The week kicks off with DEKRA's releases of new international LED luminaries and lighting standards scheduled to be implied next year. Latest market intelligence report released by LEDinside reveals lighting application market shrinked up to 16% and backlighting LED products market up to 13% in 4Q14. Merck CEO Michael Grund says QD-LED is unlikely to replace OLED in displays, after Samsung slammed the door on OLED TVs last month. UK Leicestershire County plans to convert sodium light to LED streetlights with a budget of GRB 25 million (US $39.2 million), while Taiwan leads the world phasing out outdated streetlights with LEDs spending NTD 5.79 billion (US $177.7 million) in the next two years. For more insights into the emerging SEA lighting market, do not miss our news coverage on EcoLightTech Asia 2014 from Bangkok, Thailand.

Japanese LED manufacturers that attended EcoLightTech Asia 2014 recently in Bangkok, Thailand were mostly new players in the Thai LED lighting market. Of the four Japanese LED manufacturers LEDinside interviewed, three companies including Sharp had only been in the industry for one year.

John Woodward , Technical Marketing Engineer at Texas Instruments shares in this blog entry how better LED flash lights can help consumers improve picture quality of photos taken with smartphones.

Sam Scott Schiavo, a Fashion Photographer, shares his observations on the right type of lighting for fashion photo shoots in this GE Illuminated Minds blog entry.

Taurus®, a U.S. gun manufacturer has launched a controversial smartphone sized gun that is equipped with LEDs.

Veeco Instruments introduced the Propel™ Power Gallium Nitride (GaN) Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition (MOCVD) system, which incorporates single-wafer reactor technology for outstanding film uniformity, yield and device performance. This new 200mm MOCVD system and technology enables the development of highly-efficient GaN-based power electronic devices that will accelerate the industry’s transition from R&D to high volume production.

Plessey announced today that it will be presenting the results of its partnership with Litecool, a Sheffield-based innovative thermal solutions provider, to visitors during LuxLive, which takes place at ExCel in London from 19th to 20th November.  Plessey will be showcasing its large area LED die assembled in the Litecool MicroSpot product at its stand D31.

Since most LED package manufacturers have launched recently COB LED modules with output lumens far exceeding the levels needed for spot and down light applications, now also the need for standard high bay LED coolers became a fact.

While decorating the tree, house, or garland, a whole section of lights can go dark -- along with holiday spirits. Light outages can be frustrating and time-consuming to repair during the busy holiday season.

In the realm of LED measurement and testing, a lot of attention has as of late been given to the development of small, handy size devices, allowing  for the quick and easy assessment of any light source. GL OPTIC has therefore been continually developing its range of hand-held state-of-the-art spectrometers. Yet the need for top performing spectrometers in industrial or extensive laboratory settings has by no means diminished. The growing number of quality requirements introduced by new standards for lighting has made it necessary to ensure constant control of LED products as they are being produced.

In part one of EcoLightTech Asia 2014 Innovative Product guide, LEDinside addressed smart or innovative products displayed by Thai LED manufacturers. Here we will take a look at the interactive and smart LED products international manufacturers were showcasing at the lighting show that took place in Bangkok, Thailand recently.

Leicestershire County Council in UK has proposed to invest more than GRB 25 million (US $39.2 million) to convert the city’s outdated sodium lights to LED streetlights to cut energy bills, according to a BBC report.

If LCD TVs start getting much more colorful — and energy-efficient — in the next few years, it will probably be thanks to MIT spinout QD Vision, a pioneer of quantum-dot television displays.

On November 6, 2014, India's second largest Electrical accessories manufacturer - Anchor Electricals, a Panasonic group Company since 2007, launched a stellar range of 276 Professional LED Luminaires for commercial & hospitality premises. This is Anchor's first major venture into the Professional LED Luminaires spectrum in India following its entry in the already expanding residential LED luminaires in 2013. It aims to rise as a leading lighting solutions provider in the Indian market by FY 2018 with market sales to the tune of 4.25 billion INR plus.

Lighting Science Group Corporation announced that it has received $13.0 million in preferred stock financing from Serengeti Asset Management. The funding will be used to finance the Company's growth and solidify its leadership position in the LED lighting market, with a strong focus on the Company's technology platforms and product innovations.

When the 2014 Nobel Prize in physics was awarded this October to three Japanese-born scientists for the invention of blue light emitting diodes (LEDs), the prize committee declared LED lamps would light the 21st century. Now researchers from the Netherlands have found a novel way to ensure the lights of the future not only are energy efficient but also emit a cozy warmth.

