Finding good lighting is hard and controlling it is harder. That’s why the Lumapad programmable lamp is so interesting. It’s a light source that can hit up to 8,000 lumens. You can either control from the unit itself or program it using USB or Wi-Fi. Why would you want to control this lamp remotely? Because it’s such a bright light source, you can use this for DJ events, lighting video and still… → Read More
Apple was granted a couple of interesting patents today (spotted by AppleInsider), including one for multitouch surfaces embedded in devices that appear and disappear as needed, as well as a new cooling apparatus design that can redirect air to where it’s needed most within a device. One is just a twist on tech Apple already uses, and the other is something that could address warm lap issues… → Read More
Editor’s note: Sal Cangeloso is the editor of Geek.com and wrote a new book on an odd topic. It’s called LED Lighting: A Primer to Lighting the Future and it focuses on the upcoming explosion in LED manufacturing, offering a basic understanding of the technology and an interesting look at the history of LED lights.
You can buy LED Lighting: A Primer to Lighting the Future here and the first… → Read More
First, Japan got the world’s first connected home garden device, and now it’s time for Nippon to get the world’s first cloud-based LED lighting system. Developed by Tokyo-based lighting tech startup Net LED Technology Corp., the so-called NetLED system will go on sale in Japan on February 20 (here‘s the company’s English website).
The 40W lights, which have a 40,000-hour lifespan, come with… → Read More
Today, Philips announced that their Philips Ambient LED 12.5 watt light bulb — which gives off as much light as incandescent 60 watt bulbs, using less energy — attained Energy Star qualifications. It’s the first LED light bulb of this type to gain approval in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sponsored program. Energy Star sanctioned products are usually eligible for utility rebate… → Read More
Visible Light Communication is a data trasmission protocol that uses visible light to send data at 3 Mbps using LEDs and special models. The system works by modulating the LED lighting in your home or office. → Read More
One of the most annoying things about fluorescent bulbs (including their new and improved little brothers, the CFLs) is the way they take a little time to get to full brightness. It differs from bulb to bulb, but you always end up cursing it inwardly, as it always keeps you in suspense of when that slight flicker will end.
Well, GE has solved that problem, at least kind of, by putting a tiny… → Read More
At the moment, if you’re looking to move to more eco-friendly bulbs, your choices are compact fluorescents or LEDs. The trouble is that LEDs are still pretty expensive (though their color temperature issues are being worked out), and CFLs are… well, fluorescent. Nobody likes fluorescent light.
These new bulbs may not fix that particular problem, but they sure as hell look cool. → Read More
Previously, if you wanted to use an OLED display, you had to use a power adapter. The problem was that OLEDs required low voltage to light up, instead of the standard (in Europe) 230v system. Now, scientists at Philips have announced that they have been able to design an OLED system that doesn’t require a step down transformer in order to work. This means that a device that uses an OLED… → Read More
Don’t you just hate it when you are driving down the road at night, and that oncoming jackhole in the SUV can’t be bothered to turn his brights off? Particularly these days, when said jackhole is probably driving a car with HID headlights, and you have to stare at the white line to avoid driving off the road? Well hopefully technology can help with that. A French company is currently working on a… → Read More
Lumenergi a Newark, Calif. business closed a $12.7 series B funding round led by Braemar Energy Ventures the company announced today.
It plans to use the capital to take its flourescent and LED lighting control systems — which are like dimmers on steroids and smart pills — from small to mid-sized commercial sites such as schools, courthouses and stores, to large scale commercial and industrial… → Read More
Nani Kore (“What’s This?”) is the name of a Japanese TV show that digs up bizarre things and phenomena observed around the world and explains how they work. In the latest show, they presented a house in central Tokyo that proves solar power can be used in a residential setting without those expensive solar panels and cells.
Just take a set of orbs that look like giant light bulbs, install them on… → Read More
In one of those rare collisions of good design and practicality, this lamp appears to be the perfect thing for your bedside. It’s simple enough: when you’re not reading your book, you place it on the lamp and it extinguishes the light. Pick it up; place saved, light on. Brilliant! → Read More
When you hit the switch on a lamp, you probably have some preconceived notions about where the light is going to come from. It’s time to purge your mind of such design prejudices and embrace the weird and impractical; this “WTF, not what I thought” lamp will challenge your notions of what a lighting device should be.
