lighting
Latest
This is the thinnest LED that anyone can make
Companies have been racing to slim down LED backlights as devices get ever thinner, but the University of Washington may have just beaten everyone to the finish line. Its scientists have developed an LED that, at three atoms thick, is easily the thinnest LED to date -- in fact, it's impossible to build something thinner using current knowledge. The key ingredient is tungsten diselenide, the thinnest known semiconductor. A single sheet of the material is less than a tenth as thick as a conventional LED, but still emits measurable light. It's flexible and strong, too. On a basic level, the technology could be handy for optical circuits, nanolasers and other areas where miniscule lighting is necessary. However, the researchers also see uses for their LED in mobile devices -- it could end up in wearables and other gadgets where even a slight difference in thickness could make a big impact.
Philips' smart lighting tells you where to go in the grocery store
Ever spent ages wandering the grocery store while looking for a hard-to-find ingredient? If Philips brings its new connected retail lighting to your local supermarket, you may always know where to go. The technology uses light-based communication to create a positioning grid for your smartphone, telling you just what route you'll need to take to get everything for that recipe. Naturally, shopkeepers can also use the system for location-based discounts and suggestions; if you're looking for dessert ideas, the lights can point you to the pastry section. Philips is already testing its smart illumination with a handful of stores, so it might not be long before you're shopping with extreme efficiency.
Belkin announces a remote-controllable slow cooker, smart LED light bulbs
Last year, if you recall, Belkin announced a partnership with Jarden (the company behind brands like Mr. Coffee, Sunbeam and Crock-Pot), promising we'd eventually see kitchen appliances with Belkin's WeMo home automation control built in. Now, at CES 2014, Belkin finally has a real product to show for it: The company just announced the Crock-Pot WeMo Slow Cooker (how's that for a name?). Being a smart product and all, you can use the WeMo app for iOS or Android to remotely turn it on or off, adjust the temperature or change the time settings. You can also receive reminders so that you don't let it sit too long. Look for it to ship this spring for $100, with an air purifier, space heater and coffee maker to follow later this year. Additionally, Belkin introduced the WeMo Smart LED Bulb, a dimmable light that can be controlled remotely using the same WeMo app you'd use to control the slow cooker. In particular, you can control the bulbs individually or in groups, and also set them to dim as you sleep and wake up. Once it goes on sale this spring, you'll need to shell out $130 for the starter kit, which includes two bulbs (60W-equivalent) and a bridge that plugs into an outlet. Thereafter, the lights cost $40 apiece and are said to last up to 23 years. Also, the bridge can connect to up to 50 bulbs, so odds are you'll never have to buy another. Last up, there's the WeMo Maker kit, which lets modders manage anything with a simple DC switch -- gates, garage doors, blinds, AC units, you name it. That will also arrive this spring, but no word on price.
Choose My Adventure: Neverwinter wonderland
When I think about what separates a good Neverwinter Foundry mission from a great Foundry mission, I have to say that it's the ambiance. Ambiance ranges from sounds to lighting to special effects. I could create the best mission ever, write the best story, but if I don't create the best ambiance for the quest, my design could fall flat. What are some of the best ways to create ambiance? Which ones should I put into this Choose My Adventure? In my limited time in the Neverwinter Foundry, I have barely been able to scratch the surface of everything that the design tool has to offer. Of course, decorations such as a dining table in a dining room add to the atmosphere of the setting, but so does the sun shining through the window or the NPCs clapping in the next room. Today, I need your assistance in choosing the different types of ambiance for different parts of our adventure.
