Kerosene lamps used in off-grid, rural areas are a major problem. They're bad for people's health and the environment's. One startup's solution is to tap another, greener resource, something we all have in abundance: gravity.

This infographic is a step-by-step guide for building a nerd's dream: grab some PVC, spray paint, LEDs, and a few other DIY trinkets, then make a lightsaber.

Miroslaw Sowa, an electronics hobbyist in Montreal who grew up playing the accordion, liked the guitar but found fingering chords on the fret board too difficult. So he teamed up with Toronto software developer Vsevolod Zagainov to develop the Tabstrummer, an electronic instrument that allows the user to play different guitar chords simply by pressing one of up to 12 preset memory buttons.

A University of Queensland student has built a lightbulb that does two things a little outside the lightbulb norm - first, it levitates. Secondly, it is powered without wires.

Coffee tins - great for string-based telephone construction, improvised percussion and, finally, for keeping things in. However, as it turns out they're good for another thing as well - cobbling together a radar system. We can see how this would be useful when we find ourselves against the wall when the zombies apocalypse comes.

A UK-based student decided one day to come up with the ultimate urban skateboard, designed specifically to deal with the stair-blocked dead ends through the city of London. He's finally finished it, and boy is it slick.