Endicott Research Group (ERG), Inc., has created a European office, naming Roland Knuchel as European Sales Manager. ERG, based in Endicott, NY, is the leading manufacturer of DC-AC inverters and LED Drivers for powering LCD backlights.

A video of sheep equipped with LED lights released by Samsung last week to promote its new LED TV range has attracted more than 2 million viewers on YouTube in less than one week.

Diguang Electronics, a LED and CCFL backlight supplier of China, has launched its new range of 19" ultrathin LED monitors.                                    

On the St. Louis Regional FIRST Robotics Competition held in Missouri, USA on Saturday, the robots from Baxter Bomb Squad not only had beaten the rival in the matches, but also received the Rockwell Innovation in Controls Award for its camera-tracking LED system. This camera-tracking LED system was implemented in the Baxter Bomb robots to track the goals of robots in the opposite team. And the proximity of their robot to the goals was displayed in red, blue and green LEDs, said Steve Hatch, one of the team's sponsors.

Combining creative thinking and proactive actions, NeoPac Opto once again pushed output brightness with single-packaged, multi-chip point-light-source LEDs light engine to the new era at over 1,500 lumen maintenance.

Two new PhlatLight LED modules for entertainment and architectural uses are introduced by Luminus Devices Inc. in Billerica, USA. And the products has been planned to enter the markets from 2H09. Claimed as the first multi-color LEDs by the company with individually controllable color channels, the new modules based on PhlatLight (Photonic Lattice) LED large-chip architecture can produce over 2500 lumen of total light output from a optical area of merely 6mm x 8mm.

A polarization-matched LED co-developed by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Samsung Electro-Mechanics has exhibited a 20% increase in light output and a 25% increase in wall-plug efficiency. And smart LEDs with the function of emitting light and handling date is in vision in the future, according to Professor Fred Schubert, the leader of the project.

Wyked Illuzionz, a specialized LED Lighting provider for Motorcycles, will attend the Winchester Motorcycle Expo IV held March 28 and 29 to install and sell LED lights on motorcycles as well as display its two motorcycle models with LED lights.

IST Lighting has added three new partners to its rapidly expanding strategic partner network to distribute its iDrive™ and other lighting products across mainland Europe and Hong Kong of China amongst other areas in the world.

The February revenue of LED suppliers of Taiwan which sell most products to China mainland has grown substantially due to the sudden demand surge in low-price IT products in that market.

Qisda Corp., a consumer electronics subsidiary company of the BenQ Group, has won the Red Dot Award of Germany, according to Hsiung Huei, the president and chief executive of the company. And this can be seen as a proof of the company’s more participation in the upscale LED lighting market. The Qisda LED lamps were awarded the Red Dot for the innovative designs and unique functions, according to Huei, and these lamps would be supplied to luxury restaurants and hotels in the third quarter at the earliest.

An estimated unencapsulated light-extraction efficiency of 73% has been reached by a photonic-crystal structured blue-emitting LED created by researchers of Philips Lumileds (San Jose, CA) and Philips Research(Eindhoven, The Netherlands).

Nicola Martin, a businesswoman who moved to New Zealand six years ago, wants to replace the country's existing 340,000 street lights, which are mostly high-pressure sodium lamps, with light emitting diode (LED) bulbs. Two years ago, Helen Clark, the prime minister of New Zealand, said public lighting was the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions from local councils.

Grote Industries, a leading manufacturer and marketer of vehicle lighting and safety systems, has disclosed its development of a new flexible LED strips product. With a thickness of merely 1mm and 98 percent material saved in the manufacture process, the LightForm can be twisted, bended and even cut into shape. It will also be self-adhesive to vehicles through the elimination of brackets, fasteners and drilling.

Philips Color Kinetics has been awarded for “Significant Achievement in Solid-State Lighting Research & Development” by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), which is recognition of its exceptional progress in the development of the highly efficient LED PAR lamp.  

The newest 12-volt LED headlamp product was introduced by Truck-Lite at the Mid-America Trucking Show which was declared to be the world’s first 7-in. round DOT-compliant LED headlamp for commercial applications.

Philips Lumileds has joined the California Lighting Technology Center(CLTC) as an affiliate member to co-develop market-ready Luxeon LED-based applications with luminaire manufacturers. These applications need to meet the energy efficiency and lighting quality levels of EnergyStar(r) and other regional and national guidelines.

