North American lighting leader OSRAM SYLVANIA has joined with Lowe's to debut the ULTRA SE™ LED Family of reflector bulbs with sunset effects, incandescent-like dimming available in stores. Available in R20, BR30 and BR40 types, SYLVANIA ULTRA SE LED bulbs combine energy-efficiency with new technology for the flexibility of customizing mood and ambience in any setting.

Harvard Engineering development and manufacture of LED drivers and control products for the lighting industry, has received blanket UL safety approval for any LED light engine.

Bridgelux today announced the company has been named in the annual San Francisco Business Times100 Fastest Growing Private Companies in the Bay Area list. The San Francisco Business Times recognizes private companies, and their entrepreneurs, from a broad range of market segments that share a common willingness to take risks and embrace innovation but are also driven to come out on top. Ranked 17 on the list, Bridgelux was selected because of the company’s rapid growth since its founding in 2002. Honorees were celebrated on October 24 at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco.

Bulbs.com, one of the largest online distributors of replacement lighting, has launched a new pricing strategy on select LED (Light-Emitting Diode) light bulbs.  This will make energy efficient lighting even more accessible for its customers. Bulbs.com has collaborated closely with several key manufacturers to reduce the price on a selection of its most popular LEDs. The price reduction will help decrease the upfront cost of switching to energy efficient LED lighting.

Ledzworld announced today that the company recently secured an order for hundreds of thousands of lamps from a major European ODM customer.

Wavien, Inc. announces the availability of an ultra long range LED illuminator, designed for use with gun-mounted scopes.

Conventional lighting fixture industry was not as changeable as it is now. Steve Chiu, a 22-year-experienced lamp producer and General Manager of Davinci Lighting, shared his insights and opinions on lighting fixture industry on LEDforum 2013 Taipei.

The increased demand for sapphire substrates in non LED applications including for smartphone camera lens caps plus home button covers, the supply and demand situation has had a turnaround.

4K UHD TVs are unquestionably a market highlight this year. QD Vision and Sony have joined forces to work on QD technology to reach higher color rendering and a wider color spectrum by using high pressure technology to seal quantum dot and phosphor into glass tubes, paired with blue LED chips. Aside from Sony, the company is also discussing cooperation opportunities with other panel manufacturers, said John Ho, Advanced Development Manager, QD Vision.

Chinese scientist might have just opened doors for a technology revolution by claiming to have successfully connected four computers to the internet through the use of a one-watt LED bulb, according to a report by Xinhua News.

Just months after its market introduction, Philips Lumileds announces its LUXEON CoB arrays now provide +10% greater performance, extending their lead as the most efficient LED arrays on the market today. 

Georgia Power announced today the newest addition to its portfolio of energy efficiency programs – instant savings of 20-50 percent on ENERGY STAR® Certified LEDs at participating The Home Depot stores throughout the state. Georgia Power customers will receive immediate savings at the register with no coupons or mail-in rebates necessary. The promotion is valid through November 30, 2013, while supplies last. 

Fotodiox (//www.fotodioxpro.com), a manufacturer and distributor of high-quality photography and videography accessories, has announced the availability of its next generation LED light panels; the Fotodiox LED-312D, LED-312DS, and LED-1024AL. The new LED lights are compact and powerful, while remaining lightweight – perfect for both studio and location shooting. Fotodiox's LED panels generate little heat, use little power, and now the reduced bulk of these newest lights maximize portability and mounting possibilities to capture the perfect shot.

Top LED manufacturers including Philips, Osram Opto, Monocrystal, Cree and GT Advanced Technologies, shared insights of strategies and new technologies companies have developed to cope with costs and pricing competitions at LEDforum Taipei 2013 in Taiwan this week.Rivals Samsung and LG continue their race in OLED smartphones this week, while Genesis slips into Japan’s mobile phone supply chain. In addition, Cree has signed a remote phosphor patent agreement with Chinese LED manufacturer NNCrystal. Furthermore, rumors of U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is rumored to inject US$ 15.50 million into semiconductor and chip R&D might bring back a gleam of hope to the LED industry. Other hot news this week as following:

China based LED package company MLS Lighting 2013 performance for packaging components and lighting products was good. The company expects to reach the target of RMB 3 billion (US$ 492 million) for 2013. MLS is actively pursuing discussions for cooperation between U.S. market dealers and channels.

Ledionopto Lighting is proud to announce that the 17W AR111 Module and Lighting Series has won the Good Design 2013 , as well as it had got Golden Pin Award in this September.

