Broit Light, a company based in Wayzata, Minnesota, USA has last week launched its initial production of LED bulbs at its production facility in Long Lake. The start-up company has claimed to have come up with a line of more energy-efficient and adaptable light bulbs.

Infineon Technologies AG has recently released a low-cost LED driver IC which offers thermal protection and high output current accuracy for high-power LEDs in general lighting applications.

Chi Mei Optoelectronics, a component provider in Taiwan, has decided to manufacture new LCD screens for notebooks with LED backlights in 2009. The first to come will be a 13.4-inch display with LED backlight which offers a 500:1 contrast ratio, suitable to be used in thinner notebook models. Another display product will be 15.6-inch in size, featuring a brightness of 250-nit, a 8ms response time and a 1,600 x 900 resolution.

Arrow Electronics and Fraen have recently signed an agreement which will enable Arrow to extend its LED lighting range in the UK and Northern Europe. As a leading optic provider, Fraen is specialized in engineering and designing optical components for individual LEDs. The leading-edge products provided by Fraen include: high-efficiency TIR and reflector solutions; software-optimized aspheric profile; multiple beam angles; optimized lens holders; and a complete range of lenses and reflectors.

A new LED light bulb which is claimed as “the best light bulb in the world” has been released on Friday by the Fortuna-based C. Crane Company in Humboldt County, California.

Dominant Semiconductors recently added new high intensity white (DSW-NSG) and warm white (DSF-NSG) which feature longer life and higher light intensity to its Right Angle DomiLED series, replacing the existing DSW-USD device.

Future Lighting Solutions and Khatod Optoelectronic has announced yesterday a distribution agreement that would make a broad line of Khatod’s secondary optics for power LEDs available in all major markets all over the world, with the portfolio of products including 190 single, double, triple and quad optics as well as color-mixing optical systems with multiple beam angles and configurations, featuring the industry’s largest selection of optics for LUXEON Rebel LEDs.

Sarnoff Corp. has launched a new company to focus on the thriving LED lighting market. Lightscape Materials Inc., which is the name of the new venture, has received $3 million in Series A funding from Wisepower Co. Ltd. and Foosung HDS Co. Ltd with the two companies joining Itochu Corp. which is an early stage investor and distributor in Asia for Lightscape Materials.

Diodes Incorporated, a leading global provider of semiconductor products, has recently released a family of LED driver ICs which require the support of only four components and operate at switching frequencies up to 600kHZ, which makes possible the use of fewer and smaller external components to be required by driver circuits.

Everlight signed a non-exclusive cross-license agreement with OSRAM GmbH (“OSRAM”), providing the companies (including wholly-owned affiliates) with access in certain areas to each other’s patented LED technology.

A new LED lighting system targeted for commercial facilities has recently been developed by Daiwa House Industry Co. Ltd. in collaboration with Nabesho Co. Ltd. and Kyocera Corp.

Seoul Semiconductor Co. will be a supplier of 300 thousand pieces of LED for “LED Farming Demonstration Project” which is organized by Ministry of Economy, Trade & Industry of Japan with the purpose to demonstrate the application of LED in farming lighting.

Samsung Electronics Co. has launched today its first LED TV products in global markets. The new line of LED flat panel TVs include Series 8000, 7000 and 6000, coming from 32-inch to 55-inch in sizes. With LEDs as the primary light source, the new TVs feature ultra-high contrast ratios compared to the traditional TVs using Cold Cathode Fluorescent Lamps. And the motion blur and image judder problems typically affecting LCD TVs have also been substantially reduced in the new LED TVs, said the company.

As major cities worldwide has initiated green lighting by replacing local street lights with LED light source for the benefit of energy-saving, Edison Opto has introduced 27W and 100W modules tailored for street lighting application. The 27W street lighting module consists of 24 high power Edixeon LEDs, each equipped with a proprietary elliptical secondary lens, achieving a luminous efficacy up to 83lm/W. The LEDs are mounted on a metal core PCB (121x135mm) for easy assembly.

Endicott Research Group (ERG), Inc., has created a European office, naming Roland Knuchel as European Sales Manager. ERG, based in Endicott, NY, is the leading manufacturer of DC-AC inverters and LED Drivers for powering LCD backlights.

Combining creative thinking and proactive actions, NeoPac Opto once again pushed output brightness with single-packaged, multi-chip point-light-source LEDs light engine to the new era at over 1,500 lumen maintenance.

