Swiss industrial design website Designerei GmbH has recently released a new concept design for the upcoming Apple iWatch. Although this is not the official Apple design, it can still be used to analyze possible developmental directions for the new technology used in the smart watch.

Chinese research institutes have been interviewing listed companies after the Chinese New Year to get a better picture of the 2014 “investment guide,” according to Chinese media Sina.com report. As the industry rebounds, investors are also following research institute’s lead of entering into specific manufacturing fields to explore opportunities and determine whether the industry will generate a new gold wave. 

During the second annual Honglitronic’s Board of Directors meeting on February 17th, the board approved the establishment of a new subsidiary in Shaoguan, China.

Whether walking on the streets or driving around the city, people are surrounded by outdoor LED displays. They are known as the fourth type of screen, after TVs, computers, and mobile phones. So what do outdoor LED displays mean for city dwellers?

Operations for LED manufacturers in the first quarter are hoped to show good performance, according to UDN Evening News report. Increased operations in Jan. 2014 have lead to many manufacturers continual growth. Due to the strong revenues, the market is optimistic and anticipates financial results from 1Q14 slack season financial reports to show a revenue  decline  within  5-10 percent. Among these manufacturers, Edison Opto has been able to secure new clients.

Royal Philips, the global leader in lighting, is piloting an intelligent lighting system that gives new meaning to personalized shopping. The system uses intelligent LED in-store lighting to communicate location-based information to shoppers via a smartphone app which they can opt to download. The lighting communicates with the app to send special offers and information to the shopper, relevant to their location in the store.

By emitting photons from a quantum dot at the top of a micropyramid, researchers at Linköping University are creating a polarized light source for such things as energy-saving computer screens and wiretap-proof communications.

If normal beer ping pong games are getting a bit dull at parties, you might want to add these foldable LED beer ping pong tables to your collection. The music playing LED tables, Infinnity Glow, are the work of LEDbeerpingpongtables.com.

Barbican Center, Europe's largest multi-arts and conference venue, has commissioned the multi-disciplinary art and design studio United Visual Artists to create a new work for the Curve. Coinciding with their 10th anniversary, UVA present Momentum, an immersive installation that combines light, sound and movement. 

Acclaim Lighting offers its Dyna Flood QA and Dyna Flood QW high-powered quad-color LED flood units, supplying precisely matched colors in outdoor settings to illuminate facades, structures, landscapes and monuments.

Ledzworld, the innovator behind the top brands in commercial LED lighting, announced today it has added a sleek and sophisticated ultra-dimmable AR-111 LED lamp to its product line—the world's first true retrofit sized premium 850 lumen, single light source AR-111 LED lamp. The company's AR-111 Platinum Ultra Dimmable LED lamp offers manufacturers, installers and designers a relentlessly tested, cost-competitive, efficient, and impeccably designed replacement for outdated halogen bulbs.

Meet the energy efficient alternative for your obsolete 175-watt mercury vapor exterior barn lights Excellence Opto, Inc. is pleased to announce the introduction of the e-lite star™ BR1 LED Dusk-to-Dawn Barn Light.  Utilizing only 42-watt to replace the 100-watt High Pressure Sodium (HPS) traditional fixtures, the BR1 LED barn lights deliver a high efficacy of up to 90 lm/W with more than 55% in energy savings.

LED upstream key material PSS is in short supply with demands unable to be met. With supply unable to meet demands from LED manufacturers last year, production capacity is lacking by 50 percent, according to Economic Daily News. This had lead to a rise in price of around 5 percent for sapphire ingot, polished wafers, and PSS in March. Manufacturers including Crystalwise, Ridgetech, Aceplux Optotech, and Crystal Applied Technology are anticipated to benefit. PSS industry insiders are optimistic towards March operations.

Morgan Stanley’s recent report shows that the use of flip-chips in direct-lit TVs has increased, according to a report by Apple Daily. This will give a boost to LED chip and package manufacturers this year, as well as contributions from the rise in average price for TV backlighting. The firm is optimistic that Epistar and Everlight will benefit and has boosted Epistar's ratings and maintained Everlight's ratings.

Taiwanese LED package manufacturer Ledtech revenue and preliminary profit for January was affected by the shorter Chinese New Year holidays. Consolidated revenue for January only reached NT $137 million (US $4.5 million), a monthly drop of 19.65 percent and YoY decrease of 7.48 percent. January preliminary pre-tax profit was NT $11.6 million, YoY decrease of 32.3 percent and EPS of NT $0.1 (before tax).

Patent wars are intensifying and spreading as the LED industry rebounds. Patent disputes within the industry are not solely centered on LED package manufacturers Nichia and Everlight. The industry has begun to focus on Boston University’s  expanding extent of legal actions taken towards patent infringement.

In 2014, Opto Tech Corporation (OPTOTECH) announced the launch of a new P3 LED display that provides a high level of flexibility in terms of applications, and which represents a major step forward compared with traditional display; this new product is the fruit of R&D work by OPTOTECH's team of experienced, creative R&D engineers. OPTOTECH has been awarded a patent for this new display product. 

The Chinese government LED equipment subsidy policies lead to a global increase of more than 1,000 MOCVD equipment in 2011, which is the root to the industry’s oversupply situation, according to a Chinese-language Commercial Times report. Manufacturers have yet to fully install and utilize all the units purchased.

Global leading LED company, Seoul Semiconductor Co., Ltd. has announced on February 13th that it has achieved the company’s greatest sales revenue, reaching 1.0321 trillion Korean won and an operating profit of 965 hundred million Korean won in 2013. In comparison to 2012, the company’s sales increased by 20% and the operating profit by 190%.

Across the UK our seven million streetlights clock up an electricity bill of more than £300 million each year. Although this is one of a local authority's largest single costs, fewer than one million lamps are low energy. The legacy of this old technology is higher than necessary energy consumption, costs and environmental impact.

At Euroshop, the world's leading fair for the international retail sector, Osram is demonstrating how retailers can win over customers for their products with light, ranging from lamps to complete solutions. The highlight of the fair is a spotlight that brings the quality of museum illumination to the classic retail sector, and a real eye-catcher is Osram's design study of a fitting room: Using LED screens and variable light, customers can test in the store how swimming trunks for example will look later on the beach. Euroshop takes place from 16-20 February in Düsseldorf, Germany.

A new cause campaign, ‘Brighter Lives for Refugees’ will run in IKEA stores globally from 3 February to 29 March 2014. For every LEDARE (LED light bulb) sold during the campaign, the IKEA Foundation will donate Є1 (US$1.37) to the UN refugee agency (UNHCR). Funds raised by the campaign will help to provide solar street lights, indoor solar lanterns, and other renewable energy technologies such as fuel efficient cooking stoves in UNHCR refugee camps in countries including Ethiopia, Chad, Bangladesh and Jordan. 

ForceField Energy Inc., an international manufacturer, seller and distributor of energy products and solutions, announced the launch of a turnkey LED lighting retrofit program for franchisees at the 2014 Caribla and Association of Kentucky Fried Chicken Franchisees ("AKFCF") Convention being held in Orlando, Florida from February 14-17, 2014.

The crypsis lighting system allows users to move LED sources by hand to various locations without the need of wires or batteries.

Taiwanese LED manufacturer Power Photon announced the release of a Direct Evaporative Cooled-40W omni-directional LED Light Bulb. The company claims this is the best bulb cooling solution on the market. 

Brilliant Radiance Panel (BRP), Chi Lin Optoelectronics new generation of lighting product based on light guide technology, is not only used as traditional lighting, but also provided with special one-direction transparency when illuminating the panel. BRP replaces normal glass in office and house for the function of decoration and compartment, so it can be widely used in ambient lighting, interior decoration, business space, advertising panel, and building material.

EASLITE INDUSTRY CO., LTD is a LED manufacturer in Taiwan. The company was founded in October 2010, with headquarters in Taipei, Taiwan. The company has experts from different fields including plastic aluminum heat sink molding technology, lens, IC design, PCB design, lighting electrical engineer.

LEDinside team would like to wish all a Happy Valentine’s Day and a merry Lantern Festival. This week more exciting Apple rumors, LEDinside Senior Editor Pinchun Chou latest scoop points to iPhone 6 specs becoming thinner, lighter and wider screened. In addition, the LED specs for the phones will be upgraded as a result of the much slimmer designs. 

As countries kick off incandescent bulb phase out policies, soaring LED lighting demands has attracted market attention. Credit Suisse latest report is optimistic that the LED industry will enter another expansion phase in 2014. In addition, LED stocks will also be on the rise this year. 

China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) recently announced it will be strongly promoting energy efficiency and carbon emission reduction policies in 2014, according to a Chinese-language Huagu.com report. The implementation of the country’s “2014-2015 Carbon Reduction Plan” is expected to spur LED market development in China.