The ZigBee® Alliance, a non-profit association of organizations creating open, global standards that define the Internet of Things for use in consumer, commercial and industrial applications, today announced the unification of its market-leading wireless standards to a single standard named ZigBee 3.0. This standard will provide interoperability among the widest range of smart devices and give consumers and businesses access to innovative products and services that will work together seamlessly to enhance everyday life.

Setting up your Christmas light can be ever so convenient with wireless lighting!

Start-up skincare company La Lumiere, LLC, creator of the innovative illuMask®, the world's first wearable light therapy mask, announced today that it has secured a $20 million Series B financing.  The investment included Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation (JJDC), the venture capital subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, joining SWaN & Legend Venture Partners as institutional investors in the company.  The Series B investment is a culmination of efforts over the last 12 months to drive commercialization in the U.S and continued growth.

Around 25,000 Tridonic ballasts and LED drivers are helping the National Development Bank enjoy the benefits of versatile, high performance, low energy lighting at its headquarters in Chang'an Avenue, Beijing.

NORESCO, a national leader in energy efficiency and energy infrastructure solutions, has won a $43 million energy savings performance contract for work at Fort Jackson in Columbia, South Carolina, the U.S. Army's largest and most active basic combat training center. NORESCO specializes in the development, design, construction, financing and operation of energy- and environmental-efficiency projects and is a part of UTC Building & Industrial Systems, a unit of United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX).

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light to LED streetlights with a budget of GRB 25 million (US $39.2 million), while Taiwan leads the world phasing out outdated streetlights with LEDs spending NTD 5.79 billion (US $177.7 million) in the next two years.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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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. 

Fujitsu Laboratories announced the development of a technology that can embed ID data in light cast by LEDs or other light sources onto objects, and also recover this ID data from objects that have been lit in this way.

Light and Charge system combines cutting-edge lighting and electric drive technologies – first unveiled at EUROCITIES 2014 in Munich – prototypes now up and running at BMW Welt – highefficiency LED technology, adaptive lighting levels, charging station integrated in the BMW i ChargeNow network.  

Cree offered a solution that fulfilled our needs for clean, efficient lighting with little to no maintenance expense. The lighting is fantastic.

Product testing and certification laboratory DEKRA has recently released new international LED luminaire and lighting standards to be released next year. For details please see below:

Power management company Eaton announced it has been selected by MillerCoors to provide an integrated emergency communications solution for the company’s mega brewery in Fort Worth, Texas. MillerCoors has deployed Eaton’s ALERiTY® mass notification platform to enhance emergency communications capabilities at the brewer’s 150-acre facility, which has more than 700 employees.

Light pioneer Mercedes-Benz offers a preview of what the future holds: instead of the 24 LEDs of the gridded high beam module in the CLS headlamp, 84 LEDs per headlamp will soon be providing for even better light quality and even greater safety at night. In the medium term, as many as 1024 pixels per LED will enable optimum illumination of the road at every speed and in all traffic conditions – and without dazzling other road users.

LIGHTFAIR® International (LFI®) will introduce the LFI Controls & Connectivity Forum and a host of Conference advancements as a part of the world’s largest annual architectural and commercial lighting trade show and conference, which will take place in New York May 3-7, 2015 (Trade Show: May 5-7; Pre-Conference LIGHTFAIR Institute®: May 3-4; Conference: May 5-7).