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1,000-pixel headlights could offer improved vision at night
Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute have developed a new headlight technology that automatically and intelligently adapt to the current traffic conditions. The team, led by Dr. Hermann Oppermann, essentially wired four, 256-pixel LED arrays together and connected them to a driver electronics chip. With it drivers will be able to have permanent high-beams that automatically dim when an oncoming car is detected. The head lights will also follow the course of the road (like an old 1940's Tucker) by blinking individual pixels on and off. What's more the system will reportedly be exceedingly efficient since it automatically turns off any unneeded pixels.
Korean Audi and BMW drivers can relax, LG v. Osram LED patent dispute settled
Though it seems like some patent disputes never go away, at least an ongoing tiff between LED makers LG and Osram has been settled amicably. Details were kept under wraps, other than a statement that "the parties have reached a license agreement for their respective patents" and that all the disputes worldwide were dismissed. That means that a threatened Korean ban of Audi and BMW vehicles using the LED tech won't happen -- but we doubt teutonic car-lovers there were terribly worried about that unlikely-seeming proposition.
LG seeks ban on South Korean BMW and Audi sales, sticks out its LED lit tongue at Osram
Wouldn't it be nice if we lived in a world where we all just got along, people worked for the thrill of it, and knowledge was free? Yeah, fat chance dreamers. 'Sue', our new millennium's most oft-used verb, is getting some heavy play at the hands of the tech industry. The latest court room combatants? Why, that'd be LG Group and Osram. You see, once upon a time LG was late to the LED patent game, and was content to fork over the cash to Osram for use of its tech. Skip to now, and the electronics giant's claiming it can get its lighting goods elsewhere, picking from a plethora of relevant IP-holding companies and combining that with its own patents. Despite having already countersued Osram in July to prevent the import of that company's allegedly infringing products into South Korea, LG's gathered its legal arsenal once again to block the sale of Audis and BMWs throughout the entire country -- cars that include Osram's LED tech. It's hard to imagine the courts would grant such a wide-sweeping ban on major auto players' bread-and-butter. And all grandstanding aside, it's more likely the two fisticuffing parties will come to some sort of revised financial agreement.
Osram's new LED package 50 percent brighter, promises cameraphone flashes that suck 50 percent less
See those smiling twentysomethings up there? That, folks, is the kind of happiness that can only be achieved with 150 glorious lux of LED intensity. Fortunately, Siemens subsidiary Osram Opto Semiconductors has packaged a new LED chip that capable of putting up such impressive figures, a claimed 50 percent brighter than its predecessor -- and that makes it capable of evenly illuminating a 90-centimeter area from a distance of one meter away. Cameraphone flashes are an obvious application, but pocket projectors are another obvious benefactor -- it's nearly impossible to eke enough light out of 'em, and this should help. It's not clear whether a brighter pocket projector would have the same positive effect on the demeanor of a bunch of stylish youths, though -- more on that situation as we get it.
Lumiotec's OLED lighting panel gets video reviewed, throws down versus a bright group of competitors
Those of you waiting for a hands-on evaluation of the Lumiotec OLED lighting development kit before cranking up the Bieber, throwing on some acid-washed overalls, and converting your bathroom into Club 54 can now rest easy. That's because the folks at OLED-info.com have thrown some light on the situation via a video review of the device, and even managed to cobble together a battle royal with other disco-worthy OLED options including the Philips Lumiblade and Osram Orbeos panel. Key points made in the review include that the 15 x 15 cm Lumiotec panel, "feels good to touch" and "is much brighter, [than the competitors] but you know it's a lot bigger". With such decisive words like those, there shouldn't be anything stopping you from snagging a few $934 kits in anticipation of your homebrew Mo' Money Mo' Problems video reenactment. If you're still not convinced by our paraphrasing however, feel free to illuminate yourself by watching the entire review after the break.
