With consumers eagerly adopting device-driven, hi-tech products more than ever, LumaGlo Freedom Lighting is right on time. This LED lighting strip system is fully customizable, allowing users the freedom to choose the length, color, pattern, intensity, even the power source—and it's all controlled from an iPhone or Android device.

When driving a single LED from a battery, efficiency is key.  Efficiently making use of the battery’s energy and efficiently converting it to light output prolongs battery life, which reduces cost and hassle for the end user.  While high efficiency switching power conversion is the first step in this process, dimming is a second step just as important as the first.  Dimming allows the user to reduce the light output, and thus the battery power consumed, when they don’t need such a bright light.  This combination of dimming and high efficiency power conversion gives such items as smartphones and glucose meters a sufficiently long battery life.

Flickering façades, curved monitors, flashing clothing, fluorescent wallpaper, flexible solar cells – and all printable. This is no make-believe vision of the future; it will soon be possible using a new printing process for organic light-emitting diodes.

Another company is making a name for themselves in the bendable OLED display market. At FPD International 2013, Semiconductor Energy Laboratory (SEL) showcased their curved OLED display. What made their design stand out compared with other companies who have come before them is that their display has the ability to tightly warp around the edges of a smartphone.

A small area right outside the capital city of Finland had new life breathed into it when design team Lighting Design Collective decided to take a seaside oil silo and convert it into a permanent art piece.

Universal Display Corporation announced that the Japanese IP High Court delivered a decision reversing the Japanese Patent Office’s (JPO) prior invalidation of the broad claims in the Company’s Japanese Patent No. JP-4511024 (the JP ‘024 patent). The matter was remanded back to the JPO for further consideration consistent with the IP High Court’s ruling.

Researchers of the Technical University Dresden and Fraunhofer COMEDD will present a model of a bioreactor for the cultivation of micro algae using lighting technology based on organic light-emitting diodes (OLED) at the IDW 2013 for the first time.

In its efforts to constantly improve product performance, Verbatim has introduced the latest optical technology to a new range of high performance LED spotlights to better control beam patterns.

Soraa Chief Technology Officer Mike Krames recently ressponded to LED Magazine article's claims that the company's GanN-on-GaN MR16 emits large quantities of UV rays. Below is Krames blog entry on the company website:

By determining simple guidelines, researchers at UC Santa Barbara's Solid State Lighting & Energy Center (SSLEC) have made it possible to optimize phosphors –– a key component in white LED lighting –– allowing for brighter, more efficient lights.

The trend in lowered prices in the LED market has not changed. With LED chip prices expected to drop substantially in the next few years, packaging is also facing pressure to lower costs. According to current LED component costs, package costs make up 60 percent of the overall cost. U.S. DOE estimates that LED package costs will drop 50 percent by 2016. Advantages in Epoxy Molding Compound (EMC) lead frames in galvanizing high electrical currents, having UV resistance, and ability to withstand high temperatures has draw the attention of package manufacturers. Philips Lumileds plans to introduce high volume EMC lead frame LED package components in 2014. 

Pixelstick takes light painting to a whole new level.

Panasonic recently decided to slash 7,000 jobs in the semiconductor business to boost earnings in fiscal 2014 due to rising competition from Asian manufacturers and eroding sales. However, this has not deterred the financially ailing company from donating 100,000 solar LED lamps to people in areas with limited access to electricity.

Rubicon announced the launch of the first commercial line of large diameter patterned sapphire substrates (PSS) in four-inch through eight-inch diameters. This new product line provides LED chip manufacturers with a ready-made source of large diameter PSS to serve the needs of the rapidly growing LED general lighting industry.

Toshiba Electronics Europe (TEE) has announced the first devices in its second generation of LETERAS white LEDs fabricated using a gallium nitride-on cilicon (GaN-on-Si) process. The 1W TL1F2 LEDs offer a cost-competitive alternative to current LED packages, allowing manufacturers of general purpose and industrial LED lighting to drive down costs.

LG Electronics (LG) has officially taken the wraps off the LG G Flex, a smartphone curved to follow the contour of the face, the first device to offer such a design in the smartphone market. The latest device in LG's premium G Series, the G Flex incorporates proprietary innovations from other LG companies in the form of the display and battery that have never been seen before. The LG G Flex also boasts new user experience (UX) features that take advantage of the curved form factor.

