of asking them questions and they’re responding.

Once they have them perfected, they want to "deploy" these soldiers using something called "quantum ghost imaging". This will allow to create photorealistic, non-cheesy-fake-CNN-looking holograms out of thin air by "pairing photons that do no reflect or bounce off an object, but off other photons," whatever that means. Parmentola explains it as "“like having a tracing tool … that goes over the image and that’s connected to another one on a piece of paper that exactly imitates what it is that you are tracing with the other pen" which leaves me scratching my head as well. He hinted that this is closer than we can imagine.

The rest of their projects are equally mindblowing. Although this used to be the subject of much rumorology and speculation, the Parmentola confirmed that they are working in:

• A project to erase bad memories, which will be critical in helping soldiers with psychological damage.
• Devices that will translate one solider's thoughts into electrical signals that can be beamed to other soliders, to help in stealth operations.
• Growing back body parts, both internal organs and limbs (Parmentola said researchers are not far away from this), using molecular-sized particles that act as nano-scaffolding for the human cells to grow, dissolving after the organ has regenerated.

Let's hope it's no all smoke and mirrors, because this research has the potential to benefit countless others outside the battlefield. [DoD Buzz]

This is ESA's video unveiling of its Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle, a test-bed for a next-generation reentry pod. The IXV is due to rocket aloft on Europe's new small Vega launcher in 2012 and test out a range of systems for a "proper" future vehicle. Ditching the simplicity and limitations of the now old-fashioned conical-pod-with-heat-shield design, it's a lifting-body shape with a thermal protection system somewhat like the Shuttle's. The wingless pod is steered by aerodynamic body flaps with reaction jets as backup and for orbital maneuvers, and when it's low and slow enough it'll pop a 'chute and plop into the Pacific. And it'll do it all autonomously. Clever stuff. [ESA via Slashdot]

When I did the first walkthrough of my current apartment, I failed to notice that the kitchen sink does not have a separate spray hose. The digs are nice but that would have been a dealbreaker! Paini has the right idea though with their Hybrid I-KIC faucet. As you can see in the tantalizing image above, it has a flexible base, so you can get a direct stream of water where you need it. Plus, it features an LED illuminated dial that gives you an idea of the water temperature through color changes. No word on pricing, but products that combine style and functionality never come cheap.

[Paini via Limitedhype]

The phrase "64-bit" has been tossed around lately, the most it's been since the Nintendo 64. If you haven't heard it, pay attention. One of the most important steps forward in computer power is happening right under your nose, but most people don't know thanks to the sneaky efforts of Microsoft and Apple. Though fully 64-bit operating systems are the OSes of tomorrow, you can taste some of that power today with 64-bit versions of Windows and OS X. Here's why 64-bit computing is so awesome:

In a word, memory. We're not going to get super nerdy on you here (Wikipedia will gladly go there). To keep it simple, the whole bit thing (16-bit, 32-bit, 64-bit) refers to how much data the computer can keep track of, or talk to, at once, and that's what determines how much memory it can handle. A processor with 32-bit memory addresses can basically roll with 4GB of RAM. A 64-bit system can rock, on the other hand, 16 exabytes of RAM. That's 16.8 bmillion terabytes. Of RAM. You're not going to get that kind of memory, not anytime soon; for now, from a user standpoint, this means there's simply no ceiling to memory expansion.

So while 32-bit hardware and software—the current norm in PC-land—limited you to 4GB of RAM (Physical Address Extension will let you have more, but 32-bit software will still only use 4GB), with 64-bit hardware and software, you can use vast amounts of RAM, which enables a whole new world of possibilities for applications, since they'll have a massive amounts of memory to work with.

The road to 64-bit rather conveniently dovetails with the multi-core processor arms race, using graphics cards for processing and growth of parallel processing in mainstream computing. In other words, in just a short generation, applications will be able to harness an exponential increase in power over what they can use today—a crapload of processors working together with a smorgasbord of memory at their disposal. With 64-bit, computers can also crunch bigass numbers way faster, so it's excellent for science-y things. So get ready for some cool stuff.

You're probably asking: Why not now? I've heard of this 64-bit stuff before. Well, the hardware has been around for a while—64-bit super computers go back decades, and AMD brought 64-bit processors to the mainstream a few years ago with the Athlon 64, for instance. The PowerPC G5 for Macs was also 64-bit. And if you buy a Core 2 Duo today, it's 64-bit. But the operating systems regular people use have essentially been slow to adopt 64-bit until recently, and won't plunge excluslively into 64-bit for another generation, Windows guru Ed Bott explained to us. Windows Vista ships with separate 32-bit and 64-bit editions, with Vista 64-bit being the first consumer-usable 64-bit version of Windows. Apple has been moving more and more of OS X over to a 64-bit architecture with every new version. Bott told us that while Windows 7 will have 32-bit and 64-bit versions, its eventual successor, Windows 8 (or whatever it's called) will likely be the first Windows that's exclusively 64-bit. Reportedly, next year's Mac OS X Snow Leopard will be 64-bit down to the kernel.

The reason 64-bit is the future and not the present is that 64-bit is a whole different architecture from the 32-bit status quo—different kernel means different drivers, application compatibility issues, that kind of stuff. A swift, clean break means lots of headaches, especially for the corporate world, which, as Bott told us, is as big of a concern for Microsoft as the consumer space. That's why Apple has been transitioning OS X to total 64-bit over time, and why Microsoft will still ship a 32-bit version of Windows 7. And likely, Bott says, an exclusively 64-bit Windows 8 would have a virtualization setup to run 32-bit apps. "Fortuitously," he told us, "an x64 system with lots of memory should scream at virtualization."

Another hitch on the path to true 64-bit glory that Bott raised is the question of "When will people outside of the specialized work software" like Adobe (Photoshop CS4 will be a native 64-bit application in Windows, though not in OS X) write 64-bit apps? With the coming wave of many-core parallel processing and ridiculous amounts of memory to take advantage of, programmers have a lot to play (and deal) with. Applications have to be re-written to take advantage of the multiple cores and huge amounts of memory at their disposable, and that transition is going to take some time. The other slight downside 64-bit Bott mentioned—and it is slight—is that hibernation will be slower, since all that memory means more to write to the hibernation file, and more to read when it wakes up.

While that awesomeness sounds like it's too be good to be the norm anytime soon, it's not. Leopard already does quite a bit of 64-bit voodoo, like having a 64-bit GUI and Vista 64-bit is supplanting 32-bit on computer maker's systems, now that the driver situation isn't so abysmal. And while four totally usable gigs of RAM in a Vista machine is a thing of beauty, 6GB and 12GB will quickly become the standard for performance machines with the launch of Intel's Core i7, since it uses triple-channel memory—three delicious sticks of RAM—so 64-bit couldn't come soon enough.