…in bed. → Read More
As we move away (as a species) from wasteful incandescent bulbs, we’re going to have to deal with some changes in how the world looks. The cold, bright light of a white LED array is great for a flashlight, but a little clinical for mood lighting. Similar issues plague CFL bulbs, and let’s not even get into the flicker. But it doesn’t mean we don’t have to go into this new, harshly lit world… → Read More
In case you hadn’t heard, Ikea is on the solar bandwagon. After pumping $75 million into various environmentally-sustainable initiatives, we’re starting to see products trickle out. Aside from solar-powered garden lights — which have actually been availalbe from numerous companies for a while — you can also pick up a $20 solar desk lamp. → Read More
Regardless of what camera you use, a ring flash can be expensive. And for macro photography, there’s nothing better. But let’s say you’re on a budget. So instead of spending up to $600, how about one you can make for about $5.00, and a little bit of time from stuff you can pick up at your local dollar store. → Read More
Toshiba Japan has developed an LED that emits UV light with 50% higher efficiency than conventional LEDs. The problem with existing white LEDs is that they are made by coating phosphors on blue LEDs and too weak to light bigger areas such as parking lots or supermarkets. Toshiba says their prototype UV LED is made by placing a layer of aluminum nitride between the sapphire substrate and the… → Read More
Japanese newspapers are reporting today that Mitsui Kinzoku, an Osaka-based mining and smelting company, might have paved the way to more powerful and ecological LEDs in the future. The key is a mix between red and blue phosphor, combined with blue LEDs, which leads to the production of extremely pure white light (wave length: 450nm). Mitsui Kinzoku claims the white light created this way is 50%… → Read More
Or maybe in 10 years or so. Designer Ingo Maurer has come up with a nice-looking lamp utilizing custom OLED panels created by Opto Semiconductors. The panels are quite small: 132x33mm, or a bit more than one inch by five. A few of them in his tree-like configuration would make for a bright and even lighting situation. The designer is very excited about the possibilities of the whisper-thin… → Read More
http://i.zdnet.com/flash/cnb_video.swf It’s the size of a Tic Tac, but it puts out as much light as an average street lamp. It uses new kinds of technology that’s vastly more efficient than the lights in your house now. If these guys can find a way to make it affordable, I’m the first in line. → Read More
Matchlight, another concept that’ll never see the light of day. That doesn’t mean it shouldn’t, of course, but its lack of built-in Bluetooth or space for Google Ads means it’ll live on only as a render. The design incorporates 16 individual matches, each contributing a thin slice of light to an area’s mood. The less matches there are, the less light there is, giving… → Read More
Hey, your kid needs gadget advice too! Check out these awesome nightlights from Fred Flare. For $12 you get a pair of lights that will make any kid more excited than Pixi Stix. One bulb glows purple and has plasma rays like those balls you see at Spencer’s Gifts. Very exciting. The other bulb resembles a wacky hairdo and is made from a blue light and fiber-optic cables. It also looks like… → Read More
If you’re one of the tens of people who need portable lighting solutions, you’re going to love the Lampada Metro Roll-Up Lighting system. The lights start out looking sort of like a roll of duct tape and are unraveled into a Pringles-like translucent tube that emits weak light. If you would use this, please let us know how or why. I’m not ragging on them, I’m honestly… → Read More
…provided you’re hiding under a tree in a thunderstorm and, freakishly, lightning hits you instead of the tree and runs down the length of the iPod earbuds and blows out your ear drums and blows up your iPod. I mean, otherwise, you’re fine. Apparently a 37-year-old jogger in British Columbia (is that even a place?) got hit by a bolt of lightning resulting in severe burns. There… → Read More
BCXSY has created a swing it’d love you to see. It’s an LED swing that lights up at night to create a soothing ambient glow that probably (in designer speak) “creates an atmosphere of calm for the child”. Yeah, fantastic. How about you install four of these swings at an inner-city park and watch them get destroyed in a matter of hours? Or better yet, install them in a park… → Read More
Ontario, a place to live and a place to grow, is outlawing incandescent bulbs in 2012 in a move to encourage energy savings on a national scale. The switch would save six million megawatt hours per yer. The ban wouldn’t effect special use cases, like medicine, and will encourage the use of compact florescents that use 75 percent less energy than the older incandescent bulbs. Good on ya… → Read More
If we had one of these as a kid, we would have had an easier time staying in school and off the hard drugs. It’s the Plasma Light Bulb, a scaled-down version of that freaky sci-fi plasma globe that your rich, smarter friend’s dad had in his den. You know, the room you guys weren’t allowed into with the liquor and porn. And plasma globes. We’re guessing these things… → Read More
We all know that light affects ones mood. Make your room consistently like a dank cellar and you’re likely to morph into some nefarious Dick Cheney-like character. Lots of sunlight and such and its probable that you’ll experience a much more positive metamorphosis. For those of you who are stuck in the dank cellar, but would prefer not to end up sinister, then perhaps some mood… → Read More
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