Torraca, a small village of 1,200 inhabitants in Italy, is the first place in the world to be totally illuminated by LEDs with some 700 streetlights (each containing 54 LEDs) now lining its arteries. And this new source of light has begun to light up the night all around the world from Beijing's Bird's Nest Olympic Stadium to the Raleigh Convention Center's Shimmer Wall in North Carolina.

Green energy technology was named the top development priority by Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou on Wednesday, with Solar and LED technologies highlighted as two areas where the island has potential to lead. Green energy technologies have become a popular target. Governments of U.S., Germany and Japan all have listed clean environment technologies as key development fields and have invested to promote the energy saving devices including solar panels.

Castrade Co. Ltd. in Japanese will release its ultra compact LED projector "CV-MP02” on March 19, 2009. The two major differences between CV-MP02 and the ultra compact projectors on the market are its low price and that it’s intended for automobile use. As an automotive device distributor, Castrade has planned to take advantage of its expertise in automotive audio-visual equipment and monitors to market the CV-MP02. Dedicated accessories will also be released to promote its use in vehicles.

Avago Technologies(San Jose, California USA), a leading supplier of analog interface components, has just announced its first 3-Watt (3W) Moonstone™ tricolor red, green and blue (RGB) LEDs. This new product can be used widely in solid-state architectural and commercial lighting applications.

Prototypes of a new type of white light LEDs will be brought out in about four months by Cyberlux, a specialized provider of light emitting diodes (LEDs). The product cost of this new type will be cut substantially than conventional LEDs and more light will be emitted.

The following is a Tunto LED desk lamp, which is designed by Tunto owner and founder Mikko Kärkkäinen and is also the winner of Red Dot Design Award 2009. This stylish LED desk lamp is made of warped oak or walnut and activated solely by touch, so it is free of any switches. So, all it needs is a gentle touch! The innovative LED lamp is truly a masterpiece combining digital technology and wood into a seamless design. The wooden lamp sells for $640.

It’s reported that Vienna, the capital of Austria installed LED streetlights from LEDworx. LEDworx®, 2 LED-Streetlights Hawk Eye [3.0] were installed at Kühnplatz in 1040 Vienna. The spirit of innovation and the commitment to energy efficiency and LED-Technology of all parties concerned enabled this first test installation. Further installations will follow in 2009.

It’s reported that Molex Incorporated has added fully-automated LED bonding capabilities in China. Molex also bonded its 500,000,000th LED on a membrane switch using the latest high-speed SMT processes and bonding technology. Molex has been applying LEDs to flex circuits for over 20 years through two innovative methods to bond and encapsulate the components for robust electrical and mechanical reliability, providing customers with a low-cost interactive user interface.

GE Lighting won the Lighting Design Awards for its Vio high power white LEDs in the Light Sources and Controls category, sponsored by Ex-Or. GE Lighting’s Vio high power white LEDs won the award for what judges described as a "major advance in color stability".

Aqualite Co. Ltd., a company based in Wuhan, China, has purchased three Close Coupled Showerhead (CCS) CRIUS MOCVD systems from AIXTRON AG, worldwide leading provider of deposition equipment to the semiconductor industry. It’s disclosed that the three CCS CRIUS systems were delivered in the 31x2 inch wafer configuration in the third and fourth quarter of 2008. Aqualite intends to utilize these reactors for the development and production of blue, green and white LED chips.

With amazingly high contrast ratios and a thickness measuring in the millimeters, OLED TVs certainly look like the future of home theater. However, price is a major hurdle for the technology to overcome. While new technology always comes with a heavy price tag, some are expecting the price of OLED lighting to come down some time in 2011. The recent report predicts that active OLED lighting will become the mainstream in 2011, and its revenue will surpass that of passive LED lighting sometime around 2018.

California Micro Devices (CMD) has unveiled LuxGuard family of protection devices for ultra high brightness (UHB) LED lighting applications. The LuxGuard family of protection solutions includes both LED submounts that deliver robust ESD protection and enhanced thermal management capabilities and side mounts which offer superior ESD protection for customers that utilize ceramic submounts.

Kinetic Lighting is reportedly to be one of the first lighting companies to offer the new ColorReach (TM) Powercore for rent in Southern California. The LED flood fixture, one of Philips Color Kinetics’ newest and most powerful LED fixtures, outputs more than 5,000 lumens, projects light up to 500 feet and only consumes 290 watts at full intensity. The company says it is an incredibly bright floodlight suited for both indoor and outdoor use.