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Hitting the Books: Why nobody knows Hiram Maxim, inventor of the incandescent lightbulb
In "The Things We Make, Dr. Bill Hammack, recounts the tale of Hiram Maxim, an irrepressible engineer whose novel filament production method would have made him a household name — had Thomas Edison not helped himself to Maxim's design.
The Energy Department will block sales of inefficient light bulbs
New efficiency standards may help reduce carbon emissions by 222 million metric tons.
Amazon-owned Ring is preparing its first smart light bulb
Ring is branching out from its usual doorbells and security cameras to produce truly connected lighting, although it's probably not going to replace your corner table lamps any time soon. An FCC filing has revealed that the Amazon-owned firm is prepping a Bluetooth-capable light bulb. It appears to be a floodlight that would complement Ring's existing security systems, but it's still a significant step for a company whose dedicated lighting has so far been limited to self-contained systems rather than screw-in bulbs.
UC Santa Barbara sues Amazon and IKEA over LED lighting
UC Santa Barbara has had enough of retailers selling its patented LED light bulb technology without authorization. This week, the university filed a lawsuit charging Amazon, IKEA, Walmart, Target and Bed Bath & Beyond with infringing its patents. According to Nixon Peabody, the law firm representing UC Santa Barbara, this is the "first-of-its-kind direct patent enforcement campaign against an entire industry."
GreenWave Reality ships WiFi-aware light bulbs that flick on through motion and smartphones
We've seen connected light bulbs before, some more sophisticated than others, but they're rarely as straightforward as GreenWave Reality's just-shipping Connected Lighting Solution. Eco-friendly LED bulbs in the lineup include support for WiFi and are immediately controllable from a smartphone or tablet as soon as they're receiving power. Basics controls like group presets and timed lighting are just the start; if you're not worried about leaving anyone in the dark, the bulbs can respond to motion sensors and only illuminate the rooms that need attention. And while the intelligence isn't new in itself, GreenWave would argue that sheer accessibility gives it an edge, with electric utilities in Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden skipping the retail middleman by selling directly. Don't despair if you live in the US: the linked-up lighting is cleared for eventual use by Americans who'd like to save both energy and a trip to the light switch.
Bluetooth Bulb lets you switch on, time, dim and color your lighting from your phone (video)
Every once in a while, someone tries to give the humble light bulb a little next-gen flavor. This time, we're adding Bluetooth 4.0 to the mix. Why, you ask? Good question, and one with a simple answer. The Bluetooth Bulb lets you pair your phone with one or more of the lights in your home, and then control them via an app. Switch them on, off, change brightness, set a timer, and a special RGB bulb even lets you change the color ambiance. If you're worried about the cost and waste when these things burn out, fear not, as apparently every part is replaceable -- and as there's no home automation system involved -- you won't need anything else to get set up. If this idea switches you on, you might have to hold out a little longer, as the product is just a patented prototype right now. Sights are set on mass production, but you'll have to stick with your old clapper for the time being.
ARM forms UK group to foster an Internet of Things, put 50 billion devices online by 2020
ARM isn't content with dominating the mobile space. It's been by the far the most vocal about an Internet of Things where everything is connected -- and to make that happen, it just established an industry forum in the UK that it hopes will establish common ground for all those internet-linked light bulbs, refrigerators and thermostats. Home energy firm Alertme, cloud-aware sensing outfit AquaMW, lighting maker EnLight and white space wireless guru Neul will start meeting with ARM from August 24th onwards to hash out our automated, eco-friendly future. There's a certain urgency in this for the chip designer: it expects 50 billion devices on the grid by 2020. With IDC estimating a billion new connected devices just in 2011, the clock on that connected device transition is ticking very loudly.