Dramatic advances in the field of quantum dot light emitting diodes (QD-LEDs) could come from recent work by the Nanotechnology and Advanced Spectroscopy team at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

To make the case of Glasses Free 3D Displays in public areas viable, the size and quality of displays are critical. Thanks to Osram Opto Semiconductors’ cutting edge technology, a recent Glasses Free 3D Display introduced by Atech Korea Co., Ltd. measures up to 500 inches. These video display walls are intended to be used in indoor public areas, such as shopping mall and exhibition hall. With a contrast ratio of 4000:1 and screen brightness at 4,500 cd/m2, the viewing distance can be up to 30 meters.

Pro-Teq Surfacing (UK) Ltd, developed and patented a world first for spraying a liquid based product in combination with either soft or hard media. This innovative pathway re-surfacing methodology called STARPATH is the result of an extensive period of chemical trials. Comprising a multitude of product samples, mix ratios and application techniques. STARPATH is currently being trialled in Christ’s Pieces, a well-known park in the east side of the centre of Cambridge by Cambridge City Council.

LEDs provide consumers with many benefits and advantages, but there are still some drawbacks that need to be worked out. Inventors David Horn and Chris Vogdes have released a patent (no. 8558436) for one problem in particular that they hope to counter, which is the contamination that can occur in the thermally-conducive liquid in some LEDs.

Light and plants expert Tessa Pocock, Ph.D., recently joined the Lighting Research Center (LRC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute as a senior research scientist, leading the development of a new plant physiology lighting program. Her research focuses on plant photosynthesis, and plant development and regulation by light for traditional greenhouse crops and the emerging field of medicinal plants.

With the unchanging trend of falling LED prices, chip manufacturers are constantly improving LED chip production process and technologies to lower costs. Semiconductor equipment company GT Advanced Technologies (GTAT) has developed Hydride Vapor Phase Epitaxial (HVPE) system that can replace nGaN and uGaN growth process in MOCVD. In the future, LED chip manufacturers can add HVPE systems to speed up epitaxy growth rates. Compared to adding MOCVD to expand production capacity, using HVPE system can increase production capacity and help LED chip manufacturers cut up to 25 percent of costs.

At the start of the Dutch Design Week on Saturday 19 October the interactive light artwork CRYSTAL can be experienced in Eindhoven. The permanent artwork consists out of hundreds of LED-crystals which brighten when people touch them. Artist Daan Roosegaarde calls them "Lego fro Mars." The name refers not only to its futuristic design, but also to its endless potential to play. CRYSTAL has been previously exhibited in Amsterdam, Paris, Moscow and is now permanent in Eindhoven NL.

LED lights are an energy efficient and bright choice for upgrading, remodeling, and new construction. Pacific Northwest lighting company Solid Apollo LED has increased its range of lighting controllers to enable architects, interior designers, artists and home owners to fully utilize their LED lights.

Larson Electronics released a camouflage LED Golight in time for the 2013 hunting season. Featuring high power LED technology and remote control operation, the GL-30814 Camouflage LED Golight Stryker offers excellent power and performance in a rugged spotlight design.

Wavien, Inc. announces the availability of an ultra long range LED illuminator, designed for use with gun-mounted scopes.

Chinese scientist might have just opened doors for a technology revolution by claiming to have successfully connected four computers to the internet through the use of a one-watt LED bulb, according to a report by Xinhua News.

Dialog Semiconductor plc, a provider of highly integrated power management, audio, AC/DC and short-range wireless technologies, today debuted the iW7025, a 16-channel LED backlight driver that delivers enhanced picture quality, robust, patented short protection and lower cost for next-generation 2D and 3D LCD TVs.

Ringdale, Inc. announces that ActiveLED fixtures have shattered LED lighting stereotypes experienced in the auto dealership market with durable, high-output fixtures delivering over 100 lumens-per-watt. Ringdale's patented lumen delivery method helps dealerships by enhancing illumination and replacing 1000-watt High-Intensity Discharge (HID) fixtures with 102-watt fixtures for a 90 percent energy savings.

Using LED light sources as a medium for light therapy devices can stimulate the human body’s metabolism rate and greatly reduce medical risks associated to conventional light therapy, such as laser and intense pulse light, said Simon Gau, President of Liverage Biomedical during LEDforum Taipei 2013. Gau was a guest speaker at the forum organized by LEDinside, which runs from Oct. 16-17 at Evergreen International Convention Center in Taipei, Taiwan.