Visiting buyers passing by the Electronic Components pavilion at the April China Sourcing Fair will be impressed with the tall LED displays to be shown at the booth of Guilin Hivision Technology Co. Ltd. With over 10 years' experience in the design and production of LED products, the company currently offers over 40 models of two-color or full-color LED displays. These products are widely used indoors or outdoors as information boards or billboards.

The use of LEDs for solid-state lighting, rather than as indicators, is poised to make inroads in applications in the automotive, architectural and general illumination markets, according to market analysis firm Yole Developpement. But for the growth to pan out, particularly in the general illumination market, there is still technical work to be accomplished. Although LEDs are prized for their energy efficiency, a great deal of color performance and design and cost optimization remains to be done, and semiconductor companies need to keep improving manufacturing processes.

In the first installation of its kind, Dialight Corporation's new LED-based SafeSite illumination fixture has been successfully retrofitted on a drilling rig of a major oil and natural gas producer, providing improved safety and decreased maintenance and energy costs.

Driven in the short-run primarily by mobile phone handsets, the worldwide white light-emitting diode (LED) market is projected to exceed 20 billion units in 2008. Using higher light-emitting efficiency and lower pricing, an increasing number of white LEDs are being used as backlight for notebook PCs, medium and large LCD TVs, and single-color and full-color outdoor signs. Further growth is expected to come from automotive applications, which are expected to see increased penetration in LED headlamps, as well as LEDs in interior lighting.

An LED driver with inductive boost capabilities, giving system architects additional design options for backlighting applications, has started sampling from Exar Corp. Housed in a 2.9mm x 2.8mm SOT23-6 package, the SP6699 is suitable for small display/keypad LED lighting applications found in handheld portable devices such as PDAs, cellphones and data collection devices The SP6699 integrates a schottky diode (a switch boost regulator), and is capable of driving up to five series LEDs with four external components.

An MIT graduate student has up a page showcasing a standout art project. He's designed custom LED light fixtures which are seven times brighter than the closest similar commercial models, and include colors which can't be reproduced by a normal RGB cluster (including two ridiculously bright UV LEDs). The result: some beautiful mixed media artwork.

Catalyst Semiconductor, Inc. a supplier of analog, mixed-signal and non-volatile memory semiconductors, has expanded its line of patented Quad-Mode fractional charge pump LED drivers with a new device optimized for portable products. The new CAT3637 addresses the requirements for high-efficiency and easy LED programming in these products, with 10 percent higher efficiency (compared to three-mode charge pumps) and a simple, 1-wire EZDim interface control.

533 series available from Aerospace & Defence Products is a 12.7mm mounting, professional LED panel indicator featuring a high intensity LED element in a range of colours. Internal circuitry includes a reverse protection diode as standard and operates over a wide voltage range. Termination is achieved by standard solder/crimp tags.

The CAT3637 is optimised for applications with one bank of five or six identical LED channels, a typical configuration for larger LED screen portable productsCatalyst Semiconductor has expanded its line of patented Quad-Mode fractional charge pump LED drivers with a new device optimised for portable products. The new CAT3637 addresses the requirements for high-efficiency and easy LED programming in these products, with 10% higher efficiency (compared with three-mode charge pumps) and a simple, 1-wire EZDim interface control.

GlacialTech Inc., a diversified provider of cooling, power supply, PC enclosure solutions for consumer and industrial applications, today announced a brand new range of high brightness, high power LED lighting solutions, for indoor, outdoor and other customized applications, under the GlacialLight brand.

UK based EMS provider Brantham has been seeing many opportunities in the assembly of LED's.The company has seen that LED Lighting Business is growing. LED Lighting is being used in the automotive and medical industries. Some of the applications are requiring high power LEDs and these invariably require the use of thermally conductive substrates to manage the heat produced.

The former Color Kinetics, now part of Philips，is alleging that its patents have been infringed by LED Effects, now part of Lighting Science Group Corporation (LSG). This could be an interesting contest: CK was founded and started filing patents in the LED lighting space in 1997. However, LED Effects has been designing, developing and selling custom-designed, pulse-with-modulation (PWM) controlled, color-changing LED fixtures and components since 1994.

Sony has brought its first Organic LED (OLED) TV to market, and the product is stunning. The picture quality is also unmatched by today's standards. In this episode, we'll show you the 3-mm thin screen poised to one day replace plasmas and LCD TVs. As Digital Journal reported in early February, Sony is ushering in a new era in television with OLED TV.

On 12th March, Nexxus Lighting announced that its SV Lighting business unit has introduced the industry's first LED floodlight for general illumination that operates on direct line voltage without the need for an internal or external power supply. This breakthrough has produced the new Savi SHO White Floodlight. Utilizing Seoul Semiconductor's new Acriche LEDs, the Savi SHO White Floodlight is a new white light LED floodlight for interior and exterior applications that can operate on a standard 120VAC supply.

