LED

In addition to two powerful LED lights, the new NAO headlamp from Petzl has a light sensor. The headlamp doesn't just shine light, it measures ambient light to provide the ideal amount of output. It also uses a few other smart design features to give you a high-performing, convenient headlamp. Read More

As a founding member of Desk Lamp Fetishists Anonymous, it was with great interest (read cold sweats) that I learned about the stainless steel Flaca desk lamp by Mexico's Masiosare Studio. Yes, the stainless steel is sexy, and the 6 W power consumption - courtesy of twelve LEDs - ticks the green boxes, but most exciting is the fact that the Flaca comes as a flat piece of laser-cut steel that the user then bends into shape. We at the DLFA are nuts for flat-pack tool-less assembly, you see. Read More

While OLED may have staked a claim as the next generation display technology to beat, Sony has chosen CES 2012 to unveil a new display technology called “Crystal LED.” Instead of an LED or CCFL backlight shining through an LCD layer to produce an image, the Crystal LED display technology is a true LED TV that uses a layer of tiny self-emitting LEDs to directly produce the image – think of it like a high resolution shrunk down JumboTron like those found at sporting stadiums. Read More

The privilege of working under the open sky is reserved for just a few lucky professions. For the less fortunate majority, spending their working hours surrounded by gloomy office landscapes, the soothing sight of clouds drifting through the sky is unattainable. Setting up office cubicles in the open would do the trick but it's hardly a practical option, especially in places where the weather cannot be trusted. Fortunately, researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering (IAO), based in Stuttgart, Germany, know what else can be done to bring a little outdoor comfort to the office-bound. They built a dynamic luminous ceiling which allows office dwellers to gaze at clouds without ever leaving their desks. Read More

Although we have entered 2012 approximately 1.5 billion people around the globe remain without access to a stable or safe source of light. Commonly in some of the world's poorest regions, kerosene lanterns are the standard form of night time lighting, which leads to the possibility of fires, explosions, asphyxiation and toxic fumes. Cheap, accessible solar lighting presents an obvious solution to this problem and the latest tilt at making this a reality is WakaWaka - a solar LED lamp concept that can fit snuggly onto a soda bottle. Read More

For people who want portable LED lighting that mounts just about anywhere, there are already devices such as the Joby Gorillatorch, most of which are variations on the tried-and-trusted flashlight form factor. Striker’s new FLEXiT Light takes a bit of a different approach, however. Instead of incorporating three or so LEDs within one lens, it utilizes a bendable array of 16 high-output bulbs. Read More

Have you ever seen children out on the playground, playing some made-up game that only they know the rules to? Well, Play Visions’ CyberFire Football Set is kind of like a high-tech version of that. While onlookers just see a couple of kids with funny-looking headgear on, passing a foam football back and forth, those kids will see what appears to be a green or red fireball streaking through the air between them. Read More

When is a clock not a clock? When it's a big fat reprogrammable five-character 18-segment display, a bit like the Alpha Clock Five from Evil Mad Science. Its 2.3 inch 18-segment alphanumeric characters are each illuminated by 54 LEDs, providing a bold, bright answer to that most burning of questions: what's the time? Read More

LEDs last far longer than incandescent bulbs, are much more energy-efficient, and contain less toxic substances. Compact fluorescents give them a run for their money in some areas, although LEDs tend to have a warmer, “nicer” light. In the past few years, a number of companies have started marketing LED light fixtures that screw into traditional incandescent receptacles – these have included products from Geobulb, Switch, GE and Sharp. A new arrival, however is the Bulled line of “bulbs” (for lack of a better word), from German manufacturer LEDO. If nothing else, they definitely have a look of their own. Read More