Philips

16:20 March 9, 2009 PDT

LED street lamps deliver 88% power saving in Japan

The cost and energy-efficiency of solid-state lighting are driving many new applications, and the recent installation of the first LED street lights in Osaka Prefecture in Japan, has already been found to provide an overall savings of 88% in electricity bills over the older high-pressure mercury lamps used elsewhere in the region. Each of the LED-based street lamps installed at a park on the Kizu River utilizes 36 cool white LEDs. The LED array generates 30 lux at a pole height of 4.5 meters, comparable to the brightness of mercury lamps, while using just 25 W of power per fixture. Read More

Blu-ray licensing changes offer hope for cheaper players and discs

20:34 February 26, 2009 PST

Even though Blu-ray has claimed the honors in the format war with HD DVD, it has failed to set the world on fire in terms of widespread adoption. One of the major factors for this slow uptake can be attributed to the high prices of not only Blu-ray players and recorders, but also the discs themselves. But plans announced by Sony, Panasonic and Philips to create a simplified licensing process for Blu-ray discs could see this change. Read More

Philips 56-inch LCD packs a 21:9 aspect ratio

02:18 February 2, 2009 PST

The Philips Cinema 21:9 LCD TV.
Pic: SlashGear.

As all aspect ratio snobs know, the 21:9 cinema screen aspect ratio was developed to mimic our own peripheral vision and therefore provide a more immersive viewing experience. Recognizing this Philips has unveiled the world’s first cinema-proportioned LCD TV dubbed the Cinema 21:9, which features a 21:9 aspect ration 56-inch screen and Philips’ Ambilight technology to deliver what it says is the most completely immersive home viewing experience possible. Read More

Philips’ next generation Aurea LCDs

By Noel McKeegan

22:06 September 30, 2008 PDT

Philips is rolling-out its 2008 Aurea LCD TV range with new 37” and 42” models boasting an improved in refresh rate of 2ms (compared with 3ms for previous models), a contrast ratio 30000:1, plus the latest versions of the company's Perfect Pixel HD Engine and Active Frame technology. Read More

PERSONAL COMPUTING

The PC monitor designed to cure the wintertime blues

By Loz Blain

00:17 September 4, 2008 PDT

Have you noticed a decline in your energy levels over winter? Find yourself needing more sleep, feeling depressed or overeating? You may be experiencing Seasonal Affective Disorder (appropriately abbreviated to SAD), a phenomenon which is becoming better understood through research. The most common form of therapy for SAD is light therapy, in which the patient is exposed to specific wavelength lights to trigger the biological processes that keep us more upbeat in summertime - and this is the theory behind the LightFrame from Philips, a computer monitor with a switchable bright blue-lit frame that gives workers the ability to self-administer a mild form of light therapy as they work. Read More

Philips unveil CinemaOne home theater system

02:15 September 3, 2008 PDT

Philips' all-in-one DVD Home Theater System.

Philips' new all-in-one DVD Home Theater System packs a range of home entertainment features into a distinctive, compact design. The CinemaOne includes an integrated universal iPod dock, built-in subwoofer and DVD player with HDMI 1080p upscaling in a unit that resembles a compacted, upturned trash can – only a lot more stylish. Read More

AROUND THE HOME

Wake up to the (artificial) sun

By Emily Clark

12:12 August 29, 2008 PDT

Philips has shown the second generation of its Wake-up Light at IFA 2008, while Lenco, is displaying a multi-colored approach on the same theme. Both lights are designed to mimic the natural process of waking up with the sun and, hopefully, make it just that little bit easier to get out of bed in the morning. Read More

ECOGIZMO

Philips' energy efficient street lighting cuts city energy consumption

17:01 April 9, 2008 PDT

Starsense is based on Echelon's LonWorks(R) protocol over power line

April 10, 2008 Streetlight systems are expensive for cities to operate and maintain. They also use a lot of energy — representing almost 40 percent of a typical city’s electricity spending. Echelon Corporation announced at the 2008 Light+Building event in Frankfurt that Philips Lighting, one of the world’s leading providers of lighting systems, has built its new Starsense street light telemanagement system using Echelon’s LonWorks platform, which uses Echelon’s power line transceivers to communicate between lighting fixtures and Echelon’s i.LON SmartServer to provide Internet access and local monitoring and control. It is believed Starsense can deliver energy savings of over 40 percent, reducing cities’ energy bills and carbon footprint. Read More

MUSIC

Philips SHB9000 Bluetooth headset

By Emily Clark

15:14 January 9, 2008 PST

January 10, 2008 A full headset designed to deliver high-end sound quality to audiophiles listening to music via their mobile phone, Philips new SHB9000 Bluetooth headset allows users to seamlessly move between music and incoming calls and uses digital signal processing to filter out background noise and echo and automatically adjust volume in response to outside noise. Read More

HEALTH AND WELLBEING

Philips unveils new heart scanner

By Emily Clark

21:50 November 25, 2007 PST

Heart image from Brilliance iCT scanner.

