LEDinside team was at TILS 2015 for most of this week, so apologies for the low article volume. There will be more articles coming up next week about some of the trending technologies and products at the show, so please stay tuned for more. Philips is working on a Philips Hue App for the Apple Watch, which allows the smart watch to also work as a controller.

Backlight orders have eased this month, but will rebound in April, a UDN report cited Epistar Chairman B.J. Lee saying at Taiwan International Lighting Show (TILS) 2015.

Royal Philips, the global leader in lighting, has been selected by the city of Szczecin in Poland to renew its street lighting system with LED technology. By September 2015, Philips will replace 5,000 existing street lights with new LED luminaires, reducing the city’s total energy bill by EUR 360,000 per year. The project is executed within “SOWA – energy efficient street lighting” run by the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management in Poland.

C3 Lighting Solutions has developed the first Advanced Digital Classroom Lighting System that can address lighting and acoustics, both necessary for improved learning.  “Imagine the impact on a child’s academic career if they attended a school where the classroom lighting reduced their test errors by 45% and increased their reading speed by 35%” said Rick Farrell, President of C3 Lighting Solutions. 

Bad LED streetlight installations can be a nusiance for local residents, as seen in the latest complaint from residents in Windsor Terrace, New York, U.S.

Traditional methods of learning to play an instrument can be frustrating for beginners, especially when it comes to memorizing instrument key position and music scores.

Georgia Governor Nathan Deal announced that Wells Lighting, a Korea-based light manufacturer, will locate its first North American headquarters in Millen, creating more than 200 jobs and investing $30 million into the project over the next two years.

A Brazilian research group recently may have found out the reason behind why certain mushrooms glow in the dark, but what does this mean for LED manufacturers?

The Apple Watch that Apple launched earlier this month will also act as a controller for Philips Hue LED lights, reported Trusted Reviews.

India’s Uttar Pradesh State power department will be rolling out a plan to supply LED bulbs to household consumers at nominal cost throughout Varansi and Sangam city in April and May respectively.

A surprising contender has emerged in the bid for Philips Lumileds and automotive lighting business this week. Chinese startup Lattice Power seems to have submitted a bid price, which the company CEO Min Wang appears to have indirectly admitted. At the moment, the odds seem to be in favor of private equity firms CVC and KKR, who are offering to buy 80% of the lighting component business for $2.7 billion.

KKR & Co. and CVC Capital Partners are nearing an agreement to buy Philips Lumileds, lighting components unit, a Bloomberg report cited a source saying.

Leading U.S. LED manufacturer TCP Lighting will be using its Taiwan arm as its new Southeast Asia headquarters, said the company CEO Ellis Yan in a recent interview with LEDinside in Taipei, Taiwan. As the next step of its business strategy, TCP Lighting plans to venture into Southeast Asian countries including Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore and others. “We will be training staff in Taiwan, before sending them to neighboring Southeast Asian countries,” explained Yan.

Northumberland, a northern county in UK has announced plans of investing £25 million (US $36 million) in a LED streetlight upgrade project, reported ChronicleLive.

LIFX White 800. Every white tone from rich warms to cool whites in an energy-efficient smart light bulb  LIFX makes its China debut today at WinHEC Shenzhen, Microsoft's invite-only hardware conference. Microsoft will use LIFX light bulbs to demonstrate how the Windows 10 adds seamless interoperability for IoT devices via the AllJoyn platform. "Windows 10 will bring AllJoyn open source IoT connectivity to Windows PCs, Tablets and Phones everywhere," said LIFX CEO, Marc Alexander. LIFX pioneered the smar...

Dialight announced the debut of its new ultra-durable 480V Passive Power Supply, offering higher energy efficiency to outperform conventional switch mode power supply (SMPS) technology in high-voltage applications. The new 480V Passive Power Supply debuts on the 18,000-lumen package and will become the standard power supply used on every new Dialight fixture designed for high-voltage applications.

Beleaguered Sharp will be shedding 10% of its workforce, and inject 200 billion Japanese Yen (US $1.66 billion) in a global restructure plan, reported Reuters and several other Japanese media including Nikkei.

HC Semitek reported exponential revenue growth during 2014 fiscal year, reported Chinese-media Sina.

Aldermen of Manchester city in New Hampshire, U.S. have chosen Siemens traditional LED streetlights over Philips smart streetlights, reported local media the New Hampshire Union Leader.

A Japanese startup company no new folk studio has launched an interactive LED shoe that enables dancers, and artists to design lighting patterns from their unique dance moves.

The one-light-for-all principle is outdated at a time when we are all living and working longer. Today 30-50% of people in work are over 45 years old1 and Royal Philips, the global leader in lighting, says office lighting needs a serious rethink at a policy level. In Europe, the minimum lighting requirements for writing, typing, reading and data-processing in offices is 500 lux2, but Philips has gathered research to show that this is not considered sufficient3 by almost a third of today’s global workforce.

Lunera® Lighting, a leader in lighting innovations accelerating the transformation to advanced LED technology, is pleased to announce it has selected Industry Data Exchange Association (IDEA) Industry Data Warehouse (IDW) as its electronic data synchronization platform. Electronic data transfer makes it easier for Lunera to quickly connect with its own salesforce and customers for more effective business-to-business e-commerce.

Sengled, makers of intelligent lighting products that integrate consumer electronics with LED bulbs, today announced that the company is partnering with Republic Records to demonstrate how a reinvented light bulb can bring music to life – and light. Sengled's smart LED bulb with a built-in JBL speaker makes it simple to integrate music into everyday life – without all the clutter of wires, power cords and remote controls. Sengled and Republic Records will team up at the SXSW conference to show music lovers how it works between live shows from popular bands.

Cree’s patent lawsuit against Feit Electronics and Unity Opto has sounded a warning bell for the Chinese LED industry, according to a ledsw.com report.

Representatives from Everlight and Edison Opto have recently rebutted an earlier Digitimes report claiming the two companies were in acquisition talks.

Acuity Brands, one of the world's leading providers of LED lighting solutions for both indoor and outdoor applications, today announces a strategic partnership with Sensity Systems​, a pioneer in light sensory networks. Acuity Brands and Sensity plan to create a joint solution that further transforms energy-efficient LED lighting into a smart, connected platform for the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT).

Soraa, the world leader in GaN on GaN™ LED technology, announced today that Ann Reo has joined the company as Senior Vice President of Product Development. With over 20 years of LED product development and lighting design experience, Ann has the unique ability to solve challenges with solutions that others don’t see.

Cree has expanded its $1.5 million commitment to provide LED lighting for new Habitat for Humanity homes built in the United States. Building on the company’s 2010 pledge to provide Cree® LED downlights, Cree is now offering Habitat for Humanity affiliates the New Cree LED Bulb, making whole-home LED lighting possible for Habitat homeowners.

In the ongoing Foshan Lighting deceptive financial lighting case, another 519 plaintiffs are now demanding compensation, reported Chinese media Sinai.

Samsung Electronics will be scaling up investments in LED chip business this year, specifically in silicon substrate based LED technology, according to a Money DJ report.