Last year, 5.11 Tactical announced a new high-tech flashlight called Light for Life. And only recently the product has become available to order. The flashlight uses three LEDs, but its key component is Flashpoint Power technology, an ultracapacitor energy storage system from Ivus Energy Innovations.

The Inamori Foundation today announced that Dr. Isamu Akasaki will be among the 25th annual laureates of its Kyoto Prize, an international award honoring significant contributions to the scientific, cultural and spiritual betterment of mankind. Dr. Isamu Akasaki This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Kyoto Prize - a major milestone in the history of the award, which is presented on November 10 each year in three categories.

The UK-based Lighting Association is holding a one-day seminar entitled “LEDs — Time to Engage?” on July 7, 2009 in Stratford upon Avon, UK. The seminar is with the purpose of helping lighting manufacturers better understand the current position of LEDs, where the future lies and to evaluate if the time is right to engage with LED technology.

Light measurement companies Labsphere and Orb Optronix have announced a far-reaching collaboration to encompass product development, manufacturing and distribution.

Bulbrite, a manufacturer and supplier of innovative, energy-efficient light source solutions, has received SSL Quality Advocates' Lighting Facts Labels for its full line of LED MR-16s, LED R30, and Dimmable LED PAR30 and PAR38, signifying their test completion by a government approved lab.

Aimtec has expanded its AMLD-IZ series of step-down DC-DC LED drivers with five new models generating constant output currents reaching 1.2A. The new models have wide input ranges of 5-36V DC that step down to wide output ranges of 2-32V DC. They generate constant output currents of 800, 900, 1,000, 1,100 and 1,200mA, with an accuracy of up to +/- 2 per cent, ensuring the constant colour and brightness required by demanding LED applications. The AMLD-IZ series produces up to 38.4W of power in a compact DIP24 package (31.80 x 20.30 x 10.20mm).

Hon Hai Precision Industry Co, currently Taiwan’s biggest manufacturing conglomerate in terms of revenue, will enter into LED (lighting emitting diode) lighting segment by investing in Alpha Xtal Technology Corp. of Taiwan, which manufacturs sapphire-based wafer ingots, the material for making LED epitaxy wafers. After acquiring Alpha, Hon Hai can equip itself with integrated capability for LED lighting manufacturing. The company now has LED packaging and lighting module affiliates.

Market conditions are right for the LED replacement lamp market to accelerate in the next few years, Strategies Unlimited forecasts in a latest report. And the lamp revenues are expected to grow at a CAGR of 107% through 2013, according to the report. Dramatic improvements in commercially available LED performance in recent years, as well as significant cost reduction, has made it possible to design LED lamps to offer comparable lumen output on the basis of cost of ownership.

The stadium of American football team the Dallas Cowboys is now the home of the largest high-definition LED screen in the world.

A young Kelabit scientist has co-invented the world's fastest spontaneous Light Emitting Transistor (LET) and Light Emitting Diode (LED). Gabriel Walter, 32, an electrical engineering doctor from the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign (UIUC), scored both a national and personal breakthrough in technology by co-inventing light emitters capable of transmitting at speeds of up to 7GHz. For more than 40 years, the scientific community believed that efficient spontaneous light device cannot be operated at bandwidths larger than 1 GHz.

Luminus Devices Inc. and LG Electronics yesterday announced that Luminus’ PhlatLight LEDs are powering the LG HS-200G, a new ultra-mobile projector that delivers increased brightness, performance and reliability. Luminus and LG previously announced an agreement through which PhlatLight LEDs power the HS-102 pocket projector. LG is demonstrating the new HS-200G in Booth #5321 at the InfoComm Conference 2009, June 17-19, in Orlando, Florida.

Cree, Inc. (Nasdaq: CREE) announces the first commercially available water-resistant, surface-mount, high-brightness LEDs for outdoor video screens. This RGB (red-green-blue) LED has an IPx5 rating, indicating that the LED is protected against low-pressure jets of water from all directions.

Taiwan-based Walsin Lihwa Group has invested US$200 million to build an LED lighting plant in Shannxi, China, to seize the huge business opportunities in Chinese LED market, according to the group chairman Chiao Yu-lon.

MagnaChip Semiconductor Ltd., a S. Korean provider of analog and mixed signal semiconductor products, newly entered the power LED driver market. MagnaChip announced today that it released two new LED driver models (MAP1040, MAP1042) for constant current-based portable applications.  

Korean researchers have developed a new, simpler white LED that shows promise as a more efficient and stable source of pure white light for improved illumination of homes and offices. The new approach yielded what the scientists describe as the most efficient and stable source of pure white light ever achieved.

The innovative lighting of low energy bulb manufacturer Megaman performs like traditional halogen spotlights, but uses a fraction of the power. The new range of mains voltage are direct plug-in replacements for traditional halogen spotlights.



