The latest wrinkle in LED lighting is a three-way bulb, much like might be used in a living room lamp. The EarthLED EvoLux R gets successively brighter as you hit the switch.It's not cheap, though, at $100 for a version that's as bright as a 100-watt incandescent bulb. A tiny fan in its base helps cool the LED light.

Some intriguing LED announcements this week: Molex is showing its LED socket technology for the Acriche high-brightness (HB) LED at LightFair in Las Vegas next week. This is apparently a mounting device for the Acriche LED that in turn goes into the socket that we as consumers are familiar with. The press release describes the Molex connector as conferring “[the] ability to connect with standard Edison-base, GU 24-base, or custom interface configurations.” The Acriche line of LEDs runs directly off the 110Vac mains.

Flowery Branch City Council Wednesday approved on first reading an amendment to the city sign ordinance to regulate LED billboards; the question was how long the electronic displays should last.Councilman Craig Lutz said the issue is safety; how distracting to interstate motorists passing by Flowery Branch are 10-second LED sign messages? He proposed at least 63 seconds.

Apple has been criticized by some environmental groups for not being a leader in removing toxic chemicals from its new products, but the company has pledged to mend its ways. It appears now that Apple will indeed live up to its promise as it is set to replace all the CCFL backlights in its MacBook range with energy-efficient LED systems by 2009.

BBQing at night is as American as apple pie, NASA and the occasional race riot. But even when there's enough ambient light to keep track of where everything essential is being kept, it's still kind of tough to see whether the burger is done without resorting to the kludgy solution of wielding a spatula in one hand and a flashlight in the other.

The automotive parts supplier Hella has developed new LED daytime running lights that can be retrofitted to the front bumper and switch on automatically when the engine is started up.The LEDayline can also be used as a position light and measures only 28 millimetres in height and 220 millimetres in width fitting elegantly into the contours of most modern vehicle front-ends, Hella said.

LEDs are more energy-efficient than light bulbs, but fall short when it comes to light output. But a new optical component could change that by concentrating LED light like a spotlight and directing it precisely where needed.

This lightweight furniture by Meritalia is so light you can pick it up with one hand, and so light that you can probably read by it.

Brothers Gerard and Anton Philips founded the company now known as Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Royal Philips Electronics) in 1891. That company largely made its fortune making incandescent light bulbs before moving into vacuum tubes, semiconductors, consumer electronics and medical equipment.

Sunovia Energy Technologies, Inc. is pleased to announce that it has completed the lighting renovation at the Oaks Country Club tennis facility in Sarasota, Fla. The renovation required that Sunovia replace the existing incandescent light fixtures at the facility with Sunovia's proprietary LED light fixtures, sold under the brand name EvoLucia(TM). As a result of the renovation, the Oaks facility is now using less than 19 percent of the energy that was being consumed by the incandescent light fixtures and has reduced its carbon emissions by more than 81 percent at the facility.

 The advantages of LED lights over conventional lighting of all types are significant; for example, they burn cool and last 40,000 hours. OceanLED, maker of underwater lights, is a leader in marine lighting technology and through its testing with Viking Yachts the company has discovered that different colored lights attract different species of fish.

Diguang International Development Co., Ltd. (OTC Bulletin Board: DGNG) (''Diguang''), an emerging, China-based leader in CCFL and LED backlights and LED general lighting technology, today announced launch of a citywide LED lighting project in Xiangfan, Hubei Province, a city of 6.5 million.

DUSSELDORF is not well-endowed with nostalgic charm, and soon may be shorter of it still. The 17,000 or so gas lamps that still bathe the streets of the old centre in their glow are on their way out. The German city's municipal power utility plans to replace about 10,000 of them with a technology that is cheaper to operate but so modern that only a handful of cities have begun to use it: light-emitting diodes (LEDs).

Metro Red Line subway passengers are now seeing 15-second LED tunnel ads designed to generate more revenue for the transit agency as well as advertisers. The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority debuted the new electronic ads earlier this week with a flickering advertisement for the movie "Speed Racer." The video floats outside the train's window in a dark tunnel. The videos are actually 360 LED lights hung over a quarter-mile span of the tunnel. When trains go past the lights, the human eye perceives movement.

Faiz Rahman, a nanoelectronics researcher at the University of Glasgow, predicts that LED light bulbs for the home will start appearing on store shelves in the next 2-3 years to compete with incandescent and fluorescent bulbs.If so, the LED bulbs would provide a much greater efficiency (up to 70%) compared with incandescent (5%) and fluorescent (25%) bulbs.