November 26, 2007 Philips has unveiled a 256-slice Brilliance iCT scanner that can create a 3D visualization of the heart in only two beats. Announced at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) in Chicago, the new scanner boast a significant reduction in radiation doses in addition to enhanced image acquisition. Read More

PERSONAL COMPUTING

Philips and Swarovski unveil digital bling

04:13 September 2, 2007 PDT

Philips and Swarovski unveil digital bling

September 2, 2007 Philips and Swarovski announced their intention to work together to fuse fashion and technology in April this year and the first fruit of the collaboration was shown today at IFA 2007 in Berlin. As digital technology becomes all pervasive, it is inevitable that there will be a market for luxury technology and the Active Crystals collection directly addresses this need, beginning with the release of four USB Memory Keys and four headphones. The only problem is … Read More

The Compact Disc turns 25

By Noel McKeegan

23:38 August 16, 2007 PDT

First worldwide presentation of the Philips CD Audio made by Joop Sinjou, Head of Philips ...

August 17, 2007 In an event that marked the shift from analogue to the new digital era in the music industry, the world’s first compact disc rolled off the production line at a Philips factory in Langenhagen, Germany, twenty-five years ago today. Philips and Sony co-developed the CD (which was invented by American James T. Russell in the late 1960s) and an estimated 200 billion have been sold around the world in last quarter of a century - that’s enough to circle the earth six times. Read More

HEALTH AND WELLBEING

Smooth operator : Philips Moisturizing shaving system

By Noel McKeegan

20:19 August 7, 2007 PDT

Smooth operator : Philips Moisturizing shaving system

August 8, 2007 Philips has teamed up with Nivea for Men to release a new Moisturizing shaving system. The waterproof unit combines the latest innovations in men’s razors with one key improvement: built-in shaving conditioner that applies moisturizer as you shave. Read More

GOOD THINKING

Philips Digital Pocket Memo 9600 heralds a new era in productivity

March 2, 2007 To say that the Digital Pocket Memo 9600 is an important new tool for business professionals is an understatement. Even to state that the new 9600 represents the next generation of digital dictation technology is underplaying its importance way too much. Until now, dictation has been a largely under-utilised tool because for it to be used in an office environment, a dictation system and a secretary are required, and only the legal system has ever been organised enough to effectively employ dictation as an industry-wide productivity tool. With the new functionality of the Philips Digital Pocket Memo 9600, the device provides a ready-made system which can easily incorporate a dictation system into any office. Couple the 9600 with one of the new LAN Docking Station and it will transfer dictations through your LAN (local area network) to a transcriptionist or a speech recognition system without connecting to a PC. Encryption ensures that dictations are sent securely through the company network or the Internet, regardless of whether the destination is next door or on the other side of the world. There’s also a Barcode Module which snaps onto the 9600 - a highly compact laser scanner that retrieves important patient or client information by scanning the barcode. The scanned information is securely attached to the dictation, saving time and minimizing the risk of errors. The Barcode Module can also be used as a USB scanner device, directly transferring the barcode information to a PC. That’s the system – as far as the 9600 itself, well that is just a straightforward better mousetrap than has previously existed. Read More

Philips shows 100-inch Ambilight FlatTV prototype

September 4, 2006 If you have taken the time to have a good look at Philips Ambilight technology, you’ll be aware it brings a completely new, transformational dimension to watching TV, creating an immersive viewing experience through a unique technique which matches the colour and brightness in the images being displayed on the television’s screen. Ambilight is proven, a million Ambilight FlatTVs sold by Philips, which shipped the most number of LCD TVs worldwide in the first half of 2006. Now the Dutch giant is rolling out a prototype 100-inch (245cm) LCD TV with Ambilight Full Surround – the new, four-sided version of Philips’ totally unique ambient lighting technology. Read More