The 3Q performance for the new Harvetek Hsinchu factory profits were driven up due to rising utilization rates, said the company Chairman Billy Wang. The company expects 3Q results to make a turn for the better and ultimately affect 2013 annual performance. Taiwan LED packaging manufacturer Harvatek chairman Billy Wang attended LEDforum Taipei 2013 conference held by global market intelligence provider Trendforce Corporation.

Philips’ LED-based lighting will enable electricity savings of over 50% for the city. The replacement process has already started: new LED lighting from Philips will enable a safer, more sustainable and energy-efficient city.

A U.S. university has found an innovative way of using LED lights. With the flick of a light switch, researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies can change the shape of a protein in the brain of a mouse, turning on the protein at the precise moment they want. This allows the scientists to observe the exact effect of the protein's activation. The new method, described in the Oct. 16, 2013, issue of the journal Neuron, relies on specially engineered amino acids—the molecules that make up proteins—and light from an LED.

Dialog Semiconductor plc, a provider of highly integrated power management, audio, AC/DC and short-range wireless technologies, today debuted the iW7025, a 16-channel LED backlight driver that delivers enhanced picture quality, robust, patented short protection and lower cost for next-generation 2D and 3D LCD TVs.

Hubbell Lighting announced today that 10 of its products have been recognized by the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES) Progress Committee as providing important advancements in the science of light. The accepted products are part of the IES Progress Report 2013, which presents significant developments and improvements in the lighting industry over the past year.  The company has received an outstanding 30 IES Progress report selections over the past two years.

Ringdale, Inc. announces that ActiveLED fixtures have shattered LED lighting stereotypes experienced in the auto dealership market with durable, high-output fixtures delivering over 100 lumens-per-watt. Ringdale's patented lumen delivery method helps dealerships by enhancing illumination and replacing 1000-watt High-Intensity Discharge (HID) fixtures with 102-watt fixtures for a 90 percent energy savings.

Using LED light sources as a medium for light therapy devices can stimulate the human body’s metabolism rate and greatly reduce medical risks associated to conventional light therapy, such as laser and intense pulse light, said Simon Gau, President of Liverage Biomedical during LEDforum Taipei 2013. Gau was a guest speaker at the forum organized by LEDinside, which runs from Oct. 16-17 at Evergreen International Convention Center in Taipei, Taiwan.

Pricing trends have improved in the Chinese LED industry, compared to the same period last year, said San’an Optoelectronics Fujian Province Vice President Simon Lin at LEDforum Taipei 2013. San’an Opto electronics 4Q13 revenue performance is kept at a growth rate of five to eight percent. With most equipment reaching full production capacity, the company is planning to add 100 MOCVD equipment in 2014.

The LED chip industry is expected to undergo restructuring within the next two years which will lead to an expected net profit return of 30-35 percent for the industry, forecasted San’an Optoelectronics Fujian Province Vice President Simon Lin at LEDforum Taipei 2013 on Oct. 16.

Epistar Chairman Dr. B.J. Lee remained conservative about LED industry’s 4Q13 performance prospects, during an interview at LEDforum Taipei 2013. Lee was the second opening remarks speaker at the two day event in Evergreen International Convention Center organized by LEDinside, a LED research subsidiary of Trendforce.

U.S. LED manufacturer Cree has signed a non-exclusive worldwide license agreement with China’s Hangzhou Naijing Technologies Ltd (NNCrystal US Corp.), according to reports by Semiconductor Today and Compound Semiconductor.

Texas Instruments (TI) announced the availability of a ZigBee Light Link™ development kit that simplifies the development and control of wirelessly connected LED lighting products. The new kit includes a remote control and supports smartphone and tablet connectivity through gateways including Ninja Blocks, cloud-enabled computers based on the BeagleBone open-source computer platform powered by TI's Sitara™ AM335x ARM® processors. Through simplified control, users are able to dynamically configure colors, groups and scenes. With a simple connection to a cloud gateway, the new kit makes it easier to connect LED bulbs and other lighting products to the Internet of Things (IoT) using ZigBee networking. For more information, visit: www.ti.com/lprf-zllkit-pr.

Lextar Electronics Corp. launches a new omni-directional LED light tube featuring ultra high efficiency of 200 lumens per watt, distributing 360 degree of lighting area. This ultra efficient light tube, incorporating in-house flip chip, Chip Scale Package (CSP), and Chip On Glass (COG) technologies, showcases Lextar's vertically integrated LED technologies. Lextar will debut this new LED tube prototype at Hong Kong International Lighting Fair (Autumn Edition) starting from October 27th, 2013.

Nokero International announced the release of one of the most technologically advanced solar light, phone charger combinations on the market. The company also unveiled a new affordable solar light N180 priced at US$ 6.00 that aims to replace kerosene lamps that millions of impoverished people in Asia and Africa depend on.