Samsung Electronics showed off a new line of high-end, ultra-slim, energy-efficient televisions at CES 2009 and planned to increase the proportion of TVs it makes using LED technology. The company has put a big emphasis on LED-backlighting on this year's LCDs, and its LN-B8000 series are the most souped-up models at CES 2009.

LED lighting manufacturer Albeo Technologies introduces its SecurityLED line of general illumination light fixtures. The SecurityLED product family, built with Albeo's white-LED TEMPR(TM) thermal technology, provides high-efficiency, "zero" maintenance, general lighting solutions for demanding applications.     SecurityLED Sloped Surface Light Fixture

Ushio Lighting Inc. has started sample shipment of the "LED Filament Bulb," a light bulb that uses LEDs as its "filaments." The company says the bulbs have a color temperature of 2,500K and a transparent glass bulb.

Epistar Corp., a leading LED chipmaker in Taiwan, estimates a 38% drop in December 2008 revenues to about NT$400 million, according to a recent report. Epistar had revenues of NT$647.9 million in November 2008, down 28.3% from NT$903.7 million in October, and down 36.43% compared with last year. The company's accumulated revenues from January to November were NT$9.86 billion, up 5% compared with last year, according to data from the Taiwan Stock Exchange.  

Philips will showcase its latest solid-state lighting systems at ARC 2009. The lighting solutions featured combine the many advantages of LEDs with proprietary technologies to generate millions of colors, high-quality white light, and customizable lighting effects without the cost and complexities of some traditional lighting methods.

Austriamicrosystems, a leading global designer and manufacturer of high performance analog ICs, has extended its portfolio of specialized LED drivers and controllers for the latest generation of LCD TV backlighting with the AS3693B 16 channel LED controller IC.

Avago Technologies has announced a new competitively priced 1-Watt high power LED emitter for use in solid-state lighting applications. The company said this LED emitter is ideal for use in architectural, contour, retail display, decorative and garden lighting applications. The ASMT-Ax00 LED features a low-profile package design, wide 130-degree viewing angle, and the ability to handle high thermal and drive currents. It comes in a variety of colors.

Cree Inc. announced that it will supply more than 4,200 recessed LED fixtures for part of the Pentagon called Wedge 5. According to Cree, The LEDs are expected to use 22 percent less power than the fluorescent lights they will replace, enough to pay back their extra cost in four years. Cree would not disclose details of the Pentagon contract — it’s part of a long line of government deals for Cree dating back to the company’s founding — but the company said the fixtures retail for about $380 apiece.  

Audi first introduced a green automobile R8 sports car, while this vehicle lighting that can be green and reduce carbon emissions that have nothing to do with fuel economy.

It’s reported that Sven Rotgers has joined GE Lighting as Business Development Manager for Specification Lamps to head up the company’s Specification team covering the UK, Nordics and Ireland. Sven joins GE Lighting from Philips where he has worked for the last eight years. At GE he will be responsible for leading his sales team to create new and maintain existing partnerships with customers specifying GE lamps. About GE Lighting

Diguang International Development Co., Ltd. will present at the world-renowned annual consumer electronics trade show include CCFL/LED backlights, LED lamps, mini-size laptops, 19'' super-thin LED displays and other innovations at the International CES Exhibition in Las Vegas, January 8 to 11, 2009.

LEDinside, Taiwan LED industry research institute, estimates Taiwan’s streetlight market to show perspective business valued at around NT$40-50 billion for the Taiwan’s LED firms due to the government’s plan to spend NT$200-300 million to install LED streetlights on some of the island’s roads in 2009 as demonstration for the use of the new light source in streetlight.

Nexxus Lighting, Inc. announced that Gary Langford has been appointed as the Company’s new Chief Financial Officer effective January 5, 2009. Mr. Langford will replace John Oakley, who has resigned to pursue an opportunity as CFO and Senior VP of Operations at another publicly traded company outside of the lighting industry.

This year retailers have offered more LED holiday lighting choices than ever before and at lower prices. To demonstrate the energy efficiency of LED lighting and to reduce energy use, Otter Tail Power Company replaced about 780 C7 incandescent bulbs outlining the roof and corners of its general office building in Fergus Falls with C9 LED bulbs, whose bases were compatible with the existing light sets.