Lumen Bluetooth smartbulb challenges Philips Hue to offer app-controlled home lighting
The smartbulb throne isn't exactly the most exciting one to occupy, but Philips Hue has its fair share of challengers, such as the freshly released Bluetooth-controlled Lumen. Similar to Hue, you can tweak not only the bulb's color, but also its intensity. In addition, several modes come baked into the light source, including one that programs the Lumen to flash whenever a call comes in, and another that syncs its effects with music. Unlike Philips' fancy bulbs, though, the device doesn't need a WiFi hub to work -- it connects directly to an iOS or Android device loaded with its companion app. What's more, its creators claim the product consumes only one-sixth of the energy a 40W bulb does despite emitting comparable light. If a Bluetooth-connected bulb intrigues you -- even though the idea itself isn't new -- you can now snatch the Lumen online or from various retailers for $70.
Ten things to love and hate about Path of Exile
Grinding Gear Games' Path of Exile officially launched last week after a long open beta. Like so many similar titles trailing in Blizzard's wake, it's a dungeon-crawly pseudo-MMO that skirts the boundary between sinking to "just another Diablo clone" and rising above the genre. Some journalists are praising it as Diablo II's rightful heir, while others are putting it aside in favor of their weatherbeaten copies of Titan Quest, which better satisfy their urge to click-click-click. The reality is usually somewhere in the middle of these extremes, but extremes are fun. So let's examine the top 10 things we love and hate about Path of Exile.
Samsung's Smart Bulb edges closer to launch as it gains US approval
Philips may be at the forefront of connected lighting with its Hue range, but could soon have a competitor in Samsung's "Smart Bulb," which has just popped up at the FCC. The Korean outfit first revealed plans for a wireless bulb earlier in the year, and expected to launch a three-piece kit during the third quarter, complete with ZigBee hub for issuing on/off and dimming commands from mobile devices. That kit never came, but the FCC approval of this Smart Bulb, which uses ZigBee and looks mighty similar to what Sammy's detailed before (see below the fold), suggests it's nearly ready to illuminate your gloomy pad. Hue might have a budding adversary on its hands, but one thing's for sure -- we're not likely to see Samsung's effort taking a prime slot in Apple's storefront anytime soon.
Engadget's back to school guide 2013: docks
Welcome to Engadget's back to school guide! Today we're talking docks. Head to the back to school hub to see the rest of the product guides as they're added throughout the month. Be sure to keep checking back; in early September, we'll be giving away a ton of gear, including some of the picks in our guides. Plug and play... and then party in your dorm. That's how the kids do it nowadays, with their iPods, iPhones and Android devices connected to virtual libraries of stored and streaming music. But unless you're rocking an HTC One with BoomSound, the dinky speakers on your daily driver just aren't going to adequately pump out the late-summer jams. For those at-home boogie breakdowns, you're going to need some serious hardware. And lucky you, we're here to sort through the clutter and highlight the best back to school picks for any budget.
Philips Hue susceptible to hack, vulnerable to blackouts (update)
Oh, Philips. Why'd you have to make it so easy for ne'er-do-wells to go full Aiden Pearce on Hue smart light users? A recent study by researcher Nitesh Dhanjani reveals that Hue's control portal -- known as the bridge -- uses a shoddy authentication system when communicating with smartphones and computers. That system uses the bridge's MAC address, which is easy to detect. As such it's also easy to hack the device and cause a blackout. In Dhanjani's demo video below, he introduces malware into the bridge through a compromised website. This lets him find the right MAC address and take control, turning the lights off again and again, ad infinitum, regardless of the switch's status. Sure, there's no immediate threat of widescale blackouts -- smart lighting has yet to be adopted en masse, after all -- but this is a security issue companies need to address, especially since lighting plays such a critical safety role.
