Philips is giving its connected Hue light bulb an update that connects it to IFTTT so people can tie their light bulbs into existing web services. It’s also adding a location-aware feature and scheduling. Read more »
Want the creation story behind the Philips Hue connected light bulbs? In this week’s podcast we explore that and what people are doing with Hue and what might be next for Philips in the connected home. Read more »
Philips announces its new developer outreach effort and hints at future features for the Hue lighting system. Read more »
The LED chip and component maker has launched a line of low cost LEDs that it thinks could be a game-changer for consumers buying LED bulbs. The cheapest retails for under $10. Read more »
LED lighting companies are embracing new business models that go beyond just the sales of LEDs, bulbs and fixtures, and LEDs are slowing starting to occupy a spot in the widening web of Internet-dependent goods and services. Read more »
LED production has grown tremendously, accompanied by a significant fall in prices that will further propel the sale of this energy-efficient digital-lighting technology. But challenges remain on the road to widespread adoption. Figuring out ways to use power efficiently for lighting will be crucial for a future when the world’s population will likely be much larger. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
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 »
LEDs for our homes are starting to come down and price and look – gasp — like actually normal light bulbs. Philips has a newly designed LED 60-watt incandescent replacement that looks, well, just like a regular light bulb. And that’s a good thing. Read more »
Application development for smart TVs has been hampered by myriad proprietary platforms. But an alliance announced Wednesday by manufacturers LG Electronics and Philips seeks to create on open set of HTML-based standards. Read more at paidContent »
By 2020 it is estimated that 20–50 billion devices will be connected to the Internet. Many of these devices will be collecting health data or will be connected to health and medical devices in the home, the hospital or the wider environment. The Internet of things (IoT), meanwhile, refers to the growth of sensors and things that connect to the Internet via RFID, Bluetooth, ZigBee and satellite. In health care, its growth is likely to open new disruptive business opportunities for services that add value to the data collected. This paper provides a preliminary overview of the landscape of opportunities and drivers in the current health and health care environments and highlights some of the challenges that remain. Companies mentioned in this report include IBM, Arrayent Health, Kaiser Permanente and Ford. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Connectivity changes everything. That’s the credo driving just about every corner of our day-to-day lives. As human beings, we are now connected to one another through not just our social networks but also our cars, the books we read, the albums we download and even our own health and wellness habits (to name just a few areas). With that in mind, GigaOM Pro has singled out certain areas in the technology industry where we see this shift to constant connectivity taking place most drastically. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
There are a ton of development frameworks for creating apps on various connected TVs, Blu-ray players, game consoles, set-top boxes, tablets, smartphones and the like, which is more than most publishers can reasonably be expected to develop for. Enter SyncTV, which hopes to solve that issue. Read more »
As our demand for data increases, so too do the number of mobile devices and services. Add to that the infrastructure needed to support such connectivity, and a wide, complex picture of the mobile industry emerges. This report examines the various sectors of the mobile landscape and what the future holds for each. Hardware, cloud services, mobile search, advertising, location-based services and the growing ubiquity of the Internet of Things will all play an important role in the concept of mobility as it shifts and evolves over the next several years. With the help of more than a dozen contributors, GigaOM Pro presents a comprehensive analysis of the companies and trends that will lead us into the next era of mobile. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
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 »
Tech giants are noting Earth Day this year in different ways, from Facebook’s “Billion Acts of Green” app and Microsoft’s green data center progress to e-cycling and energy efficiency efforts underway by telcos and gadget makers. Read more »
Greentech marked its best year ever in 2010, and part of that is thanks to the wealth of activity across sectors during the fourth quarter. Global investment in clean energy surged, and while wind power remained the biggest greentech area, solar power saw the fastest growth. The energy efficiency sector appears to have more room for smaller players to make their mark amidst a rapidly maturing market. Meanwhile, China’s stance as a growing greentech giant continued to complicate its relationship with the United States. Companies mentioned in this report include General Electric, Intel, ZigBee, iControl, People Power and EnerNOC. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Which gadgets on store shelves are the greenest right now? From the show floor of the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Greenpeace says that would be gadgets from Asus, as well as HP, Acer, Sharp, Sony Ericsson, and Samsung. Read more »