Most people already know that excessive exposure to the sun is dangerous to the skin. UV light causes environmental damage, fine lines, wrinkles, dryness and spots. So how is it possible that a certain light therapy can actually be good for the skin? Skincare-News.com's latest article, "LED Light Therapy Treats Aging and More," explains the benefits of this new treatment. How LED works

This stunning LED chandelier lit up this year's BKLYN Designs with a stellar low-energy lighting solution for light emitting diodes. Recent Pratt graduate Kenzan Tsutakawa-Chinn wowed attendees at the BKLYN Designs show with his constellation chandelier, which takes the form of a gorgeous starburst, breaking LEDs free from their circuit-mounted domain.

London's Arcola Theatre demonstrates that there is no artistic compromise required to deliver low energy naturalistic lighting for classic works. Mehmet Ergen's recent critically acclaimed production of Ibsen's An Enemy of the People which finished on April 26th was lit on under 5kW.

NOVA 3D LED light display runs at 25fps by Nilay Patel, posted May 2nd 2008 at 5:33PM. You know we love the crazy light fixtures, and it doesn't get much crazier than the NOVA, a 3D LED display developed by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology for its 150th birthday.

In many of Africa's towns and villages, smoky kerosene lamps are all that keeps the darkness at bay after sunset. However, kerosene is a dangerous and increasingly expensive source of light for Africans who do not have access to electricity -- about three-quarters of those living on the continent, according to the World Bank. Lighting industry entrepreneurs are hoping alternative devices such as solar-powered LED lights will replace the kerosene lamps.

Remember the LED message wand? Brando's now got a miniaturised version that fits in the top of a ballpoint pen, and can display messages up to 20 characters in length. Perfect for covert cross-classroom messaging? As long as the teacher doesn't spot the flash of a red LED across the room. Available now for US$15.

Here is a little gadget to show your support for green energy. The solar powered Keychain LED light gives you light when you need if you expose it to some sun once in a while. The Solar panel on this keychain is very small, but the 3 white LEDs just do not need much juice.The Hong Kong based Gadget store Brando sells the Solar keychain for $9.50.

Big Moving Pictures will be rolling out a fleet of mobile LED screen displays which will be part of a new advertising medium. These displays will definitely put your spanking new 52'' plasma TV in your living room to shame, considering the fact that the ones offered by Big Moving Pictures are extremely massive, towering over ordinary folk at 40' x 22'. These HDTV LED displays will be attached to trucks, allowing it to engage the audience at major outdoor events in an unprecedented, close-to-home manner.

Say what you will about the fiascoes leading up to the Beijing Olympics, but the event has brought along with it some amazing new architecture. Greeting visitors attending the Xicui entertainment complex near the site of the games is a 20,000 square foot wall of computer-controlled LEDs, the largest of its kind ever built. Better yet, the wall manages to power itself completely using only the sun.

When the Newseum, an interactive museum of news, celebrated the grand opening of its new location in Washington DC on April 11th, visitors were greeted by a 40' by 22' Barco LED wall displaying crystal-clear video of breaking news, historic news presentations, and documentaries.

Spas have now begun using LEDs as an effective tool in spa capsules. The Med Spa Clinic at Tunbridge Wells are claiming the world's first usage of LEDs in a whole capsule. I'm claiming them the creepiest.

Each year, May is designated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration as Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month. States and motorcycle organizations across the country conduct a variety of activities to promote the importance of motorist awareness and sharing the road with motorcyclists.

According to market research firm iSuppli,due to their low power consumption, thin form factor, light weight and environmental friendliness, LEDs are set to take the notebook PC display backlighting market by storm during the next few years, with nine out of 10 large-sized mobile PC LCD panels expected to use the technology by 2012.

LED lighting supplier Cree has launched LED University to promote and accelerate the adoption of LEDs by showcasing their use at universities. North Carolina State University, the first to sign up with the initiative, has installed recessed LED lighting in a dorm and chancellor's office and is putting in LED lighting in parking garages. The university reports LED lighting in the dorm has cut energy use by 66 percent so far.

Recently, the American government says that if every American home replaced one light bulb with a compact fluorescent light bulb, we could save enough energy to prevent greenhouse gases equal to the emissions of more than 800,000 cars. Certainly great news, yet recycling burned-out CFL light bulbs poses a quandary for homeowners.