Lightscaping at home with Philips' Hue LightStrips and Bloom (hands-on video)
Earlier today, Philips announced two new add-ons for its app-controlled Hue system: LivingColors Bloom, a standalone portable fixture, and LightStrips, a 6.6-foot LED tape that you can affix to any surface using the included adhesive back. Both products are fully compatible with the existing Hue system, including the base station and three-bulb kit that launched at Apple Stores last year. Knowing that part of the solution's appeal is its quick and easy setup, we decided to build out a five-light rig at home using three standard bulbs, one Bloom and one LightStrips set. It took less than an hour to get up and running, including swapping out bulbs, running power to LightStrips and setting up the base station and app. In order to take full advantage of available "scenes" (lighting color macros based on uploaded images), you'll want to install all of your bulbs in one room or open space. You can very easily control the color and brightness of each unit using the Android or iOS app, however, so if you prefer to go that route, there's no reason you can't install Hue all over your house, as long as you don't go beyond the 50 maximum units each base station can support. For now, most of the available scenes support one through three fixtures, not the five you'll end up with if you have one complete kit, a Bloom and LightStrips in your home, so we avoided using scenes for the time being. If you're using app version 1.1 on iOS, you can take advantage of IFTTT integration, too, letting you set up a virtually endless number of macros. Even with five Hue fixtures in a small space, the room was a bit too dark -- this solution works best for accent lighting, so unless you're prepared to use 20 bulbs in a room, you'll probably want to mix in traditional fixtures, too. Still, Hue serves its purpose well, and we definitely see the appeal despite the $200 you'll spend on the base kit, $80 for the bloom and $90 for the LightStrips. See our installation in action in the hands-on video after the break.%Gallery-195485%
Belkin ships WeMo Light Switch for $50, launches matching Android app
Belkin promised a simple approach to connected lighting when it unveiled the WeMo Light Switch back at CES, and the company is making good on its word by releasing the switch today. The WiFi-based controller is now available both online and at retail shops for $50. It isn't arriving alone, either -- Belkin is simultaneously launching the finished version of its free WeMo app for Android to complement the existing iOS release. If you'd rather have smart switches than smart light bulbs, the new WeMo hardware awaits at the source link; the companion Android app should be available shortly.
Philips intros Ambilight+Hue integration, 60-inch Elevation TV (video)
Philips makes colorful Hue light bulbs, and it (indirectly) makes colorful Ambilight TVs. Wouldn't it make sense if the two devices talked to each other? They do now: a new Ambilight+Hue app for Android and iOS coordinates Hue bulbs with compatible TVs, spreading Ambilight effects across the entire room. To mark the occasion, Philips and TPVision are launching the 60-inch Elevation TV (not pictured here). The 3D-capable, 1080p LCD introduces a four-sided Ambilight system that produces a fuller lighting effect when the set is wall-mounted. It's also the thinnest Philips TV to date, at 0.54 inches thick, and it includes the requisite smart TV features like Netflix, web browsing and Miracast media sharing. Ambilight+Hue should be available now, although Europeans will have to wait until later in the summer to buy the Elevation for about £2,800 ($4,168).
Rift Labs Kick iPhone-controlled photo light offers a whole spectrum of colors
Our good friends at Photojojo were excited to tell us about a new product for iPhone that is bound to be a winner for iPhone photographers and videographers who want to add special lighting effects to their masterworks. The Kick (US$179) is an app-controlled photo light that not only provides adjustable brightness, but an infinite variety of light colors as well. The product began life as a Kickstarter project that received over $210,000 of funding, and it's now available for sale -- when it's in stock. Design Like many LED photo lights, the front of the Kick has a grid of lenses located over the 40 physical LEDs that help to diffuse the light that is generated. Those LEDs are powered by an internal battery pack charged by the usual USB to micro-USB cable. A charge LED gradually changes from red to "greenish" to indicate that the battery is topped off and ready to go. The Kick works with the iPhone 4/4S and also with the iPhone 5. There's a small rubberized pad included to make the Kick work with the iPhone 5, since the phone is thinner than the earlier versions. For manual lighting of your photographic or video subjects, there are two sets of +/- buttons on the "top" of the unit. One controls the brightness of the LEDs, while the other adjusts the hue through a rainbow of colors. Power to the unit is controlled by a single button