IST Lighting has added three new partners to its rapidly expanding strategic partner network to distribute its iDrive™ and other lighting products across mainland Europe and Hong Kong of China amongst other areas in the world.

The February revenue of LED suppliers of Taiwan which sell most products to China mainland has grown substantially due to the sudden demand surge in low-price IT products in that market.

Qisda Corp., a consumer electronics subsidiary company of the BenQ Group, has won the Red Dot Award of Germany, according to Hsiung Huei, the president and chief executive of the company. And this can be seen as a proof of the company’s more participation in the upscale LED lighting market. The Qisda LED lamps were awarded the Red Dot for the innovative designs and unique functions, according to Huei, and these lamps would be supplied to luxury restaurants and hotels in the third quarter at the earliest.

Philips Lumileds has joined the California Lighting Technology Center(CLTC) as an affiliate member to co-develop market-ready Luxeon LED-based applications with luminaire manufacturers. These applications need to meet the energy efficiency and lighting quality levels of EnergyStar(r) and other regional and national guidelines.

Green energy technology was named the top development priority by Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou on Wednesday, with Solar and LED technologies highlighted as two areas where the island has potential to lead. Green energy technologies have become a popular target. Governments of U.S., Germany and Japan all have listed clean environment technologies as key development fields and have invested to promote the energy saving devices including solar panels.

It’s reported that Molex Incorporated has added fully-automated LED bonding capabilities in China. Molex also bonded its 500,000,000th LED on a membrane switch using the latest high-speed SMT processes and bonding technology. Molex has been applying LEDs to flex circuits for over 20 years through two innovative methods to bond and encapsulate the components for robust electrical and mechanical reliability, providing customers with a low-cost interactive user interface.

GE Lighting won the Lighting Design Awards for its Vio high power white LEDs in the Light Sources and Controls category, sponsored by Ex-Or. GE Lighting’s Vio high power white LEDs won the award for what judges described as a "major advance in color stability".

Aqualite Co. Ltd., a company based in Wuhan, China, has purchased three Close Coupled Showerhead (CCS) CRIUS MOCVD systems from AIXTRON AG, worldwide leading provider of deposition equipment to the semiconductor industry. It’s disclosed that the three CCS CRIUS systems were delivered in the 31x2 inch wafer configuration in the third and fourth quarter of 2008. Aqualite intends to utilize these reactors for the development and production of blue, green and white LED chips.

With amazingly high contrast ratios and a thickness measuring in the millimeters, OLED TVs certainly look like the future of home theater. However, price is a major hurdle for the technology to overcome. While new technology always comes with a heavy price tag, some are expecting the price of OLED lighting to come down some time in 2011. The recent report predicts that active OLED lighting will become the mainstream in 2011, and its revenue will surpass that of passive LED lighting sometime around 2018.

California Micro Devices (CMD) has unveiled LuxGuard family of protection devices for ultra high brightness (UHB) LED lighting applications. The LuxGuard family of protection solutions includes both LED submounts that deliver robust ESD protection and enhanced thermal management capabilities and side mounts which offer superior ESD protection for customers that utilize ceramic submounts.

Kinetic Lighting is reportedly to be one of the first lighting companies to offer the new ColorReach (TM) Powercore for rent in Southern California. The LED flood fixture, one of Philips Color Kinetics’ newest and most powerful LED fixtures, outputs more than 5,000 lumens, projects light up to 500 feet and only consumes 290 watts at full intensity. The company says it is an incredibly bright floodlight suited for both indoor and outdoor use.

It’s reported that Cooper Industries has acquired Illumination Management Solutions, Inc. (IMS) of Irvine, California that specializes in optics and system design for LED fixtures. Cooper did not reveal the purchase price or other details. Optics are critical to improving the energy efficiency of LED fixtures and creating lighting patterns that improve safety and customer comfort, according to Ron Holder, IMS president.

Recently, LED giant Cree, Inc. has launched the Product Characterization Tool (PCT), an interactive LED design tool that simplifies the task of translating nominal LED performance to real-world conditions. The online tool, accessible via cree’s website, Cree notes PCT allows users to easily characterize any XLamp® LED over a wide range of operating conditions, including drive current, flux bin, price and junction temperature. It also calculates metrics such as lumen output, lumens per watt, lumens per dollar and more.

Bright Green Technology introduces an LED backlight system - Bright Green Matrix™. The company says it is designed to illuminate large format signs and billboards in retail, commercial and advertising environments and it is equally suited to retrofitting into existing boxes or incorporating into new designs.