Either you love or hate this time of year: Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving when shoppers rush to malls to score deals, or Cyber Monday, the online equivalent. Whatever route you take, here’s 7 gift-giving ideas that encourage green tech innovation and lifestyle. Read more »
Greenpeace has been a thorn in the side of the consumer electronics industry with its Guide to Greener Electronics for years. The latest edition shows shuffling in the ranks of top companies as they launch new products and sail past deadlines for eliminating hazardous substances. Read more »
Though still a somewhat loosely defined term, mobile health (mHealth) examines the structural and behavioral changes that occur as new technologies advance our health care system worldwide. We are in the early stages of a disruptive period in the health care industry, and mHealth is playing a significant role in that transition. This report examines the growth of mHealth specifically in the context of mobile health apps, from the medical arena’s use of the iPad to smartphone apps that combat chronic diseases and aging. And with research on the role of social networks in health outcomes growing by the day, the next generation of mHealth apps promises to bring further insights into the effects of social media on health outcomes. A number of challenges — sustaining viable business models, the specter of FDA regulation, and cost issues — exist in the space, but partnerships between employers, retailers and technology developers will continue to combat them and provide new innovation architecture in health care. With the help of this new generation of apps, health care, and indeed, our perception of wellness overall, will change dramatically. Companies mentioned in this report include Apple, mPedigree, Orange, Vodafone, Voxiva, Skyscape, Research in Motion, Google, Intel, Nike, Adidas, Philips, Twitter, Hope Labs, Virgin, Discovery Health, Telefonica I+D, Layar and Kendall & Son Solutions. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
By no means is Philips the first company to turn to web video as a means for spreading their brand — but the “online sitcom” Nigel and Victoria, launching internationally today on YouTube, does bring a big burst of meta with it. Read more »
Like it or not, TV and film streaming on a subscription basis has been Netflix’s turf for a while now (sorry, Blockbuster). But Amazon may change that with a proposed web-based subscription service that it’s been pitching around to major studios. Read more »
Google turns to smart grid applications as the latest effort to win over hearts and minds to the elusive and much-debated white space technology. Will an application like the digital power grid help unlock the massive potential behind the unused TV broadcast ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Ed Crawford, CEO of Philips Lighting North America, tells us Philips new LED bulb that can replace a 60-watt incandescent will likely retail around $60 and will be available in the U.S. in the fourth quarter of 2010. Here’s 5 questions from an edited interview with Crawford: Read more »
Warner Philips, the co-founder of Lemnis Lighting and great grandson of the founder of Philips electronics, says his company will launch a full suite of LED products at a Las Vegas lighting convention next month, and eventually “An IPO is one of the opportunities for us.” Read more »
As the year winds to a close, GigaOM Pro’s crack team of contributors takes a look back at what went right, what went wrong, and for ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
The emergence of a commercially significant electronic book (e-book) market in the past three years has been the result of two quite-recent technological developments. The first, and most critical, has been a breakthrough in the technology for manufacturing reflective electronic paper displays (EPDs), allowing for the introduction of affordable, lightweight and portable e-book readers such as Amazon’s Kindle and Sony’s Reader.
The second has been the rollout of reliable “3G” wireless broadband networks, which have made it possible to deliver digital books directly to reading devices without the intermediate steps of downloading files to a PC and then transferring them to a reader. Direct-to-device sampling and delivery, particularly with Amazon’s Kindle and Apple’s iPhone, have enabled impulse-driven e-commerce, which has been critical to early consumer adoption of e-books.
The technology for e-books, however, remains nascent. The Kindle and its ilk are very much first-generation devices that deliver the minimally acceptable experience. Further development of the business will be closely tied to future technological developments, including flexible and color displays, format standardization and rich-media applications. As the market grows, there are numerous opportunities for other technology players, from social networks to cloud service providers and more. This report examines the trends and opportunities ahead. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
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 »
While electronics maker Philips is working on getting its LEDs into homes, the company is also starting to focus on the bigger picture of energy-efficient homes. The Amsterdam-based company announced a new partnership this week with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to jointly research energy-efficiency solutions […] Read more »
The CW Adds Mobile Video; wap.cwtv.com to offer clips and full episodes of shows like America’s Next Top Model and Gossip Girl (which are broken up into clips). (AdWeek) Product Placement Left Out of Ad Estimates; brand integration and host mentions are an important part of […] Read more »