GAMES

Philips Entertaible - Electronic Multi-Touch Tabletop Gaming Platform

September 4, 2006 Earlier this year Philips showed a prototype Entertaible at the CES in Las Vegas. Today, it is unveiling the finished fully integrated tabletop gaming platform at this year's Internationale Funkausstellung in Berlin. The multi-purpose platform enables a new class of gaming that combines the excitement of electronic games with the fun and social interaction of board games. Entertaible enables simultaneous multi-user interaction, object detection and recognition. Initially targeting social gaming away from home in locations such as pubs, bars, hotels or restaurants, Entertaible has the potential to evolve into a gaming platform for the consumer market. Read More

WEARABLE ELECTRONICS

Philips shows production-ready Lumalive textile garments

September 2, 2006 The world’s largest consumer electronics trade fair, Internationale Funkausstellung (IFA) opened in Berlin yesterday, and one of the big stories is the demonstration of promotional jackets and furniture featuring Philips’ innovative Lumalive technology. Lumalive fabrics feature flexible arrays of colored light-emitting diodes (LEDs) fully integrated into the fabric - without compromising the softness or flexibility of the cloth. These light emitting textiles make it possible to create materials that can carry dynamic messages, advertisements, graphics and constantly changing colour surfaces. Fabrics used in drapes, cushions or sofa coverings become active and designers can use different inputs to change the illumination based on user behaviour. Prototypes of the technology were first exhibited at IFA 2005 but unlike those early example, the products on display at IFA are ready for commercialization, particularly by companies in the promotional industry looking for a new, high-impact medium. We can’t wait to see what the design industry can do with these capabilities. Read More

Philips introduces Blu-ray players and media

June 20, 2006 Philips has announced the availability of its first Blu-ray devices, the TripleWriter (SPD7000) all-in-one PC Writer and a home entertainment player (BDP9000). Also announced are two types of recordable media, a 25GB single-layer BD-R (Recordable) and BD-RE (Recordable and Erasable). The Blu-ray discs are available now in North America and Europe, while the Triple Writer and Blu-ray player will be available in both markets later in the year. The new TripleWriter (SPD7000) features recording and playback capabilities of all popular storage formats including CD, DVD and Blu-ray, which allows users to select their media of choice depending on the preferred application. Philips’ TripleWriter features a 2x (72MB/s continuous-data rate) read and writer speed on BD-ROM, BD-R and BD-RE media. The drive reads and writes a variety of legacy media including: CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-ROM, DVD+R, DVD+R DL, DVD-R, DVD-R DL, DVD+RW and DVD-RW. Read More

CAMERAS AND IMAGING

Philips 42 inch 3D Display wins Gold Award at SID2006

June 16, 2006 “3D-TV is the next frontier for those in the professional display market seeking differentiation to gain a competitive edge, and for consumers seeking the next level in the immersive entertainment experience.” So sayeth Philips Jos Swillens at the annual Society of Information Display 2006 (SID2006) where Philips showcased its latest 3D displays, picking up a Gold Award in the process for ‘Display of the Year’. The award, given to the Philips 42-inch 3D Intelligent Display, recognises the display with the most novel and outstanding features, including Philips proprietary technology which produces 3D images without the help of specialised content or glasses. Read More

CAMERAS AND IMAGING

Philips launches 16.5 cm, high definition photo display for the home

April 11, 2006: 74 million digital cameras sold worldwide in 2004 passing film camera sales and that’s before we factor in the digital cameras available in every mobile phone. Most mobile phones now have a camera and people upgrade regularly. A billion phones will be sold this year. Around the turn of the deacde, half of all the people on the planet will have a phone and henceforth most human beings will be permanently carrying a digital camera. Mobile cameras are everywhere and the financial barriers to taking a photograph (i.e. the cost of a bunch of silver-halide based chemicals and photographic paper and labour in order to get a hard copy print) has been completely removed. Forty billion digital snapshots were taken in 2005 according to Kodak, the company that used to own the photography business. Philips today staked its claim to putting those 40 billion images on show. The Digital Photo Display, a 16.5 cm, high definition, full colour panel designed to digitally reproduce photos at their very best with print-like picture quality and full 16-bit colour and adjustable brightness of up to 200 nits. Digital images too often get filed to a PC hard drive or CD, rarely to be seen again – Philips aims to remedy that. The Digital Photo Display’s 137 x 91mm, 720 x 480 pixel LCD screen delivers a quality that matches colour prints in a traditional picture frame. Read More

ELECTRONICS

Philips demonstrates world-first technical feasibility of 13.56-MHz RFID tags based on plastic electronics