LED

When scientists at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) tried to apply their expertise in solar cell technology to build a green LED light from the ground up, they surprisingly centered the objective at their very first try. In doing so they solved a long-standing technological problem and paved the way for the large-scale employment of white LEDs for public and domestic illumination over the course of the next few years. Read More

Kerosene can be nasty stuff. Kerosene lanterns in particular can lead to fires, explosions, asphyxiation, and toxic fumes. In some of the world’s poorest regions, unfortunately, kerosene lanterns are the standard form of nighttime lighting. The folks over at England’s Plus Minus Solar tell us that every 20 seconds, someone is killed by such a device. That’s why Plus Minus has developed a solar-powered light called the Solar Pebble, that is targeted for humanitarian use in sub-Saharan Africa... or for patio use in suburban London. Read More

One of the benefits of a flat panel TV is the small amount of space it takes up depth-wise compared to CRT TVs. But many viewers don’t take advantage of the extra space saving and sleek look because they are put off from having to purchase an expensive mount and installing it on their walls. Well, what if installing a flat panel TV – up to 50kg – was as easy as hanging a picture? Read More

It’s a problem as old as the flashlight - or the automobile, whichever came second ... you know you should keep a flashlight in your car, but chances are that if you do, its batteries will be dead by the time you need it. This is especially likely if you live somewhere that gets cold winters, where just a few hours parked outside could send your car-flashlight’s batteries into hibernation. There’s a nifty new product, however, that addresses this problem. It called the Spotlight, and it’s a small yet heavy-duty flashlight that plugs straight into your car’s dashboard power socket, where it will stay charged constantly. Read More

Philips has unveiled its latest 7000, 8000 and 9000 Series TVs for 2010. Although the series offer varying degrees of technological goodness they do share some things in common. All the new sets employ LEDs for improved energy efficiency and contrast ratios, plus a version of Philips’ Ambilight Spectra that projects ambient light onto the wall behind the TV to match the dominant color onscreen. Also common across the series is Net TV for accessing Video on Demand content on the Internet. Read More

The basis of most 3D systems is to "trick" our eyes into believing that an image shown on a flat screen has three dimensions, but what if you could throw away the screen entirely! It sounds simply too far-fetched and impossible to choreograph, but that's exactly what researchers MIT's SENSEable City Lab and Aerospace Robotics and Embedded Systems Laboratory (ARES Lab) have created with Flyfire - a cloud of LED-carrying micro-helicopters controlled in synchrony to show unique animated light displays in three-dimensional space. Read More

The Dynasty is a very 21st Century take on a gaming platform that's been with us for more than 500 years - the billiard table. The US$100,000 Dynasty features sculptured metal, slate pockets, and neon–look LED under lighting. Add to that a host of other top of the line fittings and you have yourself one very sharp looking centerpiece for the games room. The owner of the first known indoor billiard table - King Louis XI of France (1461–1483) - would surely approve. Read More

Sending and receiving data over a wireless network is generally undertaken via radio waves. But that's not the only method. Using the optical spectrum offers the advantage of better security and blisteringly fast transfer rates to boot. Engineers from Pennsylvania State University have now succeeded in moving data outside the usual line of sight restrictions at speeds of over one gigabit per second, more than double that achieved by Siemens recently. Read More

If you’re like most people, you probably think that 200 megabits per second for wireless data transfer is just too darn slow! What are we, cavemen? Not anymore, apparently, as electronic engineering company Siemens just broke their own record by achieving 500 Mbps using white LED light. Read More