Hacked Gadgets had this video…

The inventor of this device had this to say about it:

“I used this globe (http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/science/98b8/) for the levitating part. It consists of 2 permanent magnets, and 2 electromagnets, coupled with a hall sensor to keep a third magnet (inside the globe) floating. I mounted a ordinary 20W lightbulb on this magnet, after removing the plastic globe. The light bulb is connected in parallel with a 100nF capacitor, and a coil of about 40 turns of copper wire.(diameter is about 6 cm). The base has the same coil, with the 100nF capacitor in series connected. The base-coil receives a 50volt, 30kHz square wave signal, from a half H bridge(something like this: http://lh4.ggpht.com/otp.arun/SJkzTSR90lI/AAAAAAAAAh8/fqNPHXqXa8U/s400/hbri1.JPG), with the coil/capacitor connected where the motor is drawn. The current is about 0.5 amps. It works by driving the primary LC combination at resonance. A induction current is generated in the secondary coil because of the resulting magnetic field generated. The current is then directly fed into the light bulb.”

Wow.

There is talk right now of technology that could revolutionize the way wireless communication is utilized - imagine using flashing light to communicate with devices, not unlike the way that IR technology is used with devices, or light pipe technology is used in recording.  Boston University’s College of Engineering is launching a program with help from an NSF grant to get this kind of technology kicking.  From the article at Cellular News:

“Imagine if your computer, iPhone, TV, radio and thermostat could all communicate with you when you walked in a room just by flipping the wall light switch and without the usual cluster of wires,” said BU Engineering Professor Thomas Little. “This could be done with an LED-based communications network that also provides light - all over existing power lines with low power consumption, high reliability and no electromagnetic interference. Ultimately, the system is expected to be applicable from existing illumination devices, like swapping light bulbs for LEDs.”

As far as green technology goes, this is an amazing prospect - I am interested to see what wavelengths they decide to exhaust first, and what the rates of transmission would be.

Along with communication technology, the article mentions automobile safety:

“This technology has many implications for automobile safety,” Little said. “Brake lights already use LEDs, so it’s not a stretch to outfit an automobile with a sensor that detects the brake lights of the car in front of it and either alerts an inattentive driver or actively slows the car.”