on the charging end of the Kick. There's one really important button on the unit; the Wi-Fi button. Pressing it enables a peer-to-peer Wi-Fi network named "RiftNet." That Wi-Fi network becomes extremely important when you are using your iPhone to control the Kick. Yes, there's a free app that allows remote control of one or more Kick lights over that network. Therein lies the power of the Kick light. Professionals or dedicated amateur photographers can set up a number of the Kick lights around a subject and then tweak the lighting to achieve a particular effect. One more thing; you won't mind carrying the Kick around; it's pretty lightweight (3.6 oz) and can slip into a pocket or backpack. Its bright -- 400 lumens at 5400 Kelvin, and it has a wide color range -- 2500 to 10000 Kelvin. Functionality While some might think that spending $179 for a small LED light is madness, I can see where professional photographers or others who just want to add some pizazz to their iPhone photography could really make use of the Kick light. I found that it takes a little time for the iPhone to recognize and lock onto the RiftNet Wi-Fi network. I started waiting about two minutes after switching over from my usual network so I could make sure that the iPhone was ready to go on RiftNet. Note that this could be an artifact of using (ahem) a beta operating system on my iPhone. The app interface is a bit busy, but it doesn't take all that long to figure it out. One feature I like is being able to pick a color from either something in your Photo Library (including a video) or in "real life." The LEDs then adjust to mimic that color as closely as possible. In addition to the ability to match colors in existing photos or in real life, there's also a standard color picker available. There are also lighting effects that can be added to video with the tap of an icon. Want a strobe effect? One tap and you're there. How about a repeating rainbow of colors? Ditto (see video below). Want a lightning effect for that horror movie you're filming with the iPhone 5? It's a tap away. Using the color picker on a video can be really fun -- the video above shows an example of grabbing a light color from a campfire, complete with all of the variations in brightness and hue that exist in the "real" light. Conclusion Owners of iPhone 4, 4S and 5 smartphones who want to add professional quality lighting to their images now have a relatively inexpensive solution complete with a Wi-Fi peer-to-peer network for adjusting a number of Kick lights. It's the perfect marriage of a powerful iOS app and device with advanced lighting technology. Pros Relatively inexpensive for professional lighting Lightweight, compact, and able to be attached to a tripod Almost infinitely adjustable brightness and hue Lighting can vary in real-time iOS app is robust and has the flexibility to create a variety of lighting effects Cons None to speak of Who is it for? Professional photographers and videographers who want a compact, infinitely adjustable lighting solution, or iPhone photographers interested in adding professional-quality lighting to their bag of tricks.
3D printing iPhone dock adapters
A French 3D printing company by the name of Sculpteo has begun offering 3D printed iPhone dock adapters for third-party iPod speakers. The adapters allow users to use Lightning connector iPhones and iPods in older dock connector speaker systems. The beauty of this system is that it allows Sculpteo to offer these adapters for a wide range of older speaker systems without the upfront costs of hiring a factory to manufacture thousands of units. From a user perspective, it's advantageous because, theoretically, any old iPod speaker system they have could have an adapter made for it quickly so it's compatible with new Lightning connector iOS devices. Currently the adapter made by Sculpteo will fit over 15 iPod speaker systems. Users will still have to buy the Lightning to dock connector separately from Apple, but when used with Sculpteo's adapters new devices will fit snugly in the old speaker systems. Sculpteo's adapters currently cost US$17. [via TechCrunch]
Lighty paints real lighting Photoshop-style, minus the overdone lens flare (video)
It's not hard to find smart lightbulbs that bow to our every whim. Creating a well-coordinated light scheme can be difficult without tweaking elements one by one, however, which makes the Japan Science and Technology Agency's Lighty project that much more elegant. The approach lets would-be interior coordinators paint degrees of light and shadow through an app, much as they would create a magnum opus in Photoshop or a similar image editor. Its robotic lighting system sorts out the rest: a GPU-assisted computer steers a grid of gimbal-mounted lightbulbs until their positions and intensity match the effect produced on the screen. While Lighty currently exists just as a scale model, the developers plan to work with life-sized rooms, and potentially large halls, from now on. We're all for the newfound creativity in our lighting, as long as we can't mess it up with a Gaussian Blur filter.