INSTEON says apps are better than switches with networked LED bulbs
We'll spare you the puns and meme references here. (Besides, how many Xzibit jokes can you take?) INSTEON has decided that simply saving you money on your electric bill isn't enough anymore. If you're going to cough up nearly $30 for an LED lightbulb, there better be some value added features. So, the company stuck a proprietary dual-band wireless receiver inside each of its eco-friendly lights allowing them to connect to a home automation system. There is a dedicated remote you could buy, but why bother when there's an app available for both Android and iOS that lets you turn on, off and dim the lights from the comfort of your touch screen. You can even create custom "scenes" for preset lighting levels. Unlike most remote lighting solutions, though, all the necessary hardware is built into the bulbs themselves. In fact, each one acts as a signal repeater, passing along instructions both wirelessly and though the powerlines to make sure ever corner of your home is covered. For more check out the PR and video after the break.
Inhabitat's Week in Green: Jake Dyson's lamp, wooden light bulbs and weed-killing lasers
Each week our friends at Inhabitat recap the week's most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us -- it's the Week in Green. This week Inhabitat has been reporting live from New York Design Week, where we've witnessed countless innovative green designs from around the world. To kick things off, we were pretty impressed with this desk lamp designed by Jake Dyson (son of the vacuum god) that extends the life of its LED bulbs by a whopping 37 years. Also in the category of "bright shiny things we love" is QisDesign's Aurelia lamp, which bears a striking resemblance to a glowing jellyfish. We were also dazzled by UM Project's collection of retro, robot-inspired lamps, Light & Contrast's cute LED flower lights, and we were absolutely floored by Alessandro Jordão's larger-than-life LEGO chair. Can't get enough of NY Design Week? Check out all of our favorite green designs from this year's shows. Continuing with the topic of innovative green lighting technology, artist Ryosuke Fukusada has created the impossible: a glowing wooden light bulb. Confused? The light was created using a technique called Rokuro, and it consists of an LED light bulb wrapped with a very thin layer of wood. When the bulb is turned on, it illuminates the grain of the wood. As Fukusada's creation demonstrates, LED lighting technology has taken some incredible strides recently, and we took some time to round-up 24 of our all-time favorite green lamps that look great with LED bulbs.
Panasonic sends 100,000 LEDs down Tokyo river, mates tech with tradition (updated with video!)
If you'd been by the shore of the Sumida River in central Tokyo this past weekend, you would have noticed that it was glowing a distinct shade of blue. That's because Panasonic decided to kick off the first-ever Tokyo Hotaru (fireflies) festival by sending 100,000 EVERLED light bulbs down the river, both to mimic fireflies as well as to pay homage to a Japanese tradition of floating candles on the water. Before you cringe too much at the thought of the environmental impact, rest assured that Panasonic minimized the footprint of its aquatic LED parade. All the bulbs ran on solar power (presumably, charged during the day) that kept Evolta batteries fed inside, and the entire lot was scooped up in a large net afterwards. We love the exhibition as a large-scale demo of sustainable lighting -- you may just want to avoid fishing along the Sumida's shoreline for awhile in case you catch a straggler. Update: We've found a video of this spectacular event -- check it out right after the break.
Philips' L Prize-winning light bulb goes on sale Sunday, priced between $20 and $60
It's a little strange crowning a "winner" when only a single company enters the contest, but that's exactly what happened during the L Prize celebration in August of last year. Philips was the only outfit to take the US Department of Energy up on its offer, earning some $10 million to develop what might go down as the most radically designed, wildly expensive bulb your table lamp has ever seen. That said, the victorious bulb is a big fan of Ma Earth (and her of him), using just 10 watts of energy while outputting light similar to that of a 60 watt incandescent. It'll hit retailers like Home Depot this Sunday (Earth Day) for around $50 a pop, while some utility companies may subsidize 'em in an effort to hit the magical $20 price point. Hey, no one said saving energy would be remotely affordable, right?