Police often use tasers, rubber bullets and pepper spray to control riots and crowds out of control. But there could soon be a new weapon in their arsenal, a high-tech flashlight - with a big punch. The device called a "LED Incapacitator" causes 'flash blindness' or a nauseated, disoriented feeling. Dr. Robert Liebermen is president of Intelligent Optical Systems. The California company has an $800,000 contract from the Department of Homeland Security.

It's reported that AU Optronics (AUO) has confirmed it is preparing to produce LEDs in house, with construction of a new plant about to start.

We've likely all experienced the bothersome inconvenience of having to change a light bulb located in a hard-to-reach place. Maybe a lofty porch light burns out, or a chandelier bulb dies. These can be difficult to get to, and many times they are lights that are left on for many hours throughout the day, so they burn out frequently. Luckily, www.besthomeledlighting.com provides a solution in the form of LED light bulbs. This growing technology offers benefits and advantages over standard bulbs in almost every possible category.

It's reported that Global Lighting Technologies (GLT) has introduced an LED-based backlight for use with desktop or notebook PC keyboards that provides brightness and uniformity, along with the opportunity to utilize fewer LEDs, reducing the cost of the backlight.

Using copper and aluminum layers 0.0042" and 0.062" respectively with a dielectric 0.004". thick with a breakdown of 4kVDC, OptoTherm OCB201 Series substrate from Optek has a thermal conductivity of 1.1W/m-°K and a thermal resistance of 1.8°C/W.

The HL-5060/K31C4-12-E linear LED light strip from Guangzhou Hongli Optoelectronic Co. Ltd features an IP67-rated water-resistant casing, flexible printed circuit boards (PCB) and self-adhesive backing.

Kim Lighting, a leading manufacturer of outdoor architectural lighting, has announced an expansion of its  GEM® Performance Bollard line to now include new super bright white LED technology.

The ESL-20 series LED stroboscope is designed to measure the speed of rotating or cycling linear motion objects without contact or reflective tape, as well as freeze motion visually. Built with an aluminum housing and the latest technology, it's compact size, NIMH rechargeable battery and lifetime LED lights make it a perfect choice for use anywhere on the factory floor. The ESL-20 is ideal for speed, motion and vibration analysis, such as rotating shafts, fans, cams, etc. The brightest, fully featured LED stroboscope in a trim, efficient design.

Maxim Integrated Products of Sunnyvale, California USA has introduced the MAX16816, a high-voltage, programmable, high-brightness (HB) LED driver for automotive and general lighting applications.Maxim boasts that the MAX16816's ability to program LED current eliminates the need for binning LEDs according to their brightness variations. The company says the device allows LED current adjustment that can compensate for brightness variations during manufacturing.

LED and CCFL NB have a price gap of 50%, but such gap is expected to narrow soon. LEDinside recently has gathered further information about NB with LED backlight on the market. Until February 2008, prices of LED NB range from US$2,100 to US$3,100, while CCFL NB equipped with similar hardware cost $1,280 to $2,000. CCFL NB and LED NB have a price gap of at least 50% (indicated in Figure 1), says LEDinside. Although with advantages in weights, sizes and energy consumption, it is still quite costly to have an environmental, energy-saving and light LED NB.

Exar Corporation (Nasdaq: EXAR) released a new LED driver with inductive boost capabilities giving system architects additional design options for backlighting applications. The SP6699 is ideal for small display/keypad LED lighting applications found in handheld portable devices such as PDAs, cell phonesand data collection devices.

LEDtronics announced its latest generation of PAR30-Style LED spotlight bulbs. The PAR30 LED bulb is made up of five three-Watt high-power LEDs. PAR30 LED bulbs are direct incandescent PAR30 replacements, combining advanced Light Emitting Diode (LED) technologies, standard 25mm Edison screw-in bases, and light optimizing designs producing 480 to 544 lumens of vivid light depending on the bulb model. PAR30 LED bulbs are available in a 40° light-emitting viewing angle, running on 80V to 260V AC current.

Billboard company executives say LED-lighted billboards are the wave of the future. But several community activists are fighting a proposed change in City of Reno rules that would allow the billboard industry to put up the digital electronic signs.

Maxim Integrated Products (PINKSHEETS: MXIM) introduces the MAX16816, a high-voltage, programmable, high-brightness (HB) LED driver for automotive and general lighting applications. Synopsis for Investor: A. The MAX16816 is specifically tailored to meet the requirements of the latest front light automotive designs, such as high- and low-beam assemblies, adaptive front light systems, daytime running lights    (DRLs), and fog lamps.

In partnership with the Toronto Atmospheric Fund, greenTbiz will host Toronto's first LEDiscovery event on March 25-26th, 2008 as a part of the LightSavers program.