Panasonic exhibited at the 16th China Chain Store Industry Conference and Exhibition (CHINA SHOP 2014), which was held from November 6-8 in Fuzhou City, the capital of Fujian Province. In a booth designed to resemble supermarkets and convenience stores, Panasonic introduced one-stop solutions for retail under the theme of "A smart, beautiful lifestyle with intelligent retail," aimed at the rapidly growing demand in China for safe and comfortable shopping environments.

Hodi Technologies, a premier LED lighting and smart-grid system company in China, has selected Greenvity Communications’ Internet of Things (IoT) turnkey solutions for multiple Hodi smart lighting products. In addition, Greenvity and Hodi will collaborate to develop future products focused on controlled lighting and smart metering applications.

Terralux Inc. announces that its R20 LED Spot Engine has received the 2014 Product Innovation Award (PIA) from Architectural Products Magazine. These awards champion product ingenuity in the built environment.

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., a world leader in advanced components, has introduced a high-voltage, mid-power LED package that makes it easier for LED products to be directly connected to high-voltage power supply units and AC, significantly reducing system costs and improving efficiency. 

Organic light-emitting diode (OLED) will be the game changer in the TV and display industry over the long-term while quantum dot (QD) technology will not have a powerful impact, a report from The Korean Herald cited Korea CEO Michael Grund saying.

In the price sensitive Asian LED market, smart lighting products remain a field where only a few brave vendors have ventured into. The Thai LED lighting market was no exception, and only a handful of smart LED products were displayed at EcoLightTech Asia 2014, which took place recently in Bangkok, Thailand.

DEKRA, a leading global provider of auditing and certification services, has entered into a cooperation agreement with TRaC Global, a Zigbee Alliance Certified test laboratory in the United Kingdom. The new partnership will enable DEKRA to call on TRaC Global for ZigBee certification purposes, while TRaC Global will be able to extend its testing services in the field of electrical safety via DEKRA.

The lighting-use LED market contracted 5-16% in the fourth quarter, while backlighting-use LED products fell 4-13% according to a new report from LEDinside, a division of the Taiwan-based market intelligence firm TrendForce. The average price of lighting-use LED products is falling with the arrival of the non-peak season and as competition intensifies among manufacturers, said Jack Kuo, an assistant research manager at LEDinside. “Orders are falling and profits are being squeezed,” he said. “For manufacturers to increase their market share, they need to introduce more new products.”

The National Gallery, London, has become the latest high-profile building to benefit from the introduction of intelligent lighting control. A combination of highly efficient LEDs and a digital control system from Open Technology has achieved 85% energy savings on lighting. The system’s ability to respond to the changing environment allows the Gallery to make full use of available daylight and adjust lighting levels around visiting hours.

Meteor recently added the Cylinder Mini 45W and 85W to its popular Cylinder Series LED Surface-­‐mounted Downlight Series. Cylinder Mini delivers up to 8500 lumen output at 100LPW ideal for wide variety of application ranging from atriums, auditoriums, corridors, foyers, lobbies, and retail spaces.

Plessey today announced that it has entered a long-term commercial agreement with 8point3 Ltd., a Dartford-based LED luminaire manufacturing company. Plessey will be supplying its GaN-on-Silicon MaGICTM LEDs, made at its state-of-the-art semiconductor manufacturing facility in Plymouth, UK, for use in 8point3's new Sabre Architectural range of LED linear lighting products.

Taiwan’s Executive Yuan announced recently plans to phase out the nation’s 692,000 mercury-vapor lamps with LEDs in the next two years, according to a recent Taipei Times report.

At the Smart City Expo World Congress, Silver Spring Networks unveiled the next generation of its multi-application, smart city networking platform. Key advancements to Silver Spring’s IPv6-based networking platform include smart city extensions in the Streetlight.Vision Central Management System (CMS) software, integrated GPS, a migration path for those dependent on antiquated GPRS, and successful interoperability testing with multiple smart city CMS solutions in advance of certification for the TALQ outdoor lighting protocol. Silver Spring also announced new partners EnLight and Lumnex, who are integrating their smart lighting technologies with the Silver Spring networking and software platform.

Think-Eleven, a San Diego based business development and consulting agency and IC12, an electronics and product design firm, announced the launch of its joint Kickstarter campaign for the Lume Cube. Controlled via a wireless Bluetooth-enabled app, the Lume Cube is a powerful and ultra-portable lighting tool that will open new creative possibilities for photographers and videoagraphers of any skill level looking to get the most out of their smartphone cameras, action cams and more traditional digital cameras.