Philips Hue is a lighting system that changes the definition of what your standard home lighting setup is, and now there’s an official developer program for the innovative Wi-Fi-connected bridge and bulbs, so that third-party apps and hardware can pick up what Philips has started. → Read More
It’s hard to find a compelling use case for the Philips Hue. But Jim Rutherford and his son hacked the wireless LED lightbulbs to be in sync with the day/night cycle in Minecraft. It creates an immersive setup and is actually useful as creepers start appearing at nighttime. → Read More
Philips, a brand well known for their televisions and optical media devices, is leaving the consumer electronics market and is now focusing on medical equipment and lighting. The company sold its CE business to the Japanese manufacturer Funai Electric Co. for $201 million. → 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
Despite conservatives’ misgivings about Whitehouse moves to retire old, incandescent light bulb technology (and its energy inefficiency) the market for light emitting diodes and efficient lighting systems continues to gather steam.
In the latest spate of milestones: LED-chip-makers Bridgelux scored another $21 million investment; and Digital Lumens attained certifications that will help it export… → 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
Intertrust Technologies Corporation, a company that develops and and licenses technologies and intellectual property for digital rights management (DRM), has moved to acquire the assets of media search service Seeqpod.
Intertrust, which holds over 150 patents and has offices in Silicon Valley, London and Beijing, announced this morning that it has purchased all software and patents developed by… → Read More
Don’t count Songbird out yet. The open source media player that’s increasingly positioning itself as an alternative to Apple’s iTunes has forged a deal with global electronics maker Philips. Under the agreement, which will be announced later today at CES, Songbird’s software will come bundled with the Philips line of GoGear portable music players, available worldwide. We first reported a… → Read More
The consolidation process in the TV business continues and now even becomes international. Just last month, Sharp inked a “historical” joint venture deal with former rival Sony, agreeing to supply LED backlights to Sony for their LCD TVs (which happened this month). → Read More
E-ink is cool, sure, but it’s still largely a black-and-white technology. Philips Research has moved into the color realm with what they’re calling e-skin. “The first applications using the technology could be e-skins for small devices such as MP3 players or cell phones. However, the technology is highly scalable,” says Kars-Michiel Lenssen, Principal Scientist at Philips Research. The vision… → Read More
For those of you about to rock, I encourage you to pick out a nice pair of headphones. I tested four models at around $100. They are:
Ultrasone Zino – $99
Philips Tapster – Price TBA
Shure SE102MPA – $119
Klipsh S4i – $99
Which one did I love the most? While they were all special in their own way, there were two that really stood out in the round-up… but I won’t ruin the surprise! Watch the… → Read More
There’s not too many gadgets out there that I’d spend money on. There’s the Zune HD, which, while totally unreadable in direct sunlight, is still otherwise a fine portable media player. So that’s one. Another one would be that Philips Wake-up Light (though that will have to wait till next month; stupid Zune HD was expensive!) I bring this up only, and I do mean only, to segue into a brief… → Read More
The thing that got the biggest titters at IFA were Philips improved “sensual massagers,” the his and hers HF8400. Interestingly, Philips is straight up saying this is a sex toy and it was on display next to a bed in the Philips booth. Good on them. I haven’t tried it but this young lady sincerely enjoyed modeling it. → Read More
It may be that we’re entering an era of lozenge-shaped phones with little to distinguish them from one another, but that doesn’t mean phone makers shouldn’t even try. Honestly, if your phone looks and acts like every other phone and its specs are for the most part the same, why did you put it out?
Philips’ V808 is their first Android-based smartphone, so I guess you can’t blame them for sticking… → Read More
Oh the things engineers do when they’re bored and forced to look busy. Philips will debut, at a conference in Salt Lake City (of all places), a jacket with built-in vibration motors. The point is to study how people physically react to watching movies. Suggested first movie: Caligula. → Read More
There’s an episode of Seinfeld (“The Slicer”) where George and Jerry discuss the merits of skin care and the skin care industry. Neither of them think very highly of either—at one point, George tells Jerry that all you need to do to take care of your skin is “wash it, dry it, move on!” That’s how I’ve always felt about remote controls: there’s no need to complicate the celebrated… → Read More
Panasonic, Philips and Sony today announced they joint forces to consolidate the Blu-ray licensing business. The aim is to offer a single license that not only covers patents for Blu-rays but also DVDs and CDs. If things go well, we as consumers could get cheaper movies, music or games in the process.