Cree, Inc. reported that Robert Ingram, vice chairman Pharmaceuticals of GlaxoSmithKline, was elected to the Company’s Board of Directors and to the Board’s Compensation and Governance and Nominations Committee beginning December 29, 2008. Robert Ingram does not have the electrical engineering background of some of the board members, but he has gained some notoriety for his role at the pharmaceutical giant.

Taiwan LED chips and products maker Opto Tech has decided to delay its factory construction in Ningbo, China. Opto Tech indicated the delay is for an unspecified period, and construction will begin when the business environment becomes favorable.

Everything else in the economy may be shrinking, but there's one thing that's getting bigger: the ball that drops on New Year's Eve, according to a recent report.

Taiwan LED makers, including Epistar Corp., Everlight Electronics Co. and Opto Tech Corp., are hopefully to benefit from LED backlight notebook PCs sales boom with increasing popularity of LED backlight notebook PCs to generate demand for 1.5-2 billion LED chips in 2009.

Energy Focus Inc., a maker of LED lighting based in Solon, Ohio USA, announced that it has installed LED lighting to retrofit the high-bay lighting in a hanger deck on board an Arleigh Burke class Destroyer.

During the economic downturn, many manufacturers are setting to reduce the output and dismiss workers at manufacturing lines. But, small and mid-size LED makers are busy running manufacturing lines.

Taiwan surface-mounted chip LED manufacturer Harvatek Inc. recently announces that it would start an automotive-LED partnership with Osram in 2009 after two years of effort.

Ann Arbor, Michigan, the first US city to go 100% LED, will join an ever-growing list of cities with its plan to take advantage of long-lasting LED street lighting, but NYC is going to take it all one step further with new streetlight poles.

Orient Lighting introduces its high power UFO LED grow lights. LED Grow Lights do not consume as much power, do not require ballasts and produce a fraction of the heat of HID lamps, which adopt ideal wavelength LED emits only Photosynthetically Active Radiation to grow plants effectively and affordably. Besides, they produce little heat and save Save 75% power over HID grow lighting.

On January 2, state-of-the-art lighting technology featuring 40,000 LEDs will illuminate the 5,100 sq-m glass facade of the Ars Electronica Center in Linz, Austria, to celebrate the opening of the exhibition, New Views of Humankind. This innovative facade illumination was planned and installed by Multivision, a Marchtrenk-based firm founded in 2002.

Cree Inc. has announced that it and Boston University have reached agreement with Bridgelux Inc. to settle the parties’ patent infringement litigation and to dismiss all claims and counterclaims in the suits. As part of the settlement, Bridgelux, a privately held company based in Sunnyvale, Calif., will pay royalties and license fees to settle litigation over patents held by Cree and Boston University.

As we know, light is so important to plant health, the purchase of grow lights requires a bit of thought and consideration. Fluorescent grow lights are very efficient and cool compared with incandescent bulbs, which are not a particularly good choice because of the heat generated.

It’s reported that LG will unveil the world’s slimmest LED LCD TV - “LH95” at CES in January in Las Vegas. The LG LH95 is expected to be only 24.8mm thick, which should be good enough to back the manufacturer’s claim. The LH95 will feature a 2,000,000:1 contrast ratio screen and come with 240Hz TrueMotion Drive technology. It’s disclosed that this LED LCD TV will be the 2009 CES Innovation Award winner in the Display category.

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Lighting Research Center (LRC) has enhanced its outreach education by taking the LED Lighting Institute “on the road.” In addition to the traditional three-day seminar held each spring and fall at the LRC, a two-day LED Lighting Institute program option has been added, which will be hosted at a program sponsor site each year.

Recently, Luxmore introduces its new fashion LED product - LED dance floor. It is the first one in the world which has the sensitivity function to people's dance or steps. The tile will change color automatically according to when people step on it. In addition, it has more interesting functions such as SoundActive, Auto Run, easy computer programing (software free), IP65, easy mounting bracket, ultra bright LED, no dark area, MIDI input......

After several years of foundering holiday sales for energy-efficient LED lighting, LED manufacturers and retailers reported sales that were surprisingly brisk even during an economic downturn.