MusicLites shoves a speaker, wireless transmitter and LED light into single canister
Look, we've no beef with Osram Sylvania (nor Artison, for that matter), but calling these MusicLites "a first of its kind" is a bit of a stretch, if not an outright falsity. Klipsch launched essentially the same thing back at CES this year with the LightSpeaker, but hey, we've no gripes with a little competition in the space. The aforementioned duo has joined up in order to produce something that should make the art of integrating whole home audio into your own abode a good bit easier, with the MusicLites design combining a 10-watt LED light, a 70mm full-range loudspeaker and a wireless audio receiver. The device can slide into four-, five- or six-inch recessed cans, and we're told that it'll provide light output equivalent to a 65-watt reflector bulb. As you'd probably expect, there's a proprietary 2.4GHz transceiver that works with a variety of sources, some of which include USB, smartphones and PMPs. Each kit will ship with a pair of 3.8" x 5.3" modules and a remote that controls light dimming and audio settings, and while mum's the word on pricing, it'll be commercially available sometime in the fall.
Siemens gurus hit 500Mbps with white LED lights, dare you to blink
You know what's better than wireless power? Nothing, frankly. You know what comes darn close? Wicked fast transmissions through thin air. Researchers from Siemens have just shattered their own record for wireless data transfer using white LED light, hitting a whopping 500Mbps while working in collaboration with the Heinrich Hertz Institute in Berlin. The old record sat at "just" 200Mbps, but the new speeds are helping to take Visible Light Communication from a hopeful technology to a serious contender in the space. These same researchers were also able to show that a system using up to five LEDs is capable of beaming out data over long distances at up to 100Mbps. We're told that the IEEE has been toiling tirelessly since 2007 to standardize activities in this field, and while a late 2010 completion date is currently being penciled in, we're not holding our breath. Anyone remember how long it took 802.11n to escape "draft?"[Thanks, Mademoiselle Y]
OSRAM Orbeos OLED lights are small, flat, right behind you
The days of OLED wallpaper are still some years away, but you can finally start thinking about replacing those tired light fixtures with something a little more two-dimensional. After testing the waters with its Early Future lamp and then boosting efficiency of its product, OSRAM is announcing availability of Orbeos OLED panels for general consumption. The discs are 80mm wide, only 2.1mm thick, and emit light at a temperature of 2,800K, meaning they're much closer to an average incandescent than those awful CFLs. They're not as efficient, though, managing just 25 lumens per watt compared to your average CFL's 60 - 72. Still, they're about twice as thrifty as traditional bulb tech and can be configured in a variety of interesting ways (shown after the break), but since the company isn't saying just how much any of those configurations will cost we have to figure it's still going to be awhile before you're mounting these under your cabinets.
German labs set new mark for energy efficient white OLEDs
BASF and OSRAM ticked the OLED progress meter up one recently, with news out of Germany about new diodes that are both efficient (60 lumens per watt) and reproduce color accurately enough to meet international Energy Star standards. The most power sipping organic light-emitting diodes ever created they aren't, but the ability to keep their color under varying levels of intensity leads to the next step, producing stable deep-blue colored emitters for increased efficiency (100 lumens per watt or more) so they can start illuminating surfaces near you. Isn't it lucky, we know some folks in South Korea BASF might want to have a chat with.[Via OLED-Info]
OSRAM unveils Ingo Maurer-designed Early Future OLED lamp
Though we've seen OLEDs used for interior lighting purposes before, OSRAM and designer Ingo Maurer have churned out what's possibly the world's first dedicated OLED lamp. Aptly named Early Future, the creation is being produced as a limited edition and unveiled at the Light&Building Fair in Frankfurt, Germany this week. Each OLED tile measures in at 132- x 33-millimeters, but we're not told exactly how energy efficient this desktop illuminator is (nor where to find one). Leap on past the break for a closeup of the tiles.[Via OLED-Info, thanks Ron]
Bogner's Solar-Powered Ski Suit from space
No matter how often we humans fail at designing "futuristic" fashion that the real future inevitably disowns, it's always fun to try. Bogner's got a good thing going here, what with a few solar panels and myriad of LED lights embedded into the ski suit of the future, and since the suit was designed to help with Munich's bid for the 2018 Winter Olympics, that gives us plenty of time to find the design perfectly detestable when the real future rolls around. The solar panels use thin film tech developed by OSRAM, with an output ratio of 55 lumen / watt. Even with that kind of efficiency, the moon must be pretty dang bright over there in Germany to power the suit as shown. Who knew?[Via Be Sportier]