Full press release after the jump. → Read More
Philips is working on some fancy new drug deliver technologies that utilize microbubbles in a new way. Traditionally, microbubbles are used to enhance the resolution of ultrasound images, but Philips’ research provide a one-two punch for imaging and targeted drug delivery. → Read More
Talk about a case of the Mondays. Sprint and Philips are the latest to announce layoffs with Sprint cutting 8,000 and Philips 6,000 employees. You know the drone. It’s cause we can’t borrow against our overinflated home’s equity to buy these companies latest crap anymore. We’re too busy dumping all of our cash into organic foodstuff now. The Sprint layoffs are expected to be completed by March… → Read More
Short Version: The Philips DC910 is great-sounding system for playing music from your iPod, a USB thumb drive, an SD card, FM radio, or up to two external sources — all for under $150. → Read More
Quick Version: In a world chock full of streaming music devices, the Philips Streamium NP1100 blends into the crowd as a straightforward, easy-to-use network device. → Read More
Holy cow, people. Costco is currently offering three two-for-one bundles on Philips and Sharp LCD HDTVs. You can snag a 19-inch and 42-inch combo for $1200 on up to $1800 for a 52- and 32-inch LCD HDTV. That’s pure madness! What are you waiting for? Costco → Read More
Philips is ready to turn the the nuke codes over to Funai as the company tries to reorganize in this pirate-infested world. Earlier in the year, the company turned over the rights to televisions and now is doing the same with DVD, Blu-ray, and home theater products. From here on out, the Philips name will still be present but Funai will be the brains behind the operation with the rights to… → Read More
Must everything begin with an “i” because it’s getting a bit dull and the sheep might think Apple invented it? Philips has announced the development of an “intelligent pill” that they plan to present at the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists this month in Atlanta. The magically delicious iPill includes a microprocessor, battery, wireless radio, pump and a reservoir of… → Read More
Although luxury hotels are, in every respect, incredible and conspicuous wasters of resources (in the name of comfort), at least that means they’ve got nowhere to but green. So although you may safely blast the Sheraton, W, and Westin hotels among others for things like washing clean towels, throwing away used card keys and so on, at least you’ll know that when you turn on the tube for… → Read More
Woot; good ‘ol Woot. The LCD might be recertified – whatever that means – but if that’s cool with you, it’s only $749. Yeah, $749 for a 42-inch, 1080p LCD. Not to shabby considering the average price of this set elsewhere is north of $1,100. Hopefully though, Black Friday will produce similar if not better LCD deals. → Read More
I like Sonicare brushes. They don’t tear up your gums – too badly – and they make funny noises when you brush your teeth. Philips updated their Sonicare line with this interesting new system which is much more like traditional motorized toothbrushes although it does offer considerably more vibration and three buzz settings – regular, gentle, and the erotically-themed… → Read More
Philips has a treat for geeky developers, artists, DIYers and just plain geeks with an assortment of its incredibly thin Lumiblade OLED lights. The starter kit contains everything one needs to craft their very own OLED lighting solution with different size screens, shapes, and colors. The hope is that these creative types will think out of the box and create something innovative with these flat… → Read More
At the beginning of the year Philips consolidated their Consumer Electronics and Domestic Appliances & Personal Care divisions into a single unified Consumer Lifestyles group, with a focus on “enabling [consumers] to enjoy a healthier and more rewarding lifestyle”. (source) The Philips HomeLab I visited is one example of how Philips investigates what products are best suited for… → Read More
If you don’t like the idea of shooting your alarm clock, the new version of the Philips Wake-up Light might be for you. Like any other alarm clock, you set the time at which you want to be woken up. 30 minutes before that time arrives, however, the Wake-up Light starts to gently glow. As the minutes pass, the light gets brighter, simulating the rising sun, so that when the designated time… → Read More
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