Giinii AudioBulb hands, eyes and ears-on
Alright, so check this out -- that thing above is both a 5W LED light bulb and a 10W wireless speaker. Around the edge is a ring of glowing diodes with a four-stage dimmer, while the center is a 2.25-inch driver that speaks to a dock via 2.4GHz wireless. The AudioBulb from GiiNii is a fairly unique way to kick out the jams anywhere in your abode and they disappear into practically any lamp. A basic setup of two bulbs, a dock and a remote will set you back a surprisingly steep $299, but you can add on up to six more bulbs for $99 a pop. Speaking of rooms and bulbs, you can configure the speakers to work in stereo pairs or in mono, and set up two zones with different volume levels. The dock is a chintzy feeling piece of plastic with an integrated iPhone/iPod connector and around back you'll find an auxiliary jack for the non-Apple fans. The dock can connect to the speakers from up to 100 feet away, depending on the environment, and comes pre-paired with the bulbs in the box. Adding additional speakers requires just the push of a button on the base and bulb simultaneously to get the party started. It was tough to hear the tunes over the din in the hall at Pepcom's event, but we're confident it can't quite compare with the Play 3. They did, however, give off enough light to keep their little corner of the convention well lit. Check out the gallery below as well as the PR after the break. %Gallery-133815%
Philips wins DOE's $10 million L Prize for 60W incandescent killer
Put your pig-tail light bulb aversions aside, because Philips has just won the DOE's $10 million L Prize Competition for the creation of a decidedly non-curlicue 60W equivalent LED lighting solution. The company was named the first winner in the 60W replacement bulb category at a Washington DC event, yesterday. It's taken three years to find a winner that could meet the high standards set forth by the DOE, specifically "ensuring that performance, quality, lifetime, cost, and availability meet expectations for widespread adoption and mass manufacturing." Requirements further stipulated that the 60W incandescent killer use less than 10 watts of power, and provide energy savings of 83 percent. If Americans replaced all of their 60W incandescents with Philips' little winner, the DOE estimates savings of $3.9 billion in a single year. The bulb is expected to hit shelves as soon as early 2012. Full PR after the break.
German geniuses hit 800Mbps with light bulb WLAN
Last year, Chinese scientists showed off some new old-school tech, transmitting data with blue LEDs that flicker faster than the human eye can perceive. This throwback to the good ol' days of IR receivers was able to hit speeds of 2Mbps, but leave it to the fine folks at the Heinrich Hertz Institute to push the light bulb networking tech to the extremes. Earlier this year researchers hit 500Mbps with white LEDs; now, using a combination of white, green, blue, and red, the team ramped that up to 800Mbps, officially putting Ethernet on notice. The line-of-sight networking won't actually replace your standard Cat 5 line or WiFi router, but it could find a home in places like hospitals where radio-based wireless technology can cause problems for sensitive equipment. With any luck, we'll soon be bathing our homes in HD-streaming illumination.
Vizio, your favorite low-cost TV leader introduces... a light bulb (video)
It's a busy week for Vizio. The budget TV manufacturer flaunted its flashy new tablet in front of our cameras yesterday, and had us hopping across town this afternoon for a chance to go hands-on with its latest entrant into a mysterious brand-new product category (for Vizio, at least). Reps were mum on details, so we had no choice but to return to the CEA LineShows in NYC to see what was up. We walked around the booth, looking for signs of that Vizio Android phone we saw at CES, only to find co-founder Ken Lowe cradling the new goods: a line of light bulbs. We laughed. Then asked to see the real product that Vizio insisted would be worth the trip. Nope, that was it: a LED light bulb -- four of them, in fact, arranged in height-order on a chrome bathroom vanity fixture. Lowe then proceeded to introduce his product as he has any other, so we hit record. They're bright, round, and standards-compliant, and will be coming to a screw-in fixture near you in Q3. How much? "A Vizio price."%Gallery-126935%
Peg lamp lets us spend less time screwing in light bulbs, more time talking about them (video)
We know what you're thinking, but the Jolly Green Giant didn't drop something on the way to hang out his laundry. Designed by Steffi Min for her industrial design senior thesis, the Peg lamp looks and functions like an oversized clothespin, directly clipping onto a standard light bulb. As you can see in the video after the break, changing a bulb takes only a second or two, and there's almost no risk of broken glass. We don't expect a clothes pin connector to appear as a retail product anytime soon, but if we can build our own humanoid robots, we can probably find a way to slide an oversized rubber band around two wedges of wood.
Inhabitat's Week in Green: Brain-shaped bulbs, houses that fly, and hydrogen bolts from the sky
Each week our friends at Inhabitat recap the week's most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us -- it's the Week in Green. This week Inhabitat showcased several hot new eco vehicles including the world's fastest plug-in hybrid and an insane screwdriver-powered tricycle that sends you flying through the streets headfirst. The field of alternative fuels also advanced by leaps and bounds as the U.S. Department of Energy announced a new breed of cost-effective biofuel and a team of researchers discovered a way to efficiently produce hydrogen from urine. From flying houses held up by balloons to skyscrapers that harvest energy from bolts of lightning, this week we also showcased some of the world's most incredible buildings. We were wowed by the futuristic finalists of the eVolo skyscraper competition, which included underwater spires made from plastic debris and massive megaprojects that contain entire cities. This week we also spotted several exciting new examples of green consumer tech - from a clever brain-shaped CFL bulb to ASUS' new line of cardboard computers to a wearable mix tape you can pin on your sleeve. We also celebrated the launch of Apple's latest tablet by rounding up 14 of the best eco-friendly iPad cases, sleeves and bags. Finally, we kicked off a contest where you can win a beautiful recycled leather iPad case from Dewdrop Designs, and we shared 11 chic travel essentials for jet-setters on the go.
Bridgelux silicon LED could mean bright future for solid state lighting
While Democrats and Republicans squabble over the future of the incandescent light bulb, a Livermore-based company has produced an LED that they claim could lead to brighter, more affordable solid state lighting. By growing gallium nitride on low-cost silicon wafers, as opposed to the typical sapphire and silicon carbide substrates, the company has achieved an output of 135lm/W (lumens per watt) with a color correlated temperature of 4730K-- brighter than any affordable LED lighting solution we've ever seen. Of course, this isn't the first time efficacy of this level has been achieved, and we've yet to see a practical application, but if Bridgelux's numbers are right, this could mean a 75 percent cut in LED production costs. The company expects the technology to make its way to real world lights in the next two to three years -- perhaps by then the furor over pigtail light bulbs will have settled a bit. Enlightening PR after the break.
Cree shows off 'no-compromise' LED replacement for 60-watt incandescent bulbs
Compact fluorescent (or CFL) bulbs may currently be the dominant alternative to traditional incandescent light bulbs, but there's still a strong contingent betting on LEDs as the true long term replacement. One of the major players in that camp is Cree, which recently teamed up with TESS and Dean Kamen's FIRST organization to have kids distribute LED light bulbs like Girl Scout cookies (seriously), and is now showing off what is says is the "first no-compromise replacement for a 60-watt incandescent bulb." That bulb is dimmable, and emits a "beautiful, warm, incandescent-like color of 2700 K," while delivering more than 800 lumens and consuming less than 10 watts (meeting the Energy Star requirements for a 60-watt standard LED replacement bulb). Unfortunately, there's one big catch -- the bulb is still just a prototype, and Cree says it hasn't yet decided how it will bring it to market, or how much it might cost. Head on past the break for a quick video demonstration.
Nokero's solar-powered, rainproof N200 light bulb: brighter, stronger, more flexible
No one's going to be calling Nokero out for falling behind. Just a few short months after revealing its first commercial light bulb for developing nations, the outfit has now rolled out a second version, the predictably titled N200. This guy strikes a vastly different pose compared to the original, with the LED enclosure hanging on a swivel that enables it to be positioned in a way that would optimally catch light. When night falls, users can flip the light north to create a lantern. Nokero claims that this edition is just as rugged and rainproof as the original, but it's 60 percent brighter and lasts three times as long. A single NiMH battery is included, and that's what is rejuvenated by the sun -- once charged, it'll provide between 2.5 and 6 hours of light, depending on the mode. It's on sale now for $20 apiece (bulk prices are less), representing a modest $5 premium over the (still available) N100. Can't say the Yankees will be looking to decorate their outdoor patio with lighting right about now, but for the nomads trekking to Panama to escape Old Man Winter... well, you know what to do. Vid's after the break. [Images courtesy of Larry Bollig] %Gallery-107898%