Visualized: Arduino Uno shows up in NASA's Swamp Works facility
There are certain things you'd expect to encounter on a visit to NASA's Swamp Works research facility. Walking into the former Apollo testing facility, you'll almost certainly catch glimpses of martian rovers, soil samples and an assortment of scientific testing devices. But in spite of Arduino's near ubiquity these days, we'll admit that we were a bit taken aback when the familiar blue microcontroller made an appearance on a lab desk during our conversation with NASA "lighting guy," Dr. Eirik Holbert. It seems that NASA, like pretty much everyone else, is experimenting with the hacker-friendly component. The board was hooked up to a lighting fixture Holbert is working on as part of NASA's upcoming deep space habitat concept generator. It's an attempt to bring some sunlit consistency to space exploration, simulating Earth-like lighting patterns to help keep the crew alert and get them ready for sleep in the evenings. So, where does NASA turn when it's looking to conserve weight and save some taxpayer money in the process? Toward the Arduino Uno, naturally. Holbert assembled a number of off-the-shelf products, including the aforementioned microcontroller and shields from Sparkfun to make a fixture for under $500. Asked whether we might be seeing an Arduino setup like this on an upcoming mission, Dr. Holbert told us, "I'm all about interchangeability. If they can make something space compatible, I'd be all for it."
Quantum dots help return 'Triluminos' RGB LED lighting to Sony HDTVs
While 4K TVs are excellent, for the next couple of years most of us will still be selecting a 1080p model when we're out shopping, and now we've got a little more detail about some of the new ones Sony announced last week. After letting its "Triluminos" RGB LED lighting technology fall by the wayside after 2009 because of its high cost, Sony has brought the brand back in this year's HDTVs. Noted in the press release and highlighted today in the MIT Technology Review, this iteration uses QD Vision's quantum dot technology to enhance the red/green/blue LED backlighting the series is known for. According to the CTO of QD Vision, the TVs start with a blue backlight -- instead of the standard white LED -- which stimulates quantum dots that emit "pure green and pure red." Sony was very proud of its Triluminos tech at the show and our experience at demonstrations seemed to validate the quality of the approach. While we've been hearing about quantum dots for years, this is reportedly their first appearance in a mass produced consumer product, once it hits homes we'll be able to tell if the wait was truly worth it.
GravityLight uses weight to illuminate without batteries or fuel (video)
The lack of reliable electricity in developing countries puts a damper on more than just technology use -- having to run kerosene lamps, or even those based on solar power, often involves recurring costs that whittle away at very modest incomes. GravityLight has built an LED lamp that just might lift the burden. As the name implies, a weight (usually the very bag that the lamp ships in) generates electricity through natural force: the few seconds it takes to lift the weight can generate 30 minutes of light without ever replacing a battery or fuel supply. The simple construction also has helpful side benefits, such as powering up other devices and a clip that can replace the bag with most anything that weighs around 20 pounds. The crowdfunded project's donation tiers ask $25 to donate a light to the developing world or $50 to also get one for yourself, but it's a small price to pay in the long run -- and when mass production should see prices fall below $5, the GravityLight might just change the lighting landscape for those who need it most.
Visualized: pedal power lights Christmas trees the eco-friendly way
When many are increasingly conscious of how their lighting impacts the environment, Christmas tree lights can feel like giant bundles of excess energy consumption. We're not advocating that anyone shelve a centuries-old tradition, but we've noticed a growing trend towards alternatives that help save the Earth... at least, if you don't mind cutting a tree down. Take Electric Pedals' two new trees outside London's Southbank Centre, for example: ten pairs of pedals keep the Vivid Design Works installation shining through energy 'donated' by visitors. We've also seen an even larger pedal-driven tree in Beirut, Lebanon, and we're certain that others are lighting up the night as we speak without consuming more of the world's resources. The concept isn't new, as there's been foot-powered trees in recent years -- we'd just like it to see it spread.
