Got this Caller ID Globe for my mom.
I was afraid I was paying too much for it, but figured wtf, it's Christmas. It looks great in person, a lot better than in that picture... and substitutes as a night light. It alternates between missed calls, time, date, and a greeting based on the time of day / year (right now it says Happy Holidays). You can even leave notes on it, great for birthday anniversary reminders, since you can set them to come up every year.
The way it actually works is it has a bar on a central pivot that spins
really fast. It has a row of about 8 LEDs on each end that project out to the glass of the globe, and it's REALLY clear. You can't see them because it spins so fast, so all you see is the light on the side of the globe, and it appears to be coming from nowhere.