LED lighting is becoming popular for warehouses and factories. Not just because the lights save the building owners money, but because they are digitally networked and controlled. Startup Digital Lumen’s LED systems now cover 50 million square feet of industrial space. Read more »
Soraa, a three-year-old startup that uses the semiconductor gallium nitride for lighting and laser applications, has raised a round of $88.6 million, according to a filing. Read more »
GE backs startup Nuventix, which has developed a cooling technology for LEDs and electronics. The tech can help LED-makers cool lights without using a larger fixture size. Read more »
Philips has unveiled a 17-watt energy-efficient LED bulb that can replace a 75-watt incandescent bulb, the standard widely used today. However, the bulb will still be expensive, at around $40 to $45 a pop. Read more »
Is the greentech industry headed for a breakout year or is it retrenching for hard times to come? The first three months of 2011 provided evidence that could support both assertions, with a big rise in venture capital investment and a big drop-off in global energy financing. Solar power remained the largest green technology sector in terms of venture capital investment, while in the world of electric vehicles, GM’s Chevy Volt hybrid and Nissan’s all-electric Leaf — the first two mainstream plug-in vehicles — hit the showroom floors in significant numbers. Meanwhile the smart grid sector’s relative dearth of VC investment was more than made up for by the massive round of acquisitions. Companies mentioned in this report include NRG Energy, Microsoft, Silver Spring Networks, Tesla and BrightSource Energy. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Folks in commercial and public buildings will see the light by 2014 — next-gen light, that is, thanks to adoption of technologies including advanced fluorescent lamps, light emitting diodes (LEDs) and automated controls, according to a report out today from Lux Research. Read more »
In a few years, we’ll look back at 2010 and remember it as the year that LEDs turned a corner and went from a pricey niche lighting technology to a mainstream contender. Here are three reasons ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
If you want a smart lighting system that helps cut energy use and maximizes efficiency, you gotta lose the dumb fixtures and go with tech that has computer intelligence written into its DNA. That’s the premise of Digital Lumens, a 2-year-old startup based in Boston, Mass. […] Read more »
While the number isn’t official (Apple isn’t exactly free and easy with its sales figures), one analyst is saying that although its early yet to tell, it looks like the iPad is on track to break some pretty significant records in terms of order volume. Amateur […] Read more »
I have a keen interest in portable apps from my time spent working on client sites. Having a suite of productivity applications on a USB flash drive has come in handy many times in my consulting career, especially when I’ve needed a graphics application. Read more »
Standard-household-sized LED bulbs have long raised a common complaint: They don’t dim easily. Yeah, some can be dimmed by controlling the current instead of the voltage, or by making them flicker at high speeds undetectable by the human eye, but homeowners can’t just plug them into […] Read more »
During the past month, I’ve been busy redecorating and rearranging my home office. I spend most of my time there after all, so it needs to be conducive to productivity. For all my planning, there seems to be an aspect of my home office that I’ve […] Read more »
While light-emitting diodes, or LEDs, have long played a role in consumer electronics and displays, solid-state lighting (SSL) is now emerging as a potential technology for everyday commercial and residential lighting applications. As incandescent light bulbs are phased out because they use too much energy, and concerns over mercury affect sales of compact fluorescent bulbs, SSL is receiving increasing attention from consumers and governments seeking to reduce energy costs and lower their carbon footprint. Once LED costs come down, SSL will have a major impact on the global lighting market. While LEDs themselves are not made with silicon, silicon chips are an integral component of SSL fixtures. Thus, the sector represents a significant market opportunity for chip makers. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Take your laptop outside, and you’re likely to find yourself squinting at the screen. The glare is even more pronounced with mobile computing devices, which users usually view downward (like a piece of paper), catching more light than when the screen is vertical. But putting brighter […] Read more »
Apple unveiled the new iPhone today, and once again the device is inspiring lust while the network inspires loathing. While a lot of sites are hacked off that AT&T will not support tethering (using your phone as a modem) and MMS picture messaging on the iPhone […] Read more »
