Can flying on a passenger airplane be awesome, comfortable and incredibly efficient all at the same time? It can if John McGinnis has his way. He’s the Project Manager for the Synergy Aircraft Project, an effort to vastly improve commercial air travel that’s as ambitious as it is necessary.

The goal of the Project is to build an airplane that, compared to current offerings, provides passengers with significantly more room, a better view and a more quiet and comfortable ride. The new airplane should be easier and safer to operate. It should be more environmentally friendly and super-efficient to fly using commonly available fuels. And, oh yeah, the aircraft must be highly affordable.

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Time was that electric cars were glorified golf carts. No longer Today’s all-battery-powered vehicles are larger, better looking—and faster. Exhibit #1: The 2012 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG E-cell.

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Consumers are currently accustomed to seeing LEDs as the prime components of modern flashlights and Christmas tree lighting. But heretofore only specialty lamps have produced light from light-emitting diodes.

That will be changing over the next few months. LED light bulbs are coming to a lamp near you. An array of companies are launching LED bulbs that will fit into regular light sockets. And, unlike previously marketed LED retrofit bulbs, these will produce a light in the same color temperature range as incandescent blubs, 2,700K to 3,000K.

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Might the next front in the cola wars consist of advertising campaigns aimed at convincing the public to pour a particular brand of soft drink into their cell phones?

It will if Chinese designer Daizi Zheng and Finnish electronics giant Nokia have their way. The two have teamed up to develop a biodegradable cell phone that runs on Coca-Cola.

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In tough economic times there’s a special need for gifts that come at a cheap price but that feel expensive. So here are 10 items with a low cost and high WOW factor. As with our other gift guides, friends and family of Spot Cool Stuff are advised to read no further lest you ruin the surprise of your gift this holiday season. The rest of you, carry on . . .

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There’s been a lot of press about the race to replace the internal combustion engine in automobiles. What’s gone less noticed is that motorcycles are undergoing their own paradigm shift. Your next two-wheeled ride may be powered by an electric motor, hydrogen fuel cells or even solar power. Here’s a look at eight especially cool, environmentally-friendly, motorcycles in various phases of development:

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Color us cynical, but when we first heard of the cell phone made out of corn-based materials we figured that the product would be little more than a green gimmick. (Perhaps we are still haunted by memories of drinking cheap corn-made beer—”beer” that literally cost less than bottled water—while in college in Iowa. But ANYWAY . . .)

. . . then we tried out the Samsung Reclaim. Turns out, the phone much cooler and less, well, corny, than we had imagined.

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Obtaining one will set you back $25 million—cheap considering that a single module can power about 20,000 homes

A remote town in Africa, an automobile manufacturing plant and the Smith family next door are among the entities that may soon be able to join the United States, Japan and France on the list of those who have a nuclear power plant.

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