Luminus Devices Inc., developer and manufacturer of PhlatLight® LEDs, yesterday announced that Doug Lawson has joined the company as General Manager of the UV Business. Lawson will be responsible for leading the strategic business unit and for developing new products to bring PhlatLight LEDs to the ultraviolet (UV) curing market, which Luminus technology provides a fast-growing approach to hardening paints, adhesives, varnishes, printing inks and a wide variety of polymer systems.

Several U.S. cities are planning to use federal stimulus funds to replace traditional streetlights with energy-efficient LED ones. Seattle plans to retrofit all 40,000 residential streetlights with energy- and cost-efficient light-emitting diode (LED) technology. It estimates that four to six years will be needed for the city to replace all streetlights with LEDs.

Traxon Technologies, a subsidiary company of Osram, announces that it has joined the cross-licensing program between Osram and Philips for LED-based technology used in luminaires.

High-Brightness Device Offers Low Thermal Resistance of 10 K/W, High Luminous Intensity of 25,000 mcd Typical, and High Luminous Flux From 76,500 mlm to 99,400 mlm Vishay Intertechnology, Inc. (NYSE: VSH) expanded its Little Star® family of SMD power LEDs with a new automotive-qualified, 1-W natural white device that combines extraordinarily high brightness with a compact package outline. Utilizing InGaN technology, the VLMW711T3U2US LED offers a low thermal resistance of 10 K/W and high luminous intensity for a wide range of applications.

LightTools® 6.3, the newest release of the illumination design and analysis software from Optical Research Associates (ORA®), delivers an expanded, more powerful tool set for optical system modeling and optimization. The software now features an Alternate Optimization Engine, which supplements the existing optimizer and enables users to successfully address an even broader range of design problems.

Organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), fabricated with layers of organic polymers, are flexible and use less power and less expensive materials than liquid crystal displays. However, OLEDs are expensive to produce-- because the polymers react easily with oxygen and water, they have to be created in high-vacuum chambers--and they need extra protective packaging layers to make sure that once they're integrated into display devices, they don't degrade when exposed to air or moisture.

Illumitex, a U.S.-based company, says that it is now in beta production of a light-emitting diode (LED) that it claims can brighten PC screens while using less electricity. The company had raised $10.5 million in March in its first round of funding, and is expecting an additional $20 million early in the summer, according to CEO Matt Thomas. The product is expected to reach full production in September.

Supply of LED chips is expected to fall behind demand until the second half of 2010, with prices to trend upward, Robert Yeh, chairman of Everlight Electronics Inc., a leading LED chipmaker in Taiwan, said at the Photronics Festival in Taiwan 2009 which took place last week.

The New Mexico Department of Transportation will start replacing incandescent lighting at intersections throughout the state with LEDs to save money and energy. The department says the work will begin Monday. Some 380 intersections will be upgraded with the new lighting. The Transportation Department signed a contract with the state Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department to do the work. EMNRD received a $5 million grant through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for the project.

Eco Alternative Solutions, LLC is looking for 25 large US cities to participate in a no-cost 90 day trial of the recently announced Integrated Solar Series (ISS). ISS is an innovative solar-powered street light system that is expected to result in substantial energy and money saving for cities.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, or TSMC, the world's largest contract IC maker, plans to explore business opportunities in the green energy sector, including light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and solar energy. The plan is in line with the company's goal to diversify its revenue channels besides its foundry business. TSMC has decided to set up a new business development unit and Rick Tsai has been appointed to head the unit.

In China, energy-efficient bulbs and alternative power sources are increasingly used in the Christmas lights industry. Two years ago, about one-fifth of the 1,000 suppliers had the capability to make LED-equipped models. And less than 20 percent of their total production was allotted to the segment, as incandescent designs were mainstream. By now, nearly all the suppliers boast regular manufacturing lines for LED Christmas lights. In fact, such types now account for 60 to 70 percent of the output in most factories.

Light-emitting diodes (LED) back-lit panel shipments for computers and TVs are expected to grow to 104.5 million units by the end of 2009, with a market penetration above 25 percent, comparing with 12 percent now, a market researcher recently said. LED back-lit computer and TV panel shipments would exceed the shipments of those with cold-cathode-fluorescent-lamp liquid-crystal-displays (LCD) in the third quarter, the researcher said.

A procurement delegation from mainland China is currently visiting Taiwan, and according to members of the delegation, would place lucrative contract orders with the island’s light emitting diode (LED) manufacturers by the end of this year, the Taiwan Economic News reports. The orders will include LED products like epitaxy wafer, chips, packages and lighting systems. Chinese government has brought forward an aggressive plan to install 1.4 million LED streetlights in major cities by the end of 2009 as